What do you enjoy about drawing comics?

[KennethLopezJr921]

Recently, I've been asking myself if really did enjoy drawing my comic and I wanted to ask others what they enjoyed about it to maybe give me some perspective on this topic.

For me personally, its complicated. While I do the medium and the concept of comics, along with reading manga and coming up with panel ideas for action scenes, I'll sometimes find myself not enjoying at much as other hobbies and find myself wanting to do other stuff or draw other stuff rather than work on my series. Its complicated and its not like I haven't had fun or enjoyed making comics. For example, Ive been working on a q&a for my comic's main character in the form of those old news paper strips and I've had plenty of fun there. And while working on my main series does have its fun moments, it can often times feel tedious, annoying, and at worst stressful. Maybe its because of way I thumbnail it and draw it out that makes it less fun? Maybe it comes from general burn out after working on my series very long first chapter for 3 years and have still not finished it yet? Maybe its because I prefer drawing action scenes over pages where two characters are just talking? Maybe its all three? I dont know. Again, its not that I don't enjoy drawing my comic. But that enthusiasm I had when I began drawing it isn't really present anymore.

[IzzyBloom91]

seeing my character coming to life. The see the colors and the atmosphere of what I imagine to actually see it in actual form. which it turns even more awesome when I see people liking my work but mostly commenting on it and understanding what I did in the drawing and writing. Seeing them trying to guess what's going to happen next and even falling in love with my characters. also, thanks to the community to meet other creators who also share the same type of love of drawing and creating as I do and possibly even forming some type of friendship through it. Simply amazing.

[Enthriex]

Well, you see, I've been trying to convey a story since like 2012 but decided recently to remake it haha, it's a really looong story and I'm sure it'll take me some years to ever complete if I decide to do so, but, I enjoy working on it because I like the idea of someday just sitting back and reading it, seeing the characters in a storyline I enjoy <3

I do get burn outs since I kind of binge upload when I'm feeling motivated, but it's still fun :'D It's fine to take breaks now and then, it's necessary to distract oneself with other stuff so the inspiration and drive can come back!

Never push yourself to draw when you're not feeling good to do so! And with that I mean, when you lack motivation! When you force yourself you develop some sort of hatred towards it just like how you would develop hatred to some food you're being forced to eat when you don't like the flavor! (or you get fed up of the flavor, kinda like Bruce -from Matilda- eating the cake forcibly)

So don't be hard on yourself and feel the freedom of doing whatever else you want or need to do! Comics take a long time to make, if you're serious about a story it will take years to complete, soo there's no need to push yourself to the finish line cause it's a long process! Just enjoy it along with the breaks BD you'll see once you get your mind off it for a while, the drive will come back on its own ^^

[JaveCraze]

I enjoy drawing shading, good characters and locations (haha, they'll be good one day..) and effects. Like someone else said, I also like bringing my story across.

[Teira]

Being able to tell a story and bringing my ideas to life.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Yeah tbh I don't actually enjoy the drawing process itself and I'm not gonna pretend otherwise The satisfaction is in seeing the thing completed, as an actual thing that exists in front of me. It's like having a kid - 'what do you enjoy about being pregnant?' 'Uh ... nothing, but I like my kid to exist ... so yeah :P'

I do sometimes enjoy the drawing process though, mostly when I'm experimenting with something new or got an idea or breakthrough that I just have to try and test out. But those moments are few and far between, and would not be nearly enough to carry me through the drawing process if that's the only thing I got out of drawing comics (Hence why being an artist-for-hire who draws other people's projects would be far from my dream job XD)

[BoomerZ]

I personally love the script writing, layout, pencils and inks. Hate to color. And I love people enjoying the story.

[ccmatta]

I love to create lives and tell their stories. Have you thought about that? You created a human being (or not human lol) and is telling what happened to them in their life. Isn't it quite magical in a way? Creating a comic (or a novel) is magic. I love to create the script, every word that comes out is a surprise and oh my god what a wonderful ride it is. And then showing this to other people to see, to apreciate with you the magic you made with words and drawings. Isn't that awesome? I love every aspect of it, I love to draw what I've imagined, the world, the people who only existed on my mind now exists on paper, now they exist on other minds too!

