Being a Comic Artist is Lonely

[@sonicya]

bro you're so right. It feels like you have to sacrifice everything just to create something no one reads! It feels unfair that you have to work on a chapter, and then do more work to try get people to read. Regardless, if you love what you're making, you're trapped (in a good way?). I always thought I just have to wait longer to find a community that enjoys what I create, and maybe I'm right; but, a broader, more general community you spoke about feels more reasonable.

[@Boniae]

YEP oh man, it's definitely really exhausting! Oh god yeah, when you get really passionate about making comics, despite the frustrations, you do end up trapped haha. I definitely think it's a good idea to find a community enjoys what you create, as you build your stuff up over time, since it can take years (its still what I'm trying to do now) and at the same time also maintain a general community with other creatives who can support each other. I feel like large communities or communities for webcomics for instance are definitely cool, but sometimes they are so large it's hard to really feel connected (at least, that's my own experience with it, but I'm also really bad at socializing 🤣) Thanks so much for watching the video btw!!

[@Asatlirart]

Ohh noo, you saw the animation!! eww i hate that one😭 IM actually working on doing other videos, kinda like your one👍

[@HTMangaka]

Well, I think we've got two options as artists to become very relevant: 1. Make things people want. 2. Make things people didn't know they wanted. Psst! That second one is WAAAAY HARDER! O_O

[@BuizelCream]

It's definitely a sunk cost fallacy, especially when creating your comics is so enjoyable regardless if it attracts a lot of readers or not. I too have a fair share of that experience, and it's also the same with being a fictional literary writer. Writing novels with themes and characters so personal, I'm unsure if it might find its audience, but I still work on the project anyways since I love it.

[@alienateitt]

I’ve been working on my webcomic for well over a year now, with my friend as co-writer and co-character designer, which is great, genuinely(makes some aspects easier and at least I have another person to discuss stuff with), but I have 0 friends or even mutuals who are making their own comics. I’m generally pretty anxious person so interacting out of the blue with someone is very stressful for me but I feel like if I did and made at least one friend who’s also creating comics the process will become times easier. Building community is another thing that is super daunting to me - social media are overwhelming and communicating with audience can leave me exhausted even before I attempt to do so😭 Thank you so much for making this video, you’ve put it so well

[@KitsunePerson1000]

Seriously, I agree. I'm a pretty anxious person and a lonely person. I've made a ton of comic mutuals, but we never interact. There's a huge wall between us and I think it's because a lot of us are scared of knowing each other outside of our comics. I think a lot of us think we can only talk about comics instead of other topics. It's a pretty tough hurdle to get over and most of us comic creators are our only source of marketing. We spend so much time doing our work that we don't have energy to chat. It sucks :') Really great and relatable video! Love your comic too

[@Boniae]

AHHH Isaac!!! Thank you so much for watching!! Omg I never actually thought about that, but you're right and I feel that! That's another really big reason too, is the fear of getting to know people outside of comics. It feels like a boundary you don't know whether or not to cross and then also the fear of wondering if others will get along with you outside of it. 🤔😭 But here's to hoping we can change that in the new year!! Lol and if you see me trying to say hi to you on IG I'm not trying to be weird I swear!! X'D 🤣

[@KitsunePerson1000]

@Boniae Ive watched a lot of your videos! I think a lot of people are scared of revealing who they are behind the art because we can't separate ourselves from it. That's a hurdle people need to get over. And feel free to message me anytime! I'd been wanting to chat :)

[@DoctorGlasgow]

I've been a professional webcomic artist since 2015, and it was a gut punch watching this video. You've described exactly the sorts of things I've struggled with for years, sometimes in the exact same words I've used when lamenting to others. I've long wanted to be able to meet other webcomic artists, struggled with forming a community, having trouble promoting a niche webcomic, been burdened by the pressures of marketing and appeal to social media at the expense of just making the comic, and struggled with not being able to talk to anyone about what I'm making. Thanks for putting it out there. I don't know how to fix this sort of isolation in a way that doesn't seem forward. Do I just ask, "Hey do you want to be webcomic buddies?"

[@hollybrownvideos]

I think it’s also lonely because making comics compared to just illustration is a lot of work. Not that illustrating can’t be hard, but comics has unique issues and there’s hardly anyone who can understand why it’s frustrating to draw them.

