Your webcomic life and real life - how close are they?

[Soap Soaperson]

That's quite a long poll. Sorry 'bout that.

About a month ago, I told my RL friends I had a webcomic. I didn't tell them at first because I'm so unsure of my comic's quality, but when I did, they were very supportive and excited. Nowadays, I'm very open about my "webcomic life" to my friends, and it makes doing this comic a lot more fun. I'm not telling my family, because I'm certain they'd say, "THIS is what you've been doing during your first year of college!? A COMIC? WITH SWEAR WORDS AND PANTY-SHOTS?" Yup.

I hate lying and hiding, but at least the truth is half-way out there. Anyway, to the point:

Have you told your friends? How about your family?

[CJBurgandy]

Oh they know... (Well actually Daddy doesn't know, but with good reason) But everyone else knows about it. Mom, My brother, All my friends, whom I force to read it, The pastor's daughter, my other clients, and all my co-workers from present job and jobs of the past.


I like sharing.

[KathleenJ]

Both my friends and family.
The family are probably the most supportive of all, which I've always appreciated. They're smart people who read a lot, including graphic novels, and they actually seem to think there's some merit to what I'm doing. Sometimes when a particularly vulgar or insane comic is up on my site, my mom will call and sort of go "Oh dear..." but then laugh or say she looks forward to the next one.

I have a couple of friends who are really enthusiastic, which is great (and one of them plugs my stuff to other people ten times more than I do). But then there were other friends that I originally told about it, and they were sort of "Oh, cool" but never gave it a look. With those people, that was sort of a sudden brick wall in the relationship...I feel like a friendship can generally only reach a certain point with someone who's uninterested in what I spend half my life on.
This summer, I've been working in an art gallery, and I was very nervous about showing the people there, because they're serious "fine" artists. But I eventually did, and they actually seemed to like it and were really curious about the process, etc, because it's pretty different from what they do. They didn't look down on it at all - some of them were actually pretty into comics.

And then there are people that I wouldn't tell at gunpoint...like, say, certain professors, elderly relatives...

[Azael]

Meh.

No one really gives a damn. My parents and friends know, but no one bothers to read it, usually.

[Sippan]

They probably know, I mean... Who doesn't Google on their friends' and family members' names every once in a while? But I do hope they respect the big sign saying "mom, don't read this" on my front page

[Van Douchebag]

Everyone knows. My friends are twats about it though.

I'm all like "Bitch! Read my comic!"
They all like "Bitch! Do a comic about us!"
I'm like "Bitch! No!"
And they all like "Bitch!"

[CapitanG]

Friends, yes, siblings, yes, parents, not so much.

Yup.

[Asarea]

Most of my friends know about my comic (they are frequent readers *g*), but my family isn't into my work at all. They don't care about that ... my mom always says I should get a job.

[[AOD]]

Nobody knows about it. I'd prefer them not to, lest they begin to question my sanity.

@~AoD

[[geoduck]]

I've told some of my family about it; depends totally on the individual in question, and whether or not I want to face the prospect of explaining the strip to them, or trying to.

[Wp]

My parents would react similarly to your parents, Soap, except they'd be more extreme since they have "higher" expectations for me (edit: not higher expectations than you, I mean higher expections than web comics). This is one of the reasons I am having scanner problems. It also makes it a lot harder to draw since I have to wait when they're not around. I will definitely be finding an apartment next year instead of living at home...

[Alaina]

Bah, I was always the kind of person who'd draw something then throw it into the closet so no one could see. I guess I'm just self-conscious.

So no one knows! And no one I know in RL ever will.

[Pimpette]

Everyone knows!

Pimpette started as an inside joke with a few friends, and kind of grew from there. My brother knows because until a month ago I kept bugging him for his scanner. My dad wants me to send stuff into magazines - I think he thinks I'm weird for spending hours swearing at a comic (while drawing it, of korz) without making any money off it, but meh. With webcomics I can be lazy and not have to worry about maintaining a specific "rating," or whatever.

So, yeah. And I advertise as often as possible - such as writing on bathroom walls.

[Vorticus]

My family knows, and some of my friends. My parents think my comic is funny. I'm not sure whether to enjoy that or be annoyed.

[Skylark King]

Yeah, my friends and family are intensely aware of my lack of webcomic and they completely resent me for it.

[Patch]

Yeah..i post my website in my messenger, all my friend know and my mom and dad read it even before is online..i would like the whole world to know but first i have to get rid of some people:

Death WebComic Writers list six:

1.-Goats
2.-PVP
3.-PA
4.-Ghastly Ghastly Comic (and damn its really good!!)

[Xmung]

everyone knows i do a webcomic (or two) - but unless they say "hey! give me the url - i gotta check it out" they don't actually know what the comic is. my family is yet to ask for the url. go figure!

[Van Douchebag]

Death WebComic Writers list six:

1.-Goats
2.-PVP
3.-PA
4.-Ghastly Ghastly Comic (and damn its really good!!)

I want to rid the world of Kurtz, but for wholly other reasons.

[Birdie]

I don't post about my friends, though one of my characters is one of my close friends Shawn Lightfoot. Who plays guitar and sings with his local group The Lightfoot Brigade, he also lets me play tambourine with him and pays for my beer, so I do a few jokes with him in it. If I ever make a comic about my friends it's ussually something personal to point out their foibles.

[Faub]

If people are into my comic then I have no problem with them reading it. I'm not going to force anyone to read it and I haven't told anyone about it unless they've asked why I don't have a Keenspace account. "Oh, I've had one for about a year." So, I've never bothered to tell my parents because they would feel obligated to read it and that's the wrong reason to read comics.