It's Hours Before Your Next Episode Goes Up, And Suddenly, You Think It's Awful!

[BLTX]

Let me explain.

So far, it's happened on both episodes of my comic, and the first strip of my new comic strip.

I've worked hard to finish it, and get it ready for public viewing, until finally, It's going up in only a few days. Then, the day I've been waiting for is almost here, it's just hours away from going up, and I suddenly... I get the feeling what I've made is awful! And the public should not see it yet. But about a day later, everything is fine, and I remember, oh! This is perfectly fine! What was I worried about?

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

[VibrantFox]

call it cold feet but i think it's pretty normal. a lot of fellow art folks i've interacted with all share that moment of pre post or pre release panic where we worry about whether something looks good or needs some kind of finishing touches but in the end it's totally fine

for the most part it's something i've gotten over since even if there may be some kind of minor mistake or whatever i can always decide if i wanna go back anf fix or or just keep on trucking, which in the grand scheme it's usually better to keep moving forward (unless you're editing for print or for putting into a pdf or whatever)

but it's super normal and while i'll never understand what specifically causes the butterflies the relief after is always nice

[BLTX]

I remember I experienced this especially hard with my first episode. I remember thinking, "This is not finished yet, but I can't find any flaws, and aside from a few minor illustration mistakes, it's been the same for weeks. I'll upload it, but I'll never consider it finished." And for at least a week I did. I took me a while to "feel that relief" with the first episode.

[VibrantFox]

yeah first ones almost always the worst but the more time passes the less the feeling gnaws at you

[darthmongoose]

Oh I've certainly experienced this! My approach is just to shrug and go "I think my readers would rather have an update that's a bit awkward but continues the story than not have an update".

[oshirockingham]

It's normal. And in the end, what you think is not the same as what your reader may think, and mostly, they'll appreciate the updates.

[BlunderingAlbatross]

Yeah, like everyone else says it's perfectly normal to get anxious about your art! Everyone's their own worst critic and whatever

[SheniraS]

I usually check mine before they go up for typos and stuff. today I was glad I did because I almost uploaded the same one twice in a row. After I checked the rest of my buffer just to make sure it was the only one with a problem. (it was)

[doublemelon]

I think that's gonna change if you have a buffer.

[migxmeg]

Every time? I think it's a common feeling and nothing to worry about :).

I always tell myself anything getting posted now looks better/is better formatted and paced than lots of old episodes that didn't scare readers away so it will be fine. And it's fine!

[Kann]

I post it anyway, because it's better to half-ass something than not do it at all.

[silenthisper]

Honestly, that's me when it comes to my Prologue. it took me a few hours (at the very least) to decide if I actually want to publish it or not. Ended up publishing it because I went like this: if I don't publish it, it's going to stay in my drafts for another year, at the very least. So I end up just figuring to publish it, worst case would be just moving on from my life and, here we are.

Like you, it took me at least one week to get out of the initial relief, but the next episode (second for me) is coming and it's sort of starting to come again. So yeah, the point being. Happens quite often, you just get used to it and learn to deal with it I guess.