For those who have more than one ongoing comic, what's your secret?

[MissEljebel]

Hello! Forgive me if this has already been asked before or is in the wrong category!

I currently have one ongoing comic, and I have plans for another someday in the future. However, I'm wondering how would I even do that? The second comic would be a shorter running comic, but the one I have now I plan to run for a long time, so at some point in time, they'd be going at the same time.

So my question is, for those of you who have more than one ongoing comic, how on earth do you manage to do that? Have any tips/tricks you're willing to share? How do you manage your time and how do you keep a consistent updating schedule?

Thank you!

[KoreanTacos]

I pick a favorite and focus most of my attention and skills on that one more so the other one. I'm currently in the process of concluding the first series I worked on so I can put more time into my main series. Most of what keeps me on track is scheduling out days I work on one and ones I do the other (or since Covid hit, which month). I make buffers to help me keep up with my updates, but it's a real pain in the ass. At the end of the day which one is more important to me to make stand out is how I would put it.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I'm in a collab, and have a long running series of my own.
But the collab isn't up yet, we're still in the planning stages. I'm doing the art side of things, but will have a good chunk of the work done before posting at all.

So for the balancing act:
I try to work on both comics during my days off from my day job. I spend around 4 hours on each.
During the weeknights I focus hard on my running comic so that during the weekend I can do both.

I usually work on comics about 5 out of the 7 days in a week. Unless life gets in the way.

[Jon_Gum]

Well for one, I think the way you're going about it is healthy and will keep you focused. I have so many ideas for comics and I have ideas for comic collaborations with friends as well, but right now all my focus is on my main comic, Carpenter.

I can understand that ambition to work on multiple things at once and for some people, they can do that. It's not for everyone. Just remember,:

"Comparison is the thief of joy."
- Teddy Roosevelt.

Do what's best for you. Enjoy where you're at.

[Kann]

By sacrificing my soul, obviously.

Serious answer - Good idea before starting a second comic while you already have an ongoing one is to work on a solid buffer. I had a whole chapter finished and scheduled, when I decided to launch my second comic. It doesn't need to be finished fast. Just do it at your own pace whenever you have some time.

[TheDWrek83]

... pay someone else to do it?

I've had the idea for a non-canon little chibi version of my comic for years... and if I'm being honest with myself I could never pull of both due to my page speed and urges to do other things and not JUST draw all week with no breaks... It wasn't till I approached another artist friend of mine with the idea and luckily she's had the time/drive.

That's just me though. If you've got that drive you can make it happen. Best of luck with your efforts!

[rajillustration]

I make one my deadline comic--my main comic--and the other is my comic that doesn't have a deadline and I can drop if I need to. On an ideal week I can of course do two comics, but ideal is not all the time, so it's nice to have one comic that everyone knows is flexible and may go........years........without an update because life happens.

Also one comic can be fullscale, full color, lovely, but the other just can't. One has to be simple or it can't happen.

[ble]

I leave everything else in eternal hiatus.

[a.g.meade]

@MissEljebel - I think that being aware of your pace is extremely important. Does it take you a few hours or a few days per page? With this information, you can know what you can reasonably accomplish in a given month and determine if you need to put them on different updating schedules (eg. comic A 2 - 3 times per week and comic B 2 - 3 times per month, or what have you).

Having a buffer is also super helpful, as @Kann mentioned! Adding to that, I'd consider planning some breaks between release 'blocks' in order to replenish that buffer and to prevent burnout.

To echo @rajillustration - focusing on the main comic as the 'deadline' comic and having the second as a 'soft deadline' project is a good way of giving your readers clear expectations, and can really help with taking pressure off yourself!

Speaking for myself, I am overly organized, so I have the scripts, batches of thumbnails, page goals, and breaks for both comics planned out to help keep things rolling smoothly.

[AmazementComics]

The secret is to plan far, far in advance. Maybe even years in advance. For instance, if you know you have ideas for another comic series while your first one is ongoing, you'll be saving yourself a lot of time by creating a blueprint for the release date. You want to make sure that you're putting in the best effort into all your comics.

Me and the guys I work with currently look over 6 comic series and have 9 comics series in the making right now. However, we plan to release them 5-10 years in the future. It's a pretty ambitious goal, but we're willing to be flexible and extend the release date if necessary. Don't put all your eggs in one basket and stress yourself over putting out episodes for each series at the same time. Good luck.

[CarltonIsaac]

The secret is to plan far, far in advance.

Hear, hear.

[darthmongoose]

As Ron Swanson said in "Parks & Recreation":

"Don't half-ass two things; whole-ass one thing."

In other words, if you can't get the sort of level of quality in your work with the time you have where it looks polished enough to get noticed, featured and build an audience, unless your goal is simply to make these stories without caring about whether anyone actually reads them, don't.
There are some creators on the site who make two popular ongoing comics, like Lord Vincent (Crimson Tracks and Moonshine) but that's doable because those comics are popular enough that making them is his full-time living, and he was able to do that because he started out making one very polished comic that got enough attention and traction on the site to launch a career doing it full time.

On my side of things, I have a part time job as a Creative Associate (a sort of mix of editor, copywriter, illustrator and games designer) at a kids edutainment company I do three days a week that covers my rent and bills. The other days I make my comic. It'd be cool to get up to 2000 subs and pitch a Tapas premium comic, but until I get to a point where comics pay my rent, I'll just work on making the one I have really good. I can make another comic when I complete this one.