Comic Delays: When are they acceptable? When are they not acceptable?

jacintawibowo 2016-02-27 01:45:45 UTC #21

Readers can understand when a creator is going through life stuff and can't update their comic. From a business perspective however, it shows that they haven't prepared a big enough buffer or planned out their schedule efficiently enough to make consistent updates. For the most part I find readers are very understanding, but reliability is a big part of an artist's reputation. Hannah's not a Boy's Name got into serious trouble because of that, and even with the artist launching a publishing deal and a new webcomic series, many of the readers are incredibly bitter for her sudden unexplained disappearance.
Is it okay to go on breaks? Sure, you're doing this for free and off of your own free time.
Is it a good thing for your image or your readers? Not at all.

kambreapratt 2016-02-27 01:55:10 UTC #22

Ideally one would have a buffer, but after doing a comic for years, that buffer isn't always there. When pages take like 12-16 hours a page and life happens a buffer can be gone quickly. People don't always have the time to build one back up.

I'm sorry if I had a publishing deal or paying comics work I would do that and put the webcomic on hiatus because I had to. Now I would communicate what was going on and I don't agree with not communicating.

joannekwan 2016-02-27 02:02:34 UTC #23

Going on an unannounced hiatus is okay, shit happens, but going on a hiatus and deleting your series without a word? That's not good, that's when an audience starts worrying.

aspiderjonny 2016-02-27 02:27:46 UTC #24

Hearing that everyone is ok with hiatus makes me feel better about my own. I haven't updated regularly in a while because of school and I was afraid I was annoying my readers.

Iike everyone, I'm ok with hiatus'.

Doubtcent 2016-02-29 16:39:53 UTC #25

Well, comics take a lot of time and effort to make, so any delay is reasonable.
Take for instance, I make 4 comics every week. However, I've been in the hospital and in recovery for the past three weeks.
So for almost a month, I've been incapacitated, so comics are just not possible until I feel better. This happens a lot, especially since comics on Tapastic are often done during free time. So, no free time = no comic. That's just how things are.
Plus, sometimes we're just not inspired to create anything for a moment, so we try to do other things to bring back that spark. Also, time away from a project can help you think about it better.
Or sometimes, we just need a break.