What's your first comic/novel and why did you choose to make it first?

[smokesalty]

I was thinking about this since I decided to leave some of my other comic ideas until I was more experienced.
For me my current comic is my first official long running comic (though I have made short practice comics before) and a couple factors went into why I decided to let it be my first comic!

BASIC INFO: My comic is a horror which only really has 5 characters of note and 2 major locations. The story is decently long but short compared to other webcomics I'd say.

Here's why I chose it as my first comic!

1. Originally my comic was meant to be short so that I could learn and make mistakes before I create my really long running comic. And whoops, now my current comic is much longer than originally intended and it accidentally became my passion project! So I was really excited to make it.

2. I wanted to make a horror because I wanted to fully embrace the fact that I quite honestly like making dark/edgy stories. Writing this comic made me realise I really enjoy writing psychological horror and drama!

3. I was able to focus on a few characters and really nail down and improve my character writing skills. Having a smaller cast meant that I was able to explore each and every character as a person without worrying about balancing out a giant cast of characters.

4. I ended up getting quite a few people invested in these characters before I even released the comic as I used to draw them quite a lot and made mini comics, and many of them found my ideas interesting! I am mainly self motivated but knowing other people enjoy my work is definitely a motivator as well.

Welp those are my reasons. What are your reasons?

Also linking my comic because I love it and I can:

Read The Commune | Tapas Web Comics

[darthmongoose]

Oh god... my first comic was bad though.

My first comic was called "Anglomanga" get it...'cause... I'm English and it's...manga... and I made it when I was a teenager obsessed with Megatokyo!

It was drawn in the format of Megatokyo! (Which does date this, Megatokyo was only in four panel format like this for the first couple of years...) It was trying to be in the style of Megatokyo! It was a slice of life comedy like Megatokyo... except worse because I had no real life experience; I was just a random nerd girl from a small town in a rural area who had just discovered the existence of manga. The lettering was all either terrible default microsoft fonts because it was like 1999 or something so I had no idea how to get other fonts and I'm not sure Blambot and similar even existed yet.

This was my first comic, because I lacked experience and resources. I think I only ever made about 5 strips of it. But I don't regret making it, because this was how I came to be involved in both webcomics communities and the UK small press manga community. They saw how I was compensating for my lack of knowledge of the "proper" pipelines or access to the right equipment using just determination and workarounds, and they taught me the tricks and showed me where to get the stuff I needed.

It didn't go on long, it never exploded and became my big magnum opus and it's pretty much forgotten, which is for the best because... yeah, it's...bland But this is the comic where I learned that I DID have the materials to make a comic and put it online just like Piro did with Megatokyo, and it would eventually lead me to making more comics and discovering my unique style and voice, finding my own pipelines and building my skills.

[Aeneas1]

My first comic was entitled Adventures of the Mad Hatter. I drew it in around 2009, and it involved the eponymous character fighting in the Second World War, being abducted by a Dr. Seuss character in league with the Nazis, being taken to Colditz, escaping Colditz once the war is won, running around Europe, being rewarded some treasure, encountering an ogre, and a whole bunch of other shenanigans. I cannot actually show you any panels of it. My art style was actually much worse back then than it is now. I also drew other comics back then too, but I stopped around 2013 once my writing improved. But Nixvir is the first comic I have ever actually managed to publish, and the first to ever achieve any kind of success.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Teeeeechnically my very first comic was Carefree, but it's not a very interesting story in terms of why I chose to make it first because it was the only comic I had in mind at the time. (I had another story idea, but it was a visual novel made in RPG Maker)

I guess the first comic I chose to make first was either The Curtains Were Blue or Group Theory (depending on whether you consider the former a comic because if its format). The reason was simple; they both were respectively the shortest comic on my to-do-list at the time.

They all got abandoned though, so as for the first comic I might actually finish (not counting collabs), that would be bitwam. Apart from being the shortest comic on my to-do-list when I decided to start it, there's also the fact that:

• My other comics either have very in-depth worldbuilding or complex plots with schemes and 10D chess. I want more time to continue developing the former and I don't believe I have the writing skills to pull off the latter just yet.

