Happy, oh so happy...
The Webcomic Blues
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KittyKatBlack
- Cartoon Villain
- Posts: 3182
- Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2003 7:56 pm
- Location: How the hell should I know? I just live here...
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Cheebs
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 43
- Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2002 10:44 am
- Location: Somewhere out there...
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My comic took an unexpected vacation too. I know where I'm going, I know what I want to write, but I can't figure out how to put it on paper. Luckily, I had my senior project (a 15-page comic in the same world but a different country as my regular comic) just lying around, so tt's not a "Dead Artist Week", it's a "Special Event"!
Which reminds me, I gotta work on the regular comic. Bad girl, no slacking off! *smacks self*
Which reminds me, I gotta work on the regular comic. Bad girl, no slacking off! *smacks self*
Constant Flux: A semi-serious tale about trying to kick Fate in the head. Updates Sundays.
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McDuffies
- Bob was here (Moderator)
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- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 1999 4:00 pm
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If you meant me, I don't think that.Warren wrote:I've only really gone for the "cry"/feel sad thing once, during the "Trudy's Divorce" storyline. Don't know if I accomplished that, but whatever. A limited drawing style (such as my own) can be a hinderance, but it is not as limiting as you think.mcDuffies wrote:...Well, I'd want my comic to have an effect on readers... to make them cry if I want to... You know, emotions and stuff, I know it sounds corny but I want it to do for readers what my favourite comics did for me. I seem to fail in that, at least in my own view.
Problem with my style is, for instance, this: Sometimes, if I wanna talk about something very serious, I think I could use a distance, to avoid pathos. But that distance, what with my characters mimics and wide cuts, heck, with two years of drawing comic in that maneer, is impossible. That's where something done with Flash would match.
Oh, and I didn't think particulary of crying. Among others, you know, but...
You know when you're stuck doing something a whole night, and in the morning you're tired but satisfied with what you've done, and then you get out to buy something to eat, and the whole town is just waking up, and the smell of fresh bread...
I think I tried to reconstruct that somewhere in a comic, but it was too delicate feeling to match. I mean, if I just drew a man doing all that stuff, I still wouldn't be able to present the exact feeling to the reader...
...and the feeling is good...
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Faub
- The Establishment (Moderator)
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I have no answer that hasn't already been said. A little depressions is par for the course. A lot may be an indicator to a larger problem. The best thing for you to do is to look around for the root of your problem. Is it really your comic that's making your depressed or is something about your comic reminding you of something else?
I was once told that depression is a vulture. Never feed the vulture because it will always want more and it will only get bigger and heavier the more it eats. Starve the vulture. Make it feel pain. Beat it until it's small and insignificant and something so pathetic you can laugh at it and run it off. I never could be truly cruel to animals. My vulture is quite healthy.
For me, the chararacters in my comic are all smarter, more articulate and better at their jobs than I will ever be. They're not perfect and that tends to make them all the more human. I should be able to do this stuff. Why can't I? Well for one thing, life isn't scripted. I still haven't figured that one out. There have just been too many convenient coincidences that setup the backstory of my life for me to really be convinced I'm not living someone else's storybook. If that's the case, why do I have to be the odd one out? I'm the main character of a webcomic with no audience because it's poorly drawn, the writing sucks and the secondary characters all lead more interesting lives than the main character. What's the point?
Maybe I'm just the audience of my own life's story. I've had one minor speaking role and kept stumbling over my lines. The rest of the time I've spent on the bench waiting for my que. Sure, I've done some interesting things. I've been to some interesting places. I think I've had an impact (for good or bad) on other peoples' lives. But I'm still just the one who coasted through highschool without making any serious connections with the people there. I didn't get myself to where I'm at. I wasn't the one who did all that stuff. It was done for me. I just participated. Shut up and let it happen, that sort of thing.
I want to be the one that makes a difference. I want to know that it was me that made the thing happen. That attitude makes me the biggest emotional leech I've ever met and I have to live with him. What a pathetic excuse for a human being. I really hate people like that and I don't hate people lightly. It's that attitude that tells me that no matter how well I do at anything it will never be truly good. I won't let it be good and on days when it gets bad, I'll sabotage it to make sure it fails. Depression has plenty of friends: apathy, self-loathing.
