One thing you wish you'd known when you started?

[Kayke]

I wish I had known more about self promotion? For a while I was really hesitant about promoting myself on social media because I didn't want to be annoying or "in your face"... but I don't think people really get annoyed by page updates and stuff on twitter/facebook/tumblr

It pays to get your work out there and into the most hands possible.

[KSlinger]

Wish I'd known how to use photoshop effectively, that would have saved me loads of time. So many life-saving short cuts!

I still wish I knew how to produce something to a very high quality. I would like to make merchandise, but have no idea where to begin. If it ever comes to printing god help me because most of my pages are of such awful quality that I'd have to make them all again from scratch.

I wish I had read more comics before beginning my own. I'm beginning to worry that my panel layouts are uninspired...Comics are such a flexible art form-- you really can do anything--- and here's me taking no risks because I'm not sure what's possible.

There's still so much to learn...it never ends.

[kazukitakamura126]

There are actually a few thing I wanted to know before I started the comic I am currently working on but, here's one that bothers me the most.
Knowing how to draw the human anatomy more accurately. When I first started Seishin Pātonā, the comic I am currently working my characters legs were to long and thin and shoulders were too high. I am a stickler to detail when it comes to anatomy because whenever I have an off day when drawing character anatomy people are able to pinpoint it right away. I know it's important to take criticism and use it to improve that's the life of an artist after all.

[Aspie_Gamer]

ah true that. I had considered that, but I'm not the type to upload one page per day as I've got real life stuff going on in addition to my comic. My advice was more for beginners who want to have a steady stream of ad revenue, but also want to have a chunk of pages to upload all at once. That's the magic of buffering. (after you of course have drawn the maximum amount of pages one needs to draw and ink/tone for this method of uploading chunks of your chapter at once. You have a point about daily ad revenue even if its just one page rather slightly more ad revenue just for one day however.

[Waterdrain]

I wish I had taken more time to figure out how to make my characters more relatable and had a better idea of were I wanted the story to go. I have a problem starting something and then losing track of the characters personality and the story. I always think about how the comic starts and how it ends but I never get to think about what happens in the middle. I also wish I could of planed out pages better, instead of trying to figure things out in a couple of days^^;

[serenitysquirrel]

My current and only comic I started for experiance, because the only way you can learn to get better at a thing is doing a thing.

So chapter one taught me:

-To actualy sketch and layout more then 2-3 pages at a time
-Panels do not have to be rectangle
-Empty space between panels is ok!
-Sometimes you need to squish your characters into the panel to make them feel pressed.
-Sometimes you need to put lots of space around your character in a panel to make the world seem big and full of possibility.
-You can only get away with hiding hands/elbows for so long before it becomes obviously stupid.
-It is perfectly ok to shade selectively and with purpose. This also frees up more precious time for added details being inked or extra arts for readers in the sketchbook.
-The occasional page with fan-service will garner more readers
-People MIGHT actually want to read and look at my work!!
-A like is worth 5 subs.
-A comment is worth 5 likes!
-It's better to have a nice page late than a sloppy page on time.

There's probably more. Will come back and add if I think of any.

[Pernellmatthew]

There are many things I wish I knew but the biggest thing is I kinda wish I had started making a smaller series. My current series will last a very long time if it is successful. I wish I had started off with something smaller to begin with. Mangas like Akame Ga Kill and Kill la Kill come to mind. That way if my manga wasn't as successful as I would like I could still possibly have a completed work under my belt. If my current one doesn't pan out I'd have to end mid story.

[hades]

I'm going to be a sap

The biggest thing i wish i could tell myself is
You will get better the more you do. What you make good then, you will make better 15 pages later.

I've always been extremely self-conscious of myself, art, and writing. So, sometimes the hardest part can just be letting myself work and make mistakes.

[Vikiro_Hop]

The one thing I wish I'd known is that I would reach a mild amount of success and finally be obligated to create good content for the poor misguided fools who are somewhat entertained by my posts. God bless their souls.

[sleepingmarlons2]

well I wish that I should have know that there a lot of better artist than me bwahahaha