Readers and creators, how do you feel about recycling drawings?

[morcille]

I'm starting to create my own comic series and since the format kind of allows to reuse certain elements at times. Do you think it should be avoided completely, or maybe any tips on doing so? Also as readers does it bother you when you notice those things?

[TheGentleArtist]

Recycling is fine as to save time, but it's best do to it sparingly and introduce new elements at times.

[FritzC]

For backgrounds I say go for it, but having the same exact drawing many frames in a row or multiple times in the comic with NO changes and without it beinf a visual gag isn't my cup of tea and turns me off on a comic. I do copy my characters if I need the pose for the next panel to be very similar and draw over it for reference.

[Kelheor]

I personally feel uncomfortable when I start seeing recycled pictures frequently. I guess it's better for backgrounds, since they are a particular pain, and if you use the same picture to show the character's house chapter after chapter, I won't be excited, but I won't mind too much.
When we talk about people... If it's just a few times - I bet the readers probably won't even notice. But I've read a comic that after some time just became a mush of recycled images and it was such a pain to look at.

[kinleypavone]

Honestly, I do it all the time. My main trick is to always change SOMETHING about it and to make sure it's inter-spliced with plenty of 100% new panels. Just don't rely on it so much to the point where it becomes super obvious and you'll be fine. I also make my backgrounds in a separate file, then copy paste the one I need into the comic page rather than redraw a setting over and over. I do this with things like background extras, cars, beverages, etc too. It ends up saving a ton of time at the end of the day and if you do it right, most people won't ever even notice it.

[skicoak]

I frequently call myself out for ripping off my own artwork. Then I try to explain homage and time efficiency to myself, but I can not be calmed down and repeatedly call me a thief. I am repentant and unreasonable.

[darthmongoose]

I reuse backgrounds fairly regularly to save time. I personally prefer not to reuse character art, partially because it's rare for me to do a drawing I'm so happy with I don't want to give it another shot later and partially because I rarely come across a panel where what I need is an exact repeat of the same character expressing exactly the same emotion best drawn from the same angle.
That's just my personal feeling though, I don't think there's anything shameful about doing it. It's how I'd do the art for a game, after all, making a set of portraits for "happy" "sad", "neutral" "angry" etc. and then those portraits get reused throughout. So long as it looks good and there's enough expression and variety to engage your audience, that's all that matters.

[cherrystark]

As a reader, I don't mind it at all. Even Disney himself who was like the godfather of western animation reused drawings. Look at Little John and Baloo, they are basically the same bear but in different settings

[BitterBadger]

Sometimes it's necessary as not every panel requires a dynamic angle or action for the information to be conveyed, but it can be an eyesore when used four or five times in a single page.

[rajillustration]

Webtoons have such a crazy production deadline that I accept that people are doing this with characters that they just slap different faces on for difference scenes--do I like it? No. I absolutely don't. If I do reuse panels I do it sparingly and it's usually because I'm either doing it on purpose as a flashback, or it's to emphasize that no time has passed panel to panel, or because it's a background element no one cares about. If I abuse it too much, then I might ruin the timing of my panels--people will thinking we've gone back in time, people will think no time has passed...it can be confusing if it's a copy-paste panel done wrong.

But if I find that I could reuse a panel from before, to me that's a sign I need to get more creative with my paneling and composition anyway. But that's my own personal hot take that I'm not gonna put on other people. That's just for me and my own comic goals.

Do I think other people who aren't artists are bothered? No. I don't think your average reader will notice or care if you reuse a base model and slap a different face on it every frame. And you have a deadline--Webtoons nowadays are expected to have like 30 panels an update. If you do an update every week, that's a lot of panels in a month! You have to do it. But in the end, if you aren't hired by a company, then it's you deciding that deadline, that style, and how long your updates are. It's you who decides if it's necessary to duplicate panels or not.

So that's longwinded but that's how I feel about it. It's a means to an end, basically. A tool you can use...but be careful with it.

[Rhonder]

Same as several above comments, I definitely think it's okay as long as it's not too frequent and used in a smart way!

I try to straight up copy-paste pretty infrequently but there are definitely some times where it comes up in my art. For example, if there are 2 or more panels where the characters are in the same places with minor changes, I'll usually copy the image and make the necessary adjustments. This set of panels from my first comic is an example (and even one where I was inking traditionally, so I used a light box to transfer the images over xD)

This is another example from a newer comic of mine where the background base throughout is the same (although shifted slightly) and much like in animation, I used the faint sketch of the character in the previous "frame" to inform where to position them in the new one:

Lastly, although the first two examples had panels that were right next to each other in the reading order, sometimes I do reuse backgrounds and stuff spread apart. For example these are all the same background, but there was 2 or 3 panels between these two:

and another... like 3 or 4 between that 2nd one and this one:

Again, all the same base image but with slightly different zooms depending on what the panel needed, and different other stuff going on in each panel.

