How do you work in batches?

[aqua03]

Hey guys, I recently heard someone mention working in batches of pages to speed up and ease production of your webcomic. Could some please fill me in on how to do that effectively? Given my recent attempts to get into more serialized webcomicking along with gearing up for more life stuff in general, I'd like to know any techniques you guys may have on how to expedite projects while still keeping quality and not overloading yourself with work.

Thanks! You guys are a great help!

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I'm not the greatest expert on workflow. I'm getting better. I usually just do layout, then I do the final page art, repeat that for about 3-5 pages, then I do one or two dialogue sessions. Then I continue on to do step one.
Then I do a round of editing on my dialogue about a week to two weeks before I release a page.

But all of this is not set in stone, I'm still experimenting with new methods. I have a very weird workflow style.

[monotone_ink]

When working in batches, it's less about making one page at a time, but rather working on all the pages process by process.

For example, if you intend to draw a batch of 10 pages, you would first sketch all 10 pages, then ink all 10 pages, then colour in all 10 pages, then type set all 10 pages. Something along those lines.

[aqua03]

That's what I was thinking when I first heard of the process. Thanks for the explanation!

[Rhonder]

^

Yup yup! Pretty much this. The idea is that you can get into a rhythm when you're not having to swap tools and processes every few panels.

The only thing I'll add is that there's a few ways to tackle it. for example I work in batches of 3-4 usually because that's the amount I can do in a week. So I typically pencil 2 days, ink 2 days, and color 2 days, or whatever. But you can also work in larger batches and just have a consistent flow of art going that doesn't correlate to a specific time frame. That totally varies person to person :> for example you could like do a whole week of just penciling as many pages as possible, then start the next week inking them, and color afterwards. Or you could do that over a whole month, or for 10, 20, 50 pages, or whatever works for you!

[ZombieOwl]

I'm doing this right now to build a buffer. Since I'm on hiatus, it oughta go pretty well.
Mine is a "gag a day" comic, so I don't have really lengthy chapters, still, working in batches is the best :3

When I do batches, I usually spend a day doing whichever step.
My process tends to look like this:

1)Script
2)Thumbnails
3)Ink
4)Color/letter

[beta1042]

Pretty much everyone else has answered, but I just want to add:
find the size batch that works for you. Batch work can be faster and more efficient but sometimes it can get really robotic and tedious and take some of the fun out of it... especially when you reach the point of the process you hate the most (for me doing flats). Sometimes having smaller batches may seem less efficient, but you don't get as bogged down doing those smaller chunks. just depends how you work.

[Shanny8]

When I started out I would pencil/ink/color/letter 4 pages(every 2 to 3 weeks), then repeat the process...in about 2 months had built up about 10 pages for my buffer. I'd take 3 days between each "batch session" to rest up and relax, then get back to it.

[punkarsenic]

so how i do it, is i take say four-ten pages that i wanna work on, i sit down and sketch all of these in a session (this is usually the longest part)

once theyre all done, i open up the set of pages in CSP and will work on them in two sessions - inking et al, and colour.

for session one ill go through each page to ink the foreground, then the background, then the shading, then the lettering - all pages will have their foreground inking before any page gets their background inking. once theyre all inked, shaded, and lettered, i call it a day.

the next day i get the colouring done, again each stage of colouring going down on all pages before the next stage starts. sometimes if i have a new palette ill colour one page completely on its own, and then copy that method over to the other pages in the batch.

at the end of this process i have four-ten pages complete all at the same time, and can upload 2-5 weeks of updates after just a week of work

[mrtoontastic]

You just go at it like you're slapping two action figures together like "UHN! UHN! UHN!"