Newish to web comic creation, any advice?

[KanashiCat]

Soooooo it's been a little over two years since I posted the first episode to my first web comic...
Needless to say, we are starting from scratch here. I loved my first episode but I've decided coming back to the comic, that a revamp would be best in terms of where the story would go as well as the artwork. Right now I just need information and advice on some things that I think more experienced people here could answer, such as:

1.) I'm working in adobe illustrator this time, how should I be formatting files for a good online/mobile format? (dimensions, resolution, file types, what are raster effects???, etc.)

2.) What kind of prep does everyone do before posting an episode and/or for how long? (Full character references?, scripts, plots, backgrounds)

3.) Time spent on comic creation? (Currently in school)

These things or any advice you kinda wish you knew when you started would be much appreciated

[nostalgicroxas]

For image dimensions, if you're planning to print them or might want to down the line, work in a 2:3 ratio of inches (ie: 8" wide x 12" tall) is a good rule of thumb with a room for bleed to the edges.

[Iris-Grimoire]

It's always good to thumbnail pages in chunks(I do it in chunks of 4 or 8, some people do it by scene, some do the whole chapter first). Have an idea of the scene as a whole so the pages will lead into each other, even if you already have it all neat and organized on the script.

Also, make buffer. Have at least 2-3 pages done ahead of time as you make new ones - haste makes waste and it's very noticeable when an artist rushed a page out. Also reduces a lot of stress!

[magnavarra]

Oh, I hope to make character reference someday...

[ninjashira]

I do a lot of prep before I get started on a comic, especially if it's going to be a longer one. I'll do full character designs, color swatches, and costume changes for the characters. Story-wise, I script everything out, then thumbnail the whole thing, before I go back and actually start drawing pages. And if there are any recurring environments, I'll build rough 3D models of the locations so I can import and draw over those for my backgrounds.

As far as time spent on it... I'm in school as well, so I mostly work on my comic relentlessly during breaks. I'll spend all summer and winter break churning out as many pages as I can, then set them up auto-update during the semester, so I don't have to stress myself out worrying about missing an update. I've currently got enough pages to auto-update through August 10th, and I'm in the middle of working on another batch right now. As long as I get enough done to last me through the end of November before Fall semester starts, then I'm good to go, and I don't need to worry about drawing any more pages until Winter Break.

I'm not entirely sure how long exactly I spend on each page, since I work in chunks (I'll pick a scene that all takes place in the same location and pencil all of those pages, then ink all of them, then color all of them, etc.) but I typically work for about six hours a day, four-ish days a week, until I get enough buffer built up that I can take a break from drawing this comic and start working on other comics!