Magnum opus. Let it go or?

[fusi]

Imagine you have this magnum opus and world-building in drafts and in your brain for a long time but sadly you feel your artistic skill isn’t up to par to give it a justice, what would you do? Pick a little story within the main story and focus on the details that you feel your artistic skill can do and abandon your magnum opus, or just stupidly trying to reach the unrealistic dream of ever bringing this behemoth and ultimately fail but at the very least you can have the satisfaction to say that you’ve tried cz you don’t want to work on anything else. Or something else for that matter?

[siluscomics]

I'm waiting until I feel my art level is where I like it before doing my real passion project. I made up a different series to practice with instead that is not as long or deep in the meantime. I'll never give up on my real passion!
I hope this helps!

[DasIstWunderblyat]

If it is something I really love and hold dear, I will try to be patient and developing some skill so I can bring what if deserves.

Yet, even when you thought you already have the skill, you can still fail. However, you can learn and start over again. I do not mind trying over and over again, as long as I can see it develops into its highest potential.

[darthmongoose]

If you're not ready to make the big ambitious project, you can always put it to one side and do smaller projects to develop your skills so that you will be ready to make it in the future.

[Hazumirein]

So, my personal experience with "magnum opus" stories is that I made mine my first project...worked on that comic for over 10 years without even coming close to finishing it, realized I didn't like what I had made, scrapped it and started over Version 2 is now a narrative game series instead of a comic, and I'm a lot happier with it.

But! No matter what story you do, you're going to hit roadblocks and have things you don't like about it. Chances are you're never going to feel "ready" to do that big project, but if it's something you're really passionate about, you may as well start it and see what happens. You can always change your mind later. You don't even have to release it publically at first if you don't want to!

Or you could do something else first for practice. There's not really a right or wrong answer to this one.

[PaleOcra]

We are always growing. Sometimes what you think is Magnum opus might not even be Magnum opus after all. So just go for it if you really want to, or start a completely new story.

[Kaydreamer]

Why on Earth would you abandon it? Just because you can't make it a reality now, doesn't mean your skills won't improve to the point where you'll be able to create it years down the track. You have a whole life ahead of you. That's years and years to refine your skills.

I'm in exactly this scenario. I've done the following:

• Committed to really pushing my artistic skills over the next five-or-so years.
• Begun creating a comic set in the same universe, which follows a side-story important to the late-series plot of my main project. This is an opportunity to practice making a comic, work at-pace on a long-term project, and practice drawing a whole bunch of things I've never drawn before.
• Set a goal for when I'd like to start my big project - ideally, in about five to seven years.

Before I decided I wanted to career-shift into illustration, I assumed the work I consider to be my 'magnum opus' was going to be illustrated novels, which I'd write after I retired from teaching. (About 36 years away.) The reason I've fast-tracked it by half a lifetime, and changed it from novels to a comic, is because now that I'm spending half my working week drawing, I've recognised that my art is developing to a point where it will be realistic to start this project, and have it look really good, in far less time than I originally thought.

There's no rush. Work on things like world-building and script, all the parts you do feel ready to create, and let those necessary skills continue to develop as you work on smaller projects.

[frgmnt]

This topic hits me really hard. I also have a magnum opus project and I tried to make it a comic, but realized for many reasons it's just not going to work, or be feasible to make as a comic in a long run. It's a long, very character-focused story with lots of talking and text in general.

I think the ~ideal~ medium for my story - a game combining lots of dialogue and exploration - is something I'll never be capable of making, because it's just way, way beyond my abilities. I don't know how to make a game. I can't program. I can't even use RPGMaker, ffs. I can't do pixel art. I can't make music. ...And while all of those are skills that in theory can be learned, how long would it take me? How would I keep myself motivated? How can one person with limited resources (and 0 money) handle the scope of this project? ...yyyyeah. It's the kind of game that multiple people teams spend years making.
Considering a smaller visual novel project(s) now, but this also sacrifices some things I really wanted in my series, and also requires a lot of time and motivation to invest in it. (I mean, what doesn't ...)

Anyway, my point is, to make your magnum opus a reality, sometimes... welp, often, you have to sacrifice a part of your vision. If the only way to make your story real is to cut it down to the point where it's possible to make it, do it. It's better than never doing it, but you have to decide for yourself if the price is worth it.

[PaleOcra]

I would like to add that Magnum opums may be a huge mess. Mine was. It was such a huge mess I didn't even know what the plot was about and I felt unprepared to be able to execute it.

What I did was to just leave it aside and do a completely fresh idea that turned out to be so much cleaner to execute. And slowly by slowly, I started feeling like my Magum opums is not really so Magum opum anymore. With a fresh plot, I feel i am able to gain the appropriate insights and growth and i believe from there i would be able to transform this messy Magum opum into something different.

[domisotto]

I have a novel that I feel is my best, but I am leaving it until I have better editing chops to redraft. I think it’s normal.

[pilot-obvious]

I'm working on my magnum opus right now. I've had this concept since I was 12 and I'm 25 now. Much has changed over the years as I have matured and improved, but the one thing that didn't change was that I didn't give up on my dream. I could never let this concept go, but I have cancelled previous iterations because I wasn't happy with where it was going.

If you enjoy working on it, I say go for it. I do this because it's fun and I love doing it despite the hardships and struggles that have accompanied it. Make a list and write everything down that you think might be holding you back. Are there things on that list that you can change? Make it happen! Are there things that can't be changed? Find a way to let go of those.