• I want to practice my backgrounds. That worldbuilding-heavy comic I mentioned? I want the world to look amazing and immersive. The backgrounds for bitwam are comparatively unimportant and thus make for a good testing ground :]

Is there any particular experience you wanted to accumulate before working on your future comics? (e.g. drawing backgrounds/writing complex plots for me)

[Christy_Oshima]

My very first novel was a high fantasy story in a homebrew world based on Japanese folklore. I wrote it exclusively in a notebook while i was in math class XD The story was pretty regular; a wandering warrior meets a mysterious girl in the woods and after going through several trials to finally see her again and confess his love, she dies the moment they step away from the woods. It also contained my very own illustrations and i was pretty proud of it as it was my first try of creating an entirely world. I think i still have it. Plus, its one of the few stories that are completed in my portfolio.
BUT! my first and most serious novel i consider to be one that I am currently working on; fantasy again, wuxia as sub category, my own world and pretty much is more serious and better written than anything else.

Now, as first novel here in Tapas, i was pretty torn whether write something new or translate one of my many stories from Greek to English. I chose the brand new baby so i can force my mind to work i guess plus, bl is pretty much a genre i love writing and reading which is a plus plus XD (ppssst, its not like i am bored to do the translation pffft)

[Lady_T_Musings]

Do fan comics count? Bc if so my first was a Kingdom Hearts one that was just all over the place. Their clothes changed every other panel and it's just a cluster cuss to look back on, but I was a hormonal teen and I wanted more KH content so I did my due diligence and then only shared it with friends haha.

My first original comic... well, I'll be honest. OC smut. My hormonal teen years were just that hahaha.

[zeitybitey]

So, my first comic was actually Alucinor, a fantasy/action comic, but it's on an indefinite hiatus due to the lack of time to draw whilst also taking time to improve my art style + becoming familiar with my new painting program. It actually was a game project at first when the RPGMaker games started to become popular, since I was interested in the behind the scenes, only to realise that coding and such was not my passion. The story does differ greatly from the game project, but the characters mostly carried over since I cared about them too much to let go of. This project was also my longest in the works (about 7 years!) so I'm definitely attached to it due to nostalgic reasons.

Despite the art slump, I continued to write and finished my first novel, Athanasia earlier this year instead. I love to write, and I wanted to tell a story even if I couldn't continue to draw as much as I used to. Additionally, writing let me expand how I worldbuilded more - could the reader visualise what I wanted them to? It was certainly a fun challenge, although definitely stressful - but at least, when it comes to writing I can always write anywhere, anytime which was great. My upcoming novel, DEATHLESS further pushes what I learned during this experience as I explore the dark fantasy genre.

I'm hoping to revisit Alucinor someday, whether it be in written or drawn format since I want the story of those characters told. It also seems to be a great way to improve art drastically with the number of backgrounds and differing angles to be included as such. I always wanted to be a comic artist as a kid, so I'm hoping someday to finish it in comic form.

[NickRowler]

The first webcomic I created was called Akatsuki Babies. It was a Naruto fancomic based on the “baby spinoff” concept that some franchises get. It honestly makes no sense and I really took no effort to keep the personalities consistent with the main series. It’s not on Tapas due to the rule about Ads and fanworks. I wish I could turn it off for one series because I would like to clean it up and reupload it.

My first original series was The Robot Zombie Space Pirate

Read The Robot Zombie Space Pirate | Tapas Web Comics

Originally uploaded from 2012 to 2013 on Smackjeeves. It was the first series I didn’t give up after 4 pages.

I was inspired to make this because I was super depressed and I wanted to vent my emotions into something. The story is a bit of a downer as a warning.

Tho writing wise, a little bit of a mess. I admit I made it up while I went along and Mr. Blueberry was added because I honestly had no idea what to do with the plot. I also had no idea how to end it. There was a subplot about a cult that was cut. I generally have mix feeling about this series but some people enjoy it I guess…

I do have comics I drew for myself as a teen and young adult. Most of those won’t see the light of day. Tho my series Crow’s Worth was based off of one of them.

[GumshoeComix]

my first comic is still somewhere on Both Deviant art and DrunkDuck
Deviant art Version

Drunkduck version
Drunk Duck had less views than DA, probably cause DA was made for comments at the time (i miss the old DA umu )

I'm surprised I actually had readers cause I was like 14ish when I was posting it and had no idea what I was doing and it reads more like a storyboard than a comic (also if you decide to click it It reads right to left an I never put any clarification for that )

It was called Those with Wings, it was a hard fantasy about a tyrannical king that wanted to kill a dragon race called the Nemchata
there was a lot of anti-war sentiment, ( the war in Iraq was all over the news and everything my family was talking about)
No one signed up to be soldiers, they were kinda just forced to, and a lot of them questioned the decisions of the king.
One of the main characters who DID sign up to be a soldier, out of protest was the king's son Tiede.
But I was like 14, after CH3 I wanted to re-write the whole thing and work on a different story ^^; Kinda feel bad now though cause I could've made a name for myself back then. More people read that story than my current one

