This topic occured to be while I was typing the "self-friend or self-foe" topic, & I just had to pose it.

I've completed 3 issues of Terran Sandz. Every time I've finished an issue I get depressed. I get *really* down. I don't get suicidal or anything, but it feels like my best freind in the world moved to another country or something. I have to force myself to start creating again. You'd think I'd be elated (hell, *I* think I'd be elated), but I'm not, at least not initially.

Is that wierd, or what?

Does anyone else have that bizzaro reaction? Am I alone in my insanity?

I don't seem to have the problem with Broken Things or Dead, but I haven't finished an issues worth of material on either (though I'm just 2 pages away from doing so on BT).

I know this might be an odd quirey, but I've always wondered if I was the odd duck out in this area.

Later,
Chip

My comics are a result of a weird blend of depression and attention whoredom.

That is just an AWESOME answer, kyupol. I gotta remember that line so I can use it for one of my characters.

Later,
Chip

I need one bad.

I get depressed if I am not on time with an update. But I get depressed if I think I shortchanged a page as well to get it up on time.

It's a vicious cycle =P

* by depressed I mean I get a bit down and unmotivated

Then again I also have random bursts of ups and downs as well for no apparent reason with my comic. Luckily the downs are much less and are spread out far.

I can't understand your brain's logic. Why would you be depressed on finishing an issue? I can understand if you finished the whole story and is therefore depressed. But an issue?

That's why I posted the question, mlai. It makes no sense to me either.

I wondered if I was alone, so I created the discussion thread.

Later,
Chip

This is totally normal. It's like a form of post-partem, but with a creative project. I've experienced this most of my life with every project I take on, and most everyone I know experiences the same thing.

It's that feeling the first day you wake up after the project is over, and you're back to being your normal self -- not the cool, self-with-a-project you were the day before. My girlfriend edits a small newspaper, and she has the same problem after every issue. You're more of a superhero with each day you put into a project, until the very last piece is being put into place and you're on top of the mountain yelling, "Look at this! Look at this! Here we go, boys!"

Then it's over and you're back to being, well, you. Which isn't bad, but still -- it sure was exciting on top of that mountain.

Thanks, keith. That makes perfect sense (& is sorta obvious, I'm ashamed to admit).

Yay, I'm not strange... er, I'm not *as* strange.

Later,
Chip

heh


Mazal Tov, it's a comic!

Well Chip, you are one wacky soul...

Ever tried anti-depressos?

This is the 3rd time I've recommended perscription drugs on DD.

Oh, I've tried medicating myself, but I enjoy it too much.

Later,
Chip

I don't think it's that strange at all. Maybe I haven't experienced that in such an extreme form, but it's always a bit sad to finish a novel, knowing that this is where it ends. There's that feeling that nothing will ever be the same. It is like losing a friend or moving out. I'm calmer when I leave them living some sort of a bitter-sweet ever after.

I know it's gonna be different with A Bit Cheesy. With novels, my goal is to finish the story. With this comic, it's to go on with it for as long as it's fun for me. I don't even have an ending for it (which is often the FIRST thing I come up with for a novel). Plus, it's one of my longest running projects. I usually finish the first draft of a novel within 6 months. I've been working on the comic for 5 months already and I've basically barely started. At this point, I can't imagine ending it someday.

I dunno about you, but I love myself a hot, piping anti-depresso in the morning, especially when eating a hearty bowl of Anti-Depress O's.

Hmmm, I got depressed when I finished my 'Rising Stars of Manga' entry a couple of weeks back, largely because I'd worked so hard on it close to every day for three weeks solid, and when the adrenaline keeping me going through it all wore off, I felt really down.
With my webcomic it's not so much, because it's more of a continuous thing. I'm more likely to get down halfway through a chapter when I might start feeling like I'm going nowhere, or thinking I haven't made enough improvement or progress in my drawing and writing.
Try to take a positive attitude to finishing things. If it makes you feel depressed, then don't think of it as an ending, just think of it as a marker point. 'Okay, that's that part reached, now I can carry on to the next!' Alternatively, if it's the relief of finishing something causing a drop in your adrenaline and making you feel low, you may need to try spreading out your work a bit more rather than having periods of frenzied activity with a break in between, so it's more like a little work with a little break.

The curse of the creative mind is frequently the backhanded sting of some sort of depression (or more acute mental illness that decides to go along for the ride). Me, I've suffered from clinical depression since I was a teenager, and my art is both a source of relief and angst. I question daily why I put myself through creating a webcomic at all. Logically it seems so pointless, but my soul seems empty without doing some sort of storytelling, so I keep going. Most of the webcomic art I do is really just allegorical cathartic stuff for me anyway. Much more than 'just a webcomic', as is the case for most of us here.


I would agree that the sense of 'loss' that you feel is akin to postpartum depression-more of a situational blue mood or the let down sense that elite athletes experience at the conclusion of a championship game or the Olympics (even if they win). Adrenaline? I don't know- brain chemistry and the brain itself is incredibly complex, but not complex enough to understand itself.

Simple answer: Nahhhh...you aint alone.

If you move on from it, I would say you are fine. If you don't, and effects the rest of your life- if the 'black dog has come to stay'- I would encourage you to get help and I dont mean self medicating. I was in lockup a few weeks ago attempting that sort of thing -- lucky to be here actually. (Had a sketchbook with me too....)

When it comes to depression- the real deal-I don't mess around. It's okay to joke about it, but I don't lie about it or act like it doesnt exist or that it's something to be ashamed of. That type of archaic thinking can get folks dead.

~B

I get much more depressed about social issues than webcomic/creative issues. Usually when I finish one thing I'll off to another before I know it. My love is so fleeting.

We're all crazy, there are no 'normal' people.