I might be working on the same thing for a while starting now

[dbeirigo]

for those who been working on the same project for years how do you do it? what keeps you motivated? what makes you stick to a long project? I wanna do this, this is really important to me, but I'm afraid of givig up like I did in the past how can I make sure I will be able to keep doing it?

[XiuLyn_12]

I'm not sure if I could be of help. But, in my experience, I am motivated when I try new ways to promote my work, create a more efficient schedule to work on my projects, and interact with other creators, like in this forum!
Avoid staying in the same routine because you'll burn out!

[2DLenzy]

I'll be honest and say that there will be some times you can't stay motivated. And that's okay too. If you feel like you're gonna burn out, it doesn't hurt to take a short break every now and again. Been technically working on my story for four years before I started even publishing, had my first burnout after about six months, didn't draw for a few months. When I started again, I was able to look at my style/story with a fresher perspective and introduce some gradual changes to make it better (this was way before I published/found the forum though, so I was on my own for a bit without a real clue of what I was doing until July of this year)

But what's keeping me motivated now, despite having deadlines, is interacting with readers/creators. and occasionally doing something a little out of my comfort zone to challenge and/or spice up the routine. I've been drawing others' ocs as chickens for fun, which was difficult at first, but allowing myself to push a little bit has helped me learn and draw more efficiently, not to mention discovering a newfound enjoyment of the creation process, and I'm looking forward to incorporating these newfound skills into my upcoming works.

So, find something in your story/style/interactions that can be looked forward to, outside of milestones, comments, feedback that'll come along the way. I have a few parts of my story that, while are far off, I am excited to draw. Helps me get through those inevitable "boring" parts.

[Lensing]

I set myself goals. I define the goals and make a plan which I follow.
Milestones and big goals

You can compare it to going on a long journey. You have to know where you
want to go and you need directions on how to get there.

I started relearning how to draw may 15th 2015, I set myself the goal to start
working on my big comic series on may 15th 2025. I set some milestones
with things I want to learn and some mini goals. 24 hours comic day.
Winning a comic contest. Finishing 1, 4, 8, 16 page comics, drawing
365 faces in one year etc. I have plans like that for every day with small
milestones.

Maybe I will never start the big comic on may 15 2025 but that doesn´t matter
because I relearned how to draw in the 10 years. I teach kids how to draw now,
I do commission work and many other positive things, just because I sticked to
a plan

One thing is very important, it has to be fun and it has to be something you are
obsessed with, like your favourite thing to do

[thepenmonster]

Note: I was making webcomics back in the days of HTML tables. Then I took fifteen years off and might continue to do so the way things are going.

I've only seen epic comics get finished in the following circumstances

1- The comic is paying their rent and feeding their family. Best possible situation.

2- The creator/s don't have to worry about rent or feeding anyone for one reason or another. Usually youth or overly indulgent partners. The best possible starting point, but I feel it needs a fair bit of the following as well...

3- They be obsessive bordering on "Get the straight jacket and laughing gas out!" and will make sure that comic gets made come hell or high water. But I've seen this fail time and time again simply because IRL concerns arrive and even obsessives can get slapped with the realities of, for example, partnering up and having kids.

If you want to make your epic comic you should be one of these. If not, I suggest a far shorter story to show off your skills and build your fanbase.

[dbeirigo]

my project is not an epic comic, it's a story about a team of people transporting folks across the galaxy and geting in trouble I have three seasons in mind, I can have breaks in between each season, I curently don't have to pay rent, but I wont work with comics, its just a hobby I will actually be studing psycology for the next five years and between studying I will do my comic, but it's not an epic, it's not exactly a big project, but it is important to me and I want to finish it.

