How do you have time to draw anything BUT your comic?

[Elliart7]

I want to update a page per week because to be honest, with my track record I have next to no faith my comic will gain traction if I can’t even keep up with the standard update schedule. Anything less would be too sparse cause I’m not blow your socks off amazing enough for readers to willingly wait around for a single page every two weeks.

The problem is I work full time, so with my current drawing speed I’m barely able to eek by with that deadline even with a simpler style and using the time saving tips and tricks passed around all the time. How are you able to draw anything else?? I need to be able to bring people to my comic, and I can’t do that without maintaining my other socials. It’s not like I can do one teeny little doodle once a week either just to have something to toss up there cause my following is tiny, and years of trying my a** off have proven that I need to be on my absolute A game if I want anyone to not slide even further back. I recently GAINED some followers instead of barely keeping the ones I have and nearly jumped for joy, lol. If I half a** anything involved, people forget I exist and the numbers I HAVE managed to cling onto start dropping like flies. I also just WANT to be able to draw outside of my comic for my own enjoyment and sanity.

If you’re able to do this, HOW? Thanks!

[Lensing]

I also just WANT to be able to draw outside of my comic for my own enjoyment and sanity.

I would only focus on that without being dependent on dead lines.

And for your other question. We all have different styles and different jobs, so it´s impossible
to compare that. I´m self employed and a musician. I sit in a van on the weekends and
I´m at home on weekdays. I draw comics in my free time, I´m working very slow but
I could theoretically draw comics like a printer with a simplified style, because I have been
speed drawing with my brother all my life.

[Elliart7]

I guess I’m not trying to compare, just pick up some tips I can try out. Your life sound pretty cool btw!

[kyupol]

Lol i rarely draw anything that's unrelated to my comic. Never really saw the point of that. Guess I'm more writer than I am artist

(I work 50-60h work weeks... I've learned many shortcuts to speed up the drawing time)

[moontokkym]

Drawing is my job and I'm a workaholic, that's how. I don't recommend, it's very bad for you health in the long term, doing 15 hour days, but it does mean I can do illustrations and comics.

[NOOR_ASAKZ05]

I don't think I can compare what I'm going through to what you're going through... I'm a final-year student and although I have free time, I can't draw because of mental exhaustion.

But as advice from me, focus on your work and try to draw in your free time. Try to complete a large number of drawings/chapters and publish them on a schedule that ensures you don't overwork yourself (I try to apply the advice).

[VibrantFox]

honestly i understand this struggle a lot but i also just kinda quit

granted that was a decision paired with burnout along with non-work + non-comic related stress so it felt like the best decision at the time. and i was still drawing in general at least and was able to become more active on social media so it balanced out.

now that im considering coming back to it my goal and my advice is to build a buffer and work on personal art during downtimes. i still work retail full time so art comes either during the hours before or after a shift or just on my days off and its worked out. what im getting back into now is a lot of the planning and writing stuff but i also use things like character sketches or illustrations that ive made for myself with that to post on social media.

tumblr and bluesky especially seem to be really good with encouraging the whole talking about your ocs and your comics stuff so its why i dont mind dropping wips or personal art or drabble on them. thats like i dont treat social media as some marketing thing either, which some may not but everyones different. my approach is to be social. i wanna talk to fellow artists and writers, get excited about each others characters, yap about lore or just fun headcannons we have, whatever.

i think overall my solution was to treat it like leas of a job and to focus on the passion part and just having fun especially since its not something im really making money off of. i havent really seen commissions since the ai boom and honestly work tends to leave me feeling too tired to want to commit to paid work sometimes and i hate the idea of giving out something of bad quality so im just pacing myself and trying to enjoy the process.

again tho theres folks who kind of bash my mindset in that I'm "not taking things seriously" or "not actually committed to growing" [which isnt true] im just doing things at a pace and manner thats most effective and more importantly (imo) healthier for me. I've already kind of been noticing things with stress and blood pressure apart from the usual artist pains with hand and back pain and im still generally young so i dont wanna speed up that process of deterioration so i do it my way.

i kind of lost my point somewhere in all that but overall building a buffer pacing yourself and giving yourself space to create for fun especially when you feel burnout looming is my advice when it comes to finding that work/life/hobby balance and i wish you the best of luck, you got this

[jwabeasley]

I work a full time job, a part time job, and am the head of a large family. I've been able to keep pace with one page a week for a couple of years now. I sometimes fall behind, but I can usually catch up by doing 2 pages a week. I sometimes have time for non-Etherwood art, but it isn't very often.

I've only been able to keep up with it because my spouse is a hero who thinks it is important for me to keep doing my project and helps me prioritize it when I'm at home. I don't spend a lot of time on other hobbies like TV, doomscrolling, or video games (although I still run a weekly D&D session).

I don't say that for comparison, though. Everyone works at their own pace - getting an upload schedule that you can maintain for the long haul is more important than any particular upload schedule.

Many creators make a chapter (~24 pages) at a time, and then upload in a relative burst, like 3x per week but with regular gaps in-between.

[kingdeadvolt]

I used to by working half time and delegating tasks with friends, working at conventions and reinvesting earnings into new projects. Though by the second half of 2025 things got difficult: Tariffs and sanctions so I couldn't order new merch overseas, AI flooding the niches I was working in so that is requiring my immediate attention at the moment...

[Azifri]

What works for me most of the time (I still fall behind sometimes) is to work one chapter at a time. I first take my time plotting it out well, then gather reference material, practicing things I'm not familiar drawing yet (for example, for my next chapter I have to draw some small mechs which haven't appeared before, so I'm still trying to get better at drawing them), and then I sketch the chapter (including the text bubbles). Once all that is ready, I do a drawing marathon to do the lines (over a weekend or some week where I have less work). I know a slower pace, working in short bits every day works for some, but I just enjoy spending many hours in a row lining the pages while I listen to an audiobook. Once the lines are done, I send them to someone else to do the flat colors. Then I marathon the shading and final touches, and get a nice buffer of several months (I post one page per week). During the rest of the time, I draw or write other things, or do other hobbies. Helps to avoid getting tired of one particular project.

[Inspector_Spinda]

I work full time, and I like do other things outside art. I've been working on my comic for 1.5 years and I had 25 completed pages and about 15 more in the inked (but not colored) phase before I began posting. It's also good to get a sketchbook and bring it with you or an ipad for drawing so you can draw wherever you go. I often draw on my commute to work. But yeah to be honest I haven't draw too much outside my comic the last year, but I'm also not the type that enjoys drawing just to draw.

Maintaining socials is HARD. I gave up on that ages ago. I just post my comic and have faith someone will look at it because I believe its a good comic