Is/are your comics a full on passion or more an abstraction? I ask because while most of my comics have been born of a desire to make a specific type of story, only one is a project I've been wanting to tell for years and do right. If yours is a passion project, what about it makes it so important to you?

Mine is heart and soul. It is very therapeutic to lose myself in the world and characters.

When a project gains momentum and characters and setting are well-developed, it generates its own driving force and I start following like a fan more than a creator. It becomes my favorite series.

usedbooks wrote:
Mine is heart and soul. It is very therapeutic to lose myself in the world and characters.

When a project gains momentum and characters and setting are well-developed, it generates its own driving force and I start following like a fan more than a creator. It becomes my favorite series.

This. Don't know how you do it, but you keep summing up a lot of my own thought patterns so well.

If I'm not working on a comic I actually can go into withdrawal.

I put a lot into my comics. although I do believe that is one reason they are as awkward as they are. I think with my own state of mind though they are considerably a way of expression ones own thoughts and feelings, may not be in the same situation as the characters but a lot of emotions are placed into writing them and drawing.

although I also know the feeling that there is a need to feel better when drawing or creating comics. I think because of the outlet of expression. Although admit because of a certain kind of depression I have, there are times when I'm pretty much unable to do anything and days where I want to do to much at once I can't concentrate which leads to frustration and inability to draw anything.

^-^"

I sometimes wonder if more goes in to my comics that I'm willing to admit… And I suppose I want it to stay that way. If I'm subconsciously using it in a therapeutic way, well… then it's working, and that's all I need. I think, should I acknowledge that's what I'm doing (to myself and to readers), it would change things, maybe diminish some of the fun elements I like to plug in. So, I make comics just because I want to - simple enough!! :D

It's definitely passion for me. Passion, love, and a need to share and explore with others what would be too hard for me to explore on my own on an emotional level. Without Moonlight is part of my heart and my mind put to paper.

The comic I started with here was too much of a passion project. I'd just switched to working digitally and wasn't wasn't ready for it at that stage. ADF started as more of a light hearted thing to help develop my digital chops, but it quickly became a passion, as the characters grew lengthy back stories that will most likely never see the light of day! I've learned a huge amount from it.

There's just something about that strange combination of words and pictures and all the possibilities it offers that gets under my skin. I don't think any of us could do this for any length of time without that passion, it's just too much hard work with little possibility of financial reward!

We put every bit of time we have into our comic, whether it be writing, illustrating or promoting it. It's a story we are deeply passionate about and not going to lie, at times it's a challenge to build the motivation to do it, but it always seems to make it feel worth it in the end. Comments really help with that too! :D

A huge chunk of it. Reason why I met my wife through it. She knew me before she even got the chance to talk to me. :D

While the Stories I write are just fun, and light, and pretty much just an homage to the goofy detective shows I love. The act of making this comic strip has really brought my creative passions together in a way that nothing else has. I've played in bands and painted and made Japanese lanterns from scratch. I've taken art classes and ballroom dancing lessons. Gone dirt bike riding and geocaching. I play a lot of roleplaying games and I've tried to write a novel twice, but this has been something I have stuck with for far longer than all of that. I started drawing Garfield in third grade, and I am starting to feel like a lot of what happened between then and now was a huge distraction ;)

Bruno Harm wrote:
While the Stories I write are just fun, and light, and pretty much just an homage to the goofy detective shows I love. The act of making this comic strip has really brought my creative passions together in a way that nothing else has. I've played in bands and painted and made Japanese lanterns from scratch. I've taken art classes and ballroom dancing lessons. Gone dirt bike riding and geocaching. I play a lot of roleplaying games and I've tried to write a novel twice, but this has been something I have stuck with for far longer than all of that. I started drawing Garfield in third grade, and I am starting to feel like a lot of what happened between then and now was a huge distraction ;)

Well put! It's the same with me I think.I've done many things but the comics have kept going strong throughout all.

When i first started here on DD, I was drawing a story I wanted to tell. Which is my real comic. However, I was side tracked with the HA/HU universe. So then i created a character for the HU/HA universe and use my passion for that character. Some Of My drive comes from the Community here.



Sometimes, I wish I could just do SolarCell, But I'm drawing for 3 comics here on DD. I have to be in the mode for the type of comic I'm doing. But right now SolarCell is my go to comic I want to tell So, I'm reformatting the pages to suite my satisfaction. doing the new layout for is kind of putting a halt in my updates.

My first comic was a combination of fascination with Gary Larson and an over-riding desire to learn how to be funny. I don't know if it was a passion project so much as something to keep me busy and occupied.