Sometimes the only way to deal with the depression is to do something so hideously thought consuming that you have to forget you were depressed. This, of course, leads to insomnia but by the time you can't hold your head up you're too worried about making it into bed to be depressed anymore. Another way is to fight against it. Use it to your advantage. If it's really that bad then screw it. Let it be that bad. I'm going to do this other thing because I can. When I'm done it doesn't have to be good. It just needs to be mine and nobody gets to see it because I didn't make it for them.
Then you post it on the web because the web is just a computer. It won't judge or critique you. It just is. Inanimate objects can be comforting in a way.
Maybe you can relate to the angsty rant above. Maybe not. The point is, you're not alone. It doesn't just happen to you. You will never be alone as long as there are people in the world.
As has been said before, you are on page 5 of the Keenspace ego guide. That means that 206 comics probably have more readers than you. That also means that 13385 comics have fewer readers than you. Most of those have significantly fewer. You've only been going for 3 months? Some of the people on page 6 have been going for 3 YEARS and have yet to reach the point you're at. But then we both know that most of the comics on Keenspace are really just empty accounts that people signed up for and dropped before they got anywhere. The whole page view system is subjective, totally based on which comics appeal to which group of people and which comics are better advertised than others. The numbers are pretty meaningless if you don't get any feedback.
Consider what you've gotten here, though. I checked the forum this morning and this thread didn't exist. Give it a couple hours and you already had 2 pages of posts, mostly long posts, before I ever saw it. Sure, many of them came in because of the depression issue but not a single one had anything bad to say about your comic. They complained at you for not recognizing something that seemed obvious to them.
You really are good at this.
Don't sell yourself short. If it's your comic that worries you, please don't be worried. You have something good and people have recognized this. And just to end this god-awful huge post with a cliche: The light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train. It's a search party with flashlights. They will find you if you let them.
I was once told that depression is a vulture. Never feed the vulture because it will always want more and it will only get bigger and heavier the more it eats. Starve the vulture. Make it feel pain. Beat it until it's small and insignificant and something so pathetic you can laugh at it and run it off. I never could be truly cruel to animals. My vulture is quite healthy.
For me, the chararacters in my comic are all smarter, more articulate and better at their jobs than I will ever be. They're not perfect and that tends to make them all the more human. I should be able to do this stuff. Why can't I? Well for one thing, life isn't scripted. I still haven't figured that one out. There have just been too many convenient coincidences that setup the backstory of my life for me to really be convinced I'm not living someone else's storybook. If that's the case, why do I have to be the odd one out? I'm the main character of a webcomic with no audience because it's poorly drawn, the writing sucks and the secondary characters all lead more interesting lives than the main character. What's the point?
Maybe I'm just the audience of my own life's story. I've had one minor speaking role and kept stumbling over my lines. The rest of the time I've spent on the bench waiting for my que. Sure, I've done some interesting things. I've been to some interesting places. I think I've had an impact (for good or bad) on other peoples' lives. But I'm still just the one who coasted through highschool without making any serious connections with the people there. I didn't get myself to where I'm at. I wasn't the one who did all that stuff. It was done for me. I just participated. Shut up and let it happen, that sort of thing.
I want to be the one that makes a difference. I want to know that it was me that made the thing happen. That attitude makes me the biggest emotional leech I've ever met and I have to live with him. What a pathetic excuse for a human being. I really hate people like that and I don't hate people lightly. It's that attitude that tells me that no matter how well I do at anything it will never be truly good. I won't let it be good and on days when it gets bad, I'll sabotage it to make sure it fails. Depression has plenty of friends: apathy, self-loathing.
Sometimes the only way to deal with the depression is to do something so hideously thought consuming that you have to forget you were depressed. This, of course, leads to insomnia but by the time you can't hold your head up you're too worried about making it into bed to be depressed anymore. Another way is to fight against it. Use it to your advantage. If it's really that bad then screw it. Let it be that bad. I'm going to do this other thing because I can. When I'm done it doesn't have to be good. It just needs to be mine and nobody gets to see it because I didn't make it for them.
Then you post it on the web because the web is just a computer. It won't judge or critique you. It just is. Inanimate objects can be comforting in a way.
