No time for extra content?

[dglisson]

Hey everyone, just curious if anyone else is struggling with this. For me, working on my comic is pretty all-encompassing (at least when it comes to that project, I do have another project I am working on but the two comics are separate). That being said, a lot of fans, Twitter, Patreon, etc. want that extra content (behind the scenes, pin-ups, fan art, etc.) and it is the best way to market yourself... but making that extra content takes time! Time I find I have less and less of if I want to actually get my updates out on a timely basis.

Who here struggles with the problems of extra content? How do you get around it so you can use that material to market with? Share!

[J.Lovelace]

I'm the other way around :'D
I create a lot of bonus content, but procrastinate on the actual comics :'''D

[Kayke]

I feel this. Between day job, freelance, and the two personal comics I'm working on I don't really have time to be making a ton of extras. A few months ago I even strained my hand from drawing too much and that was a whole big thing... ANYWAY.
I used to do a sketch for every Patreon supporter every month but it was SO DRAINING. After a lot of thought I switched to just showing them behind the scenes stuff. So I started putting my sketches and my inks together in a neat little package and using those as my Patreon reward. I post them a while before the finished page goes up so it's like my supporters are getting a little preview:

And for Tumblr and Twitter, I tend to also post pictures of sketches and inks as I'm working on them (but just little stuff, not whole pages like the Patreon people get):

And then when I update I post part of the page inside of a little update frame:

By doing these things, it gives me a lot of content to post without actually having to make extra content since these are all parts of comic pages!

[gateofselidor]

I have a full-time job and I want to prioritise finishing my comic, so I have no time to spare for extras, let alone enough to run a Patreon or something. I don't even have enough time for fan art doodles of shows I like.

[69Michi]

Most of my extra contents are just random doodle I do on a daily basic to relieve my stress and prevent myself from feeling burn-out from working nonstop on my webcomic. I do have trouble keeping focus hence why I take forever to produce stuff for each update and always wait till the last minute to finish anything up. But I do enjoy working more on extra content than the actual comic itself and always try to take a little time of the day to do it. (Like my video music for my webcomic, etc, I enjoy it, my readers enjoy it, everyone is happy)

The thing is, I pressed that webcomic is just my hobby and I'm not going professional with it. That is why I keep the page count per update to a comfortable size that I'm fine working on in my free time aside from my real job. I update weekly, each update contain 12-15 pages (make up to a large canvas of over 20,000 px in height) I work on the update day to day to day to day, and in those days when I'm feeling distracted/not wanting to work on the comic, I make extra content. Pretty much filling all my art schedule with my webcomic related stuff, which I shouldn't, but I enjoy my webcomic so what is the harm?

[sarrowsmith10]

My extra content isn't really extra. For example, the writers I work with usually want to see character sheets and thumbnails before I start laying down pages. So I have chapter designs and revisions that I could post. I also have drafts, early page sketches and cover WIPs. All crap I have to do anyways so the team can make decisions about the progress and direction of the comic.

Honestly as a reader and potential customer, I pay to usually see pages before being released, I'm not much interested in other crap, especially if the other crap is slowing down updates on what I really want to see. Which is the comic itself. So be mindful of what your patreons are actually paying for (or think they are paying for). And if your patreon isn't for early release or something like that, be clear what your paying customers should expect if they support you.

[joannekwan]

Yeah, I have little time for extras between drawing my usual pages and doing commissions …

but I try my best.

[J.Z.Castillo]

My extras are usually really quick sketches, like maybe an hour or so, what I would call "warm up sketches." I feel you, though, it is difficult to find time for all that extra bonus content. Every now and then a small sketch will turn into a big one, so there's that. I usually save those for those days I have nothing to post, so they save the day haha.

[Shanny8]

I'm kind of in the same boat. I work on two comics- my printed series The Clique & Ray Thunder. By nature, I'm not really a "behind the scenes" type of person. I dont make every concept sketch or drawing presentable- hell, I'm still trying to work extra drawings into my schedule and figure out if I want to do a Patreon, what to do for my Patreon if I get one started, and how to go about it.

As for fan art, a lot of the stuff that most people are a fan of- I'm not a fan of, so I dont really do any fan art. Now pin ups/poster type art- I will try to do as much as I can, when the time permits.

[demthorshie]

Oh man, you have no idea how much I struggle with coming up with extra content when I can barely keep up with the comic alone! I have just a few extras at the moment, some character art and a thing for milestones. It's very difficult and the struggle is real! I would like to be able to submit more in the future, maybe just sketches or something, but even those take up time!

[VermillionWorks]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem. I've been trying to edit my past chapters for print while also doing the occasional extra art piece for my patrons, and recently both of my arms went kaput as a result of doing only that alongside comic work. I had to take a break this week. >__<;

I'm also jealous of those who can get out comics at a timely manner as well as a decent amount of extras on top of it. How do they DO that? XD

[niinasalmelin]

This is a problem for me too. For now I'm enjoying summer vacation so I have more time in my hands, but one of the reasons I haven't tried out some stuff like patreon or active freelancing yet is the fact that I'm afraid I don't have time to keep up. Thank god I have good buffer for my comic so I'll survive next year's master studies. I have to step up my time management game.

[ahkwardkat]

This is why I only update once a week. It gives me plenty of time for extra content for my patrons. Whatever I get done in a week, I post. It could be one page or two, but honestly most of the other content I post is comic related stuff. Progress charts and sketches, thumbnails, layouts. Etc. I have a whole day dedicated to getting material like extras ready to post and posted.

[Shanny8]

@ahkwardkat I update once a week as well...but then I have a FT job, and I'm trying to build my buffer farther than what it is right now while fighting off arm/wrist pains. When I did have a sizable buffer, I was worn out & tired but pushed on to get promotional art done. I'm trying to get a lot done right now so that way I can rest my arms & wrists down the road.

[ahkwardkat]

@Shanny8

I have three jobs as well, the comic, freelancing and a job unloading trucks. Based on my numbers, I average drawing 50-60 hours a week and unloading trucks 32-35 hours a week. Only do as much as you can, after 6 years of art college, my hands are pretty tough and rarely do I feel pain... so I guess I'm used to drawing A LOT. Not everyone can work/draw that much. So I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad by telling them to draw more, I simply have the muscle/tendon strength in my hands to draw that much and not hurt from it.

[UrMom]

I can relate to that way too well. Other then on a blue moon, I'll only work on pages. It will probably be like this unless I ever decide to draw for income, pages will always be a first priority... other than my job, of course. I wouldn't be able to give any suggestions, as long as it's free, I've no interest in give my readers more than the comic (and the very rare doodle). It sounds really mean, but keeping myself in decent health, and with a stable job is more important that killing myself to give more than what I can provide.

Maybe someday, if I move to parttime I might.

[DeadAccount]

I can find the time for an occasional doodle (not because I have time to spare, but because I can't help myself), but decent extra art/promo art is definitely hard to fit into a weekly update schedule. We usually go on a hiatus after each chapter just to have a breather and work on some extra bits for this reason.

[indagold]

I have a ton of time for extra content. I finished all my comics! That and I work fast as hell.

[Aspie_Gamer]

I do have a companion series to my comic Life of an Aspie called Susan's Secret Stash which counts as extra content for the main comic, but I haven't updated it in a while since I don't have much besides the occasional fan art piece to show off. As of late, I've made an Instagram account for my main OC from LoaA.