The comic I've been working on ever since is definitely a passion project though, because I started it to try and chronicle the events of the last 20 years in American history through my viewpoint, which is coincidentally also why it's in a perpetual state of “being worked on” since it's effectively become me using the format of writing a comic as a diary.

I… think I've just outed myself as a coffee shop novelist…

I spend the majority of my time writing and editing my webcomic. I have worked on my story since 2003, it wasn't until 2016 when I really started to go ham. This is a passion project I always wanted to do when I was a kid.
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I work a full time job (average about 45 hours per week). I spend time with my family (married with kids). But all that being said, I estimate I put at least 30 hours a week on my comic. I stay up late. I get up early. I work on it all weekend. It's my passion, my heart, my soul, my, liver, my spleen, you name it!!! I absolutely love telling these stories. I just hope it comes through in my work.

I'd say all of it. I've spent the last three years preparing for my recent launch of Utopia Next and I've written nearly a thousand pages of notes on the story alone. I researched my own art production method and went from basically not being an artist to making what you can now find here.

I did the rest, too - learned marketing, web maintenance, learned about sites, etc. etc. In a way I feel like my mind is the third part along with heart and soul because I had to learn so much. I can hope to be successful but at least I can say that I did everything I could to become so.

Now I'm just hoping to talk more to other people that feel the way I do.

infiniteforces wrote:
I work a full time job (average about 45 hours per week). I spend time with my family (married with kids). But all that being said, I estimate I put at least 30 hours a week on my comic. I stay up late. I get up early. I work on it all weekend. It's my passion, my heart, my soul, my, liver, my spleen, you name it!!! I absolutely love telling these stories. I just hope it comes through in my work.

Holy crap, how do you manage that? I manage about six hours on a good week these days. Usually only two or three. I get so many interruptions that those hours probably end up as about 20 minutes work.

I've gotten to a point where any time spent out of work is most enjoyed drawing and writing. I'm fully invested into the comic.

For me it kind of varies. It does pretty much dominate most of my thoughts most days, I love it when a page comes together, just thinking of each weird little scene, or coming up with all little things about the characters. But, at the same time, I do get disheartened very easily. When something turns out well, it's all good, but constantly feeling like things are getting nowhere, and putting ours into something that just doesn't work out, it just kind of sucks a lot of that passion out.

I'm in college right now, coming up on finals, and still drawing comics instead of studying… so perhaps giving it way more heart and soul than I should at this time. Drawing helps manage my stress, though (at least till all the procrastination on homework catches up!)

Kootenie wrote:
I'm in college right now, coming up on finals, and still drawing comics instead of studying… so perhaps giving it way more heart and soul than I should at this time. Drawing helps manage my stress, though (at least till all the procrastination on homework catches up!)

Comics THRIVE on procrastination! Hahahaha! Most especially when you're in university. I think a very large proportion of comics were born from that or at least had a huge boost.
Even my own Pinky TA did.

Most definitely! Cartoonists are just like other artists. We are expressing something deep inside of ourselves. Just as painters aren’t hiding their works in an attic (or at least they don’t really want to do this). They would prefer to have them on display in a gallery. ;-)

Likewise, cartoonists want to have their works published one way or another. Once you see your work printed in a book or on a web site, you get encouraged to continue and do more. When I took a long break from drawing my comix, the pages just sat there in a cardboard box. I’ve got the passion back and ready to create more. I’m also hoping that my drawings are steadily improving too.

I’m retired, but my wife has sometimes commented to me that my drawing, scanning, editing, and posting is more like a daily job. Well, I know that it sometimes seems like that. Sometimes my stories just flow and I’ve just got to get them on paper quick before it goes away (or I have a senior moment and it’s all gone). :-)

Thanks to the Drunk Duck Webcomics for being here for all of us.

— Rick Rudge

I definitely pour at least a good chunk of my heart and soul into my work. Much of the plot is inspired by things I enjoy, but also things that I’ve been through. A lot of the characters are either inspiring for me, emotional outlets and (I’m a little embarrassed to say), sometimes even wish fulfillment, though I think it’s really important that you don’t let your emotions blind you when you’re writing—making the characters realistic and the plot engaging for readers is also something I have to constantly keep in mind.

I don’t usually write any romance but my guilty pleasure is definitely writing close family relationships with lots of nice heartwarming fluff. It helps to balance out all the dark/mature-ish subject matter.

Fully passionate yes, but due to my life condition and education I never trained to perfect it, so I give it my all though it isnt much, but it makes 12 years old me fulfilled

I give it all!

“If you aren't going to put all your effort into doing something… you better don't do anything”

With literal blood, sweat, tears, and my soul! LOL.

I worked on my comic since 2003 since I was 9 years old, same characters but…different origin stories lol. I never stopped writing and I never stopped learning.