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Nov 2021

Hello! So I've recently started publishing a webtoon which is mostly just short skits of 2 to 4 pages in attempt to get myself accustomed to the comic creator lifestyle. The skit comic is doing pretty well for what it is but I couldn't help but get anxious about how to make my actual passion project considering the amount of work load I have because of uni.

I made the skit mostly to test if I'm capable of such feat and to find out the skills I lack to pull something like this off, so after making these mini comics I came to the realisation that I need some advices regarding the following.

1) Since I'm making my passion project all on my own, whats the most efficient way to write scripts, storyboard and draw the entire thing all on my own? To be more specific I'm quite confident with my art (my speed is a bit meh) but I SERIOUSLY lack in the scripting and sort of the story boarding department. My writing skills are not the best- So any advice on those would be great!

2) If I want to do well on both uni and my comic how much time should I realistically be giving to my comic? I'm a pretty average student when it comes to studying so that's something to note- Not the best but not bad either.

3) Generally speaking, how much should I be accomplishing per week to make a decent or realistic progress?

Unlike the skit which is just a small funny thing, my passion project is far longer and more complex in both world building, art and writing aspect, and considering that I'm not confident at all with my writing, I've been really hesitant on how to approach on creating that story.

Any advice would be super helpful! Sorry if my wording is too confusing or if I'm not making much sense :sweat_02: English isn't my first language and I noticed I always confuse people with my rambles-

But if anyone's interested in my skit that I was talking about, I'll leave the link here.

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    Nov '21
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Heya I'm doing 4 years of mechanical engineering college now along side my comic. Maybe I can provide some insight:

  1. Tbh this kinda varies for artists. Some of them do thumbnails (little scribbly versions of pages) so they can figure out what to put on the pages while others just do them without much proper plotting.

And for scripts some people plot the entire thing but some just put down certain plot points they work towards or don't plot at all (pantsing).
I think what you are doing with the short skits is a great way to just try out different types of plotting and drawing pages, just try and see what works best for you.

2 & 3. Honestly, coming from me it's not a good idea to force yourself to draw a certain amount of time of the week.

Atleast for me I have days where I do have motivation to draw and days where I don't. Drawing on the days without motivation really burns me out, so I don't push myself on those days.

I'm not sure what type of uni you do, but uni projects can get intense depending on what you have to do. Usually for me though the weekends are off limits for college so I can do some drawing during that, and just generally when I have free time and motivation to draw.

It really depends on if you can find structured time periods in your week because in that case yeah you can plan when to work on your comic.

I hope I didn't ramble too much :see_no_evil: and that it's a bit helpful advice

1st year master student at university here, hoping to help with my own experiences of balancing comics and uni! Here's some tips and tricks I've learned over the years:

Efficiency comes with practise
This one is a difficult one but everyone has their own way of doing things. The best way to get faster is to do something a lot. I used to do speedpainting when I was younger and now I'm quite fast at colouring. When I started my comic the script writing was slow work but now that I'm very familiar with the characters it's easy to picture them doing something and imagining a scene with them. If you need help storyboarding I suggest checking out movie storyboards. They're usually quite simply drawn but show what is needed: camera angles, lighting, character position etc. They're not the same as comics, but it's helped me figure out what a storyboard needs and what kind of story it tells.

Learn to prioritize!
Some uni courses are super important and some are not. Some comic stuff needs a lot of attention and some don't. Figure out what you want to prioritize, so you can give more time to the things you find important. For example when I wrote my bachelor thesis I took a break from my comic, because the thesis took priority. Then there are some courses that have I've only needed to pass, so I've spent less time with those and concentrated more on the comic during them.

Do a bunch of comic stuff at once
When I first started uni I thought it was best to do a specific amount of comic work per week but it did not work well. University schedules are not stable and the amount of work can change weekly. Some weeks are super hard and busy, some are practically like being on a holiday. So, when you have the time spend it on the comic and do as much as you feel comfortable with. Then when the busy weeks happen, you don't have to stress about comic stuff. Again, it's about finding a nice balance.

