My personality appears extroverted in the right social situations when I am surrounded by like-minded people, however I know deep down that I am truly an introvert because I recharge when I am by myself and drawing.
When I first started getting serious about webcomics in college, there were many nights that I turned down time hanging out with friends because I had to update my comic. I spent consecutive Friday nights alone in the library computer lab because it had the best color laser printer and fastest Internet connection on campus. I did not realize how much it affected my social life until after one night of driving around the city when I turned down an invitation to see a movie because I did not want to miss my midnight update.
I guess these memories are snippets of a time that drawing webcomics took precedence over human interaction. Oddly enough, even after all those years, the comic pages are still here regardless if I updated them at the stroke of midnight or not. But those missed experiences that I passed up in favor of drawing in my apartment are some of my few regrets. It took a few years of living on my own to learn the importance of prioritizing friendship because opportunities to see them are so rare.
This is my story and I am not sure if other comic creators have been in a similar predicament when balancing the time spent on a comic page versus time spent making lasting friendships. I can only leave you with this advice: If the phone rings while you are scribbling the last panel of a comic page, pick it up. Maintaining a longterm friendship takes effort.
QUACKCAST
Quackcast Topic: Colouring Technique
CONTRIBUTIONS NEEDED!
For a future Quackcast ozoneocean and Banes would really love to know about how you go about colouring your artwork.
What programs or what actual tools do you use?
What are your fave methods?
Favourite media?
Time saving tips?
Tricks for good effects?
Things you wish you could improve on?
Things you think you've mastered?
How do you pick what things should be what colour?
Or anything else you can think of.
Link: http://theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/176218/
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**SPECIAL THANKS** to Gunwallace for his original Newspost art “Girl with Glowing Mug” used in today's article.
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The Balancing Act of the Real World and Creating Webcomics
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, July 21, 2014
5 likes!
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Gunwallace at 5:56PM, July 23, 2014
I'm married with two kids, so I have no life. I'm the stay-at-home parent, so the balance part is finding time to cook, do housework, play with the kids, and still make comics. If I'm lucky I get a couple of hours a day to write, draw, and think. So far that seems to be enough, but I'm looking forward to more in the future.
dedasaur at 8:15PM, July 22, 2014
This is interesting. I am at the other end of the stick for this... probably because my life resets every 4 or 5 years, I move somewhere else, make new friends... Only a few stay in my life. I have always moved a lot due to my father's job and for some reason I kept moving as an adult too hahaha, I follow the work, probably that's what my father taught me. So the only consistent thing in my life is drawing. There were times where I had to socialize, go to parties, go to weddings, attend birthdays and such and when I was in College I was very sociable, made friends with everybody, spent time talking... I wish I hadn't done that. Life is made of hellos and goodbyes and I should have stayed faithful and loyal to the one unchanging factor in my life and draw more: God knows how much better I could be by now.
synwells at 12:50PM, July 21, 2014
I've pretty much spent the beginning of my web-comic career taking as many short-cuts as I could. As I work full-time and am also a family man; my free time is very limited. My only saving grace is that I'm pretty quick when it comes to pencilling. If I can get at least two pages pencilled and inked in a week I'm pretty happy.
KimLuster at 8:29AM, July 21, 2014
I think I've struck a very good balance. Firstly, I'm a pretty big 'socializer' (sic), but I got late night (and spontaneous) partying out of my system a few years back. Current socializing comes in manageable pre-planned segments (which can last all day on weekends haha). I've developed a system where I don't overly intrude on quality time with the friends/family. I've always had 'artistic' hobbies so my webcomic time just occupies some of the time I've always used. Spouse and I value 'me' time so it's never been an issue... so far. If if ever does become a problem it's the comic that will suffer - as Kawaii suggests, loved ones are just too valuable!
Seabiscuit at 6:46AM, July 21, 2014
I guess it's not as much as a problem for me since I don't interact at all with people, haha. I don't go out or party. I think I haven't even left the house in something like a month. Just stayed inside and drew that whole time. I regret nothing! It's hot out and there's people everywhere!
Abt_Nihil at 4:23AM, July 21, 2014
For me it was not so much a matter of sacrificing social interaction for making comics, because I used to be quite averse to many popular forms of social gatherings in the first place. So I would rather naturally avoid them, and spend the time I gained on making comics. That's changed a bit, but I still feel rather uncomfortable at those dark, loud, crowded places which many people my age seem to like so much. But as far as friends and socializing goes, they're taking up a much larger part of my life now... and comics, regrettably, much less.
Ozoneocean at 2:32AM, July 21, 2014
That balance is a real problem at times... I gave up a great temp job that was getting me quite a bit of money because I needed more time to work on my comic. I turned down going to parties, and left other ones early all so I could get comic pages finished. ...and so on. That's back when I updated almost regularly! Actually I wouldn't mind going back to those days. As you get older you don't socialise as much in those fun ways you do when you're younger, but you work more which does not give you the same creative fuel.
Ozoneocean at 2:24AM, July 21, 2014
Hahaha, nice use of Gunwallace's pic!
Gunwallace at 12:24AM, July 21, 2014
That's no 'Girl', that's my wife. (drum rimshot)