Deadline and its impact on you and your work

[Christy_Oshima]

Hello everyone!

I was just thinking about this these days and decided to hear your opinion or personal experience on that;

D(r)eadlines. Sometimes they help, others they simply cause too much agony. Certainly it must be different for a comic artist and different for a writer, but in the end of the day they exist to push our limits.

Most of the times and without realising it, when I have a deadline to reach, i spend my days procrastinating until the day before and that's when i give it my all. Yes, i panic, yes the stress is immense and excessive but I work better with that, than when i know i have plenty of time ahead of me. I even do a much better editing XD

How does it work for you? (。・・)ノ

[sc101]

The pressure of deadlines used to be positive maybe 5-6 years ago when I hadn't started working on the comic yet. Then I had a meltdown and since then they just ruin my life.

[Christy_Oshima]

Yeah, I get that.

I've recently became part of a project as writer and up until now, the deadlines were always set by my self for my self. Now it's much more like a 'work' thing, so yeah,it is much different. Yet the constant anxiety gives me the stimulation I need to work harder. But of course it has its impact. Last night I didn;t sleep at all. I had a cup of coffee by my side and i was writing non stop until 6 am and the deadline is today.

[Wingstofly]

I loving having plenty of time, alot of time makes me feel stress free.

[Christy_Oshima]

Which i think is the most normal thing. When having plenty of time we - supposedly - mange to get our shit together while being stress-free...

Im starting to think that my way is not so healthy hehehe~

[Legendofgenii]

Honestly, I leave everything till the last minute It’s just how my brain is wired.

[Christy_Oshima]

Yes, someone of my own kin

[darthmongoose]

Deadlines don't always have to be bad! For example, because I have a weekly deadline on my comic uploads, I can't over-detail them because there's a limit on how much time I can spend per page. It makes me stop worrying about making every panel look perfect and instead aim for consistent and clear.
Needing to get two pages done a week for that deadline has really helped me bash my way through close to 200 pages worth of content so far, which if I was agonising over every page for weeks, or I could slack off and play videogames, I probably wouldn't have done.

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

Most of the times and without realising it, when I have a deadline to reach, i spend my days procrastinating until the day before and that's when i give it my all. Yes, i panic, yes the stress is immense and excessive but I work better with that, than when i know i have plenty of time ahead of me.

All of my artist friends who have ADHD are like that-- the inability to get started on something until the last minute panic sets in is actually what got some of them to look into getting diagnosed. So ADHD or not, you're in good company there.

For myself, I was super-nervous about keeping up with a regular posting schedule, so I pre-drew something like 4-5 months worth of pages before I ever started posting, giving myself a massive buffer. I still consistently draw a page a week in order to maintain that buffer, though, because it gives me MASSIVE peace of mind that if life ever throws me a major curve ball, I don't have to worry too hard about missing my deadlines.

[powerplantanimations]

I just use buffers (I made ten comics for That Stick Figure Isekai, but Burd and I have just finished 7), but I still try to write as much as possible. Writing is like eating for me. If I can't write, then I'd try to swallow a table. I literally sweat and my head throbs.

I should probably see a doctor.... but nah. I'm carrying this cross like a mf; so deadlines don't really change much for me.

[Caro]

I’m coming up on two deadlines for two books this year and I’m not a fan of big longterm deadlines but I like smaller self imposed ones. For me its kind of like a fun endurance challenge. I had a comic that I tried to write and draw AND post four pages of every day and I managed to do it for a month before needing to work on other projects.

Right now I work on my comics full time so i have a lot more ability to work in the way I want to work and I make myself draw at LEAST two pages a day every weekday. Sometimes I’ll set a timer to see how long it takes me and just try to race against the clock to game-ify it a little more. I feel like its easy for me to stay on top of it when it feels like a competition against myself.

[TheLemmaLlama]

I had deadlines once, when I was doing a comic swap with another comic creator. I missed the deadline, and I felt so ashamed when I had to tell the other person that I'll 'completely, 100% get it done within the next 10 days, no excuses'.

Never again.

(And yes, I do procrastinate without deadlines, but I procrastinate on things like writing future chapters/bonus content or doing worldbuilding for my other comic or designing stuff, so I say my productivity on average without deadlines is not terrible. Perhaps slightly less than if I had deadlines, but the quality is probably better :P)

[river121693]

I’m a chronic procrastinator so the deadline keeps me focused on my comic instead of frivolous distractions. Whenever I think to my self “oo I wonder if there’re any fun video games on sale” I would also think “no can’t do it, need to post another episode this Friday.”
The key is having some flexibility to not let it put too much pressure on you. I made a rule that I would not let the deadline get in the way of important things like my health or spending time with my family.

[allenT]

Only self-imposed deadlines for me, and not micro-managing daily to stress me out. The key is deadlines should not be the absolute. If things happen or I need a rest, let it be. If I miss deadlines I'm not beating myself up.

So far I never rush my work because of it, at least on the art part.

[VibrantFox]

i hated deadlines as a kid in school and i still can't stand them now. in some cases that last minute push worked out but for the most part has just worn me down more than anything. being able to create without imposed deadlines whether it's from someone else or myself it's often times lead to more spirals of dread and anxiety than anything only made worse by fears of underperforning or somehow failing

i don't think there's anything wrong with hating deadlines either because everyone performs differently and sometimes that added but of stress isn't really worth it. i mean when i tried to stick to any especially with regards to art it led to strain above all else and i personally refuse to put myself under such pressure again

[Lensing]

When you want to get something done, have deadlines.
When you just want to have fun, don´t have deadlines

[system]

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