I really want to redraw my comic - but I don't want to start a whole new series

[Hal]

The comic in question:

Read Vincent and Clyde: Fangs by Fate | Tapas Web Comics

I've been working on this story for a few years now, and my digital art style has evolved a lot. You can visibly see the different brushes and techniques I use over the course of my episodes. As fun as it is to see my style improve, it's very all over the place. Only recently have I gotten comfortable with my digital art and have found a relatively set style (but of course there's always room for improvement).

The direction of my story has also changed a lot over the years. Characters have developed, by both design and personality and backstory. Motivations from the first chapter doesn't align with how the characters are now.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that I want to sort of redraw the entire comic. I'm not going to do it now until I get more of the story written down, this is more or less just me speaking out loud to anyone who's willing to listen to my rambling (of course discussion is always welcome).

I also don't want to have to start a whole new series and lose my views and subscribers that I spent so long working for, so I might just, replace the old panels with new panels and start the series with an authors note explaining this. Because looking at my first chapter just sort of makes me cringe.

[AmysGames]

My general advice to people doing webcomics is to never ever redraw your first chapter for any reason. It's way too easy to get caught in an eternal redraw loop, where you constantly realize that you Could Have Done It Better and redraw it for the fifth time instead of actually continuing with the comic. Your first chapter will always have worse art and worse writing than your later comics; that's part of the point, IMO.

In the end, though, it's up to you. If you feel like the characters are really egregiously out of character in the first chapter, some retconning might be worth it. If you really feel like you need to reboot the whole thing, don't let me stop you. But there always comes a point where it's better to accept it as it is and just move on.

[quintellit]

I agree! I think it's fine if you want to redraw, but don't forget the charm of the old drawing as well. I believe with time and effort, you will improve! You can look at my comic and see the difference from the first update till the newer ones!! You learn a lot as you try different things!

Read Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: New World | Tapas Web Comics

[thepenmonster]

There's a statement often attributed to Jack Kirby. Paraphrasing;

"There's no time to look at old art. I have new art to make."

If you can't trust Jack Kirby on matters of comics, you can't trust anyone.

[ILGOART]

I speak against redrawing. Only thing where I approve that is when you have to do it in order to make your comic fitting for a new medium. For example, creating physical comic out of your webcomic.

Otherwise? Waste of time. Loss of history and your origins.

[GodbreakerComic]

For a long while I planned to re-draw my early chapters but decided against it for three reasons:

1. I don't want to put the new stuff on hold, especially now that it's hitting the "meat" part of the story sandwich. Keep moving forward, not back.

2. I kinda like seeing my growth as an artist. I like seeing other artists growth, too.

3. There is a narrative happy-accident in my comic. The character who is the audience surrogate is Randy. She learns about the world at the same pace the reader does. At the start her life is very childish and carefree and the art reflects that. As things become more mature so does the art. I like that, too.

But I did add an authors note at the start of chap 1 like you we're thinking about. I think it has helped I've noticed an uptick in likes and subs recently. First impressions and all that.

[2DLenzy]

I agree with all of the above!

As much as I despise my old art, I sometimes cherish it too. There are things I did with my old style that I've sorta put away with the new (gray/softer-looking lineart, more details/objects in background that add to story/atmosphere, the "fullness" of a page vs "refined/clean mobile format"), and I'm thinking of slowly incorporating some of the older aspects in the newer eps (more detail in world/bg, but with softer lineart, gradual shading vs cel->maybe, I'm experimenting...).

If I had gone back and redone the old pages, I wouldn't be able to see how far I've gotten. My only one regret is that I did so many pages before uploading (almost a year's worth), before I'd put my cleaner style somewhere in the middle to separate/add-in events in a better order/fill in story details, etc.

But in the end, despite the roughness and style whiplashes, I'm leaving those pages alone. It would be a huge waste of my time and effort. I've got other stories to tell, can't be weighed down with this one (I still love it to pieces, tho).
I had said I'd redo them for my one year anniv, but as of now, that's not happening. (sorry, readers, hope you understand!)

[midnightsun]

I’m definitely going to have to look at this thread every time I’m tempted to redraw my first chapter for the 100th time lol

As someone who’s been stuck in the eternal redraw loop a few times, if you’re feeling bad about your first chapters and wanting to redo them, try telling yourself: “I’ll be even better at art if I wait and keep moving forward with my project and then in the future I can redraw the first chapters”. That thought process usually at least helps me put off redrawing so I can keep making forward progress.

[ccmatta]

Today I agree with everyone in this thread. I made the mistake to redraw the first few pages and gave up to continue the current pages xD so yeah. If I could, I'd never have redrawn them, even if they are better today. I kinda want to redraw if I get a chance to make it a physical book, so they are in the same style all through, but that's a distant dream.

And if you want to redraw changing the story, it'll be very confusing to do that in the same series. Redrawing to change style, ok. Redraw changing story? Your current readers will be confused and maybe dont even see the new changes and the new ones will start reading something and, if you havent changed everything yet, the story will change y'know? That seems complicated to do. I'd not do that.

[ArtGremlin]

Yeah this happened to me, thankfully I realized it really early on (6 pages in) I didn’t like the way I had set up my beginning, and my main character’s entire personality was having no personality ️ (also I did not know how to draw his hair when I started)
So, now I have x100 motivation to keep working on it and I’m almost back to six pages :0
I’ve kept the og version of course, so I can look back at where I started.

[Chocolate]

Don’t do it! You’re not going to see growth and change. Everything will looked perfect and to me that’s boring art.