[@Boniae]

That's definitely true! Comics are like illustration multiplied to infinity, and then even more on top of that. 🤣😅 It's so frustrating. (Thank you so much for watching the video btw!! Omg I've been watching you for forever. 💖🌟)

[@ivanav.3136]

true illustrations are one and done so there's like less demand on you. you can pour all your all on a single canvas. while us comic artists need to finish multiple canvases called pages lol and we can't pour our all on just 1 page or we miss a deadline, but we need to juggle a lot!

[@jaggedmatt]

Thank you so much for making this. Been on the lookout for a video like it for a while. Because honestly, yeah it is a struggle making comic/art friends. Your title is the perfect hook for a community. If you find a small group of people who are just as passionate about the problem as you, who want to encourage conversations and plan events, word of mouth will take care of the rest. As an example, a few years back a cosplay community put on an entire virtual comicon over KZbin with an agenda where their community members were guided to participating channels for different tutorials, interviews, and contests over a weekend. And you got digital badges from each channel you went to and got to display them on the community chat. It was so much fun. Speaking of, the reason the film Wayne's World was greenlit was because the producer said, "That looks like fun." I think for an endeavour such as this, it's a good vibe to follow. And your comic looks so cool, I hope we can read it! Sorry I wrote too long a message, I tried to keep it short 😅

[@Voltergeist]

I'm glad that youtube recommended you; I've been feeling the exact same way. Making comics can be an incredibly isolating experience, I've been at it for some years now and I recently considered stopping altogether because i dont know how much more energy i have to invest in it if people aren't telling me they're reading. I've also been coming back to making long form videos here... and I think I enjoy that more than scrambling around feeling fomo on discord and other social media. Thanks for making this.

[@Boniae]

Thank you so much for watching my video!! I'm glad it was relatable to you! I'm also sorry that you feel really isolated and even felt like stopping making comics--but I'm not gonna lie I have felt like that so many times haha. 🤣😅 I really hope you continue, your stuff looks great, I'll have to check it out sometime!! And yeah I feel a bit of the same way, I feel like youtube is a great place to express yourself if you can. I've been very burned out by other forms of social media these days. KZbin was the last one I had yet to try harder with. 🤣 Good luck and don't give up especially if you love making comics at the heart of it!💖

[@Koispeck]

Great video! Resonated with a lot of points. A couple things: As an artist the majority of the time I've been the one to reach out first to moots. Artists tend to be on the introverted side. If you want to make artist friends online you have to take the initiative and be the one to send the friend request or DM. I have a couple friends who do comic and honestly it's amazing to be able to be able to look over each others work and give advice.. You're def gonna get this suggestion a lot but opening up a discord is a great way to keep in contact with your audience and build your community! (I see you got one in the description I might hop in.) There are also discords for specific webcomics and webcomic creators. I will say these discords can be intimidating, I tend to lurk but it's a good resource to have.

[@ARStudios2000]

Honestly, as someone who drew a lot of one off and longer webcomics for years, before eventually burning out on them and doing illustrations mostly until this year started where I plan to resume comics again, you definitely made me realize why it sometimes felt so....odd. Just, odd, making webcomics and what not. All that time spent, and yet it feels so weirdly....distant, like what I spent it on was a really fleeting thing even though I had fun. I do plan to pick some od my ongoing comics back up, nonetheless, as well as try more ambitious things this year nonetheless for my resolution.

[@kobedesue6791]

I feel you totally it’s a weird feeling, because you’re doing so much stuff unlike regular artists. I feel like I have more in common with animators than regular illustrators. I try to talk to people more but it’s just tuff to get through because comic making is a very slow process smh. However what’s your comic? I would love to read it!

