Why continue a story when you don't have viewers?

[AshKetchup]

My comic is quite random, so I understand if I don't have many viewers or subscribers reading it. But I still have fun making it, and that's pretty much all the motivation I need for making comics

That and forcing my friends to read it whenever a new episode comes out XD

[davidechoe13]

I keep doing it because i know i'll get better. writing and drawing is something that i have decided that i am going to do. I think everyone, and i do mean everybody who writes or does comics has feelings like these. I'm like the most ridiculously motivated person that i know! But in the end it will be those people who keep pushing on no matter what that become successful, there's work involved yeah, you might have to change a few things, but you'll have kept going.

It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.
- Confucius ,

[iddqd]

Just remember: everyone is famous to 14 people on the Internet. If you're there, then you're doing fairly well. If you want it to get better, my take on it is you need a sizeable chunk of material (let's say, 50 pages or more), and effort put into advertising, attending cons, and social media presence. I have been working on my comic for 2.5 years now, and I have something like 70 viewers here on Tapastic. Is it worth the effort? You tell me. One thing I know - when I reach a good number of pages, I plan to dump some cash into advertising, but before then, I have to sit tight and keep working to improve my craft. I think there's a reason all the famous cartoonists have balding heads.

[illizard]

I think, it's more "If to stop" question, rather than "why continue". I've had the same doubts not a long ago (actually, when introduced my comic here, on Tapastic) and there's the answer I gave myself -

Ok, Lizard, you faced the horrible truth - your comic, probably, isn't great. People see it and walk away. And it's time to consider, what is your comic to you. Is it just a Hobby? Are you doing it for your own amusement, and it's no different from a papercrafts or glueing models? But if you concerned with readership, it's probably not just to kill some time. So, Is it a business? You hope to have some kind of income from cartooning, so you invest into your comic - time, knowledge, actual money (domain, server space, promotion, maybe printing costs) and you want to get something out of your investment. And when you see that you don't have what it takes to go (semi)professional - possibly you should stop. Unless - you consider your comic as a School. Your comic might become your very own Center for Cartoon Studies (or Kubert school - depends what kind of comics you are into). You still investing time, money and effort. But the knowledge and experience is what you get in return. And then you should stop only if you don't wanna learn.

I still want to learn a new things, and I like my character and I believe in it's potential - so I choose to carry on. =)

[illizard]

If you just stop, and the opportunity to advertise comes up, you won't have anything to show for it then.

Exactly! I couldn't agree more - any particular comic can get a small amount of attention, but the undrawn comic gets no attention at all.

[insomniascrawl]

It's frustrating putting time and work into something and feeling like there's no payoff, yeah, but for me I love writing, I love art. I wanted to write something that would grow into the kind of thing I really wanted to read when I was younger, or really needed to hear when I was younger. Even if 1 or 2 people are the only ones who takes something away from my stuff even if it's just a chuckle, I'm alright.

When you want to quit, remember why you started. Tends to help me.

[Hellicat]

Sometimes we think about it the wrong way, like making money or becoming famous. The more I get myself on this wonderful comunity, the more I just want to look for friends or people who I can share ideas with, I know, maybe there are people who do this for a living, but, you can always enjoy it even if it's a job, right?

Love to see this post became more than I expected

Cheers!

[ToonDoctor]

I know this will sound harsh but... you just started your comic less than a week ago. If this is all that it takes to discourage you, understanding that there are thousands of comics here, established, competing for the same viewers, then maybe you should stop now.

It's too early in the game for you to make such a call, unless your heart isn't in it.

@sophiejantak said it differently but if it's a struggle for you now, stop before you are too disappointed.

I know that this is not the advise that you want. You'd probably rather have me have pity for you and encourage you to keep at it. I usually do for other creators, but not for someone who has like just a few pages and has been around less than a week.

If it had been a year and you were in such a situation, my reaction would be different. But you haven't even started...

You have a distinctive voice but you don't seem to have the patience to let it develop.

[Hellicat]

Oh no, you misunderstand me, this is not my case. I'm full of
ＤＥＴＥＲＭＩＮＡＴＩＯＮ, just wanted to create this topic to encourage others with my own joy, and of course, the experience of others that have more time making comics!

; ) i'm not offended, but animated. Also thanks for checking my work

[PurpleGround]

When you want to quit, remember why you started. Tends to help me.

HA!! this is my reminder words to my self too!!

[Vikiro_Hop]

I don't think any creator should look at any project is the one that is going to get them where they want to be. BUT there are so many comics that I could tell had a slow start that grew into something amazing. Basically I know that if I get tired of laboring away with one story or comic that I can shift my energy to another. I think a lot of people get too invested in their series and don't allow them to grow the way they should and get stuck in a rut.

I've made a lot of strides with my art since starting my comic, but I am constantly frustrated that my comic doesn't have any real substance (it's a gag a day of sorts) I continue It mostly at this point because it's a challenge and all that I have time for.

[Doubtcent]

Well the hardest part of making anything is starting. However if you're past that, the second hardest part in creating is just sticking with it, even if your number count is low.

For if you don't start, you can never find out where you are, and you can never improve. And you can never improve if you don't keep moving forward.

My art used to look like this:

Just a total train wreck looking back on it. I didn't know how bad I was until I got better, and I didn't get better until I kept going.
Now I make stuff like this:

So if you persevere, you will find yourself getting better if you put enough effort in getting better.
I'm not anywhere close to perfect, but at least I can spot where I need improvement.

[Hellicat]

You improved a lot! I like the colouring, hope I can color my strips someday ; )
Daily dosis of determination for me!

[shaylafarley5]

Tip: I had to post links to every site I'm on. Hoping they would click on it and give it a chance.

When I first started drawing I was just drawing for fun. Then my friends use to read my comic or looked through my sketch book and told me to try art galleries and cons.

But I felt my art wasn't good enough (still am). But after a while from reading manga I've found sites of webcomic done by odinary people like me.

So I decided to make a comic to, for the first few days I only got a few view before I started to get readers. And seeing new subscribers suprises me because that means that there are people out there who enjoy my work

[UndefinableCreature]

Personally, I don't really worry about subscribers. I tend to create for myself.
I would want to share it with others. Give them a different perspective, without forcing them to subscribe or whatsoever. If they want to, then okay.
If they don't want to, then okay.

But it is important to communicate with your readers no matter what.

[imagni]

It sounds gumpy but I do it for my characters more than anyone. Like I have a huge story and world to create, simply to get it out my head. If I was my only reader I'd still enjoy reading it myself. Back before the internet was a thing I'd draw huge comics as a kid and only be able to share them with a couple of my school friends. These days I'm spoiled. But I appreciate it all.

[chanalli]

I agree, when you create original characters, they form a part of you and you want to see how much they grow.

[thomassayle]

OCD gotta finish it or it will always be in my mind haunting me.

[Jabbage]

When I was little I used to draw whole boxes of comic pages without feeling the need for anyone at all to see them. I just enjoyed making them and I enjoyed reading them back to myself later, and because I was a kid I had no expectation that they'd be anything more than that. I'd really love to get back into that mindset.

[CaptainUfo]

I started Captain Ufo for training, among other things. I started my career as a comic book artist, then the world economic crisis hit, a lot of small comics I worked for closed, so I had to start doing something else to pay my bills. I've never been happy with that, especially when I discovered how much of my art skills went down the toilet simply because I stopped using them. So I decided to start a webcomicto keep myself trained, and that's what kept me going even through the fisrt months, when no one cared about our series. Also, I'd hate to leave the story unfinished.