Self-care is the most important thing!
This may be the most obvious advice but I'm giving it anyway: do not overwork yourself! Making comics is wonderful but sometimes it's okay to just take a break. It is a hobby and should be fun and enjoyable! If at any point you feel like the comic is just stressing you out, then let it sit for awhile. It will still be there when you come back to it.

So sorry this turned practically into an essay! I hope there was something useful there at least. (°ー°〃)

Ohh juggling between comics, social life and uni/work is my favourite extreme sport :see_no_evil:

I used to draw two series when I was in uni (studying chemistry :heart: ) and during my first two jobs, then I had a very long break, and now I'm continuing with my main series while still having a job. Mind you, my advice might not be the best as I had a terrible burnout causing me to stop drawing comics for 3 years, but that might be mostly because my job was quite stressfull at that time (...and we were doing lots of extra hours). Now I'm back to drawing and I'm using the same methods as before and it's perfectly fine, so maybe changing the job was the main success factor here cx

1) I guess every artist has their own workflow that works the best for them. For me, I have a basic list of main events that are supposed to happen in the story. The list also has notes like which day it is for my characters, and the moon phase (just so I don't draw a fullmoon on every single night sky panel). Then I do storyboarding for one chapter at the time- just a small thumbnail of how the page is supposed to look like, and dialogues below the page. Tbh I don't really like this part of creating comics, so I don't do a lot at once- just planning 1-2 pages a day. Usually when I'm drawing chapter X, I'm already slowly sketching + drawing frames for chapter X+1, and slowly planning chapter X+2. This way I can review my chapter storyboard twice- when sketching and later when I finally start drawing.

2) I think that depends on how good are you with memorising stuff and learning, and also how much work is your uni giving you. AND how well do you want to do in uni, so it's hard to tell. But I think you shouldn't worry too much about it- drawing can be a nice relaxing break between studying. As long as you have a buffer for days when you can't draw at all, you should probably still find time for drawing on less busy days.

3) I'd do that the other way round- not setting number of pages per week, but adjusting your updates to how much time you have. Think how many pages you can realisticaly draw during a week (remember about studying, eating, a good night sleep and some activities like taking a walk), and reduce the number to consider 2-3 days during which for whatever reason you won't be able to draw at all. If by any chance you draw more, that's great, that makes a bigger buffer.

What worked for me in uni (and my 9-5 & 14-22 jobs) was drawing in the morning. If my classes started at 9 or later, I'd wake up early enough to spend about 1h drawing. Then I wouldn't have to worry that I'd be too tired to draw when I come back home. Also having a good teamwork with other students works wonders when it comes to time management (notes exchange, studying together etc).

And even during busy days, I'd try to do at least SOMETHING for my series. It might be just one panel, or just a sketch for one next page, or a lineart for one character on one panel- even if it's 5 minute work, it's something cx

No no! I appreciate the ramble!! Thanks for taking the time to give me some advice! I feel like so far I'm doing the pantsing method since half the time I find myself winging some pages rather than actually plotting them down properly :sweat_01:

But you made some noteworthy points! I'll keep them in mind while working on my comics during the upcoming weeks! Thank you!

The best way to get faster is to do something a lot.

Oh true!! I do draw more than I storyboard/write so this does make me realise why I'm slower at the other processes. I'll be sure to check out some movie storyboards then and hopefully learn a thing or two from there!

When I first started uni I thought it was best to do a specific amount of comic work per week but it did not work well. University schedules are not stable and the amount of work can change weekly.

When you put it like that it does make sense :cry_01: Initially I tried to keep a goal for myself to accomplish a specific amount each week but that didn't go to well.. Not to mention all of my courses this semester were math related and I found myself getting miserable really quickly as the courses got harder. So I'll try planning things based on how busy each week is then!

Thank you for the advice!! I really appreciate it!

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closed Dec 28, '21

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