Are you a Writer, an Artist or a Dabbler?

This post has come about from a question I saw on Deviant Art.

I was reading a section about a comic book artist by the name of Liam Sharp who is, apparently, one of the best comic book artists in the world. After looking at some of his work I can see why as well. They are brilliant.


But at the bottom in the comments section was a question. The person started by saying how they have ideas, have learnt to draw a bit so that they get their ideas down but were wondering if there was some special moment where you realise whether you are a writer, an artist or just a dabbler.

The question has not yet been answered and I don't think it needs to be really. You will discover what you are by having a go at it.

At the moment I could be considered, and I consider myself to be, a dabbler. I haven't done much in the way of creating stories. All I am doing at the moment is coming up with a few ideas and a couple of sketches.

I cannot be considered an artist because there is not enough quality work nor can I be considered a writer because I don't have much in the way of story ideas and I haven't yet actually created a story.

I would like to be more than merely a dabbler but there is no guarantee that that will happen... but there is something I can do about it.

I could draw more frequently and try to create some quality, finished pieces and I could attempt to write to a story.

OR

I could take some of my story ideas, take some characters and actually have a go at creating a proper story and make it into a comic book.

Easier said than done, I know, but what better way is there? If you accept that your first attempts will not be brilliant and use them as learning experiences (learn about the effort required, about layouts, scripting, design etc.) so that your next one can be better than the one before.

Hopefully with support, encouragement and constructive criticism from readers, friends, family, followers and fans you could make something worth reading.

Creating an entire comic book (even an e-comic) is a monumental task for a single person to do but it is entirely possible to create a page or two of your comic and release one or two pages a week ( or more if you have the time) and have a running comic.

This is something I am going to try myself (practice what you preach, right?) and I hope you will give me the support, encouragement and the (lots of) much needed constructive criticism that will be required to improve and do a good job, so I expect to hear from you guys in the near future.

Now it's time for me to get started thinking of a story and more character concepts (suggestions are welcome) so I'm off.