It's unusual for the American comics industry - in Sweden, doing everything yourself is standard and expected.

I do everything myself, because that's the kind of thing I've grown up thinking is normal. Also, I really, really love telling stories and drawing, and with comics, I get to do both at the same time. Awesome!

As for why it's very common for webcomics... Well, most of us are doing this in our spare time, and making little to no money off it. We can't pay collaborators for their time and work, and expecting a bunch of people to work for free - especially if you aren't already good friends - isn't really realistic. Doing everything ourselves becomes the easiest way to get something done.

As I previously mention in another thread, drawing for me, and visual representation in general, is very important, but it's also a medium with which I want to express my ideas. For as long as I could remember I loved stories, I loved characters, the journey, the developments, the twists , the feelings they would leave you with. I loved them in about every form they came in, books, movies, TV series, plays, cartoons and, of course, comics/manga. I always wanted to create something like that, and drawing was simply my chosen way of telling those stories.
I wouldn't like to work with a writer because I love making my own stories, and I wouldn't like working with another artist because I love drawing. Whenever I think of a scene, the image that will be in that panel immediately pops up and I want to draw it.
Now, I'm not completely against working with someone else, there are benefits to that too. If I would though, I'd chose to collaborate with a writer while I do the drawing. Not because the writing part means less to me than the drawing part, but because I don't want to give up my story ideas for someone else to draw

About me, I've done both, own projects and collab projects

For example that one project I am doing with my boyfriend. It's fun, because it started as a RP, and then we were adding stuff to it, like actual world building, new characters, concepts, mechanics, politics, geography etc.
And the one project that I am doing with a team of people. I created a world with a main plot, and they give me character designs, backstories, additional plot ideas, and so on.

The beauty of collabs is that whenever you get stuck with plot holes, there's that other person that gives you the needed suggestions. Or you deliver an idea, and the collaborators add to it their own 5 cents and the idea grows. Or the collaborators have something brilliant to add, or point out things that don't make sense. There's only as much as you can do alone, and having a team will help you to grow.

But there's also a lot of projects I do on my own. And the beauty of doing things by yourself is that you don't have to ask others if it's ok to do things your way, or waiting for others to have time for the stuff. Because working with groups doesn't always go smoothly and there's some arguing sometimes.
You have the freedom to decide how the story flows, and at your own pace. No stress. But as said, you may get stuck at some point and break your head over things.

What I said above goes for the plot, concept art and world building. If it comes to actually drawing the comics, coloring and lettering, I do it by myself. Mostly because others don't have time, or aren't drawing at all (writers).
And on the other hand I like to be in control of the panels and pages, and how to portray them best.
But I do ask for help with dialogues and proofreading. And color suggestions.

This is lame, but I've never had a friend who had the right combination of ability and trustworthiness that would make them a useful collaborator. My current comic was a project with a friend at first. I made all the concept art, started writing a rough of the story, and then she dropped off the face of the earth and cut off all communications because she just forgot to. My other friends have no interest in comics whatsoever, or they don't know how to write, or they don't like schedules...

If I work by myself, I can keep my own schedules, not have to compromise ideas, and can be totally self indulgent with the plot, characters... everything!

I DID recently go to a convention looking for a writer/collaborator. What I found were a bunch of pretentious guys who wanted to talk down to me and weren't really interested in my art (because its 'not the work of a professional' even though... they weren't professionals either... ) and no one had any interest working on an existing series in exchange for me working on theirs. So, what can you do? :''D I'd love a collaborator so I could slow down my process a bit and spend less time stressing over writing or coloring, but there's just no one interested in the right combination of things for this comic that would make a partnership valuable.

Also like Anna Landin said above, it's really an American thing. I started making comics in Finland, where it seems everyone is making comics all the time, and they're not doing them in teams! Now that I'm in the states, I still don't meet too many people making comics in teams because I'm just more interested in alternative presses and zines. Most my favorite artists are doing it themselves, so I guess I will too!

I work with a collaborator. The way we started working together is a bit unusual though - original characters and concept were started by me, but I struggled to make it into an actual story. I was very lucky to find a writer who was willing to build a story using some of my ideas, and i think that's the reason why our collaboration is working. I find it difficult to work with writers who have their own script I can't touch in my free time, as it honestly just feels like a job - I imagine it's the same for most webcomic creators, too. If you're gonna sink in hundreds of hours into something, you want to have a bit of you in it

It's uncommon from the mainstream comic industry because having a team of workers is common practice. See, back when Marvel and DC were still in their grassroots days, we didn't have a beautiful thing called the Internet. If you wanted your work to be seen, you either a.) had to be a part of a bigger company, b.) had to be part of a newspaper, or c.) just had to share your work and hope that your work was good enough that word-of-mouth would do the job for you - in fact, all three of these scenarios you had to be good at making comics, to be accepted into a company or a newspaper, or for people to hear about your work and be interested enough in the art and content to keep reading it and support you.

