Why are we doing this?

[Diospyros]

Hi everyone, new here.

I have a question for all of you (old-timers, new-timers, and medium-timers alike):

Why?

So, I've been working on my comic's layout, etc. and I'm not yet through the stash of panels I made before signing up, but I'm getting the feeling that I've only begun to grasp the fact that making a webcomic is a wwwhole lotta work. Now, I obviously wouldn't be here if I didn't think it was worthwhile. I'm not asking people to justify themselves. In fact, I'm seriously contemplating quitting my job, abandoning all my friends, and moving into a cave with wireless internet to better focus on making my comic the best it can be.

I'm just curious, what makes it worthwhile for all of you. Do you just have a story/style of humor etc. that you want people to see? Do you want your site to become popular? Are you hoping to go professional (if you're not already) and make a living? Or is your comic mostly for friends? Is it to improve your drawing/writing? Because you're bored? Is it the result of a drunken bet?

Since I'm asking other people to spill.. I'm doing this because I need to get over my fear of negative comments on my work (mostly writing, until the creation of this comic).

I didn't see any discussion like this, but sorry if this question has already come up, been dissected, and had its organs weighed within living memory. Feel free to smack the topic down if that's the case, Mods.

---Diospyros kaki

[Cope]

We did have a topic like this, but that was months and months ago...and besides, subjects like this are pretty cyclic.

Anyway, the main reason I'm pushing forward right now is that I'm determined to complete my comic and defeat it.

[Tarts]

Well, as far as I remember, I do comics because it's fun. I've been doing (crap) comics since I was nine, and I'm still doing it now. I don't know when it'll stop being fun, but when it stops being fun, I'll stop.

As for the work load, yes, it takes quite a lot of power, effort, and creativity to make that first GIANT step, like making a site, making that first hook that leads to the first storyline, getting your first fans/haters and whatnot. But maintaining it after launching it will be one of two things. Maintaining it is the real bitch though. It takes little effort, because all you have to do is to keep drawing, but it takes a LOT of heart.

Seeing as you have about fifteen or so comics in your archive, you're still making that first, exciting step in your comic. Enjoy it while it lasts, and you better find a reason to continue your comic. Because sooner or later, that'll be the only thing keeping your comic from fading to black.

Wow. That was a mouthful. >.<

[Deathbringer]

Bah, at least i webcomics you work for nothing, go into self publishing only if you have a REAL sense of humour

[McDuffies]

Because if I wasn't, I'd go crazy.
Creating is a neccessity, like eating, sleeping or social life.

[Rhenny]

I do it because I have to. I have this feeling inside to tell a story and when im not doing it I get cranky. We were discussing this last night over dinner, pretty much it comes down to the desire to create and step away form my own problems and make an odd little world with a mostly nuerotic super heroine who is trying to balance life, school and missing mentor issues while discovering her own identity.

But bascially, I just have to.

[Yeahduff]

Fuck comics. Let's dance.

[EvilFlea]

I started drawing/collaging concepts that amused me, stuck on the internet, and my friends liked them so I kept doing them. I've always come up with stories and the like because I've always enjoyed doing it. And it's something else to devote myself to that I wholly enjoy and to take my mind off the things that really matter ("matter" as in "allow me to eat", rather than *really* matter).

And I too dream of earning money from it, and enough of it, if not to quit the dayjob entirely, at least to downgrade from teacher to the far more rewarding and less stressful (but badly paid) role of teaching assistant.

[Edit] Oh yeah, I also write and perform comedy with friends and do theatre stuff too. Basically I'm an attention-seeking whore.

[Warofwinds]

Because I have a story to tell and I want others to enjoy it with me. A webcomic is the easiest, fastest, cheapest way to accomplish my goal. And they're waaay more popular than say, um, a "webnovel?" hehehe.

[Fishies]

Because it's fun!

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

I don't know. I don't even know anymore. It's something to do I guess.

[Alschroeder]

Fuck comics. Let's dance.

Just so long as we don't do it on some cheesy reality show... ---Al

[Dr Neo Lao]

I do it for the fame and to get laid. Everyone knows that webcomic authors are the most outgoing and sexy people on the planet.

I do (or did, I'm on hiatus ) webcomics as a hobby - somewhere between a way to pass the time and a way to express myself creatively. People who do it in an effort to make money or become popular are usually disappointed. You need the right combination of a good comic, the right links and a lot of luck to become really popular. And the only thing you control is the comic that you produce.

I like reading comics because they amuse me, make me think or just plain old make me feel something. Be it happy, sad, angry - whatever. If it's not provoking some type of response, then I'll usually pass on it.

Tarts is right - your heart needs to be in it to do it properly.

[Blackhole]

I'm like you except I've yet to even start on anything to submit.

I've always liked making comics because it's fun to make characters have adventures and say crazy stuff. I like drawing and I like making my own fake worlds.

