State of the Comic Address - 8/6/03

[Aaron M. Holm, esquire]

Looking back on the state of my strips, of late, I've come to a big conclusion...

I really fell short of my my aims for my strips.

http://forums.keenspot.com/viewtopic.php?t=49959

When stressed, I plummet back into the sad state of Validation Through Comparison, and I make my self increasingly more and more depressed by looking at what other people's comics have and what they've accomplished as opposed to what I'm lacking and why I continue to flounder in near-obscurity, and I make myself miserable. Subsequently, my production flounders, and I dig myself deeper into the hole of what made me depressed in the first place.

It's a vicious cycle, really. A lot of what bothers me about my work, and the webcomics field, in general, I've really brought upon myself. I allow myself to be jealous of other people, because I don't want to own up to the idea that maybe my work, in it's past and current forms, doesn't deserve the praise, accolades and hype that others' work has. I get frustrated with the audience for not responding to my work in a fashion that I'd like to see, even though the writing and art, in most regards is pretty-well pedestrian, and really not worthy of much discussion.

I can't keep blaming others for my own shortcomings. If things are going wrong, 9 times out of 10, I could have prevented it or worked around it, somehow.

I don't want to think that I have some entitlement complex or anything, and that my work deserves better. I like it. I think there's a lot of room for improvement, but I still like it, nonetheless. I want better for them, but I know that such trappings and accolades are earned, not just given, because I work hard or because, despite my numerous faults, deep down, I'm an amiable lug.

Still, I'm not going to beg for these benefits. I need to earn them, and if I play that "please like me" game, I really didn't earn anything at all... Then, if I were to receive anything, it would only be charity, and that has a hollow note to it. I need to do something to try and dig myself out of this horrible pit of near-obscurity that I've pretty-well resided in for the past few years, and that thing is to work hard... Harder than I have before. Not to mention smarter.

Part of what kills me is my lack of attention to the finer details. Often times, when I feel like I'm running behind or not happy with the way things are progressing, I just stumble along, leaving out details, both visual-wise and story-wise. I can't keep working that way. No one is going to be rivveted to a story that has more plot holes than Swiss cheese. No one's going to be blown away by art style, when all it is it close ups or shots of characters and no backgrouds, whatsoever. I can't afford to be lazy about this stuff, if I want to be better.

No amount of plugging or pimping or bribing will do it, either... No matter how you plug or hype something, it the product is substandard, then it's substandard. No amount of dressing up will change that cold, hard fact.

[Lendorien]

Hi Aaron.

I'm still lurking around in the shadows. Don't let yourself get too down about it all. Joe average is a great strip. It has a lot of heart, humor and... well sexy ladies. *cough* I likes the ladies.

Sometimes I suffer the same sort of problems you do with getting things done. It might help if you find a way to organize how you do JA that suits your style. You seem to do things half-hazardly...

Working on bulding a JA buffer of strips would help too, that way, if you're 7 strips ahead, if something happens and you can't draw one day, you're not suddenly stuck with a day you can't get a strip up. You might find that it'll make you less stressed about the whole process as a result.

I love JA. Have since I stumbled on it years ago.

P.S. Gwen is still hot. *drool*

[Trollroot]

Your problem is not the quality of your work Aaron. It is the quantity.

Joe Average has been one of my favorite strips ever since I first ran across it, more than a year ago. And I still check in frequently. Personally, I find it just as entertaining as Sluggy, PvP, QoW s*p, and my other favorites.

You simply seem top have too much on your plate, you get stressed when its too much to do perfectly all the time, and then you burn out. Thats been my impression anyway.

Your quality is top-notch, you just need to cut down a little.

[marvis]

Hey Aaron!

I have been reading your comics for about 2 months or so, but I already love them and I have read both JA and S&V completely.
You really need not be ashamed of your work, even compared to other webcomics. I really like your drawing style and there are a lot of good, original ideas in JA and S&V. I even visit your pages nearly every day to see if there are any new strips.

Yes, there are a lot of other good webcomics out there, but I think what your readers like about your comics is your very own style. You shouldn't think too much about what you COULD do. Just do it!

[cattheterrible]

Dude... don't be so down on yourself. Your art is really good. If I were to compare the stuff I've worked on for ten years to the stuff I've seen by Japanese fanartists who are half my age, I'd probably have just given up by now. +_+ No matter how good you get, there will just always be someone better; that's how it is. There's no point in getting depressed about it.

Practice, practice, practice. Practice is the key. Don't look at how much better you think other people's art is - look at how much better your stuff is when you started.

I've been reading your comic for a few years now, and the only advice I can give is: if you want more readers - and more reader loyalty - you should update regularly. I think part of why comics like Penny Arcade and Megatokyo are so huge is because when they set a Monday-Wednesday-Friday update schedule, they stuck to it hard. Even if you like a comic, if the author doesn't update it for weeks at a time, you get frustrated, lose interest, and stop reading. Don't just stop updating because you're depressed about how your art is doing. I did that for several months at one point, and it didn't impress anyone or make me feel better. It certainly didn't get my site more visitors. All it did was piss off most of the few people who already did visit my site and make them stop coming.