What's your origin story as a creator?

[Evalein]

I've been reflecting on what influenced me to get to where I am now in terms of drawing/writing, and I thought it'd be nice to also see what inspired my peers.

Here are the highlights for me:

• I remember poring over books as a kid. I wrote a short Christmas story in grade 3, and another short horror story in grade 9 with my friends.
• I was into Gaia Online where I'd roleplay and draw freebies throughout the years.
• I also wrote some fanfiction. The stories were either one-shots or had chapters which I never completed.
• My first introduction to webcomics was on Smackjeeves. And then I found out about "light novels" and "cell phone novels." I've thought about making a series in these mediums after finding out about them.
• Was always imaginative, loved creating, but had to put that on the back burner in high-school. But on my downtime, I'd make characters and stories with my friends.
• Then after high-school, there was a long break from creating for personal enjoyment.
• Now I'm free from academia. I have no more restrictions on how I can write and it's a great feeling. I have one novel in the works and am excited to make more and dabble in comics.

[Dreams-of-Gaia]

Wow! Congratulation on your novel! And sure, you should give comics a try
In my case, I used to be very shy so I had trouble making friends or interacting with other people, reason why I began to express myself through writing. I was very influenced by JRPGs as I grew up so my first stories were of the fantasy genre.
Since I was a kid I loved anime and even tried to make my own animations but could never finish any so I began writing novels and fanfictions.
As I got into Uni to study literature, I found myself with many harsh criticism from my peers and teachers, so I abandoned novels and found a new way of expressing myself in comics and I've been making them since then.
I like comics because I can write just about whatever I want and I can combine both things I like which are writing and drawing

[caitlincrowe]

Cognrats on having the time to create! I'm so happy for you!

My mom owned a bookstore when I was growing up and I spent all my time there. I've always loved to read and write, but I only seriously turned to writing when medical issues made me drop out of law school. Since then I've finished three full-length novels and am trying to get one of them published!

[dewarcomics]

My brother and I love Cartoons and he drew his own comics. I'm his number one fan to this day! Just like every younger brother I eventually emulated my older brother and did my own comics too. I was always a big fan of webcomics way back in the day (early 2000's) and wanted to make my own but didn't have the means to post them online at time.

Now a days I mostly read Manga, comics and BDs. I take my own inspiration from any medium that tells a story and I try to figure out why it works (or doesn't). I also like to re-write movies that aren't very good but have potential in my in-between time between my off time. That's like a triple in-between lol.

[darkone4587]

A mix of boredom, depression, being broke, and having way to much time on my hands. Started with fanfiction and worked my way up to original stuff. Now it's a compulsion I can't help but fulfill.

[gmaximin]

I had to get some ideas and frustrations out of my system, and I had no other platform to get them out... Mostly around themes that my work or social circles would not understand the need to even question.
I use the visual format because at the time, I was struggling living between languages, so my thoughts were generally shaped in images... and now it’s an habit...

[Flauschwurm]

For drawing:

My beginnings came with Sonic Fancharacters. Haha~ But then also with other fan characters to shows like Happy Tree friends, Pokemon and Digimon.
I have always been drawing, but ~seriously~ started there. And I haven't stopped since.

For writing:

I guess it's kinda similar, except I've been writing Fanfics/original stories over fancharacters' stories.
I've been writing actually for longer than I've been drawing. I remember writing ever since I was like, 9 or so. I even joined a writing club in school. I've always loved it bc it's a great way to tell my characters stories and ideas, much more efficient and fast than via comics. I've drawn comics before, but it's very time consuming and I'm working a full-time job so I don't really have the time.

so I've come to a middle ground, writing and illustrating that is.

[elpenor]

first thing I remember being interested in was linguistics. I was fascinated by the fact that people communicated in fundamentally different ways. in middle school I accidentally stole a couple poetry books from the school library just 'cause I kept forgetting to return them, and that kicked off my interest in poetry. that eventually developed into a love for writing - which, oddly, never really coincided with a love for reading for me - and that eventually led to me getting my writing degree.

but I'm not a writer at the moment. I'm a comic artist. that came out of a similar love of art, just the appreciation that a person can visually represent something that doesn't exist. until this year, that was all doodles with pencils in the borders of notebooks and the like, but then I watched the 2018 She-Ra reboot and it inspired me so much that I started doing digital art. (really.) now I have a pretty sizable casual comic project and I've got a more narrative comic in the works to put my degree to use.

