A few days ago I made a post in one of the other topics about page views. One of the responses made me think about why I was doing what I was doing.

Some people are posting webcomics because they're trying to network. They want to make contacts with other webcomics people. And, through that, they ultimately wish for it to lead to contacts in the professional comics world. They see their comic as a method to break in.

Other people, apparently, see their webcomic as the end game in and of itself. They wish to generate as many page views as possible. They want to get as popular as PvP or Penny Arcade or some other such well-known webcomic. And, once that's done, they'll be able to make a living off the ad revenue, merch sales, and the occasional print collection.

Now that I've thought about it, I don't really know what I'm doing with my comic. I've been making it because I've been making a comic book of some kind ever since I was in grade school. I don't really know how to not be working on one. I don't have a long-term plan for its future. I'm beginning to think that maybe I should think of a plan, but so far I do not have one.

I'd like to know which camp the rest of you are in.

Well, I'd like to be successful one day.

In other words;

THE CA$H, THE FAME AND THE BABEZ!!!!!!!

The aim is to create, share and improve.

Yes I would love to make a career out of it but I don't hold out an real hope of that ever happening.

However if i can make any money out of the comics or skills I learn making them... bonus.

I'm similar in that I've been working on comic books for so long I don't know how to NOT be working on them, lol.

Right now my comic is serving two purposes; the first is being a fun, welcomed distraction while I'm in art school that I can share with others. The second is to drum up interest for my plot/characters. The comic I'm working on now is a prequel to a much larger project I'm planning... I'm hoping that with this comic I'll garner enough interest to start the next project, which will be much more intricate and time consuming.

I'd love to see success with this project, but I'm just happy if people enjoy reading it. : B

For me it is simple: to tell a story in a different media than the one I'm used to writing for.

I want to tell stories. Always have. And, whilst Shades was my first foray into writing for the comic book format, the "goal" was simply that. To tell a story I wanted to tell.

The "goal" in posting it online as a webcomic was slightly different, I suppose. Since I knew Shades would take a long time to finish, making it a weekly webcomic was a way of getting feedback while we were still working on it.

I just want to be Awesome.

I love to create. I've been writing stories since I was a kid. I never shared my stories with anyone; I wrote them for me to amuse myself. It keeps me sane. I can't NOT be creating.

Webcomics grew from story telling. I had a couple of roommates I really wanted to share stuff with, but they weren't likely to read long pages of stories. To come up with a format I could "share," I started script writing and rough storyboarding. My comic Used Books evolved from that. I put it online so I could share with my friends from a distance (and have a back-up), but when other people started looking at it, I decided to evolve.

That's how I got started. As for my goals now... I guess they are the same as ever, to keep creating. My short term goal is always to get to the next story arc, get through my current scripts. I don't think I have any networking goals or anything. I love all the people I've met who've helped me become more confident and outgoing, but it's certainly not something I set out to do.

Genejoke
The aim is to create, share and improve.

This resonates for me.

I originally came to Drunk Duck because somebody important to me, who is far more into comics than me, reported a lot of positive here. So I thought I'd check it out even though I've never followed comics. Comic books seemed like a lot of money to spend for something short-lived.

Immediately I liked the web aspect: comics available almost spontaneously, and DD is free, and hosts an amazing range of choices.

I'm not much of an artist (long story, not that interesting), but I like making things. I've tried a lot of different things, some with appreciably greater success/ability than others, just for the fun of "stretching". So this seemed like another area I could challenge myself with.

Originally I started experimenting with something that's not a comic at all (a web scrapbook if anything) just to get the hang of expressing an idea visually. Then I found a little story I wanted to tell, and with each page, I find a greater challenge of telling my story while improving on "my art" but staying true to a style I've established. and trying to do it myself has given me an appreciation for comics that regularly succeed with story, art and consistency that I can't imagine I'd have developed otherwise.

Since this is very new to me, and I'm somewhat awestruck by the many talents on this site, I feel silly asking people to look at this baby comic when there's so much else to consider and enjoy. But, when people have looked and made comments, I've Loved It, and when I saw that somebody fav'd it, I really felt a responsibility to keep it up, although I'm still horrible about updating regularly.

