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I AM A FAILURE AT ONLINE COMICS (written September 2001) I don't have what it takes to succeed at online comics. I have been doing online comics since December 21, 1999. My longest stretch of actually updating on the schedule I set out for myself has been two months. There are a number of reasons for this. I'll tell you a secret though; you don't give a damn. What do you care if I am too depressed to be funny, or don't have time to get a comic done because I'm on my honeymoon or I've got the flu or I had to go to work or I have too much homework? All you care about is I failed to provide you the content you expected. And that's okay! You're the audience, you're supposed to be fickle! Truth be told, I will never have a 100% success rate for coming up with content on time until I don't have to worry about money and can spend eight hours a day working on comics instead of maintaining and building websites for other people. I am a failure at online comics, and I probably always will be. I will be a success at online comics. I have been doing online comics since December 21, 1999. I have gone from a poor understanding of code and graphics software to having Illustrator, Photoshop, Image Ready, and Dreamweaver feel as natural to use as my fingers to feel or my eyes to see. I started by doing comics about my friends, myself, and a bar I like. Now I do comics people other than my family and friends can enjoy. I used to do obscure or inside jokes, but have started to refine my humor to be distinctively mine and entertaining to the majority of readers at the same time. There was a time I scanned in my work done in colored pencil and posted them in all their 120-150k glory. My current online ongoing strip, "The Sticks," weighs in around 2-10k and in my opinion looks crisper and cleaner. I have so many ideas for new comics I'm bursting to do them. I'm getting better and better at what I do, and after my class is done in December I'll have a great deal more time to work on my labors of love. People other than me are actually buying my merchandise. More and more people are getting interested in online comics, and I've just about got my foot in the door. If I keep working at it, I will be a success at online comics. I am already a success at online comics. I have been doing online comics since December 21, 1999. Between all of the titles of my own I've worked on, the work I have done in collaboration with others, and the guest artist comics I have done, I have probably got 300-400 strips out there with my name on them. I've had countless hours of fun creating them. Through learning about how to code websites and use graphics software for my comics creation, I found what I want to do for a living, and I am doing it, and I am making a living! I've learned discipline and found motivation, and I've gone back to school to finish a degree in Graphical Information Technology. My family and friends are consistantly entertained by my work, I've met some great new friends through my comics, and I became a part of a fun, friendly, and exciting community of people all struggling to make something out of the online comics industry. I've attended conventions and listened to people like Scott McCloud and Scott Kurtz talk about this "industry" that is being born, and I, in my own small way, am a part of all that! I have a wonderful life, a brand new loving and supportive wife, my health, and the opportunity to show my comics to people I'd never get to show them to without the internet. I love every piece of art I create, and have brought smiles to people's faces when there otherwise would not have been one. I am a success at online comics, and I always will be. |