If you feel your artistic skills aren't up to par, it never hurts to practice with a small short story. But I also want to throw out that your comic artwork is going to improve over time as long as you keep drawing. Even if you wait to start until you feel your skills are up to par, you'll look back at old pages after a year and think, "Wow, I could do this so much better."

Just don't give up on something that means so much to you!

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I say, if your magnum opus doesn't feel like it's within your power to create, mutate it and modify it until it is!

I mean first of all, you can always grow as an artist (even if you don't think you can) and if the story is really that important to you, you'll make the effort. Train for the tougher things you know you'll have to draw later on.

And in the meantime, just simplify things as much as you can so you can get started. I remember once I wanted to do a fantasy comic set in some dark, cursed world, but I didn't feel up to drawing big furry monsters or detailed forests...so I made the monsters these vague shadow creatures, and filled the forest with lots of twisty vine things so I'd have something to put in the panel when I didn't know what to draw.

I've since dropped that comic, but even with my current comics I do similar stuff. I didn't feel I could manage designing an antique-looking house for DotPQ, so I made all the architecture modern and minimalist (technically, the story takes place in the present day, so it works).

And for my own magnum opus, Memor1n0, I designed an art style that sort of floats between cartoon and anime, so I'm always free to dial the detail level up or down depending on what I have to draw.

Above all, just remember that your magnum opus is just another comic to everyone else. If it turns out to be a huge success and gets famous and everything, you can always polish up the art later.
But if it takes the route of 90% of webcomics and just gains a moderate following, I think you'll be glad you got your story told, rather than worrying about making it perfect.

[Rhonder]

Depending on the circumstances of its creation, pressing forward, setting it aside temporarily to return to later, or moving on are all viable options.

If you really really want to make it and can't find the motivation to make anything else, then you might as well just go for it. Getting something down on paper and out the door is better than nothing, most of the time.

If you really want to do it justice and are willing to work on other things in the meantime, that's a great option too! Build them skills up and come back. No harm in that.

Sometimes it's best to let it go and move on though. I had a "magnum opus"-like project that I spent like 10 years working on (mostly writing and character illustrations, very little comic actually got made) before I finally realized that it wasn't going anywhere and was no longer worth my time.

Especially in my case, it very much felt like a story that a middle schooler came up with (because it was), and even after a few rewrites it was just no longer standing up to my 23 year old standards. I also wrote it with 0 regard to how long it would take to complete. The reason I actually cut the final reboot off at page 8 was because I realized at the pace that I was making pages, it would be a full year just about until I reached the first action scene in my action fantasy comic lmao. I had paced it like a weekly manga series but 12 year old me didn't think about the fact that I can't draw that fast. So including 2 chapters of build up before the first fight might have flown in a weekly series, but if said fight is like 60 pages away then woo-wee.

So I cut my losses, took the skills that I had developed while working on the project anyways (it wasn't all for naught!) and started working on some shorter skill building projects I have a new big (maybe not magnum opus, tho) story I'd like to tell in a few years but I wanna get those skills and that speed up first >: )

---

but that long part is just my experience, again either pushing forward with it or benching it temporarily are good options too! Depends on your story and your feelings towards it and comic making in general~

[BitterBadger]

No great magnum opus is made on the first try. Chip away at the perceived faults in your artwork 'til it becomes refined enough to reach the standards you've set for yourself.

[gabriellabalagna]

I started wanting to do comics in 2015, but I didn't feel ready. So I...

• kept practicing/learning

• made a short mini comic

• practiced/studied some more in areas I was lacking

• now I am almost done with a medium sized comic

• next, I plan to work on my skills again some more, and figure out how to do things my current comic could have done better

• then, I plan to finally make a long comic! woo hoo!

It takes so long to do all this practice and shorter comics, but it's just too overwhelming to even think of doing a long comic for me right now.

[rajillustration]

The thing about webcomics is you can give it a run because it's fun and exciting, accepting that it probably won't pan out or finish--and then, maybe years and years later after you've learned some things--go back and give it another go. Your first shot isn't your only shot, and if you're waiting to be "good enough" to get your hands dirty, then your ideas will never be realized in any sort of way.

And honestly I waited too long to do my childhood project, and by the time I was putting it online, I had an art degree (but didn't really know anything about comics, so it's not amazing) but the trends had moved on, my own personal taste had moved on, and I was making something that felt dated--I'm glad I played around in that universe, so I could move on with my life, but the energy I had when I was younger was gone.

So if your goal is to just create--then don't worry and just create. But know that this isn't your magnum opus. As you create stories, you'll get other ideas (probably better ideas), you'll get better at realizing them, and even if you go back to this project 10 years form now, it'll be unrecognizable. Don't treat this story like a fragile egg, it's just a story of many you'll tell.

[fusi]

I appreciate all the kind intentions and thoughtful replies from all the fine folks here. That said, i’m not new to comic making, and if i have to be frank about it, i can draw comic just fine, but not this magnum opus. I’ve been tinkering with comic for 7 years already, and been doing art since i was young. The magnum opus i talked about is also not new, but not very old, it’s this refined idea that’s been remastered so many times and that i’ve put down so many drafts and worldbuildings. Now it just need to be realized into comic format, which i’m sadly realize that i will never have the capacity to do so. It’s not that i want to abandon it, or that i don’t want to learn, because every time i spend my time drawing is a learning experience, and i’ll become better. It’s this coming to terms with my self that i really cannot do this, except to pay a team of high skilled artists, each with very specific role, which for me kind of defeat the purpose. Nonetheless every reply has been helpful for my mental state, and i am really grateful to you all.