[@VictoryGoth]

I signed my former webcomic with a publisher and it ended up making the process even more lonely lol. Instead of posting each new page online, I'm just holding onto these dozens of pages until I'm ready to send them to the publisher. I'm allowed to share progress pics on Patreon and with friends but I'm either too busy, burnt out, or admittedly lazy and introverted to do any of that. 😅 Now, I went the trad publishing route because I have zero marketing skills and I'm just a nobody whose webcomic barely got any readers anyway. Even an indie publisher has a broader reach than I could ever hope to get online. But still, what little online presence I had has completely tanked. And my friends are all webcomic artists so I've lost a bit of relability with them, not to mention the NDA preventing me from talking about specific things. I once found an artist who's signed with the same publisher as me, but when I tried to reach out to them they just kinda blanked me. Not trying to discourage anyone from pitching to publishers, nor am I saying I regret it, but this video spoke to me on multiple levels. Except I'm at a real loss on what to do about it.💀

[@Boniae]

First of all, CONGRATS on the book deal!! That's seriously really awesome. When does your book release? Also thank you so much for watching my video and commenting your thoughts. Your response was so eye opening. I've never been published traditionally, I have pitched to a few places before but, ultimately I'm still just really hoping to try a bit further with indie publishing for a bit. At my dayjob I'm surrounded by books and often times like to look at all the newest releases in graphic novels. I've always really wondered (and kind of had a hunch) that getting traditionally published would have its cons as well, so wow, I'm so sorry to hear about the loneliness you're feeling in that aspect! It really sucks when all your work is tied to one project that you spend a long time on and you can't share it--sometimes I do that with some projects of mine but it's because I do it purposely LOL, but yeah I can't imagine not actually being able to share due to a contract. 😭I feel that a lot of webcomic/indie creators sometimes subconsciously see traditional publishing as the pinnacle of comics as a career, but I do believe in reality it's just another path with its own pros and cons. (It really reminds me of Adrian Tomine's “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist” and his memoir about his career in publishing comics) I would absolutely love one day to hear more about your experiences via publishing and what some of the differences and similarities there may be with that though! You can feel free to reach out to me via email if you were ever interested in chatting about it.

[@JH-pe3ro]

Something I do to socialize is to go to in-person indie game developer co-working sessions - I have both a weekly one, and a monthly one that I helped start by putting together a page on Meetup(would I still use Meetup now? Uhh, maybe not). Games are where I started and they have a number of similaries when you are working alone, face production issues that the audience can't connect with, etc. The point of co-working in the same space is to get the kind of parallel-play effect where you can interact without a strong agenda behind it. I have brought drawing and comics to that without an issue, though it helps that I've been doing it for so long that there's a kind of continuity of faces and the specifics of the material aren't the topic, other than a quick "whatcha working on?"

[@Echowalksmanga]

I often feel this way too, tik tok is the only app that helped me find a good manga making community, everywhere else feels soulless. its a shame its leaving

[@Gleamiarts]

Yeah making comics can feel a lil isolating, esp when you don't know anyone who also makes them. For me, what helps is joining comic making discord servers, going to zine fairs, conventions, and finding local events in my city to go to

[@IshmaelThegreat]

Happy new year 🎉🎉🎉🎉 to all my fellow artists who strive to make art and putting it out there

[@briangross2979]

As a comic artist who posts on Instagram I find It can be very frustrating putting a lot of time and effort into a piece only for Instagram to never push it outside of your mutuals feeds so the shelflife of a post becomes extremely shortlived compared to the time you put into it, which is very frustrating and can feel like you're sacrificing a lamb in hopes a god will answer your call.

[@Abeckiosis]

Idk what to say other than kind of yes? Im also making a comic. It's my first but the thing is I don't want to share it with anyone until it's done so it's a bit different for me. But yeah idk what I'm saying 😭sorry. I liked this video I know what I was thinking now I think. I don't exactly feel lonely, but I do definitely want to see people talking about my stories and stuff. Like a fan base or something like you said. That's something I want from this.

[@Boniae]

Thanks for watching the video!! I'm actually really glad you say that you're not exactly feeling lonely, that's definietly a good thing! I want more of that for people 🤣 Good luck with your comic project, that's great!! It's definitely a good thing to complete it first before sharing it. It's actually something a lot of people (including myself lol) struggle with, I usually procrastinate on projects like that. So best of luck to you and thanks for watching!

[@Asatlirart]

Awesome video!! I used to try and make webcomics but they kept falling flat, so I' ve kind of set aside for now, You should said more on what your comics about, I'm gonna go check it out!!

