What's been your experiences of being a webmanga/comic creator?

[CreatureArt]

What has your experience of creating comics/manga been so far?

I'm just a new entrant, having been working on my own project since the start of the year. Even in this short time, I've had a lot of ups, downs and steep learning curves. And I'd love to hear what the experience of others have been.

Come on - webmanga are often isolated creatures. I know y'all want a chance to finally tell others about what its been like for you. I know I do.

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As for myself, I created my first pages of Redemption with an incredible amount of trepidation. Especially since it took a year to get the courage to even start. I first hosted it for free on Comic genesis - but had a lot of hassles and moved to DrunkDuck (also free) after I stuffed up the code and accidentally deleted the website and pages I had put so much hard work into. -_-

I didn't have a clue what I was doing at first, I just wanted to make a comic and learn from it. I uploaded a new page weekly, often staying up late at night to finish in time. Despite having hardly any readers - I wanted to work hard at it.

I got myself into a rut after 18 pages. Burnt out with university work and disappointed with my comic, I took a hiatus. I didn't know if I'd even continue the comic anymore. But I've just recently come back with a new vision, and I'm having more fun with my comic than I ever had before. The art has improved -- and I've even got a month's worth of pages done in advance to take the stress off.

Creating a comic is a wonderful experience. Its been hard, and I've had to teach myself an amazing lot. But its been so, sooo worth it.

[Popsicle]

[color="DeepSkyBlue"]I'm actually in the middle of creating a comic/manga right now. So far its been going pretty smoothly for it being my first. Just finished the script for it. It's been kinda hard to get stuff done though 'cuse of school. But the cool thing is that it is a Christian comic so in the process of creating the story, I grow so much closer to God. So it makes it all the more fun! I'm hoping the final product turns out to be cool. [/color] Good luck with your comics as well!

[CreatureArt]

Thanks, Popsicle! Good to hear that you're creating a comic as well - congratulations, and best wishes for it, too!

I'm glad that its bringing you closer to God. With my comic I want to do work hard with these hands to honor Him, too.

Any details on what your comic is about? What made you decide to start?

[ChristianKitsune]

XD Wow...so much to talk about, I hope I don't put anyone to sleep...

My comic, Stick Monkey Chronicles, started off as a comic strip for my high school paper. After a very disappointing start, and my advisor telling me that I needed to redo my Angle (Basically I just had Stick Monkey looking cute and saying that he loved fruit). It hurt to hear critism like that, but the next issue was way better. By the end of the year, Stick Monkey was recognized at a contest (no prize was given for comics btw) because I incorporated my school in the comic. I think it was one of the aspects that saved our paper from getting a bad grade at contest.

Sooo because of that start, and because I loved SM sooo much. I decided that I wanted to at least, write a story about it, and possibly do a comic. I put it off and put it off, saying that I wanted to be a stronger drawer before I committed myself to a comic.

I said "I'll start by Christmas! or "I'll start by summer!" Finally, by june I had sketched out a few pages.

Along the way I started searching for a place to put my comic... I desperately wanted to get it online, but I didn't want to use a site that would hurt my comic.

Thankfully, I have found a nice home over at The Project. I owe those guys alot for taking me in.

Over the summer I have learned that I have a loong way to go before I should go professional with my comic. The first few pages need heavy revamping (in the way the panels are shaped and the bubbles are placed) I have heavy editing to do someday.

I thank Mechana2015 for his advice. He is an amazing guy! I owe him a lot too.

Because of SMC I have forced myself to learn a little about website making XD I had no clue about what I was doing, and Ann and Mave really stepped in and gave me the advice I needed. :3

Sooo yaay I know I need to learn a lot more, but I know that I want SMC to present a certain message, and It's my prayer that I will bring all the glory to God in this...

I can do all things through He who gives me strength, and I pray that I am artist who will rise above the road that is wide and filled with self-love.
That is the biggest challenge I think...staying humble. XD I have much to be excited about, but I want to give all that I have to God. :3

[CreatureArt]

Don't worry - you didn't put me to sleep, at least!

That's pretty awesome that SMC originated from a comic you did for the school paper. Yeah - harsh criticism is hard to take, but sometimes it can be gold for improvement.

I put off starting Redemption because I wasn't a good enough artist, too. There are tonnes of things I still can't draw. I think I eventually figured I had to start <i>sometime</i>, else I'd never improve.