--
in 2018 my bf and I tried to reremake this story but it needs re-writes cause it was incredibly rushed
but here's some newer art cause I DO plan on posting it on here once the re-writes are done
From Twink to himbo

[Stargazer31]

The first comic I ever made was called "slasher office." I made it when I was 15, and it was about horror movie villains working in an office. The protagonist was Freddy Krueger, the boss was Michael Myers, and the various characters got up to office-related hijinks.
Their rival firm was ran by the heroes of horror films, and I remember that one episode was about Freddy trying to cover up how Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen version) and Clarice were dating.
This is a panel from the Halloween special, where they had a costume contest (It was my first attempt at digital art.)

[AlydaB]

Weell, technically my first comic was a comedy strip I created around 5 or 6 years old called "Ahhh the Head". It was one of those things that you forgot existed and thought was a fever dream until family members tell you "oh no, that really happened!"

My siblings were an enthusiastic audience, so it was fairly long-running. The plot follows the adventures of a girl who was born without a body (i.e. a talking head) named "Ahhh" because her mother screamed when asked what to name her. Ahhh is a social butterfly who wants nothing more than to make friends with everyone she meets, but scares them off with her appearance. So she embarks on a quest to find friends who will accept her for her diminutive, bodiless self, meeting other characters along the way- including a prince and princess with a star-crossed romance and an evil witch with skeleton minions. Proof that little Aly was infinitely more creative than I will ever be. :')

More seriously though, 'The Herald's Soul' is my first comic.

I initially created it in 2019 to be a practice comic rather than my epic magnum opus, but it's always been a monster-hunter fantasy about a sibling trio. When the little sister (Hana) dies in action in the first episode, the two older siblings have a falling out as the remaining sister (Merea) blames her brother (Jorem) for it. The plot revolves around them being forced to work together to unravel a mystery and defeat the villain behind the monster issue, reconciling in the process. The plan was to keep it short and sweet, and not go overboard on the art style. My first panels looked like this:

I chose it because I liked fantasy- especially for a visual medium, it was short and straightforward, and it had a small cast with simple designs.

Then- of course- the story took off without me and exploded, gaining a million new characters, a new convoluted plotline with a bajillion subplots, a new setting and overall aesthetic, and revamped protagonists with new names, personalities, designs, and character arcs.

My current story barely resembles what I started with, and most of the reasons I chose to write it don't apply anymore, but I've fallen in love with it as it's grown. I'm enjoying myself, so I suppose I'll follow it and see where it goes :]

The Herald's Soul

[fsarbolaez]

I was going to say Lost Flight 1313, (which you can read on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Lf1313,) but I remembered that my very first one was a small, homemade comic book I did when my age was still in the single digits.
I completely forgot the name of my very first comic, but I believe he was just some guy wielding some sort of hand blade, wearing a dark shroud and cape. He also had the ability to fly, and he fought technologically advanced, Ancient Egyptian, cobra people.
I made one copy and sent it to some show I used to watch on Nickelodeon(?) that showed off children's art. It was the reason I created the comic, since I wanted to see if my submission would be featured in one episode. Thought it would've been neat. I later got a letter back from them that it was not going to be featured, but would be held in their Hall of Fame. When I think about it now, I do believe that probably meant a junk drawer or paper shredder
Learned as I got older that the entertainment I create doesn't automatically mean others will too. My artistic and writing talent back then were simplistic and just plain bad. Learned when I write any story, I need to make sure others find much of it as appealing and understandable as I would if I were to look it as someone else. Vastly improved on the writing aspect since...can't say the same about the art part 🤣

[migxmeg]

We're still working on ours . It was intended to be:

1. Short (RIP - it's almost been 2 years and more to go).

2. Starting off with a very basic background setting which would be easy for me to draw as I got used to things (seaside).

3. Not too many different or difficult sets, though not sure my writer realized that anywhere crowded would be hard, sigh. It's been good for experience but occasionally frustrating.

4. Mostly talking/drama to get used to drawing humans before making them do anything crazy with their bodies.

5. Theme practically drawn from a hat, title, character designs put together quickly so we could just get going - never thought I'd get this attached. We're on a break to do a small project and I really miss drawing them...

