Anyone else have trouble keeping up? How do you handle it?

[dratinigirl]

Hello my name is Kris, I make a manga/comic called ElectroMania and I'm here to let you all know that I'm a huge freaking idiot

Now let me explain why before you hop into those comments! You see, back last december/january when I first start drawing pages for my comic, I decided that I was just going to do a big chunk of them at first. I made about 18 full color pages, and it took from the time I started up until the end of february. (The comic was SUPPOSED to be up on the first of the year, but that's a different story) Anyway, I finished my pages, got set up on tapastic, and even made a fancy smancy youtube trailer using the art that I'd made. Here comes the idiot part.

I posted ALL 18 PAGES at once. Instead of giving myself 9 weeks of free time to build up more buffer, I threw it all down at one time and have been scrambling each week ever since to get ahead, or even just to meet the week's quota. Sometimes things happen in real life, and I just CAN'T get my measly two pages done, let alone get ahead on work for the next week! My mom through her back out, my seasonal job began, the housework is all my responsibility, and this weekend is going to be 3 solid days of selling soda outside in 80 degree weather for a local fair. On top of this, in the past 2 months I've only had time for 1 piece of art that wasn't the comic or a commission, and it's burning me out SUPER hard.

I'm not sure what my best plan of action would be here. Take a month off and use it as time to make buffer so that I'll have more time to add things like animation to the comic, or just keep going through the weekly motion? The last thing I want is for my readers to think I'm lazy. Finally, I'm not prepared to give up on it yet, not at all. I'm extremely passionate and determined to make this comic my sort of 'magnum opus' as it stands, and I won't give up unless something dire happens. I'm just a little worn out!

Please leave your story of how you deal with an inability to meet update times and how you've dealt with them (if you have dealt with them lol) maybe it could offer some insight to myself or anyone else that's struggling :>

[carloswebcomic]

Discipline, learn your limitations and cut corners like hell.
So you update twice a week? Well, update once a week instead.
You got a super nice style but I can see it probably takes a lot of work.
Find a way to simplify it or accept it will take a long time to produce.

Sit back, see how much you can realistically produce, find shortcuts and lower your output if need be.
And for the love of god, DO NOT SACRIFICE SLEEP!
Just don't. It'll make things 10x worse.

[mintycanoodles]

I give myself a month between updates to make between 8-10 pages. I thought this would be a gr8 plan because weekly updates make me want to die, but working on 8-10 pages a bit at a time over a month is something I know i can do.

but because I am a giant procrastinating dipshit, I don't. I always, without fail, put it off until the week before update day to even start. and then I rush to do 2-3 pages a day for a week and swear next month I'll change. and it never happens.

so I have no idea how to help you I am in the same stupid boat orz

[marygold]

Yeah, not only did I not even do buffer pages but I posted as soon as I finished each page. That lead to me feeling like I need to overwork myself, people not hearing about my comic, and readers not knowing when to look foreword to an update. It sometimes feel like posting immediately will get you comments and likes that will fuel you, but most of the time, especially if you're starting out, it just backfires. Keep a schedule that isn't too hard and stick to it no matter what. Even if you only get one page or half a page, post it along with an apology. If you do extra pages, don't get excited and just post them all, use some for this week and the rest will be a nice buffer. Fanart is a good way to get your style out, but it should not be your priority. Schedules seem useless for quite some time but they pay off in the end.

Take my comic. it is living proof of my mistakes. I literally work my butt off for every single panel but because of my earlier carlessness and only adopting a schedule very recently, I'm at nearly 70 full color pages with only 40 subs and single digit views when I update, while some other guy started way later than I did with also a full color comic but because he had an entire chapter done before hand he's now one of the most popular comics (City of Blank, check it out!)It will definitely take time!

EDIT
I totally sounded like you need to kill your self by working hard. The people below me are right. TAKE BREAKS WHEN YOU NEED THEM. Then go back to a schedule whenever you're ready

[AnnaLandin]

I'm such a control freak that having my page-buffer drop from 53 pages to 49 is freaking me out. I deal by making distressed noises and working too hard on drawing to catch up.