Now that we have not only the Internet, but platforms like Tapastic, SmackJeeves, LINE Webtoon, etc. we've opened up an entire network for comic artists to let their voice be heard - and their art to be seen. And this network has been opened to hidden geniuses, artistic talents, writing gurus; and the other side of the coin, two-bit DeviantArtists, kids who their moms don't criticize because they're their parents and so the kid never actually improves, and cookie-cutter Tumblr comics, some that are popular but are actually garbage, some that are popular and deserve every ounce of it, some that aren't popular but probably SHOULD be, and comics - not even just on Tumblr, but in other comic locales too - that are just so fundamentally broken and terrible that it's a wonder that they exist at all lol

There's no necessarily "right" or "wrong" way to do a comic. You'll notice that this difference stems further than just Internet exposure - Japanese mangaka's are known for doing their work on their own, albeit with some assistants to help with the annoying garbage like screentones and effects, but they do all the character art, storyboarding, writing, and big illustration pieces on their own. Meanwhile, the western comic industry seems to need someone for EVERYTHING - sketching, inking, coloring, layout, BG colors, effects, etc. - and while it's nice to have a team to help you, I do think they go a bit overboard sometimes - the more you divide up a team, the more problems you could have in the future if two of those people decide to go AWOL, and you have a lot more employees to pay for smaller jobs.

So there's no necessarily "right" or "wrong" way to do it - if you're stronger as a writer, and know this full well, there's no harm in seeking an artist to help you, especially because learning to draw yourself takes years of practice that you may not have or care to put into; this goes for the reverse as well (if you're an artist but suck at coming up with stories and such).

I'm more of a fan of working on my own because 1.) It means I don't have to pay anyone to do a job that makes nearly squat, 2.) I don't have to put up with teammates not adhering to deadlines (which they won't take as seriously because again, not getting paid), and 3.) I don't have to put up with teammates at all lol While I certainly don't mind collaborating for special events and fun things (ex. the Tapastic Christmas special thing we did this year) - networking and getting to know people is an important part of being a comic creator - but when it comes to my own work, which I've poured years into just coming up with let alone drawing, I'd like to tackle it on my own, without having to worry about limitations from teammates or managing other people. Maybe some day I'll get an assistant or two, but for now, when I'm only doing this comic for free, I just want to enjoy creating my work without the limitations I listed above - adhering to my own deadlines, knowing when I can and can't work, and just keeping track of those essential things - the creator actually creating the work.

That just applies to my specific situation though. I know creators who work on teams and in studios together and they do it great It's just not my cup of tea for now.

argh really! I wonder if anyone really has a good convention networking experience! :"D well, mine was mostly good, but still! So much rudeness from people.

Actually, I think it's just something about the writer personality. They want only professional artists (and I am a professional, I would say! but apparently not professional enough for someone just my age with a script < _ < ) and they mostly want to demand people rather than collaborate. Maybe that's to be expected a little, but I tend to find its the writers who are lacking the most skills who get to be so dictatorial... Guess i'ts compensation : D

I'm used to working in a tiny video games studio, and we all sort of collaborate on each other's jobs. Like if someone makes a really funny joke, it doesn't matter if they're the Official Writer, it can go into the game. And then it seems like I would hope too much to see this happen in the form of a comic....

I love collaborating! I'm a writer, so my perspective is a little different than most folks' here. I typically handle story, script, layout, promotion/advertising, business, editing, hosting, publishing ... it's a lot. People who do all of that AND do all of the art themselves kind of blow my mind. It's an intense amount of work to do and keep to a regular schedule. Right now:

I'm writing my webcomic, Atonement, collaborating with an artist from South Africa.

I'm writing I, Necromancer for print, collaborating with an artist from Poland and a cover artist from Sweden.

I'm writing a 22 page comic short for a sci-fi anthology titled All The King's Men, collaborating with the anthology's Australian artist and editor.

Collaboration is addictive to me. To get to work with many super talented people from all around the planet (I'm a city-dwelling American) is an incredible experience. To write something and see that not just come alive, but become something greater than the sum of its parts because of artists' interpretations and their ideas elevating the story beyond what I've done ... it's extremely satisfying for me. I think the things that help me:

• I'm organized and don't go looking for partners to work with until I have developed something significantly.

