Comic Genesis Forums

I apologize in advance to all of my favorite cynics, this is a bit of an "It's a Wonderful Life" moment brought about by an overabundance of holiday euphoria. I promise to go back to being one of you right after the New Year.

I was thinking about life this morning, and how strange and unpredictable it can be sometimes. Where we end up is almost never where we intended to be, and sometimes, the smallest things can have a huge impact. Almost all of us came to Comic Genesis with the intent of posting our comics on the web, but by getting actively involved in the community here, many of us have come away with a whole lot more. So think about the good things that wouldn't be in you life had you never come to CG, and let the rest of us know how Comic Genesis has affected your little world.

I'll start it off by saying that if it weren't for Comic Genesis, I never would have met all of you, and though I know we have our differences, I am so grateful for what each and every one of you bring to my life on a daily basis. If it weren't for Comic Genesis, I never would have met Stinkywigfiddle, a person who has turned out to be the most like-minded friend I could have ever hoped for - something I thought I would never find in this life. Comic Genesis has even brought me closer to my friends outside of the internet. I can honestly say that had I never come here, I would be a much more sad and lonely person.

(And by extension, I never would have been introduced to "Blankets," by Craig Thompson, and that would have been a real shame, indeed. )

Keenspace was a stepping stone for me, between my idiocy on ezBoard and my fun in the City of Heroes community (which lead to greater rewards in City of Villains, which granted me the confidence I needed to do certain things in "the Real World").

Thanks Keenspace! I'll always want to own you!

That's so sweet Nanda. I'm glad you can see all the good things around you and appreciate them.

Sky

-I'd have to upload all my comics manually.
-I wouldn't have a forum to look at when I'm bored.
-I wouldn't be on Keenspot?

without comic genesis, I would have never met Kisai and that's far sadder than anything else in the world.

This is where I'm now. Had I taken a different path, my life may have been better, or it may have been worse. There's really no way to tell. I wouldn't change a thing though. Posting a comic has greatly improved my drawing skills which is good since graphic designers that actually know how to draw aren't as common as they should be. I also have something in common with my future brother-in-law since he is a professional illustrator, so he teaches me things and tells what I'm doing wrong (all the damn time). I also gained 20 lbs since my free time is spent drawing instead of running now. I'm not happy about that, but doctors and other people kept telling my I was malnourished and underweight anyway.

If it weren't for Comic Genesis... I think I'd probably be a much different person. This community has brought out my braver, more adventurous side. Inever would have met all you great people if I had been left to my own devices, but instead kept myself shuttered in my room with only a handful of drifting friends. Even my real-life relationships would have suffered from an absolute terror of people that I've since shucked off.

So, yeah, I'm glad I had that account trouble at the beginning, since it made me sign up for the forums and worm myself into the community. This place is probably more important to me than it should be, but I wouldn't change a thing.

That's so funny, Sparrow, since it was sign-up troubles that brought me here as well, and I feel much the same way about this place that you do. When my son was first born, I was a literal shut-in. I went from being in college classrooms and a dorm, around tons of people all day, every day, to being around no one but a very demanding baby, all day, every day. It was a very difficult adjustment, and I would have spent the entire time in a black, post-partum depression had I not discovered online communities. In a lot of ways, meeting you people helped me stay sane, and I'm not exaggerating.

Nanda wrote: (And by extension, I never would have been introduced to "Blankets," by Craig Thompson, and that would have been a real shame, indeed. )

Holy crap yes!!! *Her favorite book and author EVER*

CG was definately a good stepping stone for me and my career. Thanks to you guys I found my life persuit and am slowly trying to climb up the ladder towards it.

Good friends, good times.

I haven't been here long, so I'll say CG has made me more confident on showing my art to other people. ^_^

Nanda wrote:That's so funny, Sparrow, since it was sign-up troubles that brought me here as well, and I feel much the same way about this place that you do. When my son was first born, I was a literal shut-in. I went from being in college classrooms and a dorm, around tons of people all day, every day, to being around no one but a very demanding baby, all day, every day. It was a very difficult adjustment, and I would have spent the entire time in a black, post-partum depression had I not discovered online communities. In a lot of ways, meeting you people helped me stay sane, and I'm not exaggerating.

Nanda: I can SO relate to this. Though I wasn't with ComicGenesis at the time my children were born, I was (and still am) with another community of online friends who helped preserve my sanity.

I am still a newbie here, and I have to say that I was nervous about making an online comic and showing my "art" to everyone in the universe. Add me to the list of those that have grown more confident about my comic under the wing of the CG forumites.

Black Sparrow wrote:If it weren't for Comic Genesis... I think I'd probably be a much different person. This community has brought out my braver, more adventurous side. Inever would have met all you great people if I had been left to my own devices, but instead kept myself shuttered in my room with only a handful of drifting friends. Even my real-life relationships would have suffered from an absolute terror of people that I've since shucked off.

So, yeah, I'm glad I had that account trouble at the beginning, since it made me sign up for the forums and worm myself into the community. This place is probably more important to me than it should be, but I wouldn't change a thing.

