I just joined Subeta last night, and so far it's been fun! I'm new to Subeta, but not to pet sites in general. I've had an account on neopets for 16 years, though I don't play much anymore.

I'm am an artist and work as a graphic designer (signs, t-shirts, etc.) as my day job. I love Disney, anime, comics, and cartoons. I'm sure I'll be very interested in the art end of the community here, and am looking forward to all Subeta has to offer.

One silly question: Can anyone tell me how to change my avatar's eyes, hair, and mouth? It lets me change the nose, but not these other features, though it allows me to click on the styles I like.

Aaa! Thank you! It was the layers that were throwing me off. That fixed it.

welcome to subeta! glad to see your HA all figured out, those layers can be tricky at first (: are you finding things you enjoy on the site?

Thank you! And yes, There are so many fun things. I love the pets, especially and the artwork. I also like the sense of humor to some of the item descriptions. Kind of a little thing, but details like that are really fun.

I'm still learning my way around, but people here seem to be really friendly and helpful and I'm glad.

Hi, and welcome! I'm rather new as well but everyone here has been very friendly so far. Plus there's loads of art stuff on the site, it really encourages creativity. What kind of graphic design do you do? I've always loved hand-drawn typography but I haven't done any in a while.

Thanks for the welcome! I agree, the community here seems so friendly and helpful. This really seems like a nice place and I'm glad I joined.

I work at a place that makes signs and t-shirts. It's all mostly for local businesses and schools or individuals, but it's always something different.

My art is actually more just cartoony/illustration freehanded stuff. I don't do much with hand drawn typography, outside of my comic work.

Also, your artwork is fantastic! I always adore traditional artwork, and your style is lovely. Such wonderful use of color!

Ah, it must be nice to have a design job! You do comics as well? I've always wanted to get into that - telling a story with a real narrative, as opposed to illustration. I'm kind of scared to start though.

And thank you so much! I'd love to see your work if you have an online presence at all. c:

Welcome to Subeta! I happen to enjoy Disney, anime, comics, and cartoons as well. :) I think you'll fit in well around here. Please feel free to chat or ask me anything at all! I may not know the answers, but I am very happy to try and help with anything you might need. It's always fun to meet new people. See you around!

Actually, the only recently updated place I have art online is my FA account (A little lame since I'm not a furry, but I like drawing anthropomorphic animals and such. My account is safe for work.)

I'm kind of in the middle of an extended hiatus with my webcomic, but I have a comic that I've been working on since 2008. I understand the feelings of being scared to start. If it's a comic you plan on keeping up with every week, I recommend starting with a buffer of completed comic and getting comfortable with how much you can produce at a decent rate without getting burnt out. Having a buffer helps if you need to take time off.

Aww, thanks for the welcome! It's great to meet people with similar interests. I have to say as well, I love your doll!

Aw, thanks! I was actually going to change it since my twin toddlers just had a penguin party and I was going to make them laugh by sticking in my wardrobe penguins. And then you changed yours to have a penguin/Cybil in it! I started cracking up! Great minds think alike, right? Are you sure you are not my long lost twin? ;)

lol Penguin Party! That sounds adorable! You really should. The more penguins, the merrier. Long lost penguin twins. 😂

Penguin twins unite!

Your art has such a unique energy to it. It's crazy you've been drawing your webcomic for so long! Thank you for the tip, I have a story in my head I want to tell but I suppose the fear of disappointing my expectations has been stopping me from going for it. Did you find that during the process of telling your story, it became something that you didn't expect, for better or worse?

Feel free to tell me to shut up if I'm being annoying, I could blab about this kind of stuff all day long.

LOL! Yes! Also, I have to say that your doll is even cuter now. Penguins!

- Starting my comic was the easy part. The first 10-15 pages or so were almost its own little story, and the rest came naturally from there. I took nearly a year to really experiment and get to know my characters though before I really started on the comic. At first, I experimented with a newspaper-styled comic strip, but I decided it didn't really fit with the characters or the story I wanted to tell. Getting to know your characters and the world they live in is so important. I recommend keeping a journal for writing, and keeping track of your goals for the comic so it doesn't become aimless.

I could talk about this sort of thing all day too, so you're not a bother at all!

Thanks so much for all the wisdom. I've always loved telling stories so that part doesn't intimidate me too much, the hard part for me is character consistency and expression, making characters pop with believable human emotion. And the whole scheduling thing seems hard. I bet it's excruciating trying to force it to meet a deadline, especially if you really don't feel like it.

Hello and welcome! If I may say, that background on your Human Avatar is really pretty! May I ask where you got it?

Working on a deadline can be tough. I think one of the best things someone who is new to creating online comics can do is to work ahead of schedule. As tempting as it may be to make a page public as soon as it's ready, it's comforting to have a buffer of completed comics. Ideally, I think it would be a good idea to have a couple of months worth of comics drawn before the first page is even made public. That way, one can get a better feel for what they're capable of producing. It takes a bit of the panic out, I think.

- Thank you! The background I'm wearing is the Delish Tender Gift. I think it came from the cash shop.

Ah. That makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to respond! And I just realized that your username and the name of your active pet rhyme! That's so cute!

The buffer thing totally makes sense. I have a tumblr I try to update (almost) every day, and it helps to keep a reserve of stuff I've already done. Do you think its a crazy idea to try and draw/color a comic traditionally with ink? I know that's how comic artist did things before digital came around (duh) but at this point I'm wondering if its even worth it to compete with the convenience of digital just so I can get that novel hand-drawn look.

Thanks again for sharing your experience!