Aspie_Gamer
Jul '16

Inspired by @carloswebcomic great posts about advertising your webcomic and deconstructing the myth of the instantly "popular" webcomics, I've decided to make one of my own about what I feel is the hardest part of running a webcomic whether you are just starting out or you have a multiple figure income from doing webcomics.

Getting Started

And I'm not just talking about starting out.

To be more specific, I'm talking about getting started on doing new pages/strips for your comic which I personally feel can be the hardest part of all regardless of how your brain is wired.

For example, I've got lots of ideas floating around in my head for my shoujo influenced slice of life comic
Life of an Aspie5. Always having been the creative type, some would assume that since I have all these ideas I need to get out on paper that I must be working from when the rooster crows to when the cows come home every day right? Right!?

Oh how I wish that were true. Maybe I'd already be on volume three by this point for my long form comic?

The truth is that I'm like most people in that I'm the type who would ignore the alarm clock despite knowing full well I need to get up as soon as that clock rings. That's how I've always pictured my laziness and its how I view that nagging feeling that I need to get (x) amount of pages done for LoaA by this date (which of course never happens according to plan.) To try and combat this now that I'm fully serious about being a web cartoonist for a living with being a youtuber on the side, I've been giving myself "daily quests" as of late.

i.e Draw three pages of your comic today and you get to play (mobile game) for an hour.

Type out several pages worth of your script for this chapter and you get to watch a few rerun episodes of South Park.

You may notice that the daily quests aren't big in their content. There's a reason for that. Like everybody else, I've learned the hard way that trying to do too much stuff at once is the quickest way to give up on something. Like for example working out, you need to take things in small baby steps. Instead of trying to beef up just in time for summer, work on your summer body throughout the winter and spring doing the necessary workouts and eating the right amount of food daily so that you don't rush getting a summer body in like two weeks when beach season rolls around.

Likewise Instead of forcing yourself to draw 10 pages/strips for your comic all at once, draw two for today and draw the remaining eight over the next four days. That way, when you get comfortable with this, you can bump it up to three or four pages/strips so that you can get more done in less time thus giving you more free time to do whatever. Never get comfortable for too long.

Another tip I'd like to share is that instead of sitting there with a blank stare on your face at your drawing board or Manga Studio program fretting over needing to get (x) amount of work done,

JUST DO IT

Even if its merely a small contribution everyday, you will still be that much closer to your goals than you were before.

Now what about getting bored and needing to take a break?

That's fine. Breaks are mandatory so you don't feel pressured to get it all done in one sitting. Play a few rounds of Angry Birds, see what's happening on your favorite Reddit sub, check your Instagram and post some pictures so that your followers still know you are not among the walking dead.

Definitely eat something or use the bathroom if you need to.

However, you should not be spending hours on Facebook or People of Walmart. Not unless that's your full time paid job that is.

What you should do instead is give yourself several periods throughout the day to sit back and relax and not worry about your webcomic for a little while so that you can approach it with a fresh mind later when you come back to it. As an aspie for me this is how I decompress when need be. Take as many short breaks as you need. Your mental well being is more important than you may have been conditioned to believe.

If any of you liked this post, let me know. I may do another post like this in a few days time. smile

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    Jul '16

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    Jul '16
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keii4ii
Jul '16

So this is about how to beat laziness/procrastination? Which is a solid topic, all right, but maybe "getting started" is not the best way to call it. From what I've seen, a lot of people start working just fine; the problem comes when they get distracted two minutes later... That's not about "getting started," but it's the same problem they face.