Drawing on a very limited time

[rifqifajarzain]

I spend 8 hours of work and 3 hours of break or going out, so my free time usually starts at 07:30 PM.
But I feel like it's not quite enough to create a complex illustration and comic in a single day, especially when there is something arousing, which makes me sleepy.

Do you have a similar situation as mine? How do you solve it?

I often copy and paste a drawing, and sometimes I use quick references. But it's still not enough.

I tend to procrastinate, because it's not like my major source of income. It's just a pure hobby.

[writerlamping]

Do you have a similar situation as mine? How do you solve it?

I do have a similar situation. I just work this way:
-1 day, I do my penciling
-2nd day, I do the outlines
-3rd day, I do the coloring

I space it out and give myself a reasonable due date. I don't think I can make a nice, complex page in a single day. When I do, it's when I have a day off from work. The self-imposed due dates keeps me motivated. I also very rarely copy-paste. I find drawing something new for each panel really keeps me engaged.

I should also note I have comics of around 14 pages every release so I tend to space my time around it. Honestly scheduling is good. Makes you more responsible (and aware) of your time.

Another thing I do is just sketch when I am dumbfounded and have no motivation. Getting my hand drawing is the best way to put me in the mood.

[BoomerZ]

Everyone has this problem. Most artwork would be absolutely fantastic if you had all the time in the world. When you see those great pictures online or social media, it inspires you. But that is not the world of the comic artist. Our main goal is telling a story, not making a pretty one off picture. So with that in mind you have to make your artwork repeatable and quick. There is a reason animation is so simplified. You are drawing 12 per second (on "2"s). So find a style that is quick, clean, and you can tell your story. There is no better practice than a comic, and you will get better and faster.

[kyupol]

Same here... I do a lot of shortcuts... would have to write a whole novel to get through each of them in detail...

Shortcut 1: the way I color... I use paint bucket tool. I don't color like traditional way.

[KevinReijnders]

I've just pretty much accepted that I have limited time and choose to just not complete a thing in a single day/session. Just spread it across multiple moments.

I have no interest in reducing my level of polish. Literally doesn't matter if I finish something in a day or in a week. It's all just personal stuff anyways, I'm not beholden to managers, time schedules or budgets, I can do as I please.

[writerlamping]

I also use the paint bucket tool and it boggles my mind why people are so opposed to it. I'm drawing digitally why not use the tools I have?

[quintellit]

I can relate! It can be hard to find time to illustrate with minimal time or heavy workloads. I usually try to set aside at least one hour to 30 min to illustrate. I also try to take my time to draw and make sure to give my best effort. Most of my best pieces were not done in one day or hour. If you can have time on the weekends, you can try make time to draw. Don't forget to have have fun illustrating and take breaks if your feeling burned out.

[tzachslav]

Thats me frfr.........

[thepenmonster]

Do you have a similar situation as mine? How do you solve it?

Questions;

1. Is this comic paying my rent?
2. Are these likes putting food on the table?
3. Am I falling into "Someone has to win the lottery so why not me?" thinking and believe I'll become one of the handful of people who make art their day job?
4. Should I feel responsible for busting my ass to feed strangers free entertainment?
5. Who is really benefiting from my hard work?

Answers

1. No
2. No
3. Yes
4. No
5. Tech companies that can only operate because they found an army of starry-eyed unpaid workers.

Put drawing webcomics in its proper low tier position on your list of life priorities. And then leave it there so you can enjoy doing it when you get the chance to.

[SagaHolmgaard]

Reminds me of my fav comic strip, by John Cullen

Professional comics have some of the fastest turnarounds for artists anywhere. I was once on a panel talk with comic artists who got into the game development industry and realised how much faster at drawing they were compared to the rest of the art team. It's because if you don't learn where to save time you literally can't hit your deadlines lolol

I'm learning where I can cheat in the sketching phase (which still takes the most of my time). For example I can ink a pretty good hand from just having sketched out the basic shape of it, so it's not necessary for me to sketch the individual fingers, I can figure that out later quite reliably.

[EncryptedWriting]

It's understandable to be very tired! What I like to do is put my work in stages.

I work on EVERYTHING for an episode slowly. I have someone storyboard and then I'll do 2 rough line art sketches then one final lineart. Believe it or not, sometimes the rough sketches are perfect enough for the line art.

Another one thing I look at is brushes. If you have a brush that looks into: trees, grass, skies, etc. then you have a hand up. Some people might view that as "cheating" but I think if you spend a few hours working on a brush that you can use to replicate what you've already drawn, than so be it. If you want to be spicy, you can even do brushes for body parts i.e.hands, eyes, body base, etc. I don't do the later because it doesn't feel right for me. However, I did make a braid brush since my MC has braids and it takes ages to individually draw braids.

Also, I use brushes in the rough line art and varying on how I feel, it's okay to redo something till you're happy with it. That's the beauty of brushes.

Colors are my weakness, so I can't really comment here. But doing flats, you can use the lasso tool and then paint bucket to get exactly where you want painted.

One thing to consider, it is okay to go slow. We all want to work fast but that comes with practice. Lots of practice. Just working a little bit at a time to sharpen your skills and learn new tricks will pay off in the end.

Lastly, make sure you love what you're creating. You notice when you are inspired by your story, you can work through it without as much ... pain.

[krazycafetales262]

I only release one to two pages a week. Maybe I'd get more popular if I did more, but this is a hobby. Don't want to burn myself out.