I'm going to go out on a limb and assume everyone goes through this. Things with your comic are looking up. You feel like your moving in the right direction. then you hit a plateau. You're numbers drop or something, and your morale takes a hit. How do you get through it?

I've been through it now a number of times.. a large number. I've seen sad posts (like this one) where people are clearly re-evaluating their whole project. I thought talking about it might help.

For me, I mostly just pout a little to myself and ignore it. I'll give myself the pep talk about how this is something I am doing for fun, and that it's a project that I enjoy regardless of the world at large. Play some video games I've been neglecting. Hang out with the fam. Sometimes I try to be super proactive. redo an add banner, or try to look for new places to engage people. I read more webcomics during these times, partly to take a break from my own work, and partly to see if I can learn something new. Any thoughts?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want wide readership or more popularity, but to be perfectly honest I’ve been on a plateau for so long I just no longer think about it. I have the piece of work I’m doing and my ups and downs are mainly internal ones, related to how I feel I’m doing on a given page. In that sense, even when I’ve done a “bad” page it’s at least a completed piece of work and I can go on to the next one. That’s basically how I deal with it. But in the end if you’re doing comics for some other reason than self-expression it will eventually show, because you’re hinging a ton of personal worth on something totally out of your control, that is, on someone else’s response to what you do. So I think you just have to keep your feelings of value focussed on your artwork as an activity undertaken for its intrinsic personal value, and not try to control or wonder about what other people think.

Travis, I agree with Mr. Average. A creator has to enjoy the process of creating, because in the end, that's all you can really count on. During my animation career, I worked on many terrible projects that paid the bills...but besides getting paid, I tried to enjoy the process of creating a decent drawing, and many times that was the only aspect of the job that made it palatable. So, take joy in expressing yourself in a kingdom that you can control. Live long and prosper.

For me, part of it is guilt. I don't want to half finish and give up on another project, I want to be able to look forward to being proud of the finished thing. Whilst numbers can bring you down so easily, I like to tell myself that as long as one person is reading, it's worth it to see things through. Of course, another big part is that I genuinely love my comics and want to finish and share them just because. It's okay to need some time away to have a bit of a rest. But as long as it's what you want to do, I'd recommend anyone keep going afterwards.

If anything discourages me from going forward with my projects it's not so much numbers/other people as it is myself. I'm super self-critical of everything I do, a lot of it is obsessive compulsive stuff so I feel like I gotta get everything right or I'm a failure. It's super mentally draining, sometimes it's a chore just to do things I'd otherwise love doing. I just gotta take it easy on myself and keep going.

Whatever the drawing, I figure that if I give 100 percent effort during the time I have to complete it (and have a success rate of 80 percent) then my success rate with the next drawing will be higher (maybe 81% or 82%) and so on...it's like exercising a creative muscle. But what I have eventually learned is that I'll always be dissatisfied...so, I'm happy with a 90-95%.

It's a bit of a blow to my ego when a reader loses interest, I must confess. I can't take it personally, though. A person losing interest doesn't necessarily mean I'm a bad artist or writer. It just means they lost interest. Even if it *is* because my work wasn't good enough, all I can do is keep trying.

As far as personal dissatisfaction with my art and writing, I feel like being able to see that my work is a bit better than it used to be encourages me to not give up. I try not to get too caught up in the idea of being perfect, too. If I can't quite nail it, at least I tried and I can still make something interesting even when what I picture in my head doesn't quite translate to what ended up on the page.

Mainly I keep at it because I really do genuinely enjoy making comics. I do want other people to enjoy what I make too, or else I wouldn't bother to post it online. But I mostly do it because I want to.

Quick point: Please remember that the vast majority of people quickly lose interest in EVERYTHING, unless it relates to or affects their immediate life. I'm not judging, but pointing out what I've observed and experienced.

I've been thinking lately about comic making as a hobby, mainly when compared to other hobbies. If I was making quilts or building birdhouses, there would be no expectation of making money or producing on a deadline. But this new world we live in where the possibility of turning a hobby on the internet into a career just looms over us a little bit. Sometimes a lot.
I started on a blog because my wife had a blog and she recommended I put these little comics on the internet. I didn't even know webcomics were a thing. Even without the internet, when people see my comic strip, they ask me if I've tried to get it in the newspaper. I think this hobby just has this potential attached to it weather your intentions are to make a career out of it or not.

My comic just celebrated its 8th birthday and will probably have at least 5 more before I finish it, and I often struggle with that "people are losing interest, my comic (like most comics) isn't show-stoppingly perfect, and even the people who sorta would enjoy it have to wade through my 800 page backlog and who has that kind of time" feeling. I do think there's an EXTREME amount of value in having some smaller finishable projects. Maybe they're just side anthology stories or shorts or even merch that's not related to the comic. But you know, something to explore what you can't in the comic, something to attract more eyes, or just something to take the pressure off of Your Single Comic to be everything to everyone.

Selling my work at conventions regularly and going to comic-drawing meetups (check out Meetup.com or Facebook groups to find some near you, or start one if you've got the gumption) is also a morale-booster for me, because seeing real physical people face to face who like or recognize or buy my work is something you can't get from an analytics page. You also meet so many people who are making comics you've never heard of, and it really gives you perspective that even in your neighborhood, there are people who want to support you.

My readership numbers took a HUGE hit after I took a 3 year hiatus when my son was born. I missed my comic so much but there was just no time or energy (mental or physical) left at the end of the day to draw. I'm still not even close to those numbers after 3 more years of consistent updates. There are so many other better comics out there, why would they bother with mine? The only thing that has kept me going was sheer stubbornness (and therapy). Sometimes, when I'm down I read my archive again. I see just how much I've improved over the years. Or I read my script and get excited about drawing that one scene. And now here's this community of people going through exactly the same things and we can work through them together! Just being able to hear "ugh same" from another webcomic creator makes me feel like I'm not alone in this.

I developed nerve damage in my drawing arm a few years ago which makes drawing painful on the best of days. This has slowed down my production rate which makes me feel a little down at times. When this happens I tend to do things like redesign my site, read, blast some of my favorite music, and look for new things to learn.

I've recently decided to take up exercising and weight training. Not so much to lose weight - though that would be nice - but as a hobby. So far my body's not too sure about this, but I'm sure it will catch on in time.

sorry to hear about the nerve damage. I've literally had nightmares about losing my right arm, and I was mainly focused on learning to draw left handed. I need to exercise. I used to install heating and air conditioning, and got plenty of exercise at work. Now I'm a purchasing agent, and all the sitting at my desk feels really unhealthy. especially when combined with my hobby of sitting around and drawing.

I ran across this advice a long time ago: Don't pay attention to your stats and you'll be a much happier, more productive creator.

I took Boxer from Animal Farm as my absolute favorite character, because it didn't matter the setbacks, he was going forward.

It depends about what's getting me down.

If it's low readership or viewing numbers, I spend the next few days frantically trying to figure out what marketing or advertising I can do to help that, and I have a hard time snapping out of worrying about it. Hearing people say that they read and like the comic is always really great for that when it happens, but I haven't found something I can do on my own that makes a difference to this particular feeling.

If it's my art that I'm worried about, I'm more used to dealing with that, and I take a step back and look at my progress over the last few years. Reminding myself that I'm still making progress always makes me feel better.