Why do we do it?

[avalonmao]

yo i totally feel that...

[shaneoid77]

When I was young, comic art inspired me. I'd like to be that inspiration for someone some day. No amount of money or subscribers can top that feeling of when you've inspired someone for me.

[scythe]

What else are you gonna do?

[Shanny8]

I do it...coz I like it. Lol...

[avalonmao]

LOL this was everywhere in the art department in my highschool

[scythe]

Trust me, normies exist. I know plenty of them. They wake up, get the kids ready for school, go to work. Come home, eat dinner in front of the television, send the kids to bed, watch some more television with a quiet drink, then go to bed to start it all over again.

Normies, in my opinion, are in need of a hobby.

[demthorshie]

I ask myself this question at least every other day. If I didn't create something, it would seriously hurt my brain xD! Then I wouldn't be able to get my story out there, it might as well not exist all if I can't create a visual manifestation of it!

[indagold]

"normies" ... gosh darn those conforming sheeple non artists...

I just do it because I can. I do a lot of things because I can. I don't get super emotional about my work because it's just something I do either for fun or for a job. It's not my life blood. I'm not going to die if I don't draw. I care about my work, but I'm not acting like it's something magical and sets me apart from anyone else.

[nessiefynn]

I do it just cause I love creating! I have a lot of fun drawing and making comics, and it makes me happy when other like them as well! =D

[Puppisama]

Then.. Why do we writte novels? Why do singers sing? Why does the dog bark so much? We do it because we want, and we have to, otherwise our brains would rot. If I spent a day without imagining what happens in my comic, without telling the character story in my head, that day I'd be dead, I cannot stop paiting the character's lives on paper or thinking about their life, is just something that happens.

[UzukiCheverie]

I'm not gonna lie, considering the fact that I grew up in a very less than desirable environment and family, if it weren't for Time Gate acting as a creative coping mechanism throughout my childhood and teenage years, I'd be dead by now. I know I'm usually cheeky about those sorts of things but it's 100% true.

[kkitty]

-As someone that used to pump out one drawing a month, it forces to me finish about thirty-forty in a week.
-The comments. I ALWAYS wanted comments on my artwork but I never got them, but when it's a comic, you're bound to get a lot more every time you update.
-Giving my life a purpose. If I don't have anything to do, I don't waste it, I use it to draw, so when the summer is over I don't feel like an empty shell that accomplished nothing.
-Getting used to coming up with a narrative and creating characters, and learning how to get around creative obstacles.
-Something to show to a future interviewer if I'm going for a creative job.

[candaceandco]

Loving all the replies so far! Actually, I kept calling non-cartoonists "normal" just to be sarcastic. Truth is, NO one's "normal", despite how often some folks insist that they are! I love making cartoons, but I also love READING them, too! So I'm always on the lookout for your material!

[timinabox24]

I'm glad I'm not the only one :'D

[deceriacomics]

The primary reason I started making comics was to force myself to produce art on a regular basis. I obsess over every detail of my traditional art and I'd typically get stuck on a single piece for months. Then I'd feel like shit for not getting anything else done. Enter comics. For me, they're not super serious, so they don't need to look perfect. I post twice a week, so it's cool to look back and see how much I've gotten done. Even if my comic style is drastically inferior to my illustration style, progress is progress.

The secondary reason is because I have so many little ideas in my head that won't go away until I spew them out in a strip. My imagination is always throwing random stuff at me all day, and comics are a good outlet. I love reading comics, so it's awesome to create stuff that other people potentially love as well. I would make them either way, but it's a major bonus when people look at them and think they're funny and relatable, or weird and cool.

[NickRowler]

OK...tho I don't think it is fair to call cartoonist "not normal" and non-cartoonist "normal". Mostly because I once met a bunch of nerdy people who labelled themselves as "unpopular" and they went around being assholes to people they considered "preps" or "popular" despite these people doing nothing to attack these "unpopular" people. And why am I bring this up...well, I was one of the people they labelled as "preps" because I wore Forever 21 clothes.

Though, back on topic. I draw because I feel it is my only way to really interact with people. I live very isolated and I don't really have much in the way of friends. So my comic is a way to open up and tell people about myself.

[avalonmao]

Same! Even "after hours" when I'm not drawing my stupid webcomic I think up backgrounds for each of my characters. It really does not end.

[monotone_ink]

To leave something great behind before I eventually kill myself.

Actually, scratch that, I can't even make anything good - it'd feel disrespectful to leave behind literal shit before going.

[miseryhunting]

Oh, monotone_ink, don't do it I don't even know your name, but this is a dark place to be, my friend, I've been there and life changes. Give yourself a chance.

[russell_m_ols]

I've always like Delueze and Guattari's explanation: We're all composed of desiring machines, coupled together. These machines are driven by the desire to be productive. If the drive to be productive is not fulfilled, which in modern society it isn't (most of us aren't toiling day in and day out for survival (and I mean literally toiling ala building a home, growing and hunting for food, making babies),then that impulse to be productive finds alternative outlets. For those of us who like to tell stories using images (cave-painters), that's what we do. If we didn't do that, our little desiring machines would start breaking down, and broken people are not happy people. If we get rewarded for our productivity, so much the better. But pay or no pay, we keep at it until the desire to produce ebbs away or we find another way to fulfil our needs.