Hello... I was pondering something that I thought might provoke a healthy exchange of ideas:
Why do you feel the need to post your work on the web? I don't mean this as an indignant question, but as an introspective-'know thyself' question.

I guess, personally, I feel the desire for peer evaluation. It may sound as though I seek acceptance, but if that were the case, I wouldn't respond so positively to negative comments. I genuinely look to better myself through different perspectives and what better way to do that then to through caution to the wind and invite criticism on such a massive scale?

I guess I'm just a glutton for feedback but why do *you* do it?

Because I love comments.

Also because it's a sort of external motivator for actually getting the work done. If the comics are 'done' just for myself, then why not just keep them in my head and not do the work of producing them? At least if I post them online I've got the feeling like I'm showing them to somebody, and people may be waiting for the next one.

And if they comment, even better. :]

What's the point in creating something if no one else looks at it? It's not as if I could afford to have it printed, so the Internet is my only option.

Speaking hypothetically, obviously.

Getting over a personal phobia. I'm terrified of sharing my work with people. I have a very negative view of most things I do, and it makes me uncomfortable to share things I've made.

I decided I needed to get over that. I put my stories on paper because they do no good in my head. But they might as well stay in my head if I don't show anyone that paper.

(Technically, my brother talked me into it. My phobia is strong, but my brother is persuasive.)

skoolmunkee
Also because it's a sort of external motivator for actually getting the work done. If the comics are 'done' just for myself, then why not just keep them in my head and not do the work of producing them? At least if I post them online I've got the feeling like I'm showing them to somebody, and people may be waiting for the next one.

Exactly :D

When I had nowhere to post my comics, I never could finish a story longer than three pages.

Also, as I get better, I'm hoping to build a small fanbase that'd be large enough to keep me alive by buying the future print editions :D

My goal in life is to make as much stuff as possible, and have as many people see it as possible. I want to leave my mark in this life by sharing my stories. The internet's the quickest and most convenient medium for achieving that.

Aside from the same "I just want to get my work out there" motivation that others have mentioned, I go to the internet for control. In putting stuff on the web, I don't have to answer to bosses or editors or anyone. All my stupid ideas get to just run free!

Blitzkrieg1701
All my stupid ideas get to just run free!

And that, my friend, is what the internet is all about. God bless it!

Its the easiest way to get your work out...although hardly the best way.

I just want to show people my work, and see if anyone besides my small clique of friends would enjoy it. It was also a way to make me do more comics then I already have and finish the incomplete stories that I have made. In a way to make my old hobby my current hobby.

I wanted to tell a story that would have worked in a novel, except that I decided it would be better off told in the visual medium. Now that Reva has upped her game/art-style this story is getting even sharper visually.

I originally did this becuase I saw a contest at Tokyopop for short mangas. I had never done it before but I figured it would be a challenge. But once it was done I didn't really have any idea if it was any good. No one in my circle is really into Manga other than me and my art teachers were willing to pick apart the many technical problems in my first comic attempt but no one wnated to critique the quality of the overall comic.
Then I came across this site and I figured this would be the perfect place to test the waters. Now I doing these things for no other reason than I just keep getting ideas for comics.

I feel the need to post on here because my boss "the man" was getting sick of me posting my comics on the memo board. He was also getting sick of me sleeping a drawing comics all day at work. They are always trying to screw me over at that place.

bryan
Hello... I was pondering something that I thought might provoke a healthy exchange of ideas:
Why do you feel the need to post your work on the web? I don't mean this as an indignant question, but as an introspective-'know thyself' question.

I guess, personally, I feel the desire for peer evaluation. It may sound as though I seek acceptance, but if that were the case, I wouldn't respond so positively to negative comments. I genuinely look to better myself through different perspectives and what better way to do that then to through caution to the wind and invite criticism on such a massive scale?

I guess I'm just a glutton for feedback but why do *you* do it?

Because I have this need to share my thoughts with others. Because I don't care if you agree or disagree with me. Or if you like me or not. I just spit em out and make of it what you will.

Remember this quote from Fame?
"That's not music, Martelli. That's masturbation."

With or without the internet, unless you're writing/drawing/composing etc purely as a form of therapy, there should be a need (or at least a desire) to share what you've created with others. Personally I write because I feel I have to and I post on the internet so that others can share what I've created (and hopefully enjoy it!)

