Do you feel your comic challenges your skills?

Dark Spider · Post by **Dark Spider** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:26 pm

Hello everyone! I haven't been around these parts in a very long time (since the top of the year), so I decided to break my silence with a topic.

I guess I should start with a little backstory first. My comic has been on hiatus since early January due to real life issues and college. But in the interim, I never stopped developing my comic making and writing skills. (Hell, I studied comics more than I studied my academics). In fact, they've developed to the point where I find my current comic..well, "restricting" in a sense. It doesn't give me a chance to showcase my true abilities or what i've learned.

Have any of you guys came across a situation like that before? Where you feel your comic know longer "challenges" your abilities?

I think it's gotten to the point where I'm considering starting a brand new site from scratch (despite my utter hatred for website creation). It would star the same characters as my old comic (I'm not quite done with them yet), but the comic would actually have a story, conflict, and other exciting literary terms I can't think of at the moment.

I don't know, I'm at a crossroads. All I know is that I miss actually creating a comic and I want to return to doing it.

Kels · Post by **Kels** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:45 pm

I haven't been there yet, since I've only been at it a couple of months so far. But then, one of the main reasons I started doing a comic in the first place was to develop my skills, so I really hope I don't.

One method I've seen people use for warding it off is to work on different projects, and even radically different types of projects, from the ones you usually do. So if you normally do a detailed SF strip, maybe do a more cartoony slice-of-life or comedy series...or maybe the other way around.

The fact that you've got the desire to get back to it is a good sign, you just need to find what clicks with you to get yourself started.

Shishio · Post by **Shishio** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:58 pm

Do you feel your comic challenges your skills?

Absolutely not, and I love it.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:03 pm

Not really. I'm fortunate enough that the little everyday laughs, tears and ups and downs of life that I enjoy watching, reading and working with fit well with the structure of the comic I currently have. Whether that was intentional, who knows. I came into this deal with no knowledge or any prior ideals or goals so I guess I've been relatively free to do what I wish to do without knowing whether it would work or not and just crafting a little corner for myself while I'm at it.

Yes, occasionally I draw a blank for exactly where to take the strip next, and every now and then I just don't have the excited urge to spend time drawing up strips, but I still thoroughly enjoy spending time with the characters that these little bumps are easily worked through. I still know where I want the strip to reach in the end, but as for how it gets there, well, I let that meander along as it wishes.

I guess that's why I still enjoy working with it. I know where it's going, but I'm in no particular rush to get there and I like the characters enough that I'm willing to go along for the ride, wherever it takes me.

Good to see you back, too.

Cheers.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:06 pm

If my comic didn't challenge my skills, it'd be far better than it is.

CaptainClaude · Post by **CaptainClaude** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:15 pm

to a degree.

Jameslong · Post by **Jameslong** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 5:52 pm

mine challenges me. i feel that drawing is like a muscle, the more you work it the better you get. if you want to get stronger, you increase the weight, right? well, there's not a page I draw that I don't look back on later and see ways I could have done it better... thus the next page I attempt to apply those self-criticisms to my work.

Ezra · Post by **Ezra** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:12 pm

My comic only challenges me in my poor schedule planning and procrastination. Artistically, no. I don't do this comic to showcase my skills as an artist (were they that poor, I certainly wouldn't be an art major). It's provided good practice on my tablet, which I admittedly always hated using, and it's fun to do.

Now, if I had a large reader base I'd feel obligated to invest more of my skills into it. I feel I have to do better, the more people are watching.

Tetsuo75 · Post by **Tetsuo75** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:31 pm

To say my comic challenges me is an understatement... I feel like it grabs me by the neck then beats the living crap outta me.
The drawings, the humour, the layout, the scripting... it's like I gotta fight every inch for the finished product... and when I'm finished I look at my creation and think to myself "Gosh, I could have done that a LOT better..."

Shishio · Post by **Shishio** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:38 pm

Well, if it's any consolation, your art is fucking amazing and has improved drastically.

