Your work isn’t unpopular. You are.
That’s what conclusion I’ve come to for a while.
I’m not much of a social person. I have a hard time making artsy friends because I have an inability to lie. If I ever find myself talking to another artist who I get a long with as a person, but don’t like their art, I don’t know what to do. I usually just try to avoid the topic of art all together. I can’t just be nice for the sake of being nice. I can’t say the things I know I should say, but don’t believe. I think that’s one of the reasons I can’t get through an interview or hold a job for long.
I want to go to comic conventions so bad but I get the feeling that would just be worse for me. I can’t talk to people. I even get weird around people I know. I’d come off as that person that ever podcast warns you not to be. Head always down unable to make eye contact.
Does that mean I’m doomed never to succeed? Maybe I should hire someone to be my public face. I just don’t know how to not be this person.
your writing in this Web comic tells me that your self-assessment is what’s wrong. You do have social skills, you do understand how people operate, maybe not as completely as someone who is qualified for sales but you do have the understanding. Now, the trick is get better at. Trying things like Toastmasters, a structured, ritualistic organization that build your confidence that you can stand up in front of a crowd and talk.
On the other hand, you could go to a convention and set aside a big cardboard box labeled “sophisticated artificial stupid drawing machine”. You could have a little video camera hookup so you can see what’s going on outside. While this would save you contact issues, it would keep you from collecting groupies for entertainment overnight.
So yeah, I’ve had to make the same adjustments you’re talking about and it can be done. It’s frustrating, discharging, sometimes you feel like you can’t do anything right but you can.
One other thing to check is make sure it’s not as Aspers/bipolar/ADHD. Check with a seriously good diagnostician, not some suburban psychiatrist who works for your health insurance company. there are too many misdiagnoses from those who don’t have deep knowledge about these conditions. Even if you have one of them, you still can’t adapt. You still can learn how to behave better, keep a job, keep friends, keep a girlfriend/boyfriend etc. Coping strategies work and are 90% of what you need to do.
That’s the great part. I don’t write most of it. I write Dani being crazy.
That box thing sounds like a great idea. >.>
oh…
That’s not to say I haven’t been try, at least online. Just that a lot of the damage is already done.
In my experience, the more time one socializes, the better they get at it.
That’s I got, really.