Its cool to see your comic's sub-domain at the project, too. I had to learn a lot about HTML for my comic too. My site is still quite simple, hopefully I'll update it at some point. ^^;

You know, I reckon that even just by starting and continuing SMC you are glorifying and serving God. Even if the story isn't very long yet. Because you're using the talents he gave you in a sincere desire to honor him and create something good. ^^

[Popsicle]

[color="DeepSkyBlue"]Thanks! Umm...well the theme of my comic is mainly not conforming to the patterns of this world and not being afraid to not follow the crowd. Let's see, the plot is kinda hard to explain w/o giving too much away so bare with me.

The storyline is kinda complicated and causes the reader to think and predict what happened in the characters' pasts. The main character is named Reeah Hayvern and my profile pic is a quick sketch of her that I turned into line art. I can't say much about her 'cuse I don't want to give away all of my story.

The setting takes place 200 yrs in the future where Earth is mainly controlled by these places called "Kingdoms" in various parts of the world. Oh, and they are not "medieval" places they are actually really technologically advanced, futuristic-looking areas. One such kingdom is called the Kingdom of Eshrin. Ok, so yeah, there are 3 kingdoms and they are all for science and all those false theories like evolution, big bang, etc, and they are trying to pervert the world even more so that everyone follows their ways. To accomplish this they are enslaving religious groups of people, mostly Christians and trying to break them to do their will.

Who will try to stop this? How will they stop this? What do we expect to see? How 'bout some bounty hunters, cool future weapons, funny jokes, tearful moments, foiled military plans, struggles with temptation, the armor of God, Satan, some demons, plot twists/surprises, and of course the power of our Lord working through an average teenager's life.

Just a heads up, this is not a gorey/bloody comic. Nothing inappropriate. Many of the weapons are actually "stun weapons" and do not kill. Some of the time the characters use the armor of God. This comic is adventurous and has touches of comedy.

Wow, ok, that was pretty much my comic story in a nutshell. Oh and I started this comic for just hobby reasons, now I am also doing it as a school project that will let every student in my school view it, so yeah, I'm excited about it. Hope I didn't bore anyone. hehe...[/color]

[uc pseudonym]

silvamundus.theproject.us

I write the comic at the above. The experience has been odd, overall. I write each chapter fairly quickly, but at 50+ pages a chapter will last over a year. All I do right now is discuss and approve new pages with Syreth. Lack of feedback is generally discouraging, but webcomics exist in excess and it takes a long time to attract interest.

[EricTheFred]

This is a very cool thread. I'm in the midst of creating something, but my drawing skills are way out of date (I drew a comic strip for my high school newspaper, more than twenty years ago, and that's my last effort before turning my hands to Drafting) so I've been doing head studies and figure studies instead of my comic. Still, I'm eager to see who else posts, and what they have to say.

[ChristianKitsune]

silvamundus.theproject.us

I write the comic at the above. The experience has been odd, overall. I write each chapter fairly quickly, but at 50+ pages a chapter will last over a year. All I do right now is discuss and approve new pages with Syreth. Lack of feedback is generally discouraging, but webcomics exist in excess and it takes a long time to attract interest.

I must say i really love the work you guys are doing. Don't be discouraged!!!
I am in the mood to plug other comics on DA and my site. (BTW do you have a banner I can use to advertise for you guys? I couldn't find on on your site.... but I want to do that for you!)

Eric, what was your newspaper comic about? I had fun on mine and I continue to do my college's cartoons. (it's a bit tiring as I also have about 2-3 stories on top of the cartoons each issue)

[EricTheFred]

Eric, what was your newspaper comic about? I had fun on mine and I continue to do my college's cartoons. (it's a bit tiring as I also have about 2-3 stories on top of the cartoons each issue)

Fictional students attending my school. Didn't have very many strips, because we didn't publish often enough (Funding problems. This was back in the days when you got your copy from the type-setter, laid out by hand, and had the local newspaper print your runs. I'm betting modern high school papers get to cut a lot of expenses thanks to PCs.) I had an exasperated freshman, a love-lorn upperclassman and a variety of one-shot characters. (I had planned to get a female regular in there, too, but she never did get her big entrance.)

[uc pseudonym]

(BTW do you have a banner I can use to advertise for you guys? I couldn't find on on your site.... but I want to do that for you!)

It looks like we have never made a banner. I think the image we have on the main page is fairly representative and about banner size, though.

[ChristianKitsune]

ooh sounds entertaining, Eric!

I did some ficitional characters for my college paper last year. This year they are still there, but I added a historical figure that accident ran into a time warp and wound up on my college campus...whee for stupidity!

Oh, great, UC! I'll update the links when I update the pages this weekend! ^^

[CreatureArt]

I like the sound of your story so far, Popsicle. I'm glad you've got the opportunity to do it for a school project and get the exposure, too!

