So, how hard is it making comics?

[carloswebcomic]

I find making comics hard. Like, stupidly hard.
Not just the art but also the writing.
I'm usually making tweaks and changes till the last minute before release.

Now, in my head, I believe everyone goes through the same thing. But do they?

How hard (or easy) do you find making comics?
Can you make multiple pages easily or do you struggle to make a single page?

[KoreanTacos]

I find it more discouraging than hard. Especially now when there's a lot of competition and a lot of it requires me to be as social or what I personally call (ass kissing) just to get numbers.

I mean as far as making comics it's hard, but its just when that finished page is made and posted it just felt like a lot of time was wasted.

But I'm a masochist and keep updating so maybe a small part of me enjoys the pain.

So yeah webcomics are hard, but comes with some rewarding satisfaction depending on how you look at it I guess. Met a lot of great people (also a lot of bad ones...) since starting my series.

[Mallory]

I start every day going "today I'm gonna work on my comic " and then spend the rest of the day finding excuses to not do it because it's so hard. The hardest thing for me I find is that I rarely like something when I do it, so a lot of it is kinda... feeling really unsatisfied and stressed-out about how inadequate I feel/or stressing out that I can't visualize an idea well enough to make it tangible. Of course, when I do get it looking JUUUUST right, or when I finish a page, it's the best feeling ever, and that's honestly one of the things that keeps me inching forward.

Also, for me, drawing it physically painful (because I have a host of deficiency-related muscle, nerve and joint issues). It's been MUCH better recently, but it still hurts to draw, and sometimes when I actually feel like drawing, I can't. I USED to have a cast/brace for my hand that literally like, held my hand in place so that I could hold on to a pencil. Thankfully I just need a finger brace now to stop my index finger from hyper-extending.

[MissEljebel]

It's pretty hard for me. I had a good buffer when I started but I ran out, and now I'm struggling to update on time. Taking on this comic project has been rough. Especially because I just struggle to get myself to do things in the first place lol.

That being said, I love it. I may not be anywhere near popular, but I love my supporters! They truly make it rewarding. I can see what KoreanTacos said about it being discouraging, and I feel that. It is discouraging when my numbers stagnate. But I try to remember why I started in the first place. As cheesy and cliché as it sounds, I create my comic for myself, because I love it. I love my story and my characters. Having other people love them too is pretty awesome too though!

I think my problem is that I crave the end result. I find it hard to work on my comic because I just want to post the page and have people enjoy it. I think, if I tell myself to love the process, and I believe it, then it'll be easier for me to actually work on pages.

So long story short, yes, making comics is hard. Very hard. But I still love and and I'm so glad I'm doing it.

[carloswebcomic]

I find it more discouraging than hard. Especially now when there's a lot of competition and a lot of it requires me to be as social or what I personally call (ass kissing) just to get numbers.

Well, social interaction was always required, even in the days of individual websites. The problem now is that places