My advice to you would be to let your readers know the reason, and then take some time off to rebuild that buffer. Sometimes, life gets in the way of drawing comics, and if you explain to your readers that hey, you've got a MASSIVE amount of responsibilities you need to get to, and can't keep up with the comic at the same time, I'm sure they'd understand.

And for the love of god, DO NOT SACRIFICE SLEEP!

Listen to this! This is very, very, very important - sacrificing sleep might seem like a good idea at the time, but it really, REALLY isn't. If you keep it up as a way to cope with stress or with the lack of time to draw, it's going to turn you into a sad, energy-less zombie who still isn't able to draw as much as they'd like.

The crazy thing about sleep is that it keeps you energized! I know, it sounds nuts, but it's true! If you sleep properly, you'll have the energy you need to actually draw the things you want to draw.

Not sleeping makes you a worse artist, because it means you're likelier to make mistakes.

[shazzbaa]

Nah, you're not an idiot!! I worked without a buffer for years and lived off the adrenaline. xD there are advantages to starting out with a bang, so I can't blame ya for wanting to put it all out there. BUT AT THE SAME TIME I understand why you're feelin' so stressed out now.

It's so easy to feel like you're drowning and can't stop when you're in the middle of trying to make updates happen on time. I've talked before on here about how my weekly updates started falling a day or two late while I was dealing with the sudden death of my mom, and I was beating myself up for it. Which is completely absurd -- just take some time off, past-me, you dummy!! -- but I share it to point out how easily that "I CANT STOP I CANT OR IVE FAILED AND MY READERS WILL THINK I FAILED" attitude can get into your brain even when it doesn't make any sense. Don't trust that feeling.

Not long after all this happened, I took a 2 year hiatus. Taking a break cleared up my brain so much.

I don't necessarily advocate a hiatus as long as mine, but taking a short break to catch up isn't lazy! As long as you communicate with your readers, they'll usually stick with you. Even something simple like "Hey guys, heads up -- updates will continue through June, but come July I'm gonna be taking a one-month break to build my buffer back up! We'll be back with regular updates Aug 1st!" won't sound lazy to anyone, and having a definite date that you'll return helps keep readers' faith, as long as you make sure to check back in on that date. : ) And letting your readers know ahead of time makes it clear that this is a planned thing, which also helps!

I think it's honestly a good thing to do -- to teach your brain that it's okay to take breaks sometimes.

[Mharz]

I know the feeling of excitement that you just want to upload everything in one fell swoop. Honestly though, if my favorite artist isn't doing webcomics, I would've done the same thing and upload everything.

So before I started uploading stuffs on Tap, I started to like draw the entire first volume (chapters 1-5). It took me one whole year to finish. So on the first pages I started to upload the first 12 pages then just proceeded to 2 pages per week after that. I have like an entire year's worth of buffer.

My suggestion, either take a hiatus (at least a month, inform your readers regarding that) and build your buffer or switch to 1 page per week update but produce at least 3 pages per week to slowly build buffer. 3 pages per week shouldn't be much of a hassle (I think). Just don't burn yourself out chasing deadlines.

[heterodont]

I get bouts of depression really really easy as well as a variety of other mood swings that get in the way of building my buffer. Since I only have a buffer thats two weeks in advance (and I update biweekly, which means I'm only 4 pages ahead of my readers) if my mood swing swings at a bad time, I end up losing my buffer. I just tell my readers I'm not in a good mindset to update for that week and give them a time estimate and no one makes a fuss!

Readers are going to understand if you need to take a hiatus because life is getting in the way! As long as you notify them that you need to take a break because you're just getting SWAMPED with responsibilities or otherwise - it's only an issue if you just stop updating entirely without telling your readers anything because they're going to presume you dropped it. If people aren't patient or understanding of your current dilemma, then would you really want them to be your reader?