No career aspirations, and for me the $$-idea is laughable. The goal of my comic is to tell a story I want to tell and to try to do it as well as I can, and if other people like it, that's any number of cherries on top. (you're invited to check it out :) )

To do my part in the spiritual awakening of humanity. I believe it is the reason I am put here on this earth. I dont know if I can call myself a messenger of God or some form of new-age elitism (star seed, light worker, indigo child, crystal child, etc.)... as that entails some form of arrogance and belief that I am superior to everyone. I just do what I am called to do. Thats it.

In my comic (MAG-ISA), I throw out ideas like:
- heaven and hell
- reincarnation
- the new world order
- cults
- drugs
- brainwashing, psychology, hypnosis, etc.
- bullying
- the meaning of life
- etc.

I may sometimes come off like a Jack Chick tract even though I try my best not to come off that way.

My goal is to get you to THINK. Think critically. Discover spiritual truth for yourself. It is not my job to shove dogma down your throat. As I am not a fan of organized religion.

If I had the talent to jabber on and on for an hour at least (or maybe 45 mins and 15 mins for the callers) on a regular basis, I would do a radio talk show or something.

Just my 2 cents on this topic. :D

I do webcomics to become rich and famous. So far it hasn't worked.

Seriously though, I don't think there is any end game for me; it's just a hobby. It's something I do because I enjoy doing it. I enjoy creating comics, I enjoy seeing the finished results, and I enjoy hearing from people who appreciate my work. And perhaps more than anything, I enjoy hearing from people who tell me my work inspired them to try their hand at artwork. I'm always surprised to hear that, and some of these people have gone on to become better and more important artists than I ever will be. So no matter what, I know I've achieved some good in the world.

kyupol
If I had the talent to jabber on and on for an hour at least (or maybe 45 mins and 15 mins for the callers) on a regular basis, I would do a radio talk show or something.

We should have you on as a guest on the Quackcast.
That would be sublime. :)

I make my webcomic because I honestly can't imagine doing anything else.

I find webcomics so much more versatile than print comics. Like I have so many ideas for how to make it actually a bit more... interactive? So that's why I plan on keeping my comic web based (even if it does someday miraculously make it big).

And I have no big plan for my comic. I mean, I'm going to try to show it off, perhaps make some revenue, but I also try to be realistic about it. And I'd still be here, crunching away pages even if I got no page views (well, I force my friends to read it) because ultimately this is for me and I need it.

I started writing short stories as a sort of self-therapy for me when I was younger and going through a rough patch in my life. All Saints is just the first really long-term project I've ever written, and the first one that I decided to make in a graphic novel format.

Honestly, though, I just write the story because I enjoy it, and when I became friends with someone who was willing to do the artwork, we decided to start posting it here to see if anyone else would want to read and follow it. And so far, a good number of people seem to like it; so we keep doing it. And I've even networked with a few people along the way, so all the better.

To finally finish something. To finally accomplish this, and put my best out despite limited resources, funds, and tools. I'mma poor bastiche.

Most of the time I've tinkered with the idea of returning to comics like I did back in the day, and I'd get so much as far as maybe the first two pages - tons of crumpled pieces of white paper - a cover with a lead-stained hand, and then quit. xD

But most of all, use it as a learning experience: completing it with just a mouse and a shoddy screen. :D

My goal is to someday have a goal.

Making comics is just an unhealthy compulsion of mine.

Just to have a good time making stories and drawing them!

The short comics, to explore various ideas, art styles, storytelling techniques, to tell short stories that don't need to be longer than a couple of pages. Basically, to experiment and learn.

The upcoming long title? To do something longer than Cerebus :D

I want to tell a powerful story.

That's what I always want to do, whether I write or make webcomics :)

To gain experience that I can use later. As well as having something to show editors.

I make comics for the same reason many others do, but I'd like to talk about DD. What's the goal of my webcomics on DD?

At first, it was because I had loyalty to Volte6 and his early DD. He invited me to enlist. It was a spam invite, but nonetheless an invite. And I was featured and reviewed, showing to me that others thought my comic was a worthwhile addition.

I no longer harbour the same loyalty to DD. Sure, ppl are nice. But DD isn't really doing much of anything for me anymore. Added to that, it seems the server moves may have permanently crippled the Duck.

I have some funds in Project Wonderful (for ads), and currently I'm waiting to see if I'm going to move off of DD before I start spending those funds on ad campaigns.

I still see a lot of problems in my artwork and I've always wanted to draw comics professionally so I figured this could just be practice till I hit it big.

I make comics for the same reason many others do, but I'd like to talk about DD. What's the goal of my webcomics on DD?