[@Boniae]

Thanks a bunch, I really appreciate that you enjoyed the video!! I totally feel you on the whole webcomics falling flat though, I started up quite a few before Four Corners, I guess that was the only one that stuck. 😅 Haha and thanks for being curious about my comic!! If you like character driven gang dramas and a really slow burn romance you might like it!! 💖 (also, I really like your animation that you have on your channel!!)

[@Z-FilesYT]

You could try and get a group of comic artist together so you can share office space or digital space.

[@oliveScales]

I haven't even started my webcomic, but it's so discouraging to write my webnovel because people simply don't care. People only want to promote their own art, and don't care about other's art. The internet is a lonely place, fandoms are actually closed circles that harm your growth unless you behave exactly like the "big" fandom people, it's horrible. I have 300 followers on Tumblr but less than 1% interacts, really. Only 2 people support me there, and my past readers deactivated.

[@Wrathgir]

I wouldn't mind making more comic artist friends. I use to have some friends in a fan community from a big collaborative video that they use to be in and some made comics and some made animations. We kinda lost touch with each other and all I have left is 2 friends. Yeah I have been battling trying to get back to making my comics (I have 2 I am working on that are very long) and I am having a tough time juggling my part time job (sometimes feels like full time) and that. I also find it is hard when mostly my online friends wanna play games and all to turn them down, but probably have to more or less. Making comics is rough, but fun when I get to make them.

[@ameliafoley4156]

Fuckin so real. I think it's easier for print comics because you need to interact with more people to get your comic published, even with indie publishers. I joined the cartoonist cooperative and i think it's more focused on print stuff but it also has a cool discord server and meetings and stuff. Love the Greg reference lol, he's great. He's a bit too grindsetty imo but a little bit of that can be very helpful.

[@congaking100]

Not gonna lie I clicked on the vid because your avatar looked like Simon from the corner of my eye. But it is very well made video sooo…happy accidents.

[@kal7rider780]

Have you tried stop motion animatics? In my experience, your medium should depend on the genre of your story. Comics/Manga tend to only work for cutesy, slap stick comedy, or memes. Webtoons only work for generic Isekai Romances. My story is action/adventure/thriller, so a comic will fail. I've been looking into stop motion low frame rate animation instead, and I think that will work way better with Reels/TikToks/KZbin videos.

[@Boniae]

Thanks for watching the video! To answer your question, I do like the idea of animation (and even stop motion animation) and I have at one point considered doing it, I like to dabble in quite a bit of mediums so hopefully one day (it would require me to hire voice actors and musicians so, it definitely would have to be a future project where I can plan accordingly lol) I'm glad to hear that you want to try your hand at doing an animation/animatic! I think social media in general definitely needs more storytelling projects told via video. It would be nice to see more of it as a trend. So best of luck to you!!

[@takieddinemerabet92]

Its a lot harder when you try to make a career of doing comics.. When you try to live from the mony that you make using art.. Its driving me carzy...

[@Boniae]

That's very true and also really understandable. I also wish I had good enough advice for you too, so as someone who only has comics as a side stream, I think the only thing I'd suggest is having multiple streams of income if you can! If it's not comics maybe trying to find some other things or services you can sell. I wish you luck! 👍

[@takieddinemerabet92]

@@Boniae Wish you luck on your journey! Keep it up with the great content 🌸

[@DippedInInk]

Good video but this being friends with other artist is a weird fantasy. I've had artist friends in the past and they was all smiles then became shady and judgmental. We are all struggling so why hate on me when WE can flourish together.

[@fanartfanatic4345]

Do you a discord sever where I can share my project progress...? Like where to post wips and get feedback... I would like to join.

[@Boniae]

Honestly I think I might make one! I do have one more for my projects specifically but I do think it'd be good to have more of a general community focused server. So I'll let you know when I do get one up and running! 👍✌🎉

[@fanartfanatic4345]

@@Boniae wow that's really nice of you... I think we all need a community like that. So no one feels less lonely. And grow and feed off each other's creativity.

[@deadendstyle]

Too real 😔

[@SaborBell-Marquez]

It may not work but try if you haven't make a Facebook account for the creators. Just saying. Im just spit balling😅 EDIT: I also want to interact with other artist, creators, and potential readers. Kinda want that

[@oDDZdRAW]

Hi cool video, I've only just started getting into making comics so I don't really know many people sonit would be nice to join a creator fandom :)

[@mirrarezubian]

💀