Bustertheclown · Post by **Bustertheclown** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:44 pm

It really depends on what I'm working on at the time, I guess. I have projects that do not really challenge me, and I have projects that are insanely challenging. Right now, I'm working on a less-challenging project, because I have a deadline. However, in the background, I'm constantly working on something that I feel I'll be investing my time in for a decade or more, and given it's long-term existence in my life, I put more into its creation.

Tetsuo75 · Post by **Tetsuo75** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:52 pm

Shishio wrote:Well, if it's any consolation, your art is fucking amazing and has improved drastically.

Thanks, dude.
But seriously, I avoid looking at my own stuff after finishing otherwise I'll just keep redrawing it till the cows come home... and as we know, those cows come home very late in the evening...

Geekblather · Post by **Geekblather** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:13 pm

tetsuo75 wrote:To say my comic challenges me is an understatement... I feel like it grabs me by the neck then beats the living crap outta me.
The drawings, the humour, the layout, the scripting... it's like I gotta fight every inch for the finished product... and when I'm finished I look at my creation and think to myself "Gosh, I could have done that a LOT better..."

I know exactly what you mean.

I think my comic does challenge me. It's gotten a lot better, and I've definitely learned more about programming than I ever expected to. I completely overhauled my site a few months ago, and now I'm really pleased with it. So- considering I've learned everything from the ground up, I learn something every day.

GabrialFox · Post by **GabrialFox** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:16 pm

I gotta say, yeah. My comic challenges me at every turn. Now if you head over and take a look you will see that it is not because of the lavish production values. See, I am not a visual artist. At least that is not my forte, though I do try. My comic is a very clear progression of my sketching skills as I pretty much didn't draw anything before I started. Ironically, if any sort of artist, I would consider myself a writer. That being said much of the challenge in my comic comes from the shift in style. I am not allowed to wax poetic on the scenery or the expressions and inner thoughts of the characters, I have to put that into the picture with my (less than adequate) drawing pencil. On the flip side, because of the gag-a-day format that I chose I also don't get to pursue the longer arcing stories that I prefer. My challenge is entirely self-inflicted, but that is part of why I keep going. I like having something to push myself in that I can see a clear progression over the years. You know, that and I'm an attention whore, so if somebody says it's neat that keeps me going for another couple of months. :: lol ::

Still, I think this is a good question. For me yes, it's a challenge every time. I guess I sort of assumed it was the same for everybody else... Maybe this really does come easy to some of you?

Fox

Turnsky · Post by **Turnsky** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:27 pm

i have long used my comic as my own 'sketchbook' in learning how to draw new things with any proficiency, so yeah, my comic challenges my skills, but only if i make it do so.

Warofwinds · Post by **Warofwinds** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:55 pm

Mine challenges my skills so much usually I can't even keep up with the vision I've got in my head. I used to spend 3-4 hours a week on 2 comics. Now I spent 8-12 hours a piece. Sometimes more.

This is how my comic used to look, 3 years ago. (And at the time, I was really proud of this.)

This is how it looks now, the same page, redone.

I'm one of those kinds of people that gets no satisfaction out of a task unless constantly challenged. ><

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:15 pm

Besides the superior artwork now, I like how you're getting around to removing a lot of the text from the page and letting the art tell the story. That's one bit I didn't like too well when I first read through (but I think I mentioned that before and you agreed

)

Cheers.

Turnsky · Post by **Turnsky** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:19 pm

Dutch! wrote:Besides the superior artwork now, I like how you're getting around to removing a lot of the text from the page and letting the art tell the story. That's one bit I didn't like too well when I first read through (but I think I mentioned that before and you agreed )

Cheers.

i like to do both, to be honest, i like the art to drive the story along, as well as using text to do that also...

hell, i script on the fly, so it works out for me

Jackhass · Post by **Jackhass** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:34 pm

Depends if I'm pushing myself to do so...

...I'll admit sometimes I'm not feeling like challenging myself.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 1:35 am

Yes, it does.

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