Managing Life and a Comic

I like working in the morning, I wake up at 5am, sit on my bed with coffee and draw for 2 hours then go to work. In the evenings I draw while watching shows or movies to relax haha.

So something I noticed for myself is that I paradoxically was working LESS on my comic and my novel during quarantine although I had more time--and, other than the obvious stress factor, it was because when I had less time, I was actively scheduling more. 2020 put me in a brain fog. I was just...forgetting things. So, when I decided that it was time to make schedules again, although I've been just at home in quarantine, it's really improved my workflow and improved my productivity. And this process works for me, but may not be for everyone, some people really hate being under a schedule. But here's how it goes:

-First of all, I didn't make a comic in college. I spent 10 hours a day in the illustration lab painting and being in class. It could be that like...this is a bad time to make a comic. (of course I had a friend who was an English major and she had the opposite situation where she had more time to make her comic in college and basically stopped updating once she graduated. It's sort of up to you)
-at the beginning of the week, so like on Sunday, I take an hour and I write down what I'll focus on each day (like only 2 or 3 things a day). This helps me be less overwhelmed, because then I only need to think about one thing at a time. It's when I have to juggle all these dates and things at once that I feel like I'm losing my mind a little.
-at the beginning of the day, as I eat my breakfast, I write down what I'll be doing each hour of that day that I'm awake. Each hour has it's own focus--it's not ALL I do in that hour, I do take breaks and walk around and stuff, but I need to have a schedule or I'll fart around on like pinterest looking for reference for 2 hours and whoops there goes my drawing time. This has also helped me figure out what time I tend to work best (which is the afternoon).
-I log my time with a timer using toggl (which is a free browser program) whenever I am working so I can know, realistically, how long it takes me to draw an update. I think most artists (me included) think we're faster than we actually are. But, when I know my reality, then I can plan ahead or make adjustments to my project so that my drawing time will be faster.
-I'm a great believer in slow and steady wins the race, so my update schedule is 2x the amount of time it takes to make an update because...anything can happen.
-My comics are about 15 panels vs the webtoon standard of 30-60 panels an update.
-I have a 6 month buffer. Was hoping to make a year of buffer but eh last year was a mess so I'll accept 6 months.
-I limit my social media like a lot since it gives me unnecessary stress (this forum is like the last place I go)
-I will take a hiatus or slow down my update schedule if there's a problem. This has never been a problem with my readers, they get it. It's fine.

Maybe someday if I get a little bit of fame I'll tell my story.

It's a job. I treat as a job and I invest job hours in it because I need it to be.

But to keep it short. I lost everything professionally.

On topic:
It's pretty much easy when you realize a few things:

• If you're healthy your body can handle it, It's your mind that needs rest.
• Good amount of sleep helps you work faster. So does taking breaks to, exercise, socialize, have a drink grab a bite or just shut your brain off for 10 to 30 minutes.
• Setting real limits for yourself. Meaning that you dedicate a set amount of time to an activity and nothing more even if you didn't complete as much as you wished. There's always next time. And not many activities are utter emergencies or with a deadline.
• Be realistic with yourself. Personally, I wanted to draw a comic about about action sports for my friends, do my main story, rewrite a book, draw memes, film tiktoks for mountainboarding and youtube and keep up my physical health and learn new tricks. All in one week. It's possible, but would I ever finish any?
• No one really cares. Only you. It's your standards that you're trying to appease. No one else but yourself is forcing you.

I saw you doing 3d, doing your comic, working on a portfolio and now I hear you have another project. Oh, and I know those reviews you do around this forum take at least 30 minutes of your time, each. I mean, choose what you love and dedicate yourself to that first.

I'll admit straight-up that I'm in a pretty lucky position, but I'll dig into it a little anyway, since there may be some things I do which you'll find helpful.

I teach two days a week, which pays the bills and allows me to work on my comic during the other thee working days. (Teaching pays decent where I live.) I treat my comic as a job; it doesn't earn me money yet, but one day, one way or the other, the comic (or webcomic) industry will, and this is how I intend to reach that point. So, job.

Since it's a job, I have a routine. I stick as close to it as I'm able, and it kinda helps keep my brain more on-task during comic days. (ADHD, whoo.) I tend to work on it a little on weekends as well.

I'd definitely recommend a buffer. I'd very strongly recommend a much larger buffer than mine.

And I've set a conservative update schedule. I'm glad of my choice to move bi-weekly. I could see myself moving monthly if the pacing of the story began demanding longer episodes.

I used to work as a hostel bartender at one point.
Accents are are interesting, accents are sexy or they are funny. Basically, you're not basic.

Speaking fluently is a trained skill. You already went through the process of learning something from scratch, so it's not your first rodeo.

Besides, it's not you main thing you can just shoot the shit over there. Again, no one knows you, no one cares (Take it as a positive to let loose).

And forums like these, they're not healthy, The community is way small, niche and a bit of a hivemind. It's people that all know how to draw or write and share similar passions. They're addictive. Just like old people and Facebook or the perpetually offended and Twitter.

I'll tell you this, whenever I'm here it's because I'm procrastinating and avoiding doing actual work.

I kinda do, I kinda don't? That's my answer

My schedule's not as loaded as it could be (full time job, but otherwise no other outside commitments, even less so in current times) but even so I always feels like I just move as such a sluggish pace that it's frustrating

For my first comic I somehow managed a page-a-week schedule, although it started wavering towards the end when I was less motivated and more wanting to do other activities alongside just drawing.