[glennsong]

I did the same thing you did when I started my comic. I actually had 32 pages and instead of posting them once a week like I originally intended, I posted them all at once. After talking with a friend it made sense, since my work was a longform story and I wanted to get the story out there. Was it a dumb thing to do? (shrugs) Sure it would have tided me over for 8 months and in that time I could have continued to build that buffer, but as the project went on I hit other road bumps (esp. with my morale).

It meant that I wasn't going to be posting week to week, and my next update came a month later, then two months later, 3 months later...

It wasn't until later in the project when I began to upload the comic week to week. I built myself a small buffer but I was never able to keep a consistent schedule because of my job and the time required to paint a page of my comic. I also picked Saturday which is good for me because it gave me Friday night to prepare the post, but probably not great for building readership.

I learned to let it go. I focused on making the art as best I could. I animated pages and it took weeks to do that but love those pages. If I had a sizable number of pages I'd post them weekly -- I even tried breaking them up into panels and posting them daily on Tapastic to see if I could generate interest over the week. I tightened and tweaked the story to lessen the work from that angle. I looked at things like increasing my SEO know-how, doing other related artwork to attract attention back to my comic, and writing quality blog posts about my process. Some of it worked, but not gangbusters. I figure it's a process and to "win it" you have to stick to it long term and keep trying new things. So maybe my next story will be better received. I probably still won't have a buffer, but I'll try and make every page worth it.

[TheVoidchildProject]

I took a short one week break recently to shore up a buffer. I've previously produced pages just on time for updates, but with this one week break I'm ahead by a number of pages. What I did differently during that week was that I produced a number of pages at the same time in parallel as that goes much faster.

My art is simpler than yours but it still takes me between 5-9 hours (and work a full-time job) depending on the page and my form to get one done. But once I'm started and can devote enough time I get work done so much faster.

Cutting corners without sacrificing quality is also a good suggestion. Because I'm learning to draw I had it in my head that I had to draw every single little detail without aid or help for the practice. But that's short term thinking. Long term I'm gonna get so much practice in that it won't matter. You might not be in the same situation but I feel like it saves me from wasting time on needless minute details in my comic. ^_^

[igneriss]

Ohh I've been there~ I had a buffer of over 50 pages... and decided to go daily CX updating daily was really fun, but uni and life got busy, and before I realised, buffer was gone. I struggled to keep daily updates till the end of the chapter (~2 weeks), which was really hard, but I somehow managed to do it. Took a week of between chapters and changed updates schedule to 3 times a week. Which I couldn't keep, so changed it to twice a week. This is how I found the best updates schedule for me- even in really busy weeks I can produce two pages if I don't procrastinate, and with not-so-busy weeks I can draw a bit more to build up a buffer.
(though I still plan to go back to 3-pages-a-week schedule, once I have at least 2-months worth buffer).

So if I were you, I'd just change update schedule to find out how much time you actually need for pages. If you update twice a week, try updating once a week. If it's once a week, update once every 2 weeks- at least for now, trying to build up extra pages again ( :

[Shanny8]

I listened to everyone on here and I'm only posting a page a week. Right now I'm in "almost freak out" mode coz I'm trying to finish a huge chunk of my 1st Chapter before the summer ends so I can sit back in the fall and relax. I was eager at one point to post more than one page, but that would have me working crazier than I already am.

If you need to- take that hiatus and get more pages done...and if push comes to shove, just do you. I'm sure fans & readers who really like your work will understand if you have to get your real life in order. Taking care of yourself should be priority number one on your list; how can you produce a good comic if you're not at your best- physically or mentally?

[Damatris]

Yup, I too suggest dropping updates to once a week until you recover your buffer. it's such a magical thing to have... sighs dreamily

When I started drawing comics I didn't have a buffer, I hadn't even heard of it. :'D When I found out about it I felt like an idiot. Most of the time I have two week buffer that keeps me going but I'm also really prone to lose it because there has been a lot of things happening in my life lately. I actually had to even drop my update schedule down to every other week. Thankfully I'll be able to return to normal real soon. My pages take a long time to make so it's really stressful not to have any leeway. Today is the worst situation so far, because I don't even have inks done for tomorrow's page. My approach to having looming deadline is to work hard but smartly. And remind myself that I have legitimate reasons for being late so readers will most likely understand if I explain why I'm bit late.