Maybe you can relate to the angsty rant above. Maybe not. The point is, you're not alone. It doesn't just happen to you. You will never be alone as long as there are people in the world.
As has been said before, you are on page 5 of the Keenspace ego guide. That means that 206 comics probably have more readers than you. That also means that 13385 comics have fewer readers than you. Most of those have significantly fewer. You've only been going for 3 months? Some of the people on page 6 have been going for 3 YEARS and have yet to reach the point you're at. But then we both know that most of the comics on Keenspace are really just empty accounts that people signed up for and dropped before they got anywhere. The whole page view system is subjective, totally based on which comics appeal to which group of people and which comics are better advertised than others. The numbers are pretty meaningless if you don't get any feedback.
Consider what you've gotten here, though. I checked the forum this morning and this thread didn't exist. Give it a couple hours and you already had 2 pages of posts, mostly long posts, before I ever saw it. Sure, many of them came in because of the depression issue but not a single one had anything bad to say about your comic. They complained at you for not recognizing something that seemed obvious to them.
You really are good at this.
Don't sell yourself short. If it's your comic that worries you, please don't be worried. You have something good and people have recognized this. And just to end this god-awful huge post with a cliche: The light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train. It's a search party with flashlights. They will find you if you let them.
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Evil Jamie!
- Cartoon Hero
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- Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2003 1:19 am
- Location: Tasmania
I say... group hug everybody.Funny, I get the same thing too.faub wrote:There have just been too many convenient coincidences that setup the backstory of my life for me to really be convinced I'm not living someone else's storybook.
I was even going to ask about it in the forum some time ago, anyways, it looks like it's not _that_ extraordinary... (or that one of us is supporting character in the other one's book)
You are the Non. You must go now, and never return."
"1.Scan in high res 2.tweak with curves,levels or something to clean up the scan (or use channel mixer to remove blue pencil lines) 3.Add colour using a layer set to multiply. 4.Add wordbubbles and text as vector shapes. 5. Merge all layers. 6.resize to the web size. 7. Export/Save for Web" that's all I know about webcomicking.
"1.Scan in high res 2.tweak with curves,levels or something to clean up the scan (or use channel mixer to remove blue pencil lines) 3.Add colour using a layer set to multiply. 4.Add wordbubbles and text as vector shapes. 5. Merge all layers. 6.resize to the web size. 7. Export/Save for Web" that's all I know about webcomicking.
FAUB never had any problems filling those ten-page reports in college.faub wrote:I ...... them.
A change of environment or wardrobe helps to some degree. I'm reminded of this every time I visit my house. The place is kind of dreary, and anyone who enters there acts as though they are submersed in molasses. It's really weird, I never get the things I want accomplished done, or ever feel quite right when I'm at home. Maybe you can't escape your environment yet, but you might look for some new hang-outs.
Also, recently I've realized I've been wearing the same shoes for nearly 8 years [I get a pair of Vasque Gore-Tex boots EVERY time, most wonderful things you'll ever wear, but I'm sick of them.] In fact I'm sick of everything I wear. Always subdued earth-tones and khaki stuff. I've always been "proud" not to be a slave to gashion, but I've realized I have always kept up just enough to be the perfect wallflower, and I'm an expert of at this.
Over the Winter [I know it's not over yet], I've transformed my my fashion reportoire into sort of a "grunge" look as my best friend calls it. Not properly goth, punk, or skater. And some "All Your Base" and Nintendo t-shirts add some nerd to the mix. I don't call it anything, I pick up anything that catches my odd-ball fancy. I don't have angst for not being accepted, and I don't scorn people who would rather be conformist. I just groove on it, man. As I shed my old appearance, so do I shed my old, defeatist attitude, kind of symbolic, in a way.
Nice comic, btw.
-- Ba-caw!!!
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DarkArtist
- Regular Poster
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- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2003 10:36 am
- Location: Michigan
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I wish my comic was so much of a failure.
Honestly, your comic looks good and clearly people are reading it. So on that end you are doing very well. No Failure there.
Personally I think that anyone that is making regular updates on their comic, improving regularly in art and story telling and makeing a real and steady effort to create someting can call themselves a success even if the only person that reads it is their mom.
To make a web comic takes some amount of dedication. By doing it you are giving up a certain about of your own time to make something and share it with the world...or at least your mom.