Saved a lot of time and I don't think the copy/paste police are going to be busting down my door... hopefully

[BrambleberrySquirrel]

As a reader it’s something I never noticed until I made my own comic. Now I see it all the time because my eyes are opened to the process of making comics. I think everyone does this to some extent and it’s fine. The key is to do it well and in a way that saves time rather than just being lazy. I will reuse part of a line art, but change the pose and facial expression or the characters outfit. I just try to avoid repetitive sequences. My story is character driven rather than action driven so a lot of it is people having conversations. This isn’t necessarily the kind of thing that is super interesting to look at on its own so I mix it up with different camera angles, facial expressions and shifts in the art for tone/character reactions. My point is that as long as you’re keeping the comic looking fresh, visually engaging and non-repetitive it’s fine to recycle parts of your art. It takes hours to make an episode of a comic that someone will read in just a couple minutes. Most readers are not going to spend enough time looking at your panels to even notice it unless it’s really obvious and poorly executed.

[irresponsiblepics]

I use some recycled just for background use (basic shop bg)
When i have the same character in the same pose in more than one panel i redraw them...as mad as it sounds.
This usually takes me ages as I go back and forth trying to match as close as possible.
Examples
https://m.tapas.io/episode/1935793
https://m.tapas.io/episode/1955235

No issue using recycled drawings minimally as long as you drew it to begin with. Preferably backgrounds.

[migxmeg]

It can be used in a good way for moment to moment effect, and I like it when I see that.

If there's enough reuse for me to notice, I'm probably not enjoying the art that much to begin with because it would be hard to constantly reuse and get the nuances of expression and body language. But honestly, if the story is interesting.... Probably not going to worry about it.

Edit: that's for characters. For bgs it depends on the comic, but for webtoon format scrolling comics that are released frequently with a push for long updates, I don't consciously notice anything D: unless there's a really spectacular environment that I love. With the widespread use of 3D bgs/no bg/sparkles etc I think readers are used to and ok with shortcuts so the story can keep moving. Higher expectations for comic page formats but still don't mind some strategic reuse there.

[ninjashira]

Reuse backgrounds and props 100%, make life easier on yourself. And I've known some professional comic book artists who will reuse things like horses or clusters of background people - very infrequently, so it isn't immediately obvious.

Character art, I would either not do it or do it very very very sparingly. My comic is about 200+ pages long at this point, and I have reused a character shot exactly one time, because I was having a really hard time getting the face to look right at this very particular angle and I remembered I did it well once. Even then, though, I reused the pencils but still inked it anew so it wouldn't be identical.

People definitely notice when you reuse character art, especially if it's something significant or frequent, and no artist will ever get better as an artist by reusing their old art over and over again. That is literally stagnating as a creator, and I feel like it's doing yourself a disservice.

[UrMom]

I don't mind for the most part since it helps creators save time, especially premium creators who have a deadline and a certain amount of panels they have to draw. Although I don't like it when the comic starts pretty much being mostly made up of recycled elements. There was this one exclusive comic on Webtoons that started doing that, the artist reused heads, arms, backgrounds, poses, faces. It started off small, then by the end of the series it was pretty much all frankensteined bits from previous episodes, with maybe 1 newly drawn panel.

I'm sure for most readers it was nearly unnoticeable, but to me it started looking kind of ugly? Since the artist didn't put in any effort to blend all the pieces together, the characters looked like collage dolls, and at times didn't have the appropriate expressions for a scene due to their heads being reused. Sometimes they would draw over with angry eyebrows or something, but it still didn't really fit and made the characters look hollow.

Soooo recycled art is fine, and if you just care about getting the story out and not about giving it personality, then go all out. But to me it's best to just do it every so often, and if you at least attempt to make it not look like a reused "asset". Although that's for if you decide to reuse everything. For backgrounds only, I feel it's fine to recycle those more often since they take a lot of work and most readers won't notice, just be sure the perspective and lighting of the reused background kind of matches up with the new foreground stuff.

[WoollyPAR]

I don't see a problem with it, backgrounds are especially fine to recycle. However I've seen some comics where they recycle the same poses and faces multiple times and it just annoys me. To use reuse a drawing of a character once or twice in a still scene with a lot of dialogue I could see, but there's a point where it can make characters seem stiff and lifeless. I think it's something best used sparingly on parts of a drawing rather than a whole pose or expression.

[artemficta]

I mean if it matches the current style and looks good there's no reason not to reuse elements I think