Do you feel your comic challenges your skills?

NakedElf · Post by **NakedElf** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:40 pm

Hellbenders wrote:Ah, the attack of the "Maybe if I went back to the beginning and redrew everything from scratch, no one would notice?" complex.

A lot of us go through it. Just move along with the flow. I know it can suck for you to look back through in retrospect, but just think of the readers who start from the beginning and see improvement in every page.

I have a few early comics which I plan on re-doing, because they are simply *bad*. Most of them I'll probably leave, though.

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:10 am

yes and no. The style I use isn't hard to draw as a whole, but I do learn a bit about perspective, expressions, and storytelling elements.

Tarts · Post by **Tarts** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:02 am

No. It helps me channel my Tourettes though.

Kels · Post by **Kels** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:09 am

Tarts wrote:No. It helps me channel my Tourettes though.

Haha, me too. And it's great for those OCD tendencies, eh?

Swimmingtrunks · Post by **Swimmingtrunks** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:45 am

Yes. I think Antagonist (combined with a little art school, sure) is one of the big reasons my art has been developing so drastically over the last couple of years. Which is kind of awesome, but also kind of sucks in terms of consistency.

Rcmonroe · Post by **Rcmonroe** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:46 am

Doing six strips a week challenges my organizational skills, because I also work full time and like to squeeze some semblance of a life in there somewhere too.

I can't really say my writing or drawing skills are being "challenged" because I'm basically doing both within my comfort zone. But the drawings have improved just from the experience of having to do 30 of them every week.

Writing-wise, meeting my self-imposed deadline is a challenge. It's not making me a better writer but it's probably improving my ability to generate material in a timely fashion.

1jim1 · Post by **1jim1** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:50 pm

Somewhat. I can draw better than I do, but not as quickly. The whole point for me in doing this web comic is to enhance my skills so that I can produce work faster. It's ... educational. Sort of.

Eve Z. · Post by **Eve Z.** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:43 pm

It feels like my comic challenges my resistance lately.

Killbert-Robby · Post by **Killbert-Robby** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:25 am

The main challenge I have is that I'll have this AWESOME image in my head of exactly how a comic should look, but my drawing skills dont match up so I can never make my comic how I want it... But hey a challenge is GOOD. Nobody improves if they dont have to.

Anubicdarque · Post by **Anubicdarque** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:00 am

Mine is a challange for me, both for my OCD, and my technical skills

But I love doing it even though I wish I could draw like most of you can but I cannot due to injury (brain)

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:42 am

No, I don't think it does.

And I've been mulling over whether I should continue to comic, and if I do, if I shouldn't take it a bit more seriously since one of my original goals was to actually learn to draw.

ArcoJawa · Post by **ArcoJawa** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:38 am

Nope, most of the problem comes from my own desire to do it. Since I started up on the schedule I've almost been getting sick of it. Problem with that is that Bad Moods lead to Bad Results with me.

Matter of fact I had to restart a recent comic for that reason, I was in a bad mood and it translated into my coloring, so I posted a substitute image instead.

As for the artistic challenge I dunno, I suppose it would depend on what kind of person you we're, a circular thinker, or whatever the other one is~ Some people make the best comics without thinking, some make the best comics through thorough design and thinking. They both work, but I would imagine there's a pretty big difference in both the storytelling and art itself and what challenges that specific person(assuming this is an assumption - heh). Furthermore I figure they probably don't mix well, someone who does their best work with thought probably doesn't do spontaneous work that well, and vice-versa.

So... I dunno, do you engineer a masterpiece or just pop it out like magic? That all depends on you. Either way, challenges are inevitable. We're not robots.... and we're not ants either -oh man no!

Mr.Bob · Post by **Mr.Bob** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:55 am

No! We're ROBOT-ANTS!

Liddell · Post by **Liddell** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:29 pm

In answer to the original question, I just started learning how to draw this year, so my skills are nowhere near good enough to say I'm not still learning. I doubt if that'll ever be the case, really.

When coming up with a general setting for my comic, I chose something that is about as broad as can be, so I can experiment with different styles of art and types of stories whenever I want to. There are very few limitations to where it can go, other than my imagination (which, alas, can be limited at times).

The story *will* end someday--I know how, too. That'll be a while, though, and when I get there, I can just start something new to further develop my art skills.

In the meantime, though, I'm very much a beginner.

Lei · Post by **Lei** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:52 pm

Yes.

My current project has characters who are all based off real people, so I have to draw them accurately to the sources (especially since they're my audience). My writer hasn't ever written a comic script before, so I have to get creative when adapting his writing to imagery, and figuring out how to illustrate various superpowers (who the heck do you illustrate precognition?).

NakedElf · Post by **NakedElf** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:56 pm

Liddell wrote:In answer to the original question, I just started learning how to draw this year, so my skills are nowhere near good enough to say I'm not still learning. I doubt if that'll ever be the case, really.

I think we're *all* still learning.

TigerEye · Post by **TigerEye** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:50 pm

I'd say my comic challenges my skills, mostly in the anatomy department, poses and getting the scenes to look the way I invision them too (many times without as much success as I would like) but challenges can be good (if sometimes annoying) and hopefully it will help improve my artistic skills.

Vorticus · Post by **Vorticus** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:50 pm

Nope. Not in the slightest.

RobertBlake · Post by **RobertBlake** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:41 pm

NakedElf wrote:
Liddell wrote:In answer to the original question, I just started learning how to draw this year, so my skills are nowhere near good enough to say I'm not still learning. I doubt if that'll ever be the case, really.
I think we're *all* still learning.

And we'll always be learning.