Glad to see you're now the well adjusted whip toating hottie we all know and love, and fear...greatly.

Personally I almost missed out on all the splendor that KS/CG has shown me and given to me without asking for anything in return.
I joined here after seeing Mercs first comic after the third page went up I was really curious about what KeenSpace was, and I applied into it...but my forum information didn't get sent back to me and I lost an entire year of the forums and the hilarity therein, luckily I went back to Dominic Deegan that year later and checked out KS again this time I was accepted into the forums...and..acted like a duck on speed. Thankfully the box was instituted and I learned the ins and outs...ok some of them. And have since met many a wonderful person, and forged some lovely friendships through it.

I never would have went to CN Expo and entirely changed my outlook on life without this place, and you wonderful people.

Blankets is definitely good stuff.

Well, without Keenspace and it's means of automating updates, I probably would have gotten tired of updating and never gone anywhere with Reasoned Cognition. That in turn means I wouldn't have had ANY art skills (which is what I started with). Now, I can actually sketch things out and have them look like what I'm trying to sketch out. I don't know how that happened, but it's a skill I'm sure glad to have, that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

I would never have had an excuse to taser anyone (except that k-mart picketing guy), or blow up a watermelon, or use my gigantomungous grill, or learned what's involved in planning a major event. That last one has come in handy more than once since then. I would never have purchased an 8" diameter superball were it not for Keenspace.

Friends? heck yeah. I've made a lot of online friends here, sharing more than just a common comic denominator. And of those of you I've met, I have to say for the most part, you're all really decent people. I call a lot of the people on here friends. It's nice. Heck, I've even learned to take really, really irritating people with a grain of salt and some sense of humor, since coming here (Aster Azul, whereever you are, happy holidays).

I've always been very gung-ho science, but doing Reasoned Cognition has actually forced me to do more research on topics I might never have researched. And I've definately learned things scientific since being here. I've learned to teach better as well - and that's come in handy in my job and has actually been noticed and mentioned by others.

I really can't speculate where I'd be or what I'd be doing without Keenspace. It'd be something similar, and I'm pretty sure I'd be happy with it... but I wouldn't trade the times here for the chance at something else. I like it here. Keenspace - now ComicGenesis feels something like a home online. It bothers me, it brightens my day, it whines for attention and it sometimes shines.

Glad to be here.

If it weren't for CG, I'd probably be rich, famous and married by now!

But... I still love ya all. Well, not all, but the good ones, you know who you are. And I never would've gotten to the USA without CG... for the first time... meeting real cool people... That was the awesomest thing. It also helped me to develop a lot artistically. And I found my Doppy. So um... thanks. <3

Black Sparrow wrote:Inever would have met all you great people if I had been left to my own devices, but instead kept myself shuttered in my room with only a handful of drifting friends. Even my real-life relationships would have suffered from an absolute terror of people that I've since shucked off.

Hm. Old-you sounds kind of like current-me. Got any advice I could use?

Anyway, I haven't been on the forums enough for them to have changed my life in any really appreciable way. Hopefully it will 'though, and for the better. I now wish when I'd had all the trouble I did starting out I'd asked here finding the solutions through other means.

But I can say that Keenspace (as it was when I signed up) did make the whole webcomic thing much more accessible to someone with no applicable technical experience. Without it I would have had to either try and learn CGI or PHP or some other technical gibberish or gone and tried to keep my comic updated by editing the web page manually five times a week. I highly doubt I would have persevered in either of those endeavors.*

In which case I wouldn't have improved nearly as much as I have in my art, and would never have achieved . . . really . . . well . . . what I've wanted to do since the age of six: to draw a comic strip and have it be read and enjoyed by people.

So I guess I have CGen (née Keenspace) to thank for making it possible for me to say I really did become a cartoonist when I grew up . . . if an unpaid one.

*Yes, I really talk like this.

Mo wrote:If it weren't for CG, I'd probably be rich, famous and married by now!

But... I still love ya all. Well, not all, but the good ones, you know who you are. And I never would've gotten to the USA without CG... for the first time... meeting real cool people... That was the awesomest thing. It also helped me to develop a lot artistically. And I found my Doppy. So um... thanks. <3

Awww shucks...wait...what do you mean I'm not one of the good ones!?

if i hadnt joind CG then i would never have started drawing again, i would never have started to get back to my old self and being much happyer with myself, though my arts a long way off what it used to be but im getting there slowly, day by day

I'm new here too, but I'll add my little sob story.

I started to go into comics back in the early 1990's, but when my mom died I had to drop out of art school. I joined the army, travelled the world instead. These last six months I got pissed off at everything-- I quit the SCA and my religious community, dumped a bunch of my co-dependant friends and decided to go back to my old dreams-- comics.

So in many ways, Comic Genesis has already (in the three months of being here) pushed me to find my old self again and live a little outside of the box I have crammed myself into over the years. It's rather nice.

Sky
alter-ego to a goodie-two-shoes school teacher