• I think about how any given project can be monetized and pursue those avenues so that I can ensure that a) I can pay the artists, and b) I can pay myself, and c) I can recooperate any initial investments that I make to get the project rolling. Between print publishing, gumroad, Kickstarter, Createspace, Patreon, etc -- there are a lot of different avenues toward accomplishing monetization for comics.

• I treat my scripts and story with a lot of passion, and try to find the right stories for the right collaborators -- and vice versa.

• My background is in stage theatre and film, primarily, and those processes are extremely collaborative by nature.

I'm in awe of folks who can do it all by themselves. And while I can see having negative experiences with collaborations making people wary of trying it, in my small handful of experiences have only been positive. Besides the artist that I work with on Atonement, all of the other great folks that I've worked with I've found right here on Tapastic. And there are numerous others here that I'm hoping to find ways to work with in the future!

And, at least for me, that's unbelievably cool.

I work alone personally because I can only really make a comic from something I feel really passionate about, and working with another person as an editor I wouldn't mind, but as a writer or artist I feel like I would get too pushy for what I want to do.

I think I work alone because I have already hoarded the two 'coolest' jobs for myself: script and pencils. Well, coolest in my eyes, of course. Although, digital inking is pretty fun, as is coloring... and special effects.. It's mine! Stay away from it! I want it all!

Kidding aside, story and art have always been hardwired together in my mind. I can't think of any story I've wrote that didn't have a visual element and I can't think of a single drawing that I've done which didn't turn into a story. Even anatomy studies turned into stories. So, doing both the story and art is just natural for me. I realize that doesn't translate into being particularly fast or proficient with either, it's just how my brain works.

Ok, this is something that I have a fair amount of experience in. Until I started NO-Earth, I had never worked on a comic by myself, having usually done inking, colours, and/or pencils for other people. Writing was something I came late to, and since I learned to write, it's something that I have been concentrating on, so that I am now capable of doing all of the standard 'jobs' in a comic.

But NO-Earth is being built on the idea of collaborations, and we are spending a lot of time and effort to figure out the best way to make these work in a setting of a shared universe and in the world of webcomics. There's a few things I've learned (and am still learning)

1. Leave the egos out of it. The fact is, this is the biggest problem that I see when dealing with collaborations. For the most part, unless a person has a name that sells comics, the ego is not justified to begin with. Even then, it's going to do nothing but interfere with the collaboration. Prima Donnas and Divas ruin more collaborations than anything else.

2. Have a goal and a road map to get there. If you are a writer, this means a script before you go looking for an artist. If you are an artist, this means concept, concept art, and a clear idea of the story you want written before you go looking for a writer.

3. Communication is key. A collaboration (as opposed to simple work-for-hire) requires a lot of communication between the people on the team. It requires openness and honesty concerning one's feelings about the project, and the various things going on as it evolves.

4. Compromise is important. In the most ideal situation, each of you are contributing ideas that build towards something better than either could do on their own, but that's the ideal. In reality what's more likely to happen is that some of your 'good' ideas are going to be replaced by the other person's 'better' ideas. There's going to be arguments about that unless you go in with the right attitude.

5. Remember than a collaboration is a time of growth. Use it as such, and not just a chance to stagnate.

Eagle
(Just some thoughts)

I work with an artist, because I can't draw very well. I started off trying to do my comic alone - in the form of a serial story but I much prefer script-writing to actual prose. I also love the idea of making my story a visual thing. A nice thing about working with somebody else is that they can bring their own ideas to the project as well - which I think every collaborative project should do, once two creators are involved it no longer belongs to one sole person I think.

My initial plan was to write and draw my own things, but a studio mate asked me to write their comic, and then another couple of friends did as well. I simply find myself much more in demand as a writer than an artist.

I like the collaborative energy. I still try to draw my own stuff whenever I can, but most of my time is spent on the writing.

For me, the secret of collaboration is knowing the strengths of your collaborator and their passions. If you write things they want to draw, they will always bring passion and joy to a project.

I write/and draw Whose World by myself because there's not much to do in terms of writing. I'm still open to the idea of doing a few strips with people if they have ideas and whatnot.

Whatever makes creating more fun! ^_^

I realized a while ago that despite having ideas I was passionate about, I could not write. I still try. At some point, I was looking for a writer, but I had no friends who could do that and working with someone online would have been too complicated cause I am rarely available online working 2 jobs and studying at Uni.
I recently met a friend who turned out to write short stories and she was super into the idea of working together, but scheduling is keeping the project at bay for the time being. I am optimistic though. :]