For my current one... I spent 8 months building up 7 episodes worth of buffer and am tentatively posting on a monthly schedule, but the last few episodes have been taking 2 months to complete so I see a mandatory hiatus in the future xD I have enough to post through to the middle or end of summer, but I'll probably take a break around then to rebuild.

Last summer I started live streaming, 2 days a week working on my comic for 2 hours each. So I get at least 4 hours of work in on my comic every week, but it's not the most focused work (chatting with folks and talking through what I'm doing and all that slows it down a bit). And outside of that... I've been kinda lazy and not feeling like drawing as much tbh

I do a 3rd gaming live stream a week, play D&D one night, have started slowly making some art-related youtube content, and outside of those days, usually I just don't feel too motivated to draw on my other evenings after work. This is why my 20-30 panel episodes have been taking 2 months lmao. It's actually not that bad when I look back and realize how little i actually draw outside of my streams... But I still hope to remedy the speed in the near future or this comic will take forever.

Shave away all unnecessary things and tasks, multitask whenever possible.
Why watch a movie when you can draw your comic instead? Or you can watch it while drawing your comic. Why sleep 8 hours when 6 hours is just as enough as long as you have some coffee? Working from home can eliminate the "travel to and from the workplace" routine which alone can eat up to 4 hours of your daily time (Plus without your boss hawking over your shoulder you might find some time to work on your comic during the work hours as well if the nature of your work allows breaks like that).
Nuking your social media also helps, or so I've heard from people who are accustomed to spending every waking hour checking their Twitter feed.

I'm not sure if I really "manage" it at all.
But I started waking up earlier, about 5:30, to get something done if it's nothing more than sketching out a panel before I have to get ready for work.
I go to work and when I get off. I pretty much am working on the comic for the remainder of the day.
I may take a videogame break or have other "real life" related issues to deal with, but I spend most of my time drawing with youtube gaming streams of some kind in the background.

My biggest hurdle is finding a way to work without people interrupting me as people love to take advantage of the fact that I am working at home most of the time.

I wouldn't say I really manage everything well.
School - takes up most of my time.
RPG game - Very slow progress. Take some days to draw for that each month.
Videos - Work on videos for some weeks. I can't always work on them as they need art.
Comic #1 - Bi-weekly and I barely manage. Have only around 4 pages per update. I do the sketch, lineart and shading on different days. Work on it the whole week.
Comic#2 - The weekly one. Take a day to work on that.
Comic#3 - 0 time and energy for that.
New project - Just when I feel like it.

I can only manage schedules for 2 comics and that's it. The only reason why I can keep up with anything is that I like being busy and working on things. I also reward myself if I finish something. If I finish an update then next week I'll be able to work on something other than that. I do sometimes get very drained and unmotivated, but I can always bounce back as I love what I do.

Building up a buffer can help you a ton, but that can always backfire if you don't work on the comic during the time you post the buffer. I can only keep myself motivated if I keep doing it with a schedule.

Fulltime job. Married. Kid on the way.

Essentially I treat my comic like a second job, even though I often don't get paid for it. I don't view it as a hobby at all.

Basically...I just do it. Even if I don't feel like it. Unless I'm sick, and even then I still do it sometimes xD.

I have sort of an atypical approach to drawing my comic that has helped me out a lot. I draw my comic in chunks. So I'm back in college right now, and between quarters when I don't have classwork to worry about, I'll sit and knock out a huge batch of pages. So over a typical break between quarters, I'll complete anywhere between 35-50 pages of my comic, and set it to auto-update. And as long as I can complete at least 20 pages, that'll be enough to carry me through the next 10 weeks of school until I can do another batch of pages.

I currently have enough pages drawn ahead to upload twice a week every week until August and not have to worry about a thing. Which means I can focus on school and work and homework and house renovations without having to stress about making deadlines for my comic.

Working full time.
Writing my scripts when evever there is a break.
Building my house.
Writing my scripts when evever there is a break.
Kids and family.
Writing my scripts when evever there is a break.
Repeat.

Every time I have a spare moment I write my scripts.
It is a way of life. It is a way of everything I do.

I don’t watch TV. I write.
I don’t go to a disco or other nightlife activities.
I don’t join clubs or sports activities, I write.

“To win the war, you have to become the war”
- John Rambo

High school student here. I'm what Westerners would call a Junior, so I'm in grade 11. Honestly, the whole online classes thing made it easier and faster for me to draw my comic. Whenever I have free time, I draw, and I usually draw while the discussion is going on.

I also made sure I had a hefty buffer beforehand. I have about 5 or 6 episodes worth of buffer - this means I have a 5-6 week update (not a lot by some people's standards here I think, but it is for me)

I also just made it easier for me to draw it in general. I majorly shortened the length of my episodes. I used to do about 70 panels (impossible for me to do in a week, or even 2 weeks) but now I've shortened it to 20-30. I also don't shade unless it's for important scenes, I reuse lineart whenever I can, and I use single-color backgrounds whenever I can lol.

Okay, so personally, I had to ask myself if I was being lazy or if there really was a way to have making comics be doable.

There was one year where it making comics really wasn't doable for me. I just had too much other stuff going on.

But in 2020, although I was still incredibly busy, there was room to squeeze in comic-making. So I forced myself to commit to posting weekly. The trick was having a huge buffer. That way, it was okay if I needed some time off.

I hear you on the school sucking up your time. Maybe there is some way you can make it take up less time. I hope you find a good solution that works for you.

it depends on what you can do. you can do a big story and just post near 3-4 pages a week or backlog some parts and post them within the week, schedule them, and then use that buffer time to make more. I don't know, it depends on what else you have going on. Trust me, I had to change my uploading schedule at least 3 times until I could find one that works.