People who update weekly: How do you do it?

[Macarenaoftime]

I had a comic which I updated weekly for three months. I had to sacrifice my mental and physical health to meet the deadlines and I'm not sure if I could do it again.
So long-running series' creators: How do you do it??

[Legendofgenii]

I think a few creators will take time off to make & finish a whole chapter, then they can release an episode weekly and work on the next chapter.

I don't do it like that at all. Haha! I just post once I'm done with an episode. I sort of aim for Thursdays, but no big deal if I miss that (because I haven't explained that anywhere).

Is there a reason you need to update weekly? Could you do it fortnightly maybe?

[Kann]

I mess with the time and space. xD

But if I'm being serious, before I started uploading both of my comics, I got some pages ready in advance. Also I draw pages in batches of 3-4 per week. The good Idea is to also cut some corners here and there to make drawing pages faster. I'm making traditional format stuff, but I don't think it's much different for vertical scroll.

[shapeshiftingmel]

I started publishing my chapters weekly when I was about halfway done with my novel and now I'm in the process of writing the sequel to it. This means I have LOTS of chapters that allow me to update twice a week. This method has proven itself to be the best for me because it's less stressful than meeting those weekly deadlines. (Though I certainly sacrificed a fair amount of my mental and physical health before posting anything.) I just personally prefer finishing my work far in advance

[Pizza_Agent]

with pain and tears
when i have an idea i draw in a notebook episodes,ideas,new characters,etc

[shapeshiftingmel]

Also: The way I built my novel gives me a lot of space and freedom to play around with - I have short updates in-between the longer chapters but they exist specifically for a purpose later revealed in the story, soooo...

[Freemints30]

A buffer of 3 whole chapters, only sketching once and updating usually only 3 pages.

[skicoak]

We use to do it at Oddly Vanilla ....

But then we ran out of virgins to sacrifice to the Comic Gods.

[domisotto]

With my first novel here, I had about 75% prewritten in draft, so I edited and released daily (or 6/7 days). But I find it is stressful, finishing the draft and editing. In particular cutting chapters was hard.

So, for my next novel, I am writing and editing, then pre-scheduling a chapter to be released a couple months down the road. I am hoping to have the whole thing scheduled in presliced and edited form before it starts posting.

I don’t think there is any advantage to starting to post sooner rather than later atm.

[thecrystalrook]

I don't weekly, but I do do monthly. I usually commit to between 12-15 pages per release, and I try to split my time up so I'm not going crazy. one day of work is usually a couple of hours, and it's either drawing the line art for a page (2 pages if I'm feeling ambitious that day), or inking/coloring a page I drew already. All in all, that takes me about a month. But I'm usually done 2 weeks ahead of time, so I'm already half done with the next episode by the time the 1st of the month actually comes around.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

Now I havent run my comic for so long yet, but I think i started in may? I had the first chapter already done, and whole chapter 2 already sketched out so been working on finishing it while I posted chapter 1 - one page a week. Planning on taking a little break when chapter 1 is done so I can finish up chapter 2 properly.

But i think its just better to have maybe have a couple of chapters (1-3) done already, so that you dont have to feel the stress of it, or, just take a break whenever you need to be able to draw the pages in your own pace

After all, most of us are posting our storys and art for free! So we really put the rules of how often we can post and when we need a break, to still be able to enjoy drawing and not stress ourselfs out! Our health comes first

[ninjashira]

I update twice a week, and I can only do that because I had a huge buffer of finished pages before I even started uploading. I completed all 30+ pages of chapter one of my comic before I started posting pages online. Then it's just a matter of staying ahead of it, which is a lot easier to do without the pressure of a deadline looming over my head. If I don't feel like drawing pages for a couple weeks, I can take a break. If I feel like doing nothing but drawing pages like a crazy person for a couple weeks, I do that. There's very little pressure, which is nice.

