Who Decides What You Create?

[swiftestgamer]

Hello, everyone. I've posted on the forums before with the question: "What Motivates You?". It's been awhile since then and I've felt the need to post yet another question that has been playing on my mind.

I first registered with Tapastic sometime in June (because I keep accurate records of dates and times). I wanted to start putting myself out there a little because I have my freshman year of university to attend in about a month.

Hopefully I can continue here even while that's happening.

Before I joined, I had all these ideas about what I wanted to do, but as soon as I logged in...

My mind went blank.

"What do people like, what do people even enjoy?" For awhile, I hadn't known, and I ended up thinking about the first thing that came to mind: Ears and Worms.

However, that wasn't the story that I had been hoping to create originally. I wanted to make something mysterious and existential; but I ended up going for something inherently "relatable". I think.

Basically: Is your comic the product of what you think people want? Or is it a product of what you want?

[J.Z.Castillo]

LMAO no! I draw what I want to draw and if people like it that's great! But if they don't, oh well, I'm not losing sleep over it. People are really good at smelling bullshit, too, they can tell when someone is not passionate about what they are doing, and doing things just for the likes or the subs or whatever. Besides, would you want to live like that? Doing the things other people want, not truly expressing yourself in your art? I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, there has to be a certain level of compromise, especially if you have clients and what not, but bottom line is that you always come first, more likely than not the clients you get are people who see you doing your thing and they feel it, that's why they hire/commission you, so remember that. Never compromise for others.

[swiftestgamer]

I see. That actually helped out quite a bit.

[miesmud]

I make what I want, so if people like it that is great! That makes me AND them happy.
If people don't like it? Too bad for them I guess, there's plenty of other comics here on Tapastic anyways.

[TheKawaiiGarden]

Always create things you want yourself, if you don't have any passion for what you are creating then why bother with it?

[joannekwan]

All my comics are a product of me, my tastes and my likes. If I don't like it, I won't draw it (unless you pay me).

Shoot, I don't even like drawing fanart of things I have no connection to. Like, I know if I draw Steven Universe or Undertale stuff it would get a lot of notes on tumblr. But I don't because I'm not familiar with those titles. I've only ever watched like 2 episodes of SU and I only played the first hour of Undertale.

[El_Psy_Congroo]

@mrjonzap Real talk.

My standard has always been (because I'm a hobbyist and don't do this for a living) to make something that I would love to read. That said, if you're suffering from writers block or can't think of a good story you can always look for a writer to collaborate with. Or, you could even illustrate a story that already exists. You can pick something from mythology or something from the public domain. I've always considered maybe remaking one of Shakespeare's stories. This is something artists do all the time and its an opportunity to throw in your own unique interpretation.

[nessiefynn]

Lol, it's all just what I enjoy writing and drawing. Whenever I draw or make something that I'm not very interested in you can smell the lack of passion right off the paper. I mean, I do try to make stuff that will appeal to an audience but for all of my works I make them because I think others will like them as much as I do.

[niinasalmelin]

I have done everything in my comic the way I want aaaaand now I'm sometimes afraid it's the exact opposite of what others want. But if it is so then so be it. I do them because I want to tell stories that touch me. Also if you get too focused on pleasing everyone you may lose that uniqueness your stuff has. For me this project is very personal so I keep it close to me. It could be that after this I can move to next comic, that I'll tailor to be better fit for audience I want, we'll see.

Some comics aren't for big audiences but more for small and passionate cult following. Neither is better or worse than other. It's just which one you prefer.

[MichelleAntisocial]

Nothing about me is done to appease anyone else, including my comic (seriously, if only you knew what I looked like..). I really really want to make something great that will be loved, but if I'm not telling a story I can relate to, I seriously doubt I'll ever be happy with it or honestly be even motivated to continue making it. That being said, it's risky to just make something you really love because if that love for your work isn't reciprocated by readers, it's soul crushing.. worth the risk though.

[WakaXO]

My comic is what I want to read. I kept looking for superhero comics with a female lead, mutation scenes and a diverse cast and didn't really find anything to my liking, so I though "why not just make my own?"

[Kura]

If I'm working for someone and getting paid to produce their idea, or if I'm contributing to group project then yeah, it's not going to be me that's making all of the decisions, (my involvement of course going to be different depending on the project). While for group projects, it's not going to be me that'll be making all the decisions.

For my webcomics which are done by me in every aspect, they are going to be what I want to do. The whole idea of me getting into webcomics in the first place was because I had the freedom to tell the story I want, and wasn't getting stopped with 'you can't do that' or 'you need more of this' or 'change that to that' and 'you need to change this because not enough people are going to relate or understand'

Of course when working on your own project, and this is true for both artists with lots of readers and artists trying to get readers, you're going to question what it is that people want or are expecting from you, as well as getting worried about turning people away / angering your readers if they react badly to the way you want to tell a story. After all, stories and comic fall under 'entertainment' and if people decide that you are not entertaining them in the way they would like they will leave.

