- Posted
- Jul 19th 2009
- Mood
I’ve been mulling this over for the past week now... and it’s kinda made me a little depressed....
The more professional work that I do, the less I’m able to communicate to everyone else. I can’t show you all the comic pages I’m working on because I want this second book to sell better than the first one (which you can read all the comics online for free). I want to appeal to everyone so I shouldn’t be talking about politics or political beliefs. I can’t even show you new art that I’ve done because I wanna put it in an art book...
Seems like the more professional you become, the less stuff you’re allowed to show off. And that frustrates me for several reasons.
The first is that I get energized by reading people’s comments. When I was younger, the moment I finished writing a comic I would show it to one of my friends to gauge their reactions. If they laughed or thought it was funny I was doing a good job. If they didn’t then I knew I needed to rework it. That feeling of interdependence with my readers still purveys to this day. I have this feeling that I don’t really know what’s “funny” anymore and that my readers do, so watching people react to my comics helps motivate me to make more.
I don’t like going for too long without showing something. Back in 1999-2001, I use to chat on AIM with the “real” Alex Ze Pirate. She would suggest and idea and I would draw it. We worked out almost 300 pirate pictures this way (some of which I used in the photo album a little while ago). Because I was obsessive about keeping my files on my computer so perfect, I actually created a directory where every month for those 3 years had a folder, and each drawing made in their respective months were sorted and filed away. In this primitive fashion I was able to see when my peak art times were and to challenge myself to draw more than the previous month. But as time went on I found that I was drawing less and less, almost to the point of 1 or 2 drawings every 3 months, which upset me. I don’t like feeling like that, as I get depressed easily. I feel the best when I have accomplished a lot. And while it’s true I’m technically accomplishing quite a bit with my comics, I can’t show anyone any of it so it feels like I’m not.
So as I get more professional, releasing new books and signing contracts and the like, I’m struck with how much I’m not allowed to show anyone. Life as always felt like a bit “show and tell” session to me, and restricting that really frustrates and depresses me. The only solution I can think of is to make extra comics and pictures which are OK to show online to compensate for the plethora of work not allowed to be shown at all. But that requires working even HARDER than I am now. Sigh....
I dunno... just something I’ve been thinking about lately...
1000oclock Says:
A technique some professional artists use to show their work free is to make an inferior copy, such as the draft version or the version before being colored. This way you can have your cake and eat it too.
Ceilidh of One Says:
I feel the same way, honestly. My family has been pressuring me to stop posting my work online so I can sell it when I finally finish something... but without feedback and reactions from readers, I never feel motivated to finish anything. When I went to school, I'd carry a massive binder with me containing all my comics, and I'd show anybody willing to look. People like us thrive on reader approval.
I had similar sadness a few years ago, when I found out that by doing better art, it took a lot longer to make it. Once upon a time, I could draw a comic page every couple days. When it suddenly started taking two weeks to finish a page, I got really frustrated because I didn't want to show off incomplete works to people.
I don't know if there's a "cure" for feeling like this... We want immediate responses to our work, but we still wanna be able to sell it in the end...
ochahane Says:
I'm going to fail if I do become a professional artist.. D: If I don't end up at least showing it to a couple of people I feel empty and gross inside.
WHYY.
But I guess it's for the better, so you get more money out of it.. xC;
henrythedog1 Says:
You say you gain energy from showing people the work. Well my opinion is you can share all of the comics to a select few people that you trust/value their opinion of. Show them the entire thing all that your doing in a private fashion. But as you want to sell more i would also make sure those people are willing to purchase your book basicaly people who bought the first book even though they saw all of the comics online already. You said you showed it to a friend. That is also a good way to do this. Show it to a select few that you value the opinion of and use that as a growth and insperation. This is just my opinion on this matter. (sorry for spelling and grammar errors.)