Inspiration quotes for a manga journey
from billselby9773
Inspiration is definitely needed
To become a semi-professional or professional manga artist or comic artist isn’t about just being able to draw well and making a good storyline.
That’s because in many countries, this profession isn’t well-established enough to earn bread for a family or even oneself. Opportunities are scarce.
There are few companies outside of Japan that are hiring manga artists as professionals. Even in Japan, I have heard and read from websites that competition is tough to become a professional manga artist.
As I am in living in Singapore, there is only one local company that I have found which explicitly hires comic artists to create comics or manga.
However, this company is more inclined towards Chinese comics(manhwa), because it’s success was based on a Chinese comic, the Celestial Zone, which is popular in Hongkong as well as Singapore. I am not too sure this is the type of genre I am targeting.
Furthermore, our society isn’t very accepting; especially in the context of Singapore, if I said I am a Singaporean writer that came up with a manga, most probably people will not look at the manga. Why? They would think they have a better choice of reading established manga writers from Japan, why would they even bother reading from a local artist?
To top it all, we still need to face the reality and responsibility of our lives while pursuing our dream to become a manga artist or comic artist. We can’t just tell our parents or family, “Hey, I just want to be a comic artist no matter what! Fund me!”, while knowing that being a comic or manga artist may not even be enough to earn bread.
And we rarely get help to pursue our dream. Not even our friends could help sometimes.
It’s just adding more petrol to fire just discussing about the amount of obstacles to overcome.
The journey to become a manga artist is not just a test of talents, but also a test of courage and endurance
That’s what this blog is for.
You see, we like to read mangas and write animes that have characters rising from rags to riches. Like the famous manga Naruto, he struggles from facing a bad childhood yet wishes to be the most influential and powerful ninja in his town. He suffers from deep prejudice because people think that he is not talented, silly and has a demon in him.
We celebrate when we see Naruto gaining the respect and acceptance from his village, yet when we come to our own lives, we don’t dare to make a step for our own pursuit.
My take is, instead of just teaching others and young children to follow their dreams, I need to follow too. It’s kinda funny to teach other people through manga to follow our own dreams, and yet we don’t do it ourselves.
And I would need to do it in a way that I am not compromising the responsibility of my daily affairs. It wouldn’t be fair to our family and friends if we neglect our basic responsibilities.
So in this blog, much about me facing my daily situations while pursuing this career will be shared
“A ship is safe in habor, but that’s not ships are for” – William Shed
This is to help others who are trying to trail-blaze their own journeys as well.
We often lament about the tedious journey ahead, where sometimes it is lonely, where people don’t understand you, and where sometimes you feel that the grass is greener over at the other side.
Hence hearing some inspiration quotes can be a healthy boost for a discouraged spirit.
“People who soar are those who refuse to sit back, sigh and wish things would change. They neither complain of their lot nor passively dream of some distant ship coming in. Rather, they visualize in their minds that they are not quitters; they will not allow life’s circumstances to push them down and hold them under.”
Why am I putting up some inspiration quotes on this blog?
Like I said, this manga journey is not a test of skills, but of courage and spirit.
I ran a poll in one forum, and I asked them tion: “What are the greatest obstacles you face in your journey to become a manga artist?”
And the common answer was, “I’m a lazy perfectionist.”
Do you think everyone would be lazy if they could see the the finish line? I doubt it.
So readers, please don’t think your own manga journey is going to be a true test of skills, but a test of bravery.
In future posts I will post up my own personal experiences about my counter measures to strike an optimal balance of pursuing our dreams while being practical and real in our daily affairs.
Let me end with this inspiration quote:
“Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship” – Omar Bradley
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