Finding that fine line between entertainment and telling the story you want is difficult, for myself when balancing the two I will side with 'telling the story I want' for my own personal projects. If I wanted just to entertain someone and not worry about the direction, story and people deciding changes I would probably not be doing the enormous workload required to make a comic independently on my own.

It also helps to keep in mind that just because the story you want to tell may not be something the vast majority are interested in reading, it's very likely something someone in the minority would want to read or even NEED to read, and reaching out to them with stories they can enjoy is important as well.

[SpavVy]

I am the only one who decides what I create. If readers enjoy it then great! Sit back and enjoy the show! If people don't like it well then there's the unsubscribe button.
I enjoy having people leave comments, likes, subscribe and so on, and my readers are the reason why I keep creating. But they will have no say as to what's going to happen, who's straight or LGBT+, who ends up with who, or who I can't kill off.

[igneriss]

I create a story that I want. To be honest, I don't really know what people want, they want so many different things that it'd be too overwhelming to draw something they all would like CX It's not really relatable- at least not my main series, and at least it SHOULDN'T be relatable- my characters are kinda mean, double-faced and with shady past, so...

[indagold]

I dunno I do it for fun. I'm happy when people like it.

[AnnaLandin]

Is your comic the product of what you think people want? Or is it a product of what you want?

Definitely a product of what I want. I've long since reached the point of my personal creative journey that my general approach to making stuff is "if I like it, chances are someone else will too".

Because, you know, I'm a person. I like a lot of stuff. And if I can make art and stories that appeal to me, I have probably managed to make something that will appeal to others as well. And if it doesn't, well - then I will at least have created something that makes me happy, and at the end of the day, that's one of the most important things you can do.

Yes, worrying about what other people will think of your comic matters, and it is something that still concerns me, but only because a comic is a story. When you tell a story, you want to be sure that it gets across to your audience in a way they can understand and appreciate - but that should only have an impact on how you get to your goal, not why you do it. And even then, you are the final judge of your comic, and the one whose opinion truly matters.

[shazzbaa]

I mean, my goal is to communicate, so I'm not off in a corner creating incomprehensible art being like "I AM THE ONLY AUDIENCE THAT MATTERS" but yeah, the whole reason I started making this comic was to make this story real, to kind of..... express an experience.

So like, if I want to make a likeable character, my thought process isn't "what kind of character will people like" -- I have the character that I want to share already, and I think of it more as "what will allow people to see the best side of this character?" I do think about people's response to the work, but it's kinda in a different way. It doesn't determine what I create.

I feel like even fictional stories have a "truth" to them -- not in that they literally happened, but that you kind of gotta be honest to what you believe about the story and characters you're sharing. Like, if you try to make a happy ending because you think that's what people want, but you don't really believe those two characters could have a happy ending together, I think the ending will ring hollow. You have to tell the truth.

[okellymx]

I always draw what I want, even in freelance. If I don't want to draw it, I won't take the job. Except feet. I don't like drawing feet but I feel like people would want them

[jessicasurline]

I am a freelance artist and am currently working on Whetstone. Though it is not my baby I chose to work on it because I personally like the project. The scenes are mostly dictated by the writer but I am allowed quite a bit of artistic freedom. I balance what the writer wants to see and what I think the audience will find interesting. For a different comic I have had to put on pause, that one is my baby. I craft it the way I want but I don't forget the audience. I want the audience to feel certain things and that mostly comes from just putting what I feel on paper but I would be lying if I said I wasn't conscious of how the audience could interpret my imagery and words.

[69Michi]

If I'm working solo on a project, then the person who decide what I'll create is me, myself, and I alone. As much as I would like to please the crowd, people have such a diversity in their favorite genres/scenario/character development/plot development that I may as well spend an eternity and still won't get the right answer. I'm the type of person who works with the flow, if I'm feeling up to it, I will work on it, if I don't want to, no amount of effort will be given by me. Part of the reason why I usually don't really like working on commission is because I'm being told to draw what people want, and I'm not good with being told what to do with my art and my creativity.

I make my comic the way I want it to be, how I want to draw and how I want to tell the story. Sure along the way I might pick up some of my friends' and readers' idea and improve my comic maybe bending a little to their liking because hey I actually have a reader base now, but essentially I do thing how I want and if people don't like it, well, there are million other comics out there that they can read, I make my comics to connect with people that have the same taste as me, not forcing people to change their taste to suit me or me to change my taste to suit them.