Now, let's stop with this poetic bulsh*t and let's get real. Drawing is exausting, I've been doing my comic for more than 2 1/2 years now, I get burnout easily, drawing the same characters everyday is boring, c'mon. You have to mix it up, you have to engage in other hobbies so you dont get crazy and give up on your project. I love drawing, I do, omg i do, but again, every day doing the same couple of characters, the whole free time I have, so I can post in time... is too much. You must do something else and dont feel guilty about it, so your brain don't give up. And being completely honest? the passion I had 2 years ago vanished, today I work with love, yes, but not with passion. So I get tired of my comic sometimes, I have to take my time away from it to regain my apreciation for it.

[XiuLyn_12]

What I enjoy about drawing comic are I get to see my improvement from looking at my first episode to looking at my recent one. Maybe I like to validate myself and enjoy accomplishing something, haha.
I also like to read my comments, whether feedback, praises, and critique.
I feel great every time I finish an episode, even though to finish it, I have to stress myself out chasing my deadline.

[allenT]

Drawing comic is more and more tedious the higher the art skill you aim for, and it sure won't feel like a relaxing hobby. There's a few elements I limit to myself for my series so I don't feel it's too hard (no full-shading, using a slightly loose sketchy lining style, simple story with few dialogues)

There's a few time I drew short comics (privately) with no story planning, no script, no drafts. The end results aren't good but It's a really fun process. By doing that I've rekindled why I love drawing comic like when I was 10, It's relaxing and almost therapeutic.

I'm not aiming to be a professional and be versatile, I just like drawing anthros! Drawing humans with intricate costumes and serious setting? No way, my interesting on drawing will be sapped away. Also because of my dedicated fantasy world I made, my passion of drawing my current series will always be there-- to project myself into the world, to experience life with the characters.

[Lensing]

There is that moment of consuming your own creation that I really enjoy.
I try to create things that I would like to consume and which don´t exist, when I created
it I feel satisfaction.

This is a really interesting, big topic by the way because it leads to the question
"why am I doing this?"
You ask yourself the same question when you are a musician recording an album.

I sometimes ask myself what it is like to be a parent and how I would answer the enjoyment
question, it probably feels fulfilling but just when you think about it. I can´t imagine anything
more stressful than being a parent

[darthmongoose]

For me it's about control of my own IP and expression.

Comics are a really labour intense medium, and can be exhausting... but they are that way for a simple reason: They're one of the few visual media that one person can viably make on their own. Any visual medium where one person is the designer, artist, writer and everything that falls under these jobs (like research, for example) is going to be a wild amount of work for one person, with the payoff that one person can control every aspect of their story to create something that's completely theirs.

In my day job, I'm part of a team. I make art assets, design activities, write bits of copy and give feedback or do editing, but it's not my book at the end of the day, I'm just a person who worked on the book. Errant, on the other hand, is MINE, and its success is entirely on me, which can feel very liberating.

[faisalhussein394]

I have too many ideas, lore, and worldbuilding of a story I want everyone to see and decide to visualize them in comics.

What I love to draw in comics is the lore, exposition, and worldbuilding of different factions, the second is battle scenes and show how both sides planned their strategies during the war.

If I'm in a position of drawing on comics focusing on characters, I would draw expressions of the characters and I love it a lot while I'm away from my first two favorite parts.

And now I have a thing for sci-fi and planning to make a second comic and I decide to publish it by the end of next year or the year after that. It will be related to my first comic but with a different timeline, and system. This gives me the opportunity to add info about it on my first comic as extras alongside the pages such as expositions and I enjoyed it a lot.

[TroyVSTheWorld]

Eh I miss an artist and they aren't coming back so I have to do something

[rajillustration]

yeah, I get what you mean. I think that it's also really to compare yourself to other people, especially if you are just starting out. Like you mention it takes you 3 years to make a chapter, but that's not unusual for someone who is new to comic making. Like my first stuff I never timed, but man did they take me forever compared to how I draw now. Sometimes we see creators on the same playing field as us and forget they have like over a decade of experience (some multiple decades), which is why they draw so fast and do like 30 panels an update.