But yeah, I want my buffer back! T___T

[Greg_Dickson]

I'm currently working without a buffer as well. The closest thing I have to one are 30 pages that I drew traditionally, and then scanned onto my computer to finish up digitally. So it's kind of like a half-buffer. I bought my cintiq tablet a little over a month ago, and as soon as I got the hang of it and created my first prologue page (that's before my first chapter which I have 30 pages for), I posted it to tapastic, since I wanted to create an account, and to learn what size i'll need for my pages and such. Looking back on it, I almost should have waited months before posting, but I didn't want to create improperly-sized pages to discover months later that I couldn't use them or alter them correctly (as I said before, I had no experience with digital art, so it wasn't easy to learn everything I did from scratch).

Overall, it's been a real learning process, and it has been pretty stressful, trying to find time to constantly work on each next page, since I work slowly. I'm accepting it as an inevitability that I will need to take some time off at some point to catch up, but until then, I'm just going to work the best I can with what I got. If I lose subscribers from taking a short break to get a better setup going, those aren't the kind of subs I want anyway. I'd rather have fewer subscribers that are understanding people, than ones that will abandon my story at the drop of a hat with the first sight of things that go wrong. Really, in the end, you're doing the best you can, offering your readers a free story and art. They shouldn't have expectations through the roof, as we have lives to live, just the same as them. We should strive to maintain a schedule to keep people hooked, but risking our health and sanity is not worth the long-term sacrifice just for the sake of our craft.

[Kayke]

I never had a buffer, but I was really strict about my update times for the first few years, but now I'm a little bit more relaxed about my updates. I try to update every week but at times I've missed an update here or there.

And I actually just took a hiatus because my freelance work was eating up all my drawing time and I ended up hurting my wrist from drawing too much! It was super bad because I couldn't really stop doing my freelance stuff since I was on contract, but I had to be on pain meds and now I have wrist braces I need to wear and stuff... It's been my experience that life happens and you can't beat yourself up over things. My webcomic tends to be the first thing I feel comfortable putting on the back burner since it's something I do for free and don't have and sort of hard deadlines.

Definitely TRY to keep to your update schedule, but if you're a few days late your readers will be understanding (or maybe not even notice) and if you have something going on and can't update just be honest with your readers about it. It sounds like you have a ton on your plate right now, so don't sacrifice your home life, job, or health just to make sure your comic updates on time.

[acealmansoori]

I'm afraid of this reason to be honest, I have about 33 pages ready out of 50. I'm going to post about 4 pages biweekly, so it gives me about 8 weeks before they're finished. In this time I have to finish the rest xD

i can do about 2 pages in a span of an hour and a half. Both colored. I did alot of planning before posting, but thats only because my comic is a one shot.

So, take your time with it, tell your subscribers the reason. I'm sure they'll understand.

[iddqd]

Like, screw the buffer, man. I think it's one of those conventional webcomic-making wisdoms that are supposed to bring you viewership and web fame. I think it's a decent advice for gag strips, but for a long-form comic, its value is dubious at best. What's important, in my opinion, is the "late game" phase, if that makes any sense. Once the comic is finished, if it's any good, no one will care how often you updated it and how stressed you were while you were at it.

I have been making my webcomic for a year on a fairly consistent basis, and as I try to go on a page per week basis, I often have to skip a week here or there, because life gets in the way. I post on odd days. I recently took two months off because I had some commissioned art work to do, but now I am pretty excited to be back to drawing the comic. I'm in it for the long haul, and I honestly just don't think that the stress of a regular update schedule is worth a few extra readers you get along the way, especially since once you are done you can dump some money into ads for your completed comic.