Be proud of what you do. Making a comic sets you apart from the average "what did you do today?" "Watched TV and slept" bunch. You and all of us that make comics are doing something cool.
I really don't know where I am in the 'ego guide" because I have not bothered to wade thru and try and figure it out. I am sure it is on the low side of things.As has been said before, you are on page 5 of the Keenspace ego guide. That means that 206 comics probably have more readers than you. That also means that 13385 comics have fewer readers than you. Most of those have significantly fewer. You've only been going for 3 months? Some of the people on page 6 have been going for 3 YEARS and have yet to reach the point you're at.
Honestly, your comic looks good and clearly people are reading it. So on that end you are doing very well. No Failure there.
Personally I think that anyone that is making regular updates on their comic, improving regularly in art and story telling and makeing a real and steady effort to create someting can call themselves a success even if the only person that reads it is their mom.
To make a web comic takes some amount of dedication. By doing it you are giving up a certain about of your own time to make something and share it with the world...or at least your mom.
Be proud of what you do. Making a comic sets you apart from the average "what did you do today?" "Watched TV and slept" bunch. You and all of us that make comics are doing something cool.
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RPin
- Gentleman Pornographer
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You know, that kind of gives me an idea... I'll browse through the lowest ranked comics and post the ones which are worth reading.
Yeah, I got nothing better to do.
Yeah, I got nothing better to do.
Last edited by RPin on Sat Jan 24, 2004 10:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ZOMBIE USER 16849
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 529
- Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 2:26 am
My mom doesn't think my comic is funny... *sniff*DarkArtist wrote:Personally I think that anyone that is making regular updates on their comic, improving regularly in art and story telling and makeing a real and steady effort to create someting can call themselves a success even if the only person that reads it is their mom.
To make a web comic takes some amount of dedication. By doing it you are giving up a certain about of your own time to make something and share it with the world...or at least your mom.
What we need is the link to the page in the guide that ranks comics by number of comic days. Then you try and find the ones that have a lot of comics but no popularity whatsoever.RPin wrote:You know, that kind of gives me an idea... I'll browse through the lowest ranked comics and post the ones which are worth reading.
Yeah, I got nothing better to do.
What Lies Beyond - A Psychological Fantasy Novel
Stuff that updates sometimes:
I also did phbites.comicgenesis.com and hntrac.comicgenesis.com way back when.
Stuff that updates sometimes:
I also did phbites.comicgenesis.com and hntrac.comicgenesis.com way back when.
I had such a bad start to my comic (and continues to this day...) I keep thinking about just scrapping it and starting over, but then I hear about the people that do that and never get anywhere, and I decide to keep going and try to add what I've learned to the new ones... I'm not exactly sure I would want my parents to read mine now, with where I know the storyline is going.
My mom doesn't know English, she can only look at the drawings.Terotrous wrote:My mom doesn't think my comic is funny... *sniff*DarkArtist wrote:Personally I think that anyone that is making regular updates on their comic, improving regularly in art and story telling and makeing a real and steady effort to create someting can call themselves a success even if the only person that reads it is their mom.
To make a web comic takes some amount of dedication. By doing it you are giving up a certain about of your own time to make something and share it with the world...or at least your mom.
Didn't you already do that once?brockway wrote:I had such a bad start to my comic (and continues to this day...) I keep thinking about just scrapping it and starting over, but then I hear about the people that do that and never get anywhere, and I decide to keep going and try to add what I've learned to the new ones... I'm not exactly sure I would want my parents to read mine now, with where I know the storyline is going.
You are the Non. You must go now, and never return."
"1.Scan in high res 2.tweak with curves,levels or something to clean up the scan (or use channel mixer to remove blue pencil lines) 3.Add colour using a layer set to multiply. 4.Add wordbubbles and text as vector shapes. 5. Merge all layers. 6.resize to the web size. 7. Export/Save for Web" that's all I know about webcomicking.
"1.Scan in high res 2.tweak with curves,levels or something to clean up the scan (or use channel mixer to remove blue pencil lines) 3.Add colour using a layer set to multiply. 4.Add wordbubbles and text as vector shapes. 5. Merge all layers. 6.resize to the web size. 7. Export/Save for Web" that's all I know about webcomicking.