Hard Agree!
And it's kind of dangerous, because you spend so much time and effort into your comic, that it can keep you from like...scrapping it. Like when I do paintings, I'll just...stop painting and do a different painting and not even feel bad about dropping it--but with comics it's like...I'm gonna make some people sad if I decide to do something different. There's this GUILT that comes with it that is entirely in my head--but it's deffo there, and I have to ignore it, all the time.
--I'd like to also add to this list that you have to be a wild graphic designer. Like you can't just draw like anyone else, you have to stand out in a sea of exactly the same webcomics, and that takes some trial and error that goes unseen. With this you have to plan out the color schemes and the vibes you want the comic to give. It's more than just rendering--it's a lot of very thoughtful planning.
Like I plan out my content...WAY in advance to when it becomes a comic. I'm working on one right now I know I can't start publishing until next year, and right now I'm on that phase of graphic design troubleshooting with different color palates and different line weights and it...it's pretty rough. I've redrawn this thing a few times because it hasn't hit that sweet spot yet.
-But, (and this is another job we do), once we have a pipeline, we have to be our own project manager. You have to really see what's taking a long time and then figure out how to make it take...less time. So I'm constantly researching and timing myself and learning new ways to make that pipeline more efficient.
I used to be a person that had very Chaotic Evil layer naming conventions, so my PSD files were just a freakin mess of like tons of weird empty layers--but ever since working on long form comics where I have to make 10+ separate illustrations match across one long comic...I am now the Lawful Good layer organizer--everything is spick and span and beautifully labelled because it's quicker in the long run. I got tired of hunting through layers--I have become that OCD art person. I had to.
-And, if you ever go to print, working with a printer is actually hell. I feel lucky because I majored in book illustration so I actually know a little of what I'm doing, but only because I know that I know nothing--It's one of those things you look at and say "what could possibly go wrong" and then you're in the middle of color correction hell when you realize that all those bright colors are not going to come out, and all those dark colors have turned the color black, and that you have a strange texture that you can't see on your monitor. it's a lot.
