If creating comic is not your full-time occupation, how do you find the time to do it?

[cyanste]

Full time job (not-art) and long distance commuter here ... I don't wait to be in the mood or to have the energy, and make sure to spend around an hour each day doing some kind of art. Sometimes I stay up a little later (like tonight) just to make sure I get enough done.

And sometimes it sucks. I think of it like a second (unpaid) part-time job. Stories aren't going to tell themselves.

[scarlet_wings_kaili]

This is how I would do it (so it doesn't have to be how you do it)
I find that it is easier to have the entire story (shorter is better when you are starting) written down first.
When you have the entire story written down, it allows you to do two things: It allows you to organize your time and work because you will eventually figure out how many pages of drawing each typed pages is (For me it is about 8 pages of drawing for each typed pages). If you know how much time you need for each page, you can figure out about the total amount of time it will take you. At that point you might want to make adjustments to the story.
Also, having it written down makes it is much easier to organize your thoughts. Then you can think about layouts and the amount of content on the current page and not worry about the next page at the same time.

Other than that, it's just a lot of hard work...

[kurisquare]

I'm studying Astronomy, so I've never had much time to draw comics :T on my first year of college I tried to draw comics whenever "I had the time" or "whenever I was inspired", which proved to be a disaster because I ended up not drawing a thing

Now I take some time to work on my comic every Saturday, which works pretty well unless I have any other plan for Saturday (a family meeting, a convention, etc), then I'm screwed xD I try my best to keep working on my comic every week, it's almost like a job to me and I feel really bad when I can't update (right now I've had trouble finding the time to draw because I'm swamped with tests and work ugh....)

[shaundmcmillan]

I promise I'm not usually this negative, but I'm trying to be realistic because I'm very seriously considering to begin my comic. I don't mind doing it in my spare time for no money if it fulfills some other satisfactions, but I don't think it is wise to add "creating your own market" to your to do list while pursuing career/financial plans. Even those who do this successfully don't seem to be relying entirely on their comic for their income. Is that the case? Or do you guys know of some specific cases we can talk about - especially cases where people transitioned from a full time career to independent publishing?

[PotooGryphon]

Or do you guys know of some specific cases we can talk about - especially cases where people transitioned from a full time career to independent publishing?

There was a wave of creators in the 90's that started the indy craze in America. The biggest one I can think of off the top of my head, are Jeff Smith (creator of Bone), and Terry Moore (creator of Stranger's in Paradise). Both of them started out just like us, working in obscurity but eventually their comic series became so big that they could essecential do no wrong. Terry still self-publishes all his comics and Jeff created his own publishing company (but Bone was eventually picked up by Scholastic which is awesome). And both of them have the complete freedom to work full time of their stories.

There's a couple of interview videos you can check:

An interview with Terry Moore

[shanecampos]

Get up early, or stay up late. I get up early as I have the best creativity early in the morn. The family is usually occupied with other things so I get time to myself. Also finding a style that you can do quickly is pretty helpful. Once you get that and a few shortcuts it can shave a lot of time off and you still get a cool comic!

[Strontium]

I'm a busy college student, and on top of that I have physical limitations that prevent me from using my wrists with abandon. But I'm nothing if not an effective time manager. I try to get two pages done a week, but I'm a little behind after an injury. I really keep an eye on how much "wrist time" I have in a day and devote all my extra wrist time to comics. It means I don't have time to write or much time for other art, but my comic is my main priority.

[shaundmcmillan]

I know of Kazi Kabuishi and Raina elgemeier, but I can't remember where I saw them taking about their story.