How do you start?

[VibrantFox]

So I've been active off and on throughout the forums and this is my first post but there's something that I've been trying to deal with for a while. I've seen many people attempt to work on certain things within a drawing session, be it anatomy, backgrounds, figure drawing and so on.

The issue I've been having for a while is just...starting. It may seem pretty easy and most people have told me the usual of "Just do it" but often times when I do it feels forced and makes it harder to get into a productive groove.

So I'd like to know what are some tips or tricks that you follow when it comes to hunkering down and getting to work? Any quotes or motivational images that you use to get yourself going? Maybe a few pointers on how to keep calm as you set up your work space to make sure you stick to it?

[VibrantFox]

Addendum to the main topic: these tips can be for writers or artists or anyone looking to boost productivity and just get to work on something!

[darkone4587]

Make some time away from everything else, get some good background noise playing, and then get to work. It sounds easy, but it's about 70% percent mental so you have to prepare yourself mentally for it. The extra 30% is hoping no one suddenly calls to bother and distract you.

[TheYuriCanon]

Like darkone said, sit down, get some motivational music going (depending on the scene it might be light and upbeat, or dark and moody), turn on art program, get tablet out, kiss the cat, pull up my current script and get to work. Sometimes it takes a kick in the butt from my wife too. I have set up a schedule and try to keep too it. I think since I started up Patreon and have a discord for my followers and artist friends I've found it easier to get going. I post my though process and let them take part. Helps to have people to bounce things off of from time to time.

[dawgofdawgness]

Yep, it's super super important to remove all the distracting stuff.
And you may or may not want to try listening to music at the same time - some people find that it helps them concentrate, but personally listening to music makes it harder for me think think up good dialogue and stuff.

Like you said, the hardest part of working on something is getting started. So you reaaally need to practice pushing yourself to get started - the rest is easy, it's just that starting motivation that's hard to get.

Oh and another tip! - if you're just coming home from school or work, don't fall into the trap of taking like a 3 hour break (like I do. Oops) and just get straight to work (do your work right away. Take breaks but just practice forcing yourself get started on something at will) I believe in you

[KennDemon]

For drawing:
-make a cup of tea
-take a sip
-sketch lazily while contemplating the flavour. That get's me past the 'gotta make the first mark on a clean surface'.
-when drawing is finished, throw out now cold tea and start over.

For writing:
-don't even look at the computer, just sit back and think about the characters, kind of like mentally playing with dolls or action figures
-keep playing until something in the game spurs me to jot down events for later
-now that I'm already writing about the characters, I try to steer the mental game to the next scene in the story.
-repeat step 2, only later is now.

The important thing for me is to not think about the fact that I'm starting something. I like to let it just happen without realizing it. Then I'm already working and it's easier to keep going than to stop. This works for me, but might not work for everyone. I will also admit that I can easily fall into a state of not wanting to do anything, and nothing can help get me past that but time.

So, yeah, don't think about starting something? I guess that's what it boils down to. Sorry if this doesn't help.

[DiegoPalacios]

Hi VibrantFox.
Do it for yourself. Do it because you love it, because you need to do it and share it to the world. Think about how hard you want to do your art/comic. The point is do it for an intrinsic reason. Make it your way to entertain yourself. And after some time, it will become a habit. Learn from others, but don`t focus on comparing yourself to them. The only person you have to be superior to, is yourself.

You can do it. If you love what you do you will do it.

[Wumbl]

The trick is to enjoy what you're doing.
I had a huge problem with getting my pages done before because I hated my lineart style. Once I found a new brush that made lineart enjoyable to draw I was able to work much more efficiently because I didn't get frustrated with lines. It also gave my style a revamp, so that now it is even more recognizable than before.
If you find art to be annoying to do, or if it frustrates you, just try something new. Relax and don't overthink it. It could be that you just need to get comfortable with what you're doing.

Other things are:
Have snacks close by so that you don't get up and leave your desk for snacks. That's one of my weaknesses - procrastination and all that.

Have water too! Not having enough to drink effects your mood and health.

Put music on if you want, but specifically something that isn't too vocal-heavy. Sometimes people find it hard to write or draw when they're listening to a voice and music at the same time. I have a playlist of writing music I can link you to, if you'd like.
Alternately, if music doesn't do it then just have voices on instead. I'm not the only artist who does this, but something like a podcast, commentary or other voice-dependent content. Because it's not a song (it's only one element rather than both music and voice) it's not distracting and helps you pay attention.

Have a plan! If you've got the frames sorted out for your pages in advance, you're more likely to work on it to fill it in. If you've already got sketches for the page layouts you won't have blank page syndrome. Plan, plan, plan.

[XzynderVexymous]

I followed the tip “Just start” and it has pros and cons.

Pros
-It gets your name and story out there.
-If it is a comic, it improves your drawing ability BY FAR (Basically the same with Novels in writing ability)
-You get help from awesome people here on Tapas.

Cons
-It’s hard to get into the habit of drawing and/or writing every week having a deadline.
-You will get artist block more often because you’re constantly drawing and you will get to a part that you can’t draw.
You subs won’t come quick unless you’re an amazing artist or unless your style is EXTREMELY constant (Like Doodle For Food)

So I suggest: You make quite a few comic panels or chapters beforehand and continue improving to aviod artist/writers block. The thing Tapastic values the most is consistency. You won’t get subs and views if you’re not consistent.

