Comment on Just start. by Dualmask
A bold call to action. 
Thanks for sharing that.
Though, I wanted to get your thoughts on the topic of "Greatness". You know what I mean ~ to create a comic that achieves mass appeal. A comic that truly touches on the social zeitgeist and can turn a nobody into a somebody in very little time.
I imagine many creative people have this ambition and, frankly, I'm one of them. I know Greatness is something that must be fought for and earned, but it's also something of a menace; like, it's not enough for my next couple pages to just *look* good on a technical level. There has to be something profound being explored in these pages; at the very least, it should be something that's never been done before (otherwise, we're just wasting everyone's time with regurgitated content)
It's not so much that I'm stuck doing studies and practice; rather I'm forever doing revisions (per chapter, per page, per panel). ^~;
Thanks for sharing that.Though, I wanted to get your thoughts on the topic of "Greatness". You know what I mean ~ to create a comic that achieves mass appeal. A comic that truly touches on the social zeitgeist and can turn a nobody into a somebody in very little time.
I imagine many creative people have this ambition and, frankly, I'm one of them. I know Greatness is something that must be fought for and earned, but it's also something of a menace; like, it's not enough for my next couple pages to just *look* good on a technical level. There has to be something profound being explored in these pages; at the very least, it should be something that's never been done before (otherwise, we're just wasting everyone's time with regurgitated content)
It's not so much that I'm stuck doing studies and practice; rather I'm forever doing revisions (per chapter, per page, per panel). ^~;
I think we as creators put far too much pressure on ourselves to be "great". There's something about "greatness" that must be understood, and that is that no one achieves greatness just because they want to. What I mean is that achieving "greatness" cannot be the goal in and of itself. It just happens as the outcome of taking decisive action. No one knows when or where the next phenomenon will come from, especially not the person or people who will create it.
I relate this quote that I ran across a while back that has really empowered me: "Success comes from good judgement. Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." In other words, you have to keep creating, keep making mistakes, keep putting out imperfect work (hint: your work will never be "perfect") and keep learning from it. Because while you're worrying about being original and changing the world and constantly refining your work to achieve "greatness", other creators who are perfectly satisfied with not being 100% original or world-changing are making and publishing work, some becoming quite successful.
Think about it. Remember back in the day when the iPod had a monochrome screen and no touch screen? Remember there was once no iPhone, no iPad. These things came from Apple constantly improving upon their products. They didn't just wait and wait and wait until the perfect time to produce the iPad--it came because of what was introduced before. And now the iPhone/iPad are seen as "world-changing greatness".
Think about video games. Just because Call of Duty outsells everything doesn't stop other companies from producing first-person shooters. Other companies make RPGs in the face of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Fighting games don't stop being made just because Street Fighter is successful.
DC made super heroes and Marvel made their own super heroes, then Image, Dark Horse, etc. Who's stuff is greater? That debate can go on endlessly.
And in books, J.K. Rowling just wanted to publish a story that she had a lot of passion for; she couldn't have known or planned that she would become one of the world's most successful, influential writers with Potter (and she was turned down by numerous agents and publishers before someone said yes). Imagine if she stopped because she wanted to keep making sure the book was as good as possible, kept editing and editing and never tried to publish it.
It's not likely that any of the people responsible for creating these phenomenons did it for the sole purpose of being "great" or changing the world. They just followed their dreams and it just happened to touch a lot of hearts. The problem with a lot of young creators is that they want to be the "next big thing" but instead of focusing on putting their product out there and building on it, improving their skills by producing work rather than just studying, they expect to make a hit the first time and won't publish until they're sure it will be a hit. The chances of that working are incredibly slim.
So I say all that to say this: keep the desire to achieve greatness in the back of your mind, but don't let that alone be your driving force. That reeks of perfectionism and you'll do anything but achieve greatness...or anything at all, really...with that attitude. Focus on producing the best work you can, as much work as possible, and putting it out there in front of as many eyes as you can.
But don't take my word for it; I'm not exactly successful. Here's one article that inspired my newfound focus on productivity: [link]
I relate this quote that I ran across a while back that has really empowered me: "Success comes from good judgement. Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." In other words, you have to keep creating, keep making mistakes, keep putting out imperfect work (hint: your work will never be "perfect") and keep learning from it. Because while you're worrying about being original and changing the world and constantly refining your work to achieve "greatness", other creators who are perfectly satisfied with not being 100% original or world-changing are making and publishing work, some becoming quite successful.
Think about it. Remember back in the day when the iPod had a monochrome screen and no touch screen? Remember there was once no iPhone, no iPad. These things came from Apple constantly improving upon their products. They didn't just wait and wait and wait until the perfect time to produce the iPad--it came because of what was introduced before. And now the iPhone/iPad are seen as "world-changing greatness".
Think about video games. Just because Call of Duty outsells everything doesn't stop other companies from producing first-person shooters. Other companies make RPGs in the face of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Fighting games don't stop being made just because Street Fighter is successful.
DC made super heroes and Marvel made their own super heroes, then Image, Dark Horse, etc. Who's stuff is greater? That debate can go on endlessly.
And in books, J.K. Rowling just wanted to publish a story that she had a lot of passion for; she couldn't have known or planned that she would become one of the world's most successful, influential writers with Potter (and she was turned down by numerous agents and publishers before someone said yes). Imagine if she stopped because she wanted to keep making sure the book was as good as possible, kept editing and editing and never tried to publish it.
It's not likely that any of the people responsible for creating these phenomenons did it for the sole purpose of being "great" or changing the world. They just followed their dreams and it just happened to touch a lot of hearts. The problem with a lot of young creators is that they want to be the "next big thing" but instead of focusing on putting their product out there and building on it, improving their skills by producing work rather than just studying, they expect to make a hit the first time and won't publish until they're sure it will be a hit. The chances of that working are incredibly slim.
So I say all that to say this: keep the desire to achieve greatness in the back of your mind, but don't let that alone be your driving force. That reeks of perfectionism and you'll do anything but achieve greatness...or anything at all, really...with that attitude. Focus on producing the best work you can, as much work as possible, and putting it out there in front of as many eyes as you can.
But don't take my word for it; I'm not exactly successful. Here's one article that inspired my newfound focus on productivity: [link]
Nice article; really cuts to the point at hand (practice what you preach eh?) I'll probably come back to it (and the overall site) regularly. 
It's kinda nutty, trying to chart our own career paths, while we see other people zoom past us (no thanks to the 24-hour media hype machine :Þ ) It's a fine, fine balance of seeing what's going on in the world / keeping a decent social network on one hand, and being laser-focused on our goals in the other (and definitely _not_ becoming bitter and jealous of successful people......)
It's kinda nutty, trying to chart our own career paths, while we see other people zoom past us (no thanks to the 24-hour media hype machine :Þ ) It's a fine, fine balance of seeing what's going on in the world / keeping a decent social network on one hand, and being laser-focused on our goals in the other (and definitely _not_ becoming bitter and jealous of successful people......)