[Rhonder]

It's definitely hard and it's kind of amazing in some ways that so many creators are able to do so Like when I started my comic (which wasn't long running, per se, but did require a year to complete) I decided on the page a week format just cuz it seemed to be the hip thing to do. I was able to maintain that pace for... like... 4 months? And then my upload schedule started getting spottier and spottier until I wound up closer to a page every other week instead of every week by the end. And that's even with relatively short updates (single comic pages, so like... 4-8 panels on average is all?).

I think the only way to really make that work is to build an enormous buffer before starting, so enormous such that you could take a significant amount of time off and still maintain your schedule. I thought I was cute when starting with my like 1 month (4 pages) of buffer, and when I was fresh and enthusiastic I was even actively growing it, drawing like 2-3 pages a week. But I soon fell off that pace, ran out of buffer, and then the rest of the comic's run was stressful trying to meet deadlines on time.

The other option is just to do an alternative upload schedule. EIther upload less frequently at a pace that works for you, or maybe break it up in a logical way- like maybe you produce a whole chapter or season prior to upload, then set it to whatever upload frequency you want and begin work on the next one, have a small hiatus inbetween while you finish up the following chapter/season, and repeat. That way readers know to expect a break inbetween story portions, and if you need to take a slightly longer break that's fine... because you're already on break anyways. Just let people know it'll be an extra week or two or four longer than normal and whatever- folks who like your story will wait it out, and folks that don't won't be reading anyways, imo.

[darthmongoose]

I do a job where I only need to work 3 days a week to cover my rent and bills. The other two days and part of my weekend I work pretty solidly on pages. I still get burnout and have to skip weeks now and again, especially when a page has a lot of scenery detail.
Basically I'm in a very fortunate position. There's simply no way I could do two pages a week (stacked as a single update) with that level of colour and detail if I wasn't working part time like this.

[elisabeth_ist]

I would absolutely never manage it if I didn't have the full draft already completed. I can't imagine posting chapter by chapter -- the stress! I'm in awe of anyone who can do it.

[thel3tterm]

Basically a huuuuge buffer before even putting out the first page, and cutting corners slightly on quality. That said, it isn't sustainable for everyone's level of work and people still need to take time off every now and then when things come up.

[Macarenaoftime]

Also I draw pages in bulks of 3-4 per week.

2-3 pages a week

Man, I now know why I burnt out so quickly. I was doing 30-70 panels a week.
I was taking example on the pacing of wolfsbane because I like it so much. But projects like that are made by a professional team.

one day of work is usually a couple of hours, and it's either drawing the line art for a page (2 pages if I'm feeling ambitious that day), or inking/coloring a page I drew already.

I feel like this kind of work pace would better suit me, instead of trying to ink everything on a single day, and trying to color everything the next one.

[Rhonder]

Man, I now know why I burnt out so quickly. I was doing 30-70 panels a week.I was taking example on the pacing of wolfsbane because I like it so much. But projects like that are made by a professional team.

holy heck! Yeah that'll do it LOL I... don't think I could physically produce that many panels a week Granted, my work flow isn't terribly efficient, but it would be a major struggle for me to even hit 30 I think, let alone higher Be kind to yourself and drop that workload a little!

[borzoiteeth]

(Sorry wasn't finished writing the post and somehow sent it?)

Breaks are super important! Even when I have finished buffered pages I don't post on weeks that I consider break times. This helps if I end up in situations where I can't draw for a while. "Normal" jobs have them so why not you?

If you aren't certain when to give yourself a break consider-

• Whenever you finish a chapter/story
  • This is a fantastic place for your readers as well! Readers are more comfortable with breaks that happen at the end of chapters more than in the middle. (Not to say you can't take one in the middle, do what you need to!)
• Important Holidays
  • Please include your birthday and your comic's birthday as choices to take time off!

Every time I finished a chapter/story I give myself a week to a month off depending if it aligns with a holiday. It doesn't matter how passionate your are for your story when it comes to how much work is needed to create a comic, you can burnout. Allow yourself times where you don't have to think about it at all.

[MK_Wizard]

Always have filler. At least one chapter's worth ahead.