I wish you well.

[XzynderVexymous]

Listen to classic music. At least I do. What ever floats your boat.

Also for some motivation: Build self-discipline. It will help you here and in real life.

[rd_inks]

I too had this problem earlier in the year. Around Feb/March I was really stressing out with regards to 'am I good enough?', 'is the story finalised?' etc etc. Eventually, after a lot of anxiety and being objective with my work, I decided to take the plunge and launched in August this year.

I definitely recommend 'just doing it' because as above posters have said, your art will improve tremendously as you address areas to improve on week-on-week. Being realistic about the update schedule helps massively in this regard as it'll help you fit in study time when you get a free moment. Just don't push yourself too hard, especially if you've got a job/household stuff to be getting on with.

I personally keep an evernote document with what I have to do that day, a post it note on my desk with my comic workflow (it can take ages as it's all traditional so I experimented with the order of steps e.g. lettering, inking, ruling lines until I found one which worked for me). But if I can't get everything done I don't sweat it and concentrate on the high-priority stuff as much as possible.

A huge part of this is also decluttering. These past few months have had so many things to get ready. I host my comic elsewhere as well and have to do cast pages, extra art, backgrounds etc, as well as getting the thing out every week. So removing the fluff from my to-do list or even moving it somewhere temporarily also clears my headspace. So definitely get organised and get rid of mental/external clutter before starting anything comics-wise for the day.

As for the act of doing it - I usually put on music, or youtube videos with interesting topics. As I know these are a predetermined length, it makes me work to see how much I can do within that time. It becomes kinda like a game. When I'm racing towards the deadline I listen to extended music tracks as I know I'll be buckling down - when the track's over I know I've been working for 30 solid minutes. And then I take a break - maybe call my parents, check the forums, respond to texts etc.

Recently, I've just been looking after myself a bit more with regards to eating better/sleeping at reasonable times (and not getting mad at myself if I can't!) and making sure I'm not being too hard on myself. It's a process and I didn't get to this 'reasonably fast and balanced lifestyle' point overnight. But I'm able to work on the comic a lot easier now. So just take it day-by-day and keep on learning as much as you can.

This ended up being a long post, but if you want to know specifics just shoot me a PM. Good luck!

[Moxxi]

I always do just enough so as to not interfere with the rest of my life. Any more and I feel like it wasn't worth spending a chunk of the day alone at my desk sketching away. It's all about doing what you believe is the more fulfilling activity.

[J.Lovelace]

First, I make sure that I don't have any appointments or meetings scheduled for the rest of the day. I often stress before going out, or simply forget the time when I draw, so those things would make drawing unpleasant for me.
I also make sure I'm fed and make myself some tea. I never like to draw with an empty belly, it's just unhealthy and distracting. And one needs to stay hydrated during the drawing session.

If I don't feel particularly in the mood, I put on some music to help me concentrate on what I'm doing. I already assembled myself some playlists, which are specific to each project - if I'm working on my sci-fi comic, I have mostly techno/electronic songs lined up. If I'm working on a horror, I'll pick the playlist with eerie songs in it.

After I set up the tablet and sit comfy in my chair, I check the pen pressure by doodling some swirls, then small meaningless things like faces, hands, wings, chibis etc. for a small warm up.
And then I get serious with what I am supposed to do, and don't stop until it's finished.
Unless it's something really big, then I just leave the easy parts for the next day.

[leusyth]

The best advice i could give is to make drawing a habit, to the point that not drawing makes you more uncomfortable than the act of drawing. Nothing to me feels better than looking at a full page of drawings ive done during the day,no matter how wonky or bad they look,because i know ive tried everything i could to improve that day.

And when im stuck for ideas of what i should draw,i always tend to look at my hands and try to draw them.
Also, i look at drawings from the day before and ask myself what problems i have with them,and attempt to redraw those things again.

And something i should mention,that i dont see very often: improvement is painful,sometimes. i have to remind myself that my feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction with what im doing mean that im hitting the very boundaries of what im good at,and im probably close to figuring out how to get past that. Letting that fear of making bad drawings take over does absolutely nothing to help me.

This doesnt have much to do with comics as it does just drawing in general,but it applies to comic-making too,of course. I hope i helped in some way!

[TGping]

Part of it is deciding to start, the other part is to keep going.

I use a combination of "don't break the chain" and the "pomodoro" techniques of time management. "Don't break the chain" keeps me going over the long term, and "pomodoro" keeps me focused at the drawing table. Along with some unsweetened iced tea and my current favorite metalocalypse album "doomstar reqeium"

It's pretty easy to get pumped about drawing something for one day, but to keep doing it, you'll probably need to figure out some time management skills to stay on track

[joe_galindez]

Relevant Oglaf.

Exposed boob aside, relatively SFW. The rest of the comic is NSFW as balls.

[anitacomics]

When it happens to me, it's because I'm scared I can't do it. So I procrastinate just enough to start feeling guilty because I'm not doing what I said I'd have done- at this point, I'm ready to force myself.
When it's writing, I turn on the tv so I don't feel like I'm doing something super important. That usually helps enough to get me started, then I turn it off so I can focus on writing.
About drawing, the best way for me is just do some very small, irrelevant sketches. I wake up the hand, and find I really want to draw once I've started