[Gladoilus]

I just make it part of my routine I can I get up do you need to do and then do my comic and if you keep it in your routine you are more likely you get little bits done also if you’re doing a comic I recommend go through stages page by page Sarah like you do sketching first on all the pages don’t do it by panel by panel which is what I originally did because that way you see bigger progress and bigger paracetamol motivated also leave a little bit out that you need to do later like that you find fun like well building That way, you’ve got something to look forward to and take your mind off things when you need to switch things up to keep your brain motivated

[SoftWonderBun]

My biggest tip is take what you are doing seriously. Even if it doesn't pay the bills or give you fame or anything else. No one is going to make the comic for you, no one is going to hold you to getting it done. So hold yourself accountable.

It's not always going to be fun. You're not always going to want to do it but it will only get done if you do the work.

Build in breaks to your comic routine as well. I gave myself a month off after completing each chapter. I was usually ready to get back into it after a couple weeks.

I've made 5 short comics (5 to 30 pages) and just completed one 5 year project(160-ish pages) using those couple things, along with other methods. You'll find what works for you but you have to start and keep going.

[josephpayne3]

Staying motivated on a long-term project often comes down to finding personal meaning in the work and setting achievable goals. Setting small, manageable goals can make the project seem less overwhelming and provide a sense of progress.

[KevinReijnders]

I've been grinding away at my project for about 4 years now, maybe a little longer than that, with likely 10 more years to go before I reach the end haha.

But what helps me is to break down the massive undertaking into little easily achievable pieces. I break down my 116 page book into several scenes, and then focus on 1 scene at a time.
Variation also helps, I'm never doing 1 step of the process for an entire week for example, I always go page by page, which means I'll be sketching and doing layout one day, doing inks the other and the render of a different day.

[ShidoDraws]

For me completing the story is my goal, but what motivates me is the stories I can't tell and the stories I'll eventually be able to tell. There's really no real short cut to finishing one thing without finishing a lot of things.

If I get unmotivated enough I'll take a week off from working on the comic and do other stuff that revolves around achieving other goals, small or big. I like to think that I achieve a goal once every week.

Of course, that's only because I have people who helps me help me, I'm not an independent person so maybe try looking ways to arrange schedules and make sure you don't put yourself into pressures without actually being on pressure. Remember, only you can decide when to stop working on a project.

[NickRowler]

I think I might have undiagnosed OCD. I like to always have a project or something to work on, otherwise I feel stressed out. It is a bit of a Catch 22 where creating comics relieves stress while also causing other stress.

I think something that helps is having a routine that isn't too hard to manage. Like if you can draw and color panels quickly, that may take off a lot of the stress and you can focus your energy on something that might need more attention.

[joannekwan]

I completed multiple long-format comics that spanned multiple years. The utmost important thing that kept me going was that I had an ending scripted for each of them.
There existed a finish line and I really wanted to cross that and see the culmination of my stories with my readers, to see their reactions, and to have a complete work under my belt! Just knowing that there is an end can be motivation enough to see something through.
If I didn't have an ending planned I for sure see myself simply meandering with the subplots and eventually losing interest and motivation.

Secondary, having a side project helps too. Say you're doing the bare minimum with your main story, going through a slow patch in the plot, it helps to have a totally different project to keep your mind enriched.

[ryoko]

I think it's important to echo what Joannekwan stated here:

The utmost important thing that kept me going was that I had an ending scripted for each of them.

I'm actually approaching the end to my main series which I started posting here in Oct of 2015. The story however has been kicking around inside my head since I was a kid and I knew beforehand exactly how it was going to end and the major plot points/arcs needed to get there. Like joannekwan, having an ending is one motivator for me, the other is I really like my characters and they've been important to me for the majority of my life. I've also got a regular schedule for when I work and when I can draw. Right now it's at 1346 episodes long (approx 2000 pages if it was printed out)

Creating webcomics is a hobby for me, too. We do have rent to pay and I work full time, but I draw because I enjoy it We all have days when it's harder to stay motivated or focused on a project or days where we can't draw as well as we would like to. As mentioned by a couple of other people on this thread, you really do have to find out the reason why you are creating your series and what it means to you.

[Huiop]

Honestly setting a hard deadline with no excuses was my best motivator.