What inspired you to start making comics?

[redmancomics]

For me it was reading some classic comics from my local library when I was younger.
Peanuts, Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, etc. I was OBSESSED with those.
I'd be curious to see what other people's inspirations were. Was it a specific comic? A person you knew? Some kind of spell cast on you from a wizard that forces you to draw comics?
Please, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!

[silverraven0]

Because I love reading comics like uncle scrooge and mangas. Then I started practicing drawings by watching some tutorials on tv (yes, there's that, but only a few), and then, uh, I guess just like that... ^^;

[imiogri]

I've drawn comics since I was literally 5 years old, it was something that just came to me? But even if I drew hundreds of comics as a child, in later days I didn't really want to make comics. But then I came to the conclusion it's the only way I'll be able to tell my stories for a wide audience, so I decided to give it a go. Going kinda well but I feel I'm not as into the medium as many other on here.

Besides that I grew up with Donald Duck. I subscribed to it for over 5 years before my mom stopped paying for them. My favorite is The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa. Its a fantastic comic and the artwork really inspired me to do something similar, and it also kinda inspired my type of storytelling! But that's like the only comics I ever read...

[MiniSheepPencil]

I was reviewing my options for a new project and found one of my old, yet unfinished, novels and then I thought of the option of visualizing the story. While I am still growing as an artist in many ways, this project has me hooked for various reasons; the plot needed to be rewritten and the art development was a given as I would be picking up my drawing tablet a lot more.

It is a project for me that never has me bored, and while creating the comic itself, I also get to learn more about the publishing aspect of it - of course neither of this really matters when we talk about staying motivated.

The only thing that truly motivated me to jump into making a webtoon was the story itself. As I was imagining countless of scenes I wanted to put down on paper, I also came to the conclusion that I would have to work hard to build up the story tension to reach that climax while putting illustrated scenes down next to my story.

[ble]

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[punkarsenic]

i can barely remember, it feels like a combination of natural compulsion and gradual immersion

i was briefly obsessed with the beano when i was little, and fell in love with manga when i was 8 or so - but i think it was getting into marvel with the runaways and young avengers at fourteen that really kicked things off. i discovered tapas soon after and realised i could make comics, so i did

[Shanny8]

I've always wanted to make a comic book since I could draw. I would read my older brother's stack of comic books, and I liked a lot of the stories & action.

[unknown_user]

When I was 10 or 11, someone from our family bought first 5 issues of "Elfquest" on sale. I've read some comics for children before, and nothing from them really impressed or enraptured me. But this one certainly influenced me, because it was the first more-or-less serious and cool comics which I've read in my life. I've spent some time for re-reading it, trying to draw elves by myself in the same style and guessing how this story will continue.
(Too bad I couldn't find any more issues. Moreover, I've discovered later, that only 5 were actually released in russia, with translation, and I had no internet those times.)
When I've become older, I also was impressed and inspired by some of "Sin sity" issues and a bunch of cool manga, which returned my interest to comics format.

[McAmps]

As long as I could remember, I was always trying to draw stories. I vividly remember making a Mario 64 story with pictures during those winter days my Mom didn't want me going out to recess lol.

As I got older, I discovered the archie Sonic comics and thought they were cool. I think I also found like a Pikachu manga at my school library and was absolutely enamored with the art style and would try to replicate it.

I actually wanted to be a comic book artist and even went to school for art buuuuut...Fine arts kind of gave me a harsh reality check. There's a lot of things I'm not good at drawing and I realized I don't have what it takes.

I still love drawing and making comics, so now I do it for fun. Trying to improve, but not stressing over it and accepting I probably will never make a career off it is a very freeing feeling and it's an enjoyable hobby.

[OliviaMerteli]

I always loved to read wether it is comics book or essays etc...
And I always loved to write. I used to write, write, write. But a few years back, I started visualising some stories and I couldn't get it out of my head that it needed to be comics and not novels.
So now I'm doing this one-shot comic, just to learn drawing, panelling, and preparing for the big picture.

[storytimebiondi]

I feel like I had a similar journey! I drew comics all the time as a kid (sadly they were thrown away). I did this probably all the way up until high-school, when I abandoned drawing, feeling that I wasn't as good as a lot of people, so I focused on prose instead.

Long story short, I got my BA in Creative Writing for prose. It wasn't until after university that I revisited comics. Honestly, I still feel like I'm not as good as a lot of people, art wise. But at least, I can merge my two passions into one.

[shazzbaa]

I liked drawing and I liked telling stories as a kid, and originally I assumed I would write stories and illustrate them. When my mom went through some writing exercises with preteen me to help me grow those skills, it quickly became apparent that I had little patience for descriptive text ("I wish I could just draw it") but I loved dialogue.

My mom told me, "You know, in Japan, they have comics that don't have to be funny -- they're just stories. Maybe you could make comics like that!" and that was a revelation to me!!