[Evalein]

Quick thanks to everyone who replied so far! I had a lot of fun reading what you all shared. ^^

@Dreams-of-Gaia
Thank you! And yes I'm planning on it. After seeing what's on the platform right now, I'm really inspired to do something. Once I have a vague plot, I'll just run with it haha
I'm sorry your peers and teachers soured your experience with novels, but I'm glad you were able to find another creative outlet in comics! There's so much more versatility in them. You can have a full page set up, vertical panels, horizonal panels, only 4 panels. There's really no limit to what you can do. c:

@caitlincrowe
Thank you ;-; and, how lucky you were! I loved going to libraries. I would have been so stoked if my mom had a bookstore. Your time in there paid off big time! I can't imagine writing 1 novel, let alone 3. Do you upload your work to Tapas? In any case, I wish you the best in getting published, and I hope your health is much better now.

@dewarcomics
Older siblings are the greatest! I can relate to bonding with your brother over comics and cartoons. It was the same for me and my older sister except with anime. We would draw together but she was way more into it and now she's too good. I have a lot of catching up to do. ;0;

@darkone4587
That combination is what got me back into writing. And I feel like you phrased it nicely as "a compulsion I can't help but fulfill." I've felt noticeably better since creating. I guess it just feels good to make something.

@gmaximin
Oh I know what you mean about thinking about things and wanting to discuss these things with others, but feeling that others won't find it nearly as interesting or important as you do. Writing/drawing/etc. is so helpful for sorting through my own thoughts. I hope you were able to find relief for your frustrations. And yes, images are wonderful for transcending language barriers. Sometimes you don't need words to get a message across. (:

@Flauschwurm
Eyy! I know all those fandoms! Pokemon especially. Loved making gijinkas
Now see, that's cool you had a writing club at school. I wish there was some kind of club like that at my schools, or that I knew people who were into writing so we could just bond over our characters and stories.
Yeah, unfortunately work doesn't leave a lot of room for other endeavors, so I'm really glad you've found a way to balance your passion for writing and drawing. ^^

@elpenor
Whoaa who would have thought that some poetry books in middle school would have lead to your comic series? I'm happy you followed your interests, and congrats on the degree. Your writing background will only boost your story telling and your appreciation for art will only boost your visual story telling!
I haven't seen She-Ra, but I did take a look at your comic! I was actually going to draw fanart of Vainglory and the blue girl (sorry idk/idr her name :c) after I saw that page of em smooching. Adorable. I also thought about drawing Vainglory cooking after that page with the eggs in the skillet. I'll pm you whatever I ended up doing ;v;

[DWaM22]

I made a bunch of Ace Attorney fancases of varying quality and it kind of just escalated from there.

[M.ComicFan]

I've been a fan of superheroes as long as I can remember. Eventually that got me interested in buying/reading comic books around 2015-2016. Not to long after that, I wanted to see if I could make my own comic book, but I couldn't come up with a concept that I could stick with. I did eventually come up with what would become the comic that I'm working on right now, but I soon realized that I couldn't physically publish it as a book (mostly due to how expensive it would be). It wasn't until earlier this year that I got introduced to the webcomic community, and realized that if I could finish my comic, then this is how I can share it. And so, I joined Tapas, and now I'm currently working on my comic to publish on Tapas for people to hopefully enjoy.

[NickRowler]

As a kid I would day dream of fanfic like stories based off of shows and video games I liked. At one point, I focused more on making more original characters. Around 4th or 5th grade, I tried to push myself to draw more. In middle school I discovered manga which opened my world to a different try of comic book writing, seeing how before than I never cared for superhero genre. In then started to keep a note book of comic doodles. This continued into high school. Through high school and college I started to look more into vintage and indie comics. Most of the comics I posted online during that time were very basic.

It wasn't until late college and after graduation that I got more into making longer webcomics, with one being based off one from my high school doodles.

From a writing sense, I have really bad dyslexia and was a very slow reader as a child. So most of my understanding of story telling came from shows and films. I am a bit obsessed with listening to people tell what they think about a film and what they would fix, be them a professional or just some average joe. It's a good way to learn story structure and what tropes tend to piss people off.

[elpenor]

that would be WILD! thank you so much for the offer! if you're interested, I can DM you a discord link to a fanserver where you could show your art off