TWCL

ps99 · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 2:14 pm Post subject: That dont impress them much

I have always produced some sort of cartoon/comic ever since I was a kid. Huge rambling football matches and Cold War epics were the main themes. They were just something I wanted to do - as opposed to actually showing anybody.

Fast forward a few years to adult(ish) me and the realisation that other people might want to see my work. I like to produce the best I can and have worked quite hard at improving. They take seconds to read and yet hours to produce.

So...why does it rankle so much when people close to you have the reaction " are you still doing your little cartoons " or " er,,,that's nice"

Oops out of time ....posting!
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ps99 · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:38 pm Post subject:

It's always a mistake to post when emotional! Smile

I think the question might be better framed

" Do some of the people around you totally not get what it is you do - and does it bother you? "
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lexia · Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 80

Actually yea I get this, people around me do not understand they think nothing about it and really think I will go nowhere doing it, I so want to prove them wrong... It be fun just to do that =3

But yea it bugs me some... But then I look at them and they gave up on their dreams long ago, I think that may be way you get that a lot, most people long leave the dream behind.. But that is different maybe..

Just seems to me that way with people around me

But with every one person that does not believe in me or think its a waste their is 10 other strangers that like my drawings and love to see more ^_^

vulpeslibertas · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 1:52 am Post subject:

I don't think anyone has ever gotten what I do. I suppose you get used to it, more or less.
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Fenmere · Joined: 30 Jul 2012 Posts: 11

I have always had a mixed bag of responses. I have found that as I've stuck to it and really improved both my writing and my art, even my worst detractors have started giving me compliments. It's take 12 years of relentlessly publishing, though. Still haven't "made it" yet, either.

Something frustrating that I've experienced a lot in the latter half of my comic's career is people who compliment my work and even say it's brilliant still aren't very supportive of it. It can be really hard to break that barrier. Probably so hard that most people don't.

On the other hand, it can be good if your fans are not your family and friends. It might mean that your potential reader base is larger than a handful of people...

vaslittlecrow · Joined: 01 Aug 2005 Posts: 609

My family has always been very supportive of my comics work, but it rankles me when people assume that comics = kid stuff. The most common response to my saying, "I am a comic artist" is, "you can't do that for a living" (even though I have,) or "do you do children's books?" When I tell these types, "no," and show them my books, they tend to have a rather rude awakening. I guess no one expects a smiley gray-haired lady to do depressingly violent comics about the fall of the Soviet Union that sometimes teeter dangerously close on the edge of what some people consider pornography. Usually at this point, people hush up about their annoying assumptions.
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Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.

Fenmere · Joined: 30 Jul 2012 Posts: 11

OK. I've gotta read me some of that!

DoctorStevehatten · Joined: 29 Nov 2012 Posts: 37

Obviously there are some pros that are the exceptions to the rule... but yeah, that's your family looking out for you. Because they're right.

The vast majority need day jobs, yo.

Lavenderbard · Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 771 Location: Ohio

vaslittlecrow wrote:

but it rankles me when people assume that comics = kid stuff..

One of my pet peeves also.

And I don't even do stuff that's NSFW.

But, just because it's safe for work, doesn't mean I wrote it for children.
(I'm my own target audience, and I haven't been a kid for a loooooong time now.)
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ewomack · Grand prize winner! Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 337

Yes, the USA seems to have permanently pigeon-holed comics into "kid's stuff" - I'd like to see a historical study of this, because I'm sure it's for some stupid and shallow reason...
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Ed Womack

nsanelilmunky · Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Posts: 92

I don't think America has pigeon-holed it into 'kids stuff'. If anything, I think they've pigeon-holed it into the 'nerd' hole along with video games, D&D, sci-fi/fantasy movies and bad inter-personal communication skills.

Casual Notice · Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:27 pm Post subject:

I don't know what you people are talking about. I'm highly respected everywhere I go when I identify myself as a webcomicker (of course I identify myself as Mike Krahulik or RK Milholland, but that's totally beside the point).

(edited by poster to remove tacky reference)
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What I lack in sincerity, I make up for in sarcasm.
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ewomack · Grand prize winner! Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 337

nsanelilmunky wrote:

I don't think America has pigeon-holed it into 'kids stuff'. If anything, I think they've pigeon-holed it into the 'nerd' hole along with video games, D&D, sci-fi/fantasy movies and bad inter-personal communication skills.

Yes, same concept different words. Depending on one's perspective, if you read comics or consume fantasy/sci-fi, some people will consider you a "nerd" and others will consider you "immature," meaning that you spend your time with things that some people think only kids should bother with. It's shallow either way.
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Ed Womack

vulpeslibertas · Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:08 am Post subject:

On the other hand, we could live in a culture where comics have not been pigeon-holed into "kid's stuff".

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Metruis · Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 990 Location: Canada

What irks me most is the question...

"So why aren't you published yet?"

It took three and a half years for the vast majority of my coworkers to find out that I do art in my spare time. My mom talks about what a great writer I am but hasn't actually read more than like, the first couple chapters of my comic and nothing more recent than that.

And I'm not even a cartoonist!
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