In the Olden Dayes when I were just a lad, this here internet-thingy was just a gleam in the eye of a few geeky science types and computers were the size of office blocks owned only by the military and a handful of major corporations. (Hard for some of you young 'uns to imagine, I know!) I still wrote stories and made comics but I drew them by hand on school exercise books which were then passed around the class.

Posting on the internet isn't the important thing. What matters is sharing what you've created. The internet is just a very efficient means of doing that.

It's my current best form of exposure.

Lord knows what I'd be doing right now without the internet.

And even if they're on the internet, fans are fans, and if I can make someone happy online, well, that's just dandy. <3

Art is communication. If always felt compelled to share the things I create with others, be it this, music or writing. I dunno, once I'm finished working on something it loses its value to me beyond getting a reaction from others. I usually hate my own stuff anyway, and if I don't show it to others to get some kind of a reaction, even if it's only "god, this is stupid", it serves no purpose to me.

My reasons are two fold.

One, for sake of expression. I love to create and tell stories. Entertaining people, telling jokes and making witticisms, I'm all about that.

My second reason I can only word as, "Not because I can or should do it, but because I WILL do it."

I think people thrive on feelings of accomplishment.

While we're supposed to feel good about ourselves when we do something creative or positive or helpful, I secretly don't think those feelings come without someone ELSE recognizing you for it.

Plus, I'm a feedback junkie. I want to know what I'm doing right and in what areas I should improve (especially in a field where I had absolute zero talent in to begin with).

Posting it on the web is much easier than emailing it to my friends page-after-page.

I used to draw comics and write stories just for my own enjoyment but its more fun making them available to others and seeing what they think of it. Working this way has helped me improve a lot faster too and kept me motivated with ideas for far longer.

Also, I can make my work as gory and perverse as I like without being chased out the village by men wielding pitch forks! XP

For me it was because if I never started doing it, I'd be 70 years old before I knew it and regretting never having started my own comic.

That and I love sequential storytelling, so my webcomic was an outlet.

To start with, I did it because it was fun. Then it became a decent form of drawing practice. Now it's a way to show the things I love to people with similar interests, to know I can make someone smile in another country with a stupid ddodle and a joke, and to recieve criticism from complete strangers. I find it more useful than friends criticisms, they tend to sugar coat it.

I'm a showoff, I like showing my artwork and I don't feel like moving around to do it. thats why I throw it up on the net why I feel the need to draw it is its just like an intense addiction I get withdrawals if I don't I didn't draw for half a year and I got all super depressed, it was AWESOME. won't do it again though.

Custard Trout
What's the point in creating something if no one else looks at it? It's not as if I could afford to have it printed, so the Internet is my only option.

Couldn't agree more. Also the love of doing it, but when one creates something, others should see it.

Because I put alot of hard work into my drawings (well, some of them). For webcomics I havent gotten too far with one yet, had to stop one, cause the script was old and way off, decided to rewrite it.

I love drawing, I love working hard to achieve my goal, and I know I can always, ALWAYS become better. And if people like my work, or give me hints on how to become better, I seriously get really excited. Even if its just one person.

Oh and, I might be abit of a showoff and an attention whore, and to be honest, it feels wonderful to get attention for something you worked your ass off making xD

It gives me a sense of purpose. I don't feel like my life has any value if I'm not creating something and sharing it with other people.

To improve my work and share what I love to do with others. If I know people might actually check for updates each week I have an added compulsion to get off my rear end and continue. By the process of doing, and continuing to do... I hope to learn how to make a good comic.

I'm a compulsive story teller :p Honestly, if there is a way to tell a story, I want to try it.

And what better way to try it and become better and better than having your work looked at by peers who are not interested in putting your work down because they have some sort of complex, but rather like to see improvement so they can enjoy the story better?

I'd been putting my work up long before I was doing comics, in Elfwood (I think my gallery is still there as a cobweb gatherer XD Haven't updated in years), so when I began making comics, it only seemed normal to want to do the same.

Tantz Aerine
I'm a compulsive story teller :p

That's a cool term, I'm stealing it for myself :D

Aurora Borealis, the Compulsive Storyteller.