What inspired you to be a writer/creator?

I have always had my love for art and stories.
I had something of a hard childhood (and it never stopped there) my parents split when i was young and the divorce has effected me all of my life. As a kid there where times when things had to get sold for food so the only thing i could count on is writing my stories and drawing. As i got older it brings me joy to bring joy to others and now i do my best to make money out of that. maybe one day i will have my dreams.

Hello, I'm also new around here!

I used to write a lot, too, mainly fanfiction and poetry, and it was a lot of fun!
I grew up believing in magic. That's right: the first time my eyes fell on Sailor Moon, I just fell in love and I decided that I wanted to become an artist. All sorts of stories (comics/manga, novels) called out to me. Back in high school I drew some random comic of myself and my friends. A lot of fancomic, fanfictions...

Somewhere along the way I got interested in video games concept art, but that didn't stick with me for a long time, as soon I found myself drawing for children/young generation.
Right now, I'm a children's book illustrator with focus on education/middle grade stories. The story-telling aspect is there--whenever I work for a client, everything I draw has to tell a story. And that's awesome.

But! I want to tell my own story too. So here I am, trying to learn the ropes of comic-making. I've mainly worked on small one-shots to get a better idea of the workflow. Still in the process of writing script for my bigger project. And almooost done with making assets for a smaller project. I still learn new things every day, and it's a humbling experience. Also thanks to Tapas forum for the awesome tips and tricks and interaction <3

I wish you the best of luck on your journey!

There were several comics that hubby and I read that the creators encourage others to create. And there was another one.

As a teacher I often have to tell others to get their dreams by trying to do them, make a plan, that sort of thing. But neither of us were doing that. I wasn't writing my book and he wasn't doing a comic. What sort of example was that to our son who was old enough to start understanding when we would lament we hadn't done those things yet.

We used the contest Webtoons had last year as an excuse, and we've been running ever since.

I just wanted to make other people happy. It's all I ever wanted. I've consistently failed to do it but... really its all I wanted.

I know what its like to be miserable and if I can help someone else be less so? that's worth it to me.

I think that's why it hurts so bad that I've consistently failed. All I wanted to do was make something people would enjoy and for whatever reason I cant seem to succeed no matter how hard I try.

I had just ONE goal. Make something enjoyable. I keep trying, experimenting, improving, and NOPE nothing has worked yet.

My burning anger towards the medical industry so I can vent about it in a story. Lol. In all fairness I’ve always been into writing even when I was younger. Instead of working on math assignments, I was writing stories. I did a few fanfictions too but then slowly started making my own characters and worlds.

Your experience sounds a lot like mine.
"Lack of belonging-ness" is enough words already to give a good idea of my experience with life as a whole.
I'm not sure whether it is the only explanation for my decision to write comics, but for sure, non-belonging is always a central theme in every of my creative works. In my comic, I'm trying a different thing than usual, as I have an extrovert character with feelings of non-belonging, when usually, I have characters that are like me: extremely introverted.

An other very practical reason I'm writing a comic is that it's a kind of art easier to fit in my complex work schedule that my favorite creative hobby that is music.

I may have told this before, but many eons ago, I had a buddy in the 3rd grade that would draw Dragonball inspired comics. The art wasn't the best, but everyday he would have a new update for me to read. I thought this was the coolest thing and I wanted to try it.

Pretty soon I became obsessed with pulling ambiguous concepts from the mind and actually materializing it in front of me.
Although my spark did dwindle a bit some years ago, it came back in full force when I became obsessed with creating content that could touch others. There were a couple shows and other content that really sucked me in and made me feel for characters and I developed a strong desire to pass that emotion on to others with my own work.

Also as a perk, creating is super fun and it keeps me young and sane haha.

Mine is nothing that interesting or altruistic. I like to invent stories; it's just something that comes naturally and makes me feel... happy? Then, years ago I decided to write down those ideas so I wouldn't forget them. For some of those stories I create a more polished short story, for others I make illustrations, and the current comic I'm working on is derived from a story some friends and I created.

As a kid I had a hard time falling asleep; I would lay awake for hours. During those hours I'd tell myself stories to pass the time, so I guess that's where it all began! I do remember coming across fanfiction at one point, in middle school I think, & it inspired me to do a Halloween writing assignment based on Harry Potter. I recall writing the story of night the Potter's died.

It's interesting to look back on where I started with all this! I don't think I've ever thought about it before. I tell myself stories while I'm trying, and failing lol, to fall asleep to this day.

Art was always fun and I always did well in it growing up (I was average everywhere else). I enjoyed the artistic choices in movies and became fascinated in set designs. So, when I graduated I decided to go to a Fashion Institute to take “Visual Communications”. I learned a lot about art there, but I also learned I was not competitive enough of a person to compete in the world I would have been joining. So, I went back to Community College and decided I’d aim for English.
I went to University for English and it was at this school where I first began writing my novel and I loved the feeling I got as I wrote freely for myself. Like, I seriously love it. And I did really well in school and realized I was good at my subject.
I also took an “Asian Thought” psychology class when I was there and I received an email one day about a study abroad opportunity to go to Japan. I interviewed and got in, taking a 10 day trip with an amazing group of people where I got to focus on Manga and write a report on it :D!
I later got my MA in Linguistics (which focused a lot more on speech/themes in language). You’d think the grammar in my novel would look pristine... but since I wrote it so long ago, I haven’t updated some of my mistakes/bad habits. (That’ll be my next project).
All of my educational experiences helped me to gain confidence and I think that’s why still I love art and writing so much today.

People who raised me tell me I was always a creator, long before when my own memories can stretch back to. Apparently, I even recited poems to the moon, aged 1, with very few real words thrown in for good measure.

But for me, my story as a "creator" starts at a very specific time, I must have been 5 or 6. My mom had bought me a book with 365 children stories, one for each day of the year. And the story for that day was about a child having to give up their power of imagination to grow up... and I remember feeling extremely sad and conflicted about that story.
I have a very vivid memory of being in a car and considering whether I'd be willing to give up my own imagination to grow up... and deciding I would NOT ever give it up for any reason.

I've been trying (and failing mostly) to find the right medium for my storytelling ever since.
But one thing I do have in common with the child I was back then: I still would rather never grow up than give up my imagination. Screw that children story.

Even since I was a kid, I've LOVED making stories. I remember when I was like 5/6 years old, I'd play with my Barbie and Polly Pocket dolls (which I forgot about for a good few years, now I'm appalled at how bad the new Polly Pocket dolls look) and I'd make up entire stories for them. Absurd and zany stories, yea, but stories I put a lot of thought into.

I didn't really take it seriously until I was around 10 years old when I read the Percy Jackson books (which also sparked my love for Greek myths and the entire fantasy genre, but not the first book series I've read; that would go to Artemis Fowl), and I created my Wattpad account which is abandoned, and yes, I started with creating novels/fanfiction.

In 2017, I discovered Space Boy on Webtoons and it ignited my love for comics. For some reason before that I thought that animation was the only medium where I can combine the creative freedom that both art and writing gives me, so I realized, "wow, I can make stories and draw them! Neato."

None of my original novels got seen through completion though, except for one I made for a contest (so of course I had to finish it). Maybe now it'll be different with comics.