So you’re not motivated to peruse your dreams? You want to make comics, but you just don’t have any motivation, so you’re just going to sit there and wish you were a comic creator instead? I’m going to be honest, this one makes me mad. What motivation do you need? What do you need more than: “I’ll be doing what I love for a living,” or “I’ll bring something I created to life and share it with the world.”
I’m serious when I say this one baffles me. I mean I understand that making comics is very hard. It’s time consuming, and takes alot of skill to pull off well. So I understand how it’s a daunting task. So when you use the excuse “I’m not motivated.” Do you mean you’re not motivated to bring your creations to life, or do you mean you’re not motivated to work hard? Are you essentially admitting that you’re lazy, and more content complaining about how you want to do something instead of actually working to achieve it?
Well if it’s because you are lazy and don’t want to work hard, I can’t do anything for you. And I don’t want to. Trust me when I say that you don’t have one shred of sympathy from me when you sit on your couch complaining about how your boss is a jerk, your co-workers are idiots, and you wish you could have a fun job like drawing comics. Because I don’t have those problems, I am making comics, and I’m working hard to do it. The less competition I have from lazy people like you, the better off my career will be.
Now if you are not being lazy, but still having trouble find the motivation to bring your creations to life, it’s still difficult for me to help you. All of our motivations are very personal and unique to the creator. So maybe I’ll tell you what motivates me and keeps me going and that’ll help you find your fuel.
My creations are brought to life. Whether I’m freelancing, or working on my creator owned comic my imagination is brought to light. Whatever I imagine is brought out of my head and into this world. When you read a script of a comic, there are infinite number of ways that script can be drawn. But the way I imagine it is the way the world will see it. And something about that inspires me greatly to create.
Freedom. I do what I want when I want. I go to bed at 4am, and get up at 10am. Or if I’m really tired I can sleep ’til 1pm. It doesn’t matter, I’m my own boss, I get to decide what is important to do that day, and I can get it done in the timeline I see fit. I rather like it, so it’s my motivation to keep it and not have to go back to a day job.
No boss. Well when I’m freelancing I have a boss. I have an editor, or licensor, or general client I have to answer to. But unlike most people’s job I get to pick my boss. If someone is being a jerk, or unreasonable, I don’t have to put up with them, I can just turn down the job. When it comes to my comic Shadows of Oblivion, I’m my own boss. I do whatever I want, whenever I want. I can tell any story in any style, in any timeframe I want.
Fan Art of MY creations. One of the most popular things on social websites is Fan Art. And fan art is great. It’s even greater when it’s fan art of something YOU created. To know fans enjoy my creation so much they make artwork of it in tribute gives me such a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, I have no choice but to keep on moving forward.
Happiness. I love making comics. There is nothing I rather do. Even if it wasn’t my job, I’d still do it in every free moment I have, because it makes me happy. I can’t explain it, but something about telling a story with pictures is so rewarding to me I can’t even imagine doing anything else.
So there you have it. Those are some things that motivate me. Hopefully you found something in there that will motivate you too!
So find your motivation to make comics, not excuses!
Tomorrow I’ll be showing you some art I’ve been working on. In the mean time check me out around the web:
Like me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
Re-blog me on tumblr
And if you love my artwork don’t forget to pick up my comics!
And remember: Make Comics! Not Excuses!
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