Did anyone else's comic output lessen overtime?

[smokesalty]

I'm gonna clarify that this isn't always a bad thing! I'm just speaking from my own experience here.

When I first started making my comic, I was pumping out 6 pages a week (around 24 pages a month!) and oh my god, I genuinely don't know how I was able to keep that up.

After a while, I realised it was just too much work for me to be doing by myself every week. I lessened my output to 3-4 pages a week (depending on where I want to end an episode) and at first I felt bad about making less but honestly, it's better for me in the long run.

If I make less, it means I'm less likely to go on hiatus. Also I'm not getting paid so I'm not about to overwork myself for the sake of productivity? I mean, I was mainly making that much because I love working on my comic, but I slowed it down a bit after a while.

But yeah. Anyone else experience a similar thing?

[faisalhussein394]

Same here, I use to upload 4-5 pages a month but after realizing I'm getting less and less preserves I decide to upload a page every 10-11 days which is 3 pages a month and it gives me more time to finish more pages.

However, if it's February, I upload only two pages because it's not a full 30-31 days which will help me get more time to finish pages.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ye I think this is quite common; when you start out, you're to some degree running on hype and pump out work at a rate you're not usually able to sustain. Don't worry, the output won't continue to lower over time; it'll settle at your natural baseline rate

[Azifri]

It's the opposite for me. Over time I've become better at drawing so (1) I'm faster at drawing (more done in the same time) and (2) I enjoy working on my comic even more than before now that I can represent ideas better, so motivation has gone up too.

[Kann]

All I did was to go from 3 pages per week to 2 pages per week, because it started to be a bit too much of work and I was constantly running out of buffer. Okay, I still constantly run out of buffer, but with less pages per week I'm more chill about finishing my work. xD

[N1ghtm4r3]

life always gets in the way, i do try set goals but modifications to the plan are needed some days

[ZombieOwl]

I like this topic! It's kind of yes and no for me. In the beginning, I was just really excited to be posting something of my own for everyone to see and enjoy (and of course "the numbers" game contributed...), and posted two strips a week. It wasn't sustainable, so I quickly switched to once a week.

Several years later, I'm faster still, producing a little more than I used to. However, if "output" = "updates", I'd say definitely I've lessened it intentionally. If "output" is production though, I'd call it a flush; my work is a bit more complicated and the quality is nicer than when I started, even though I finish fewer panels/pages in a week.

[sartinjacqueline05]

When I first started my Regro comic, I didnt have much time for it cuz i was still in college. Then after graduating i had more time to pump out pages. Then i joined tapas, then pandemic hit. Had lots of time to just do the comic. Then i had to get a job and THATS when the burn out started. My updates became biweekly and eventually i stopped going by a schedule. Realizing this is better off as a hobby helped with that. I did take a few hiatuses during all this. I soon realized i was pretty much tired of working on the same stuff. So im giving Regro a break and now working on my second series, 180 Bruises. My motivation came back as it was a new, fresh project. So now im ahead and able to do weekly updates for now. Im sure eventually the burn out will come for this one, but until then, 180 is my current baby. Someday ill go back to Regro when Im ready to.

[Shanny8]

Same. When I first started I was cranking out 4-5 pages every 2 weeks(8 pages a month)...of course a lot of that was buffer; after I got sick after a convention I peeled back on my production- I was a few pages away from finishing off the chapter. I took a "between chapters" break, built my buffer back up for the new chapter and went at it again- got sick again after a summer convention...that's when the injuries and burnout started flaring up. Took a mid-chapter break, came back in the fall, and powered out the rest of that chapter; the end was a bit frustrating coz I was moving to the place I'm currently at now, but I finished it.

Took another "between chapters" break, started building up the buffer to the next chapter...it wasnt but a few months into posting the 3rd chapter that I started feeling the effects of my injuries & burnout again; I tried to power through & post as much as I could, but finally my body gave out(after I cranked out my other "print only" title at a breakneck pace- 24 pages over 3 weeks) and was like "take a hiatus"- and that's where I've been since...

I was working on standalone pieces sometime back, but covid hit- and then I lost a family member, and I just kind of "shut down" on doing any art stuffs for a while...I'm doing things again, and hopefully if I can get some other stuffs done, I'll get back onto my comic this fall/winter.

[RedLenai]

Definetly! When I started, while I was dealing with adapting to the vertical format, I could do around 60 panels for a chapter in a lapse of 2 weeks, while I was studying two different careers in the meantime.

Then, during the quarantine I could pump around 10 panels a day besides commissions and other stuff.

Nowadays I can barely finish 4-5 panels a day and I need around 3-4 days to recharge, it sucks ;o; (This past month has been probably the worst perfomance I ever had)

[Nada]

It is very true what all of you say, I cannot continue in the same way as when I started, that is, because of my work it is already impossible for me, especially in the coming weeks, since I have a much heavier workload than before , and I'm contradicting myself with a comment I wrote here yesterday, but really in these last few days I can't continue with the same level as before. It's temporary, but I can't.

[Awesomeness_Studios]

What’s interesting is that the opposite happened to me! Before I would take several hours to make a single page, and sometimes I’d split it between multiple days just to get a page done. But then I decided to research time saving tips and seriously commit myself to doing pages faster. Now the average page takes like 1.5 hours for me (albeit, I have a really simple style, but that was still a ton of improvement in speed from where I was at before). So yeah my comic output has increased because I learned to save time. In fact these past couple of weeks I had to draw a new page everyday in order to HOPEFULLY get my comic ready for a certain thing I plan to do real soon.

[system]

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