Excellent modification, if I may say so. Depending on one's experience, DD may prove invaluable as a base community to develop a following or it just may be 'yet another mirror'. Currently, DD is my base of operations because I've not been able to get my butt in gear for anything else due to life's various complexities.

And it seems that DD is your base of ops now as well, until you figure out what you really want to do, Mlai.

For me, I make comics because I have a story to tell and I'm driven when people are entertained by it. I would eventually like to actually do a bit more with ST... maybe make some money off it... but really my reward is in feedback in reaction to it. Thus, the Duck is a great place to host it because it has a natural built-in comment system.

My ultimate goal for ST would be to get the sucker looking professional, get it available for download on readers, make a few games based off its rather unusual world including the strangest MMORPG ever, and if people really wanted it -- do some print versions.

mlai
I make comics for the same reason many others do, but I'd like to talk about DD. What's the goal of my webcomics on DD?

Free hosting!
Fairly easy to use but also customizable (to some degree) if you're willing to dig deeper.

Mmm, and a nice forum I guess? :)

I am kind of pondering taking my stuff to my own site though, just so I can use a "manga reader/viewer" styled system to let people read in chapters rather than page by page (and no more last page spoilers).

I have a couple of big goals. I ultimately want to be an excessively prolific creator- a bunch my inspiration comes from the Japanese work ethics of Osamu Tezuka and Yosahihiro Tatsumi. There are moments where the art loses a bit of quality, but the comics themselves, as a whole, are always topnotch- and there's a ton of them. I want to tell a million stories and have enough content to fill a bookshelf.

Right now I'm focusing on skill development. Can I finish a graphic novel? Can I smoothly transition from one project to another? Can I transition back to the art style used in an old project? Can I make each project visually unique? So far so good. I was able to finish my currently updating project, FAIL, in six weeks from concept to final ink. I took two weeks off, and am a third finished with the pilot for a second project. The biggest question still remains- can I do this in a longterm, sustainable way?

Why DD? Partly for the community- I feel more at home on the boards since Im, y'know, using the site. Partly because it takes a lot of the hassle out of the logistics. Free hosting, automated updates, etc. If I continue developing, I'll eventually start caring about marketing, but right now I just want to focus on production and DD does wonders for letting me ignore the rest.

Aurora Borealis
I am kind of pondering taking my stuff to my own site though, just so I can use a "manga reader/viewer" styled system to let people read in chapters rather than page by page (and no more last page spoilers).

I update in chapters- found the easiest thing to do was turn on the home page option and use it to control the navigation by having very easy links to the start of each chapter. Use or disabuse the technique as you see fit :p

I've never really thought about this until now lol.

I guess the goal of my webcomics is simply to tell a story. If people can relate to my characters, can get really involved with the plotline, and wait in suspense for every new page, then that's great; that would be my ultimate goal in some ways.

ramlama

Aurora Borealis
I am kind of pondering taking my stuff to my own site though, just so I can use a "manga reader/viewer" styled system to let people read in chapters rather than page by page (and no more last page spoilers).

I update in chapters- found the easiest thing to do was turn on the home page option and use it to control the navigation by having very easy links to the start of each chapter. Use or disabuse the technique as you see fit :p

1. How'd you make that work properly? I mean, the whole not displaying the most recent (or second most recent or whatever) page thing?

2. There seems to be an issue (at least in Opera). If I click on anything that's not a link it'll bring me to the index/front page of your comic (this unfortunately affects the page selection dropdown too).

I guess I might create some fake pages and mess around with a chapter or two to see if I can get this working.

Aurora Borealis
1. How'd you make that work properly? I mean, the whole not displaying the most recent (or second most recent or whatever) page thing?

2. There seems to be an issue (at least in Opera). If I click on anything that's not a link it'll bring me to the index/front page of your comic (this unfortunately affects the page selection dropdown too).

I guess I might create some fake pages and mess around with a chapter or two to see if I can get this working.

hmm. Ran into that bug during design and thought I'd fixed it. Hate it when that happens. Thanks for the heads up. Under page layout, there's an option to turn on the home page. Most people find it annoying because I think it defaults to showing the latest page anyway, and a buncha people end up using it for a blog type feature that gets in the way of getting to the actual comic (making it annoying to get to the latest update). If you turn it on, it's just another page you can customize- in my case, leading to chapter links.

I came to improve my drawing and get feedback plus to read the comics! I did set the goal of some day hitting the top 1000, but that's a long way off.