I think that can absolutely give you burn out if you have to constantly see your numbers compared to their numbers, and ask "have I wasted my time doing this, am I really getting enough out of it?" and it's OK to step back for a bit if you need to, especially from social media. The stress to perform often makes me forget why I have decided to do a comic, which is why it's important to check in with other artists you can complain to about it, get the steam off, and take breaks.

[wispysing]

Creating a comic is definitely a laborious process and I'll admit, I don't always enjoy it. It takes a lot of brain power. But I do love the euphoria that comes with completing drawings. It's a very rewarding feeling.

Furthermore, these stories have been swimming around in my head for years. If I don't let them out somehow, I'll explode.

[TheDoublekey]

Well, the thing I find the most appealing about comic making is actually the fact that I can manifest whatever I have in my mind onto paper. What I mean by that is, I love writing stories, but one thing is to just write it down and another thing is to be able to make what you're visualizing.
I just love the idea of my story finally coming to life and no longer staying just in my mind; I want to be able to share it with the world. After all, no one else is going to adapt my series other than me, so I enjoy finally seeing my characters interact with each other the way I picture them in my mind. This, for me, is the beauty of making a comic.

Of course, comic making does have its downsides, for examples the ones you stated. Making a comic can be a very long and tedious process which can take many many years. Burnouts are also a pretty common and frequent thing (I'm always on burnout) and it's not rare to actually come to hate the thing. Also, comic making is extremely repetitive: you write down the script, do the storyboard, then the inking, then the coloring, rinse and repeat.

So yeah, I absolutely love making comics because this way I can see my story come to be, but at the same time I hate the fact that it's a very time-consuming activity and that it can be frustrating. I just hope I'll be able to keep going.

[ccmatta]

There is that moment of consuming your own creation that I really enjoy.

Yes! There's this aspect of creation that I really do enjoy too! I do consume my own comic, ngl xD I may spend too much time reading my own work, not only to look for flaws or to remember what already happened, but because I enjoy it, and that's what makes me still love what I do and what keeps me going, the fact that I still love my story and want to read it myself.

[Lady_T_Musings]

I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and pride that I get from turning a blank canvas into a piece of artistic storytelling that I dreamed up in my head and brought to life with my hands. I get major euphoria looking back over my previous pages and seeing how much I accomplished with my bare hands. It's just so cool!! While making the comic I enjoy seeing my characters interact with each other and get frazzled by one another as they get to know each other. I like drawing bonds growing and intimacy, so those scenes are always a treat to play out.

Making a long-form comic (or even gag strips that you will update regularly until who knows) makes me think of a marriage or contractual obligation if I'm not feeling romantic, but it's one I willingly accepted and didn't take lightly, much like my marriage, bc it truly is a long term commitment that will have ups and downs. Now unlike marriage, I don't think most of us want to be working on the same comic our whole lives (some do and that's cool too.) but being committed to something as time-consuming and often underappreciated as webcomics will truly test you. Like marriage though, if things aren't working out, sometimes you gotta try a separation. You may come back ready to try anew, or decide this ain't for me and make the split permanently.

Anywho, I feel you though. When I feel exasperated or have the urge to work on something else when it's my comic-making season, I just do (even if it's in small spurts when I can squeeze in some downtime on break at work). I try to make sure to have a backlog going if this urge happens before my scheduled break times and it will require more time than just a passing fancy would, but sometimes you gotta step away and refresh yourself on another activity or project and then come back with your vigor for comics bottle filled up and ready to go. If you are on a tight schedule though, this can be harder, but I'm a fan of every little bit counts. So even if you got pages you want to get done, you can still work on something else on the side that you are drawn towards, even if it's just a few minutes a day.

I stay in the mindset of we only have this life as we know it, so make sure to spend it doing things that bring you fulfillment and joy when you have the opportunity to.

[system]

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.