Are you addicted to your comic?

[mariusthered]

• Are you addicted to your comic?
• Do you find yourself working on it
  even when you have more important drawings to work on?
• Do you suddenly find yourself toying with a story idea for your comic, when your meant to be doing something else?

I would have to say guilty on all counts. and sometimes it gets a little annoying. I've tried schedules and allocating times of the day and night just to the comic, but alas even when i'm in the middle of a new promotion plan for my caricature work ( the stuff that's meant to put money in the bank) I find myself yearning to get on with the next page. This could because I'm in the process of revamping pages I have already done and dying to write something new. or it could be I just want to get the revamps posted (but that's a long way off) either way it's kinda screwy how additive making comic can get. (but on the upside at least I stopped smoking)

Talesfromswipecity

[AnnaLandin]

Grassblades is pretty much constantly on my mind in one way or the other - toying with ideas to include, tinkering with the outline, weighing the pros and cons of certain storytelling choices, designing characters, trial-running dialogue in my head, etc., etc.

... But I kind of get like this with all of the things I'm doing. My mind is constantly tinkering with ALL THE THINGS at once. When I'm working on Grassblades, I'm ALSO coming up with ideas for what to do for my Christmas-calendar-oneshot for this year (yes I know it's only February shh), picking at a bunch of other ideas that might become bigger, long-form comics at some point, doing illustrations on the side that somehow magically grow into themed projects (like my Tea Witches, and my Goblin Week-entires every year), thinking about cool stuff I could do if I ever got around to teaching myself the basics of how to make games or animate things properly, etc.

... not to mention just randomly telling myself stories with the cast of literally hundreds of characters I've made up just for fun, who will most likely never have comics of their own, because they're just my equivalent to singing in the shower, or a bedtime story - they're just a way for me to unwind.

I have a very busy brain. >.<

[Ringarune]

oh all the time XD I just wanna work on pages when I have more important stuff to do. Then I end up procrastinating and stay up way too late...

[mariusthered]

yes you have pointed out there something I should be doing and not, thinking ahead to the end of the year. how you think about all that at once I don't know, us creative types all seem to work on different levels yet all come together somehow when it counts.

[mjmassey]

I go through phases where I am really into my comic, but lately I have been feeling rather disheartened by it. But I'm always planning stuff for it and thinking about future plot points and how everything will fit together.

[joannekwan]

Unfortunately no, if I were I would get waaay more done. xP

[ToonDoctor]

Hell yeah!

Totally addicted

[phen]

Seriously. It's something that just consumes you. I've pulled a ridiculous amount of all-nighters (a fine skill honed in university) since starting my comics. The expense of sleep can be afforded as long as the thing you'll be doing in the morning is... more comics.

Even sketching, I've ended up doing rough thumbs for new pages. It's exactly as you say, you find yourself totally hyped and ready to get to the next page! Your story, your characters just gnaw away at you until you get them out and on paper, yeah?

And similar to @AnnaLandin, I've always told myself varying stories with my characters during my downtimes (riding the bus, going to school, waiting at the doctors', while doing laundry/dishes, before bed... while trying to fall asleep!). And it's really exciting to be able to grab some of those scenes, some parts of those massive head-epics for better illustrations and better story arcs! If only there was a recorder you could set up in your mind... I'm sure there are so many stories I've forgotten that would be KILLER to revisit!

[winglesscomic]

i dunno about addicted but i place a lot my life's meaning on my comic and other projects because i need to validate my miserable life in some way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[joannekwan]

Yes I totally agree with this!

[nathankschulz]

Taking a 12-Step CAA (Comic Addicts Anonymous) program. I'm on Step 7: Denial, Denial, TOTAL DENIAL! I don't have a problem. So there, see? I'm all good!

[Leesaliah]

Well, I do tend to extend my stories a lot because I'm one of those types of people who just get a little too in depth in my stories. Some of the times, I curtail some of the parts of the story, because I wouldn't want it to be so long that it'd end up like some poopy ongoing series's.

It's kinda what @phenylketonurics, I'll end up thinking up stuff while washing dishes, or walking down the street and thinking about it while almost getting ran over by a car(never happened). XD

[mariusthered]

The expense of sleep can be afforded as long as the thing you'll be doing in the morning is... more comics.

totally agree. more pages! more coffee!

[mariusthered]

do i need to place you near a word processor to test that? lol

[Shanny8]

I was in that zone with my print series, The Clique. Ever since I had decided to remaster the series(I 1st created it back in 99), I had been running non stop- trying to type out all the entries for the Profiler(character book), drawing & inking all the entry pics for that project, pushing myself to learn how to color with PS so that I could color it, coloring it as well as the other books throughout the year(as well as remastering the actual pages for the regular series), pushing myself to get better at lettering, and then pushing myself more with design concepts, completing poster art..it's a wonder I'm still alive.

In fact, I finished the latest issue of my print series back in October, and that's when I decided to pump the brakes on anymore production on The Clique for right now. I have 5 books out, and I decided to devote most of this year to getting my Ray Thunder web series off the ground. The doozy for me will come when I dont have anymore books to remaster, and will actually have to do an entire issue...but hopefully I will have cut my teeth with Ray Thunder to the point where I can do an entire book digitally and wont lose speed, pace, or focus.

So yeah, you could say I'm addicted to my comic(s).

[chanalli]

I'm not sure if I'm addicted to 2 Leaf Clover but I just fell in love so much with my character that I catch myself thinking of them during the day...
Whenever I have a good idea for a future chapter I tend to write them down on my phone or start daydreaming about them...
At work, I keep evernote open just in case I get an inspiration for writing a new chapter.

Basically, I'm always thinking about them...
Maybe I am addicted...

[nathankschulz]

I can stop whenever I want!

[SethJH]

For the past 10 years, I'd agree that I spend on average 30 to 50 percent of my waking day either thinking a plot point through or doing world building for my story... I don't know if that's a problem or not lol.

[kazukitakamura126]

I do spend most of my time either think about my action comic "Seishin Patona" or my drama comic "In The Midst". I have scenes that I haven't drawn yet play in my head all the time. Sometimes a story idea can become more clear when I bring it out of my subconscious and start actively thinking about it. Lately though it hasn't been on my mind as much but, its still on my mind.

[greenraptorstudios]

Simply put, yes. Though recently I have discovered there is more to life than sitting downstairs and drawing. I keep myself working because I want this story finished and If I don't do it it won't get done. Lately I work myself hard for two nights, then maybe relax on video games before going back to work.

As for working on other drawings, I make my own schedule. Sometimes I do tend to work on the comic as opposed to other drawings, but often times it's the other way around. Since I'm drawing the comic so much, often other projects are a bit of a break from the comic. But the comic takes priority overall because I try to stick to my schedule.