Its a shame that you guys haven't got much feedback on Silva Mundus, UC. I've been enjoying its twists and turns so far. Hopefully as it spends more time on the web and attracts more readers there'll be some more encouragement for you both.

Glad to hear that, Eric. Sounds like your high-school comic was a lot of fun. All the best for starting on your latest project - if you end up putting it up on the web feel free to contact me and maybe I could do some plugging for it with Redemption.

Do you guys show family members or friends your comics? How do they react?

I'm lucky enough to have Photosoph who draws her own comics as well. So we keep tabs on each others work and bug each other for feedback, lol. My Mother is very creative and paints from life - but she doesn't really get the comic genre (or manga in general) so it can be exasperating at times. I don't have any friends in real life who like my comic, though - when they've seen it at odd times they like the artwork -- but again, they're not into comics/manga at all.

[uc pseudonym]

Its a shame that you guys haven't got much feedback on Silva Mundus, UC. I've been enjoying its twists and turns so far. Hopefully as it spends more time on the web and attracts more readers there'll be some more encouragement for you both.

If you have thoughts or comments, we always love to see them on the forum.

Do you guys show family members or friends your comics? How do they react?

Both. My family has said fairly little. Most interestingly, I showed Silva Mundus to my English professor and she liked it.

[ChristianKitsune]

My friends that like anime seem to like it.

although this one girl finds SMC "creepy but cute." and she exclaims "STICK MONKEY" everytime I walk into drawing class.

[Blitzkrieg1701]

What a cool thread! I've been working on getting a webcomic started for a long time now, though it's still not ready for public consumption yet. It's encouraging to see people who are really making it happen!

[Syreth]

Well, I'm ashamed to admit it, but lately I've been feeling pretty defeated. Depressing as it may be, my ventures with webcomics has led me to the decision not to pursue a career in art. It just seems like a lot of work for very little return, and it takes a passion that I don't have to be willing to deal with that imbalance.

I do like to draw, though, and I want to do it for the glory of God, so I will continue to pursue it as a hobby and start taking myself a little less seriously.

I've seriously considered giving it up more times than I can remember, but I just can't bring myself to throw in the towel. Even though the stuff I do doesn't always get the kind of recognition I want, it turns out that I actually enjoy doing it! Wow! :3

Feeling this way is pretty hard for me to admit, though, since my mantra for myself and my efforts to encourage other artists has always been "God doesn't hold you accountable for the talent that you don't have." It turns out that I too struggle with my own lack of skill, my art's lack of appreciation and general neglect. It's alright, though. It's been a growing experience.

[Mave]

It was a pain learning how to manually html-code my website on free geocities in 2003. I self-taught myself over a summer semester.

It was a pain figuring out how to use Photoshop myself. It took me 2 years before I figured out some kind of systemic process of making comic pages that I felt comfortable with. Even so, I'm still learning new functions in PShop and how to improve my process.

It was a pain staying up late to draw late at night and weekends to finish my comic pages since I had to finish off my research projects, school activities and studying in the daytime.

It was a pain trying to schedule time to make sure I add updates on a regular basis over 3-4 years. Yet, I still look back and think "....That's all I've done so far?!"

It was a pain figuring how to evaluate webhosting packages when my free geocities could no longer handle my bandwidth.

It was a pain having to move all my files when I switched from HostOne to Psycho Ann's webhosting.

It was a pain having to move all those files again when Ann and I moved to another webhosting server to create TheProject.

It was a pain having to learn the website administration aspect of TheProject since Ann and I agreed on trying out a website content management software. It took us a solid 1-2 months to build the whole new website from scratch. Then, Ann and I met online almost everyday to discuss the layout, manage the files, load the files, create the graphics and add content.

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I don't know how God helped me to deal with the "what a pain" aspect. But He did and He's still doing it because drawing webcomics can still be a pain and I'm still doing it. I'm God's fool, I suppose.

What a pain, indeed. Was it worthed it? Sure. There was a healthy dose of joy and pleasure to balance out the pain and headache as well. XD

If there's one thing I've learnt to consider throughout the years, it's this: Why am I drawing webcomics?

I guess I just have some messages/life experiences and ideas that I want to share with other ppl. Whether ppl are moved or entertained by what I published doesn't really quite matter (and I don't mean that in an arrogant way). I suppose I'm pretty easy-going about things since drawing is not my main career. If you like my webmanga, great. If you don't. great. Life goes on.

[Popsicle]

[color="DeepSkyBlue"]Hah, wow, I know how it feels Mave to try to learn how to use Photoshop by yourself. It's quite difficult, lol. I can also relate about the staying up late thing to finish your comic while juggling school at the same time.

Keep up the good work everyone!:thumb:[/color]