[margodraws]

Oh man, I made a comic from late high school through college called Witch & Cat. It was very heavily influenced by Diana Wynne Jones books (especially Chrestomanci & A Tale of Time City) and another webcomic I adored called Reman Mythology (recently reworked as a print comic called The Rema Chronicles; love it even though it's made for kids and I've since grown up).

I loved comics, but didn't know much about writing or drawing them. I think I'd read some webcomics by other highschoolers and thought "I can do that," so I did. I was writing a chapter at at time and drawing pages week by week; not much planning involved. In the end, I made it to just over 220 pages, with the last few of them being wrap-ups after I decided not to continue. I still think fondly of the project, even though it was a mess. It's interesting to look back at old pages and watch my artistic development from amateur teen to professional-ish:

[rajillustration]

My first comic was a Sailor Moon AU where everyone was a cute dog and the reason I made it was because I got a hell ton of jelly roll pens on my birthday and a lined black papered journal, and I decided to just...make it a comic. It wasn't good and like was completely incoherent. But I had fun and showed it to all my HS freinds who were like "neat! I like this!" and I am still surprised, looking back, that they liked that. But eh we were kids.

My first comic on Tapas though was called Alchemist Burn Outs, and I made it because I wanted to practice line art and make something that would feel like a graphic novel. Anyway this isn't really a graphic novel site, and so after about 100-something pages of it, I decided to switch webcomics and leave it as a book. I kinda learned everything I needed to learn from it.

[Kaydreamer]

My current story, Blue Star Rebellion, is my first ever comic. It was originally intended to be a side-story I could use to refine my skills, branching off a much bigger project I intend to start on next. But, as all the things I make tend to do, it wound up becoming waaaaay bigger than I initially planned. Better - but bigger.

BSR is probably a 10 year project if I see it through to the end. I do have a place where I can halt it early, at the end of its first 'arc' - but that cuts it before I reach a lot of my favourite parts, and leaves a lot of strings untied. I'll see how I'm feeling when I reach that point, but as it stands now, I want to finish it fully. If anything, if I want to start my main project a little early, I may wind up running two comics at once.

It's set in the same extended universe as all of my planned stories, so everything I do with it can feed back into everything else. There's lots of crossover.

[Noorie]

I don't even remember what it was, but it probably was a literature homework in like 1st grade.
If talking about first published comic, then I probably decided that Inkscape is fine too

At that time I didn't know, how to properly scale down scans, and because of that wasn't able to publish comics I drew on paper. Later I started using a graphic tablet, left Inkscape and fell in love with drawing digitally.
This comic wasn't something special, it just was created at the right time for me to start drawing digitally and because of that publishing

[bulgariansumo]

Aside from some abandoned fancomics, Galactiquest is the first story I've tried to write. Mostly because it has the first group of original characters I created, but also, going into it, I thought it would have a more limited cast than my other project, Hinimato. I was wrong. But I'm having fun with it!

Even though I've only started writing seriously for Galactiquest in the past few years, I've had the characters for almost 10 years now, so I've had a lot of time to solidify them (although sometimes I'll still find out something new about them.) It was also originally meant to be a webcomic, but I only got the first two episodes done before tiring out. I feel I'm able to give a lot more depth with words without killing myself by trying to draw out all the scenes. I do still draw some of them and include them in the story, though!

Read Galactiquest | Tapas Web Novels

[powerplantanimations]

First story was when I was five. I made a story called "School Bees". It was about my classmates and I fighting bees. My teacher and class would let me read it. I made sequels such as one where we went to this Pizza Parlor and we encountered Bees over there. I stopped making stories but then I got dragged back into the game when my Mom took my dang Pokemon and I made Volcano Panic. About these guys who stop volcanos from erupting.

In Middle School/High School, I made edgy comics called "Chris's Life", about me living with my brother, who's a tenant, an old pimp, a bisexual french person, a talking alcoholic dog, and a Carl Carlson-type character. I also run around in a superhero suit in the comic, fighting crime (I cosplayed as this in High School and my High School crush thought it was goofy af lmao).

That Stick Figure Isekai does evoke the days where I just spent days scribbling in my journal.I think that goes well with the theme of growing up.

It's also cool since my dream is to make this ambitious comic, but in order to get to that point, I have to make something that's easy to make. It's as if I'm "starting from square one again". Btw Cool to see a lot of people starting out in their younger years lmao.

Read That Stick Figure Isekai | Tapas Web Comics

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