How far ahead do you work on your comic?

[Katy-L-Wood]

I'm curious, for those of you who post weekly (or on some other schedule) how far ahead in your comic do you work?

I always script out and loosely thumbnail my whole comic, and then try to have at least five finished pages (which amounts to five weeks) ahead of whatever page I'm posting. So far this has been working really well for me. I have the whole script done, so I'm not accidentally writing myself into a corner. And then I've got a buffer so that if I need to take a break from working on the comic, for whatever reason, it won't effect my readers and they'll still get a page every week.

[dawgofdawgness]

I write my story through random bursts of "OOH, this scene should go like THIS so it'll match up with that OTHER scene and it will foreshadow THIS" and jot down random things all the times. So I've planned for little chunks of my story but there are still holes everywhere.
As for thumbnailing, I neeeeeeeever work ahead. I can barely get my comic out on time

[joannekwan]

I have all my scripts done with 75% of it complete with the ending figured out at the very least before I start anything. As for actual page buffers, ahahahaha … the most I was ever ahead was 4 updates for one of my series, but that quickly waned.

[IdiotWithPencil]

I have the general story in my head and I work in 10 pages burst, usually that gives me 5 weeks to work on the next 10 pages and so on and so forth =P

[rmdooley]

A chapter is always completed before pages of it get posted. That way if it is discovered something has to change, or would fit better in earlier pages, it can be corrected without incident or wailing and gnashing of teeth

[SleepingPoppy]

Right now I'm consistently keeping about four pages ahead, which is a nice change as I used to just eat through my buffer.

Working the pages in batches (four pages of line art, four pages of flats, four pages of shading and highlights) has been working really well. Story is finished, but script is about a chapter ahead, and I just thumbnail whatever when ever.

[beta1042]

I currently have 6 weeks of buffer. But I want MOOOORE, just wish I could work faster and get distracted less XD

[scythe]

All my scenes are plotted are plotted out to varying degrees of detail, but I don't tend to script dialogue until a few months before laying out a page. I don't want to waste too much time on that since I always tend to rework it after the art is done.

[YangKoete]

HAH! I'd be lucky if I could get any sort of buffer ready! ; w; I'm lazy, and I have too much to do and I'm stressed, and cannot do much about it.

[BobbyjoeX]

i get a good buffer... then wait it out like an idiot (had to put up a note about late updates)

[punkarsenic]

i think im scheduled into june now, so... several months ahead. i make more pages a week (when i am making) than i post, so im always getting further ahead. im not making rn tho bc i have lots of college work and other massive responsibilities that are scaring me shitless

[ghostmaya]

I'm at best when im in under pressure XD

[akemikae]

I write chapter to chapter, though I have notes about when certain events need to happen and when they need to be. As far as how ahead I am with my pages, I'm about a month ahead and update twice a week to once a week. Depending on how my buffer is maintaining.

[feuersichel]

The best I had was two month worth in Buffer (I upload weekly) But there also was a time, whe I almost wasn't able to uploade because the page was unfinished. It really depends on my inspiration and time. Because I work a 100% Job outside the artist field, time is a really big issue.
The biggest problem in timeconsumption is to draw the lines. Everything else just kinda happens xD (even the colors).

[droidmonkey1]

I don't realy do scripts, but I write down the idea and before I even drew one line, I had "scripts" for 32 comics.
in the end it's all depend on your work flow, work ethics and the type of comic your doing and how fast you can make one page.
p.s. make some filler pages for emergencies. something you can post, not canon but can still hold or bring readers.

[craftymarten]

I have about 4 weeks finished, 2 extra weeks lined, maybe 10-12 weeks sketched and 15-16 weeks scripted?
I work on things in batches depending on scene so I can colour everything with the same colour scheme at the same time so it changes really!

[Shanny8]

On my 1st chapter I had my script finished and I usually tried to stay 3 pages ahead of the page I posted that week...however, on the 2nd chapter I wasnt 100% healthy; I started out 3 pages ahead but ended up getting sick which burned through a couple of weeks. I spent most of that chapter cranking out pages on the week that said page was due until my wrists & left elbow started to hurt; then I started taking breaks to pace my productivity until the end of the chapter when I moved to my new place(also had to break for minute because I had hit a brick wall with scripting earlier last year & needed to finish it during the fall).

This upcoming 3rd chapter I'm not going to post until I at least have 10+ pages under my belt; I dont wanna have to run into any issues and fall behind. About to start working on scripting the 3rd chapter soon- just finishing up some other projects.

[feardeer]

I try to stay a few chapters ahead script wise, and have even more outlined. As of yet, I don't know the exact ending of my story, which torments me to no end. And I still have plot holes to fill in along the way. Yikes.

As far as an actual buffer goes, I'm usually anywhere from 0-4 weeks ahead. I started with a 17 page buffer, but burned through it because I was too busy with uni to work on pages. Boo. I'm nearing the end of Chapter one, and will be taking a break and getting as many pages as I can done. Hoping to at least get the entire next chapter sketched (already making good progress) and at least half fully finished.

[sarrowsmith10]

Besides when I started mirroring from Smackjeeves, I've never really had a buffer ever. I worked on a page a week and that's it. If I was lucky or weirdly productive I might get 1 or 2 pages ahead, but I wouldn't call it normal by any means. I also don't write my comics, I work with a writer. The writer sends me full scripts for each chapter, so I'm not so worried about getting worked into a corner story wise.

I know Terri, the writer for my most popular series Goblins of Razard, has most of the script to the end of the story drafted. The writer for the other series Lockhart I work on is sort of similar, sending me a whole chapter at a time. For him I try to sketch out all the pages in thumbnail so he can visualize the story and make changes before I start on actual pages. So in some respects I'm ahead by quite a bit, but for actual totally finished pages, I hardly ever have those ahead of schedule.

[KennDemon]

When I first started posting my comic I had about twenty pages (one page per update) finished and ready to go, and I was still inspired enough to be making a few pages a week. I wasn't worried at all about my buffer running out.
Then I was in a car accident and couldn't work on it for a while, and my drive was gone anyway. Now my buffer is down to four ahead. I'm a little worried it will run out, but I'm glad I was as prepared as I was.