Why do you create?

[caitlincrowe]

Why do you create your art or writing? I write because I feel compelled to do so and it clears my head. But my best friend writes because she feels obligated to use her degree. What other reasons are there?

[domisotto]

To escape into my own worlds

[CarltonIsaac]

Started off as a hobby, and now it's a profession.

[cherrystark]

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes about creation and is the best way I can explain why I am an artist.

“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we. each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.”

[elpenor]

I wish it was for some purely artistic reason, like I have stories within me and I need to express them. unfortunately, the reason is that I feel the need to make things that make other people recognize my individuality and personhood, since we live in a world where people don't do that unprompted

[caitlincrowe]

That's so cool! Out of curiosity, what type of writing do you do professionally?

[MoseyP]

I love reading mysterious and scary stories, it inspires me to write! Also, I've been creating stories since I first learnt how to write. It's been a part of me for a long time.

[rajillustration]

If I don't I get super depressed. It's just a thing I love to do.

[CarltonIsaac]

That's so cool! Out of curiosity, what type of writing do you do professionally?

Mostly non-fiction, some fiction. Been a freelance writer and illustrator for over ten years now.

[kkaawmics]

When there's a story brewing in my head, it needs to leave . So writing is just the best way to do that and then I can enjoy the story since it now exists. Drawing though I think is more of a relaxing/exciting process that just brings me joy.

[allenT]

I born to create. I AM a creator. If I don't do something for a week i'll feel depressed and disgusted that i am some purposeless braindead people.

We are creators.

[thel3tterm]

Its interesting to see how many people are in a similar boat that I am.

I create because it's like I'm compelled to. I just can't NOT create or I feel like I'm growing stagnant.

[CurryXSake]

I create as a means to express myself. I have a hard time doing that in real life, so I use art and writing to speak for me. It's also fun!

[But_a_Jape]

As a kid, I'd always get scenes or stories in my head and they would be so vivid that I'd run around and act them out whenever I had the privacy to. Sometimes characters would pop in my mind and I'd really want to see what they looked like - the only way I could was to draw them.

As an adult, I still get these urges. Honestly, it gets pretty distracting because I really want to move around and act out my stories. I've found that once I create these scenes as an illustrated comic, the urge goes away - I can finally see the idea that was trapped in my brain for so long. I've still got a bunch of these ideas though, some of which have been trapped in my head for years, and now I'm just trying to get them out so they'd stop bothering me.

[ar-ninetysix]

My reasons have changed as time went on. Different mediums too. My writing started with lyrics for my music as a hobby, but then kinda changed into a necessary coping method. My issues got resolved after, and I kept writing because I enjoyed being productive in that way. Then I kinda went into writing for a terrible animation pitch I had, that changed to comics, then novels, back to comics again.. Ironically, nothing got finished once I strayed from lyrics lol

I just like crafting stories tbh it's kinda tough and sometimes I'm not motivated to do it at all, but I do enjoy the challenge of approaching it compared to my main passion of music. I imagine once I finally get to a finished comic that it'll be like one of my proudest moments in life far as being creative goes, and I'm looking forward to that~

[Crusoe]

It's because I need to. I'd be very depressed and unhappy if I couldn't. I have been creating stuff since I was like 3 and I basically just never stopped.

Depending on the context it can have a different reason. Sometimes I'm bored, sometimes it's escapism, sometimes it's because I want to leave something behind. Most times it's just because.

[dewarcomics]

I also feel compelled to tell these stories from my mind. Also this may sound a little morbid but I don't want to leave this world and never putting my stories out there for people to see. Even if it's not popular in my lifetime maybe there's a chance that it will survive beyond me and it will be like the case with Frankenstein where it grows insanely popular many years after the original author's lifespan.

Ideally I would prefer it get's popular while I'm still alive haha. But If I may also be completely honest, I'm content with just making my stories for me. When I post them online I fell like my creation is now "canon" to the world of Fiction. It's not just a story in my head anymore, it's out there where other's can see it and hopefully get inspired by it.

[impossiblesoul]

I write about things that bother me while spicing it up with appealing tidbits. "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." Freudian wish fulfillment with a cold side of harshness. I know reality isn't what I want it to be, but somewhere between the nightmares and dreams there's a place that's not all that bad - and it's at my desk tapping away to make a story.

As I write, I find myself on a journey trying to develop my own ideology with which to thread the difficult needle of a brutal reality. I hold values I want to express to the world, and I also like the thought that other people will be inspired by what I write. I'm self-aware that these values may come off as preachy, yet it just wouldn't feel right if every meal I baked was a sugar rush with little nutritional value for myself.

[Mallory]

I draw and write because it's physically painful if I don't.

I've struggled with neuritis and neuropathy for years and there were times where the pain prevented me from being creative for months. It would literally be more painful than the affliction itself. I farted away a lot of time in my late teens and early twenties not writing and drawing; I vowed I'd never let that be a thing again after I physically could not be creative and regretted all that time I wasted. You never know what life throws at you; I'd rather not approach it from a point of regret.

[tiereill]

Because reading helped me understand myself better, and it took a WHOLE lot of it. So, I kind of hope it can do the same for others, to help them connect —even for a second— with something within themselves they didn't know was there. Or that they did know was there, but needed a reflection of itself to be clearer.

I also do it because art is fun. Isn't it? Despite all the insecurity or mess around any creator, it is fun to make things and great to see how it makes others feel.