Your goal or payoff?

[carloswebcomic]

Continuing the discussion from The "Create For Yourself" Fallacy: I got curious. What are people's goals for making comics? What is your payoff? Do you want a career or are you just happy creating content?

To be honest, I don't want to make comics for a living. I don't think my blood pressure could cope with the stress.
I guess I just want to prove to myself that I didn't waste a good chunk of my life obsessively drawing silly pictures.
I've never been good at much, so I just want to show that I'm good at something.
My payoff is having people appreciating the work I do by reading, subscribing and, on a lucky day, throw a few bucks my way.

That's just me though. What are you looking for? Do you have a goal or you just in for the ride? What keeps you going and what will satisfy you?

[Cavechan]

Making comics for a living is my goal for sure. But as it stands now... it would be very, very difficult. Currently, I'm working full time as a graphic designer and it's a good career and definitely pays the bills. I don't mind it and enjoy it for the most part. But I'm not really a graphic designer. Where I should be is making or working on comics (manga).

[carloswebcomic]

It's a difficult journey but not impossible. If you are focused and work towards it, you might just get there.

[vothnthorvaldson]

• Learning new skills
• Learning new things while doing research for my comic
• Archiving the mess in my brain in a semi-ordered way
• Bringing something to others. It does not matter what I'm bringing (well, I hope not too negative...), or if it's 10 or 10000 persons.

[LCT_m_a_d]

Plants don't just need planters, they need a little light.
I wouldn't mind being some sun for them.

[joannekwan]

I would definitely like to earn a decent living from the work I produce.
But I'm not in dire straits that I have to work to the bone to even try to do that. I don't have any pressure to produce results.

Currently I'm just going at my leisurely pace, earning some 'treat yo-self' money, and I'm fine with that.

[carloswebcomic]

I'm not gonna lie, getting a bit of money on the side for some nice things can be pretty sweet.

[Tanako]

Honestly at this day and age making money from just your art alone is a long and HARD journey and the craziest thing about it is that you may not succeed. personally I'm a realist. its a good to be optimistic I get it. you have to have the mindset of making it if not you may fall along the roadside. but let's be honest. not much people succeed in this department. and for those who are seeking a quick way will learn the hard way. its tedious, it's very hard and you need patience.

I have chosen to keep being an artist as a hobby. I still hope that one day i will make more money from it because i do make sometime with my patreon supporters and thats what keeps me going but to be honest, i'm a realist. i have a full time job because i need to pay bills and student loans. i dont have time to rely on something that could succeed. i need to be successful in life and if i cant make it as an artist i need to make it elsewhere. however, i love what i do so it dosent matter. i share my work and continue to do it because it gives me pleasure. and if my viewers throw a bucks or two my way i most greatfully apperciate. and thats how it's always been for me.

[RiidDisBuk1]

Take a break. It's important to get your mind straight and blood pressure consistent. I saw your comic just now and your drawings are amazing. Don't waste your talent because of stress. I wish I can draw as good as you.

[RiidDisBuk1]

I wish I can draw as good as you. I'm sure you'll get there the more you go.

[silverraven0]

I would love to have comic as my life career because it is something I love. But getting the $ from comic is pretty hard, especially if you're pretty much unknown. I do enough with commission but I kinda have to put aside my comic and writing. Competition is also something to think about.

My payoff is to get my stories in papers, being read by others and be liked by many. Hopefully...

[sadghost]

I want to make a living from my comics.

I don't want to explain my reasons, it make sense to me, that's all i need.

[Shanny8]

I know I'll never make doing comics as a single career to make a living off of, but I would like to make a REALLY good penny off my comics & art that I wont have to stress about totally living off my RL job finances and/or ever have to stress about stuff.

I want to be able to go to cons and sell out merchandise and not have to lug heavy totes home. I want to be able to create merch on the fly and sell it online- especially during the holiday season. I want to get more patrons so that my Patreon can grow and I dont have to wait almost an entire year to snag money out of it.

ESPECIALLY THE FIRST ONE- It's been over a year since the last time I did really really well at a con and closed the weekend with a super big smile on my face.

[GesuGesu]

I just like creating content. I tell myself to stop and focus on one thing, but I keep making more and more projects with no end in sight, only because I thought it was a fun idea to play with.

I'm the type of creator who has many projects, and many of them dropped of incomplete when my interest runs out and I switch to another project. My readers hate me.

[carloswebcomic]

I just like creating content. I tell myself to stop and focus on one thing, but I keep making more and more projects with no end in sight, only because I thought it was a fun idea to play with.

I'm the type of creator who has many projects, and many of them dropped of incomplete when my interest runs out and I switch to another project. My readers hate me.

Ha! Tell me about it!
You're not the only one, believe me. I'm even listed on the TV Tropes website as an attention deficit creator and as a serial offender of orphaned webcomics!

[irene_addler]

I am hoping that doing my comic helps me be brave enough to continue to share my stories. That they're good enough, and people like them, even if not a whole lot of people read them. Maybe someday I'll try to get something published as a novel. That's really my dream, I guess, that something I write is good enough to be published as a novel.

[LCT_m_a_d]

@Kimoisempai and @carloswebcomic
I am glad to see you guys are trying to figure it out. The path isnt always clean but it does reward those who endure and adjust.

[claiborneart]

My goal's definitely to make comics a full-time career. I know even if I do make it webcomics won't be the most stress-free or lucrative career, but I'd be able to do nothing but comics full-time every week, which is the real payoff.

[AceRagz]

I think the biggest thing for me is...I'm bored. If someone told me I would get bored playing video games all day 8 years ago I would have laughed. But here I am eight years into self employment and I'm bored playing video games all day. I collect the rent off my properties and then I have nothing to do so I've been looking for things to fill my day with. The other thing is I missed making comics with my best friend and that's what I'm doing now. Also finishing the story the two of us started sixteen years ago.

[ben]

I’ve been drawing comics full time for the past few years so mainly my goals are to maintain it and be able to buy a house soon.

I wouldn’t really call it a “goal” but one of my milestones is sort of in the middle of happening right now and there is a pilot of one of my comics being made. There’s no guarantee of anything at this stage but there’s been enough interest in it that I feel pretty good about the chances of it getting picked up somewhere but who knows!

And honestly the thing that gets me excited about that is that with animation money I could just buy a house, start a family, and continue making the work I wanna make because my main focus is and always will be comics above all else.