How much time do you need to complete an episode?

[halatir08]

I'm a new Webtoon creator and I was wondering if it's normal to spend more than 3 weeks making one single episode. I'm working on my comic alone. My style's not that detailed, still... I see others with more detailed artwork spending less time on their story. I know I'm only on episode 2 and the more I draw the faster I'll be, but I've been drawing digitally for more than 5 years and I'm still as slow as a turtle I'm a little bit confused.
I'd like to ask you how much time do you need to complete an episode? Do you have any tips or tricks for me?

[AmataLenna]

It really depends on your speed, the length of the episode, and your update schedule. I update once a month and I spend that whole month drawing it seems. (Maybe thats because I work full time on top of it?) Though I find each month I'm getting marginally faster.

[edicoesgorilase]

Hey there,

Looking good.

I think in my case it depends. I work the ep like a normal comic page. So I think, maybe 8 hours for pencils and inks. I only paint when I have like 7 to 8 pages worth of work.

When you say you spend 3 weeks, how many hours each day are we talking?

Keep the great work. Just sub to your comic. Please take a moment and see mine:

SWEET WIND

SWEET WIND | Tapas

[Lazu]

Hi!

I'm doing a collab with an artist, so I don't know entirely how much time we are spending all in all, but I know I've spend around 50 hours+ on the script alone for a 5 episode webtoon.
So for simplicity, let's say 10 hours on the script.
Then we spend around 5 hours on the draft.
My artist spend around 20 hours on the lineart
And then around 20 hours on the color, I think.

So all in all, around 55 hours on a single episode.

So I would say, depending on how much time you use a day on making it, 3 weeks doesn't sound like too much.

But I would also say it depends a lot of your length and the panels and how much detail goes into those.

Also, it get's easier as you get more used to it, since making webtoons and such requires a lot of work, which aren't that obvious before you start making it xD

A tip is to be as organized as possible and work on layers, so you at least have that in case you need the lineart for future panels and such.

Here is the webtoon I'm talking about btw:

Withering Petals (H)

[AmazementComics]

I like work well in advance before ever posting an episode. So in reality, it can take anywhere from 3-4 months before it's even uploaded as an episode so that we have more chances of getting viewership per week.

Amazement Comics

[halatir08]

Thanks! I'll definitely check out your work!
I usually draw 7-9 hours a day beside school (1 rest day / week)

[IndigoShirtProd]

For just the drawing portion of the comic it takes me about 16 hours to do two pages, which is how many pages there are in an update. 3 hrs to sketch, 1 hr to line, about a half hour to flat color (depending), and 3 hrs to render and typeset, multiply that by 2 and that the working time.

The Black Belt Society | Tapas

[edicoesgorilase]

Well... your ep are big and you have a good amount of detail so I think its normal you take that kind of time.

But, don't worry about it. Just keep the good work.

[halatir08]

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work! It is hard indeed. Your story is impressive
I'll try to schedule my day and see if it helps.

[halatir08]

Hmm you've got a point!

[Lazu]

Thanks! I owe most of it to the artist, tho xD

And yea, lot of work. One of her friends has editor experience, and she teared us a good one in the starting stages, hahaha.
Also, remember to take breaks!! So you don't burn yourself out.

[HGohwell]

If I'm really powering through it, with a free day, no distractions and in the zone, I can get an episode of about 10 panels (although I usually split that further into smaller updates of just a few panels) fully completed in about 8-10 hours depending on complexity. I've changed art style in recent chapters and it would be a bit quicker, but I'm also experimenting with composition and panels more so it ends up about the same. Of course, days when I can just blast through are rare, and generally I'll spend several days sketching a chapters worth of episodes and do them in batches like that.

Also, your episodes seem pretty long. There's a lot of discussion over here on average lengths of scrolling format episodes vs traditional pages and what the average expectation is per episode on webtoons ect that might help.

There's a competition currently ongoing at the webtoons.com, and the requirements there are at least 30 panels per episode. I've calculated that it might be roughly 4-5 pages per episode, but it's really hard to say since the webtoon format also loves to waste nearly half of the episodes with useless completely blank spaces and gradients. If I'm right though, it makes my eyebrows only rose higher. Most webcomics update weekly and release one page, but webtoons are also updated weekly, often ha…

[halatir08]

Thanks!
Yeah, my first 2 episodes are quite long. At first, I didn't know about the 20 MB size limit and I had a hard time fitting 140 panels into one upload. I had to cut out a lot of them and rewrite the rest of the episodes. I guess I'll need less time making those, cause they'll be shorter.