So in highschool, I started trying to get into comic books (both western and manga) and started seeking out books on drawing comics. I never really did manage to get into any comic series (I wouldn't discover webcomics until later), but I drew a bunch of comic strips for fun and got very attached to the idea of making my story ideas into comics, instead.

The first Actual Comic Page that I was proud of didn't happen until my senior year of highschool, and I wouldn't actually start publishing ongoing comics online until after college, so I guess the moral of the story is that it's okay if it takes you several years to make this stuff happen. xD

[GesuGesu]

I drew comics as a kid with my younger sister who was basically my writer and drafter. She let me redraw it since my art AND my actual age was a few years ahead of her.

We drew pikachu fan comics, magical girl stories, and so on.

As we grew older into our teen years, we started drawing doujinshi yearly for Valentine's day for our favourite characters. We would usually do an 8-16 page short.

As an adult, my sister has had less time for leisure, so my main inspiration right now for comics is because I had university friends who drew online comics. They host a webzine called Whut*Nani that updates monthly or so. I also had an old friend upload a SoL on Tapas, and she is why I joined Tapas!

[GusC]

Tried selling Captain Meatloaf to other kids in gradeschool, but the real impetus recently was a 6+ year long ongoing DnD campaign involving close to a dozen players. Things got huge.

[Rhonder]

I honestly can't remember. I've been drawing comics since I was like 4 or 5 (I have boxes of drawings from my whole life, so I've looked back on these from time to time) and I 100% don't know what inspired that LOL Like I didn't read a lot of comics as a kid (some newspaper strips was about it, and only occasionally) but yeah. Started out doing a lot of fan comics for cartoons and games stuff I liked. Have lots of digimon and legend of zelda and pokemon comics from that time frame, for example.

A more direct influence later on was definitely when I started getting into anime and manga in middle school (beyond, you know, pokemon and digimon and stuff xD). The thing that resonated with me the most about those is that they told a cohesive story instead of being episodic like newspaper comics and many western cartoons. Basically like reading/watching a good novel, but with pictures! So a lot of my inspiration from then on came from the different series I read/watched at that time. Shows like Zatch Bell and Naruto, manga like MAR, +Anima, and Dragon Drive. My first original comic actually started off as a +Anima fan comic but then I twisted it into something "original", heavily resembling a mash up between MAR's accessory system and Zatch Bell's magic system xD

[lil-sea-salt]

I actually never really read comics before coming on this platform. I'm mainly an author so it was through my friends @spicy_sweets
@LortiaMJB ecommendation that I started to branch out. Then I discovered how amazing of a vehicle that comics are to evoke an emotional response. There are so many comics that I utilize when I need a pick me up. Also it's so therapeutic to make a comic about life events. Out of my siblings I am the only one who had close relations with a family member and I think a comic is such a powerful way to share those stories in a way that words cannot touch.

I adore both medium incredibly, but I have a very deep respect for comic making and reading now that is new.

[NickRowler]

I always been a huge daydreamer but felt like I lacked the proper writing abilities, heck I was really dyslexic growing up. In 6th/7th grade, I was really into Sonic and DBZ and I sort of doodled characters inspired by the works as well as other manga series. I started to try to write my own stories in middle school, which started out as copying DBZ character but was unhappy with how OOC they were so I tried to write something more original. However when I discovered Naruto, everything shifted. I was drawn into the series due to the many types of characters and one day I decided to doodle a parody called "Crow".

Over the years I doodled stuff but it wasn't until 2008 when I started posting a short serial comic called Akatsuki Babies. Tho, similar to before, I became frustrated with working with characters that were not my own. So I kept trying to write comics to post online but just feeling they didn't stick.

It wasn't until 2012, when I decided to write a webcomic called Robot Zombie. It was loosely based off a concept that an ex-friend helped pitched. I was really depressed during the time due to the so called ex-friend being borderline abusive to me and I was sort of stuck in a sad state after breaking it off with her. I made about 80 pages of that.

I later moved on to other stuff but similar, they would not stick. I was so depressed and the idea of "Crow" just sat in the back of my head. So I decided I was going to rework the series and make it a webcomic and that is how my current series "Crow's Worth" was born.

(Sorry for the ramble)

[PrncssPscs]

Anime for one thing but it was Marvel comics and watching my father draw for me

[rainbowolfe]

I was always the kid who loved drawing, but I didn't get into comics until middle school. I read manga (Tokyo Mew Mew, Naruto) and regular comics (Bones. It was just Bones), but what eventually inspired me to make my own was Maximum Ride.

I'm not even sure what it was about it, but I read the novels first, and then I saw that the novels were being adapted into graphic novels--and that just really appealed to me lol

[LT1986]

I was inspired to make a comic, once I started watching Dragon Ball Z. I always watched cartoons like TMNT, Dragon Ball, Ronin Warriors, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc. while growing up. The reason why Dragon Ball Z inspired me to start making my own comic, is because of the improvement in art and the fact that characters grew up in the story. Now I'm pushing myself to find out how good I can become as an artist.