The thing is,.. I went looking for a free webcomic hosting site just so that I could have a place to show off the comics I make in my spare time after work. Just some crazy shit with fun-to-draw characters doing crazy things and saying funny shit. But now I'm intimidated because it seems that everyone who reads webcomics wants everything to be super polished and have story-arcs.... and all I want to make are some quick n' dirty "disposable" one or three page strips in black&white that are fun and make me laugh. This means I might get maybe 3 or 4 readers and with all the work of making and sustaining a website, why would I bother uploading to a site if what I want to do isn't what people want to read?

by the way,.. i'm a defeatest.

[Diospyros]

Blackhole, I don't think you have to give up on your comic just because you don't want to/can't devote your whole life to making it. Antithetical as it may seem, I sort of think that webcomic authors aren't really the best audience to cater to. If one is involved in creating a comic I think one starts to read other comics differently, and sadly, become less able to enjoy them at face value. It all starts to be about technical finesse, etc... maybe even a few demons of jealousy sometimes. I remember hearing a couple of authors say they'd pretty much lost the ability to casually enjoy fiction. Sad side-effect, if so. Anyone experience this?

Thanks for all the replies everyone, what a fascinating Petri dish. Keep it coming, please!
And thanks ever-so-much for the mental imagery of everyone breaking out into some kind of strange choreographed musical dance number about making comics.

--Diospyros

[Phact0rri]

honestly.. do we need a reason?

[Parables]

Good God, I wish I knew why. This was never my intention. I love webcomics, I love writing sci fi, I love creating art, I love design and computer-aided design.

And then my boyfriend says, "we should start a webcomic!"

And I said, "Hey, that actually sounds like fun." But neither of us could draw.

Add one breakup, hours of learning computer drafting, a new story idea, and suddenly I have a full-time job as an unpaid webcomic artist putting in 8-10 hours a day creating increasingly elaborate sets and characters...

And I still haven't even started publishing yet. :/ Am I crazy?

And yet I can't stop...

[Smelch]

I have an overactive imagination, and theres a big bastard bunch of stories cluttering my brain up, and I want rid of them. I want my head back for myself, so they need to go. Theres no chance I could script anything for tv or film, as I don't have the qualifications, I couldn't make them myself, cos they're all fancy sci-fi/horror things, and I HATE editing film.

So, I put up ads after an artist to draw one of my stories, finally got one who is interested (And 5 who weren't. Go me.), still writing scripts and getting drawings back, due to my complete incompetance with art. The only thing I can do is colouring the pictures, so hopefully that'll work out. My plan is to get rid of the first story, get that going and start on one of the others, until my head is free.

Well, I say thats the plan... I seem to be experiencing some kind of mnemonic irritance. Every idea I get down on paper spawns several other bloody ideas. Some can't be incorporated into the stories I have, so new stories are outlined. I find this mildly irritating. Its like buying a cream to cure acne, and finding one of the side-effects is syphilis.

A slightly saner reason could be that I read a lot of webcomics. I have a short attention span, so read a lot. I'm too poor to afford to donate to the good ones, so the best I can do is give back to the community with my own stories. This is a true reason, but I still prefer the whispering madness of untild stories filling my creaking brain.

[Prettysenshi]

.....a way to express myself creatively.

Quoted for truth. I think the very basic reason for me doing anything artistic is to express myself. All other reasons for my webcomicking would be secondary. Which is why I do believe it has to be something to enjoy. Before popularity, and money, and praise...you have to actually enjoy what you're making at the end of the day, or you just won't care.

[McDuffies]

The thing is,.. I went looking for a free webcomic hosting site just so that I could have a place to show off the comics I make in my spare time after work. Just some crazy shit with fun-to-draw characters doing crazy things and saying funny shit. But now I'm intimidated because it seems that everyone who reads webcomics wants everything to be super polished and have story-arcs.... and all I want to make are some quick n' dirty "disposable" one or three page strips in black&white that are fun and make me laugh. This means I might get maybe 3 or 4 readers and with all the work of making and sustaining a website, why would I bother uploading to a site if what I want to do isn't what people want to read?

I don't know, I made this, and people loved it. I don't think that all people want is polished things with story arcs, I think people just want clever writing, but then even that is debatable.
Also you never actually know what people will want to read. Many of most outworldly ideas turn out to be popular and things tailored after all recent trends get hated.
One thing is true, though, if you wanna show comics to the world, you have to be ready for the worst: for bashing, hating, and worst of all, ignoring. Once people get their hands on their comic, they'll have opinions of it, and some of them won't be nice at all. If you know what you want to do, you listen to criticizing when it helps you get better at what you want to do, but not when it sidetracks you from what you want to do.

Blackhole, I don't think you have to give up on your comic just because you don't want to/can't devote your whole life to making it. Antithetical as it may seem, I sort of think that webcomic authors aren't really the best audience to cater to. If one is involved in creating a comic I think one starts to read other comics differently, and sadly, become less able to enjoy them at face value. It all starts to be about technical finesse, etc... maybe even a few demons of jealousy sometimes. I remember hearing a couple of authors say they'd pretty much lost the ability to casually enjoy fiction. Sad side-effect, if so. Anyone experience this?

It's true that creators look at comics differently, but I don't agree that their experience is less enjoyable. We know mechanisms, we are able to not only read the story but to know how the story is told, and if the story works, we are able to see why it works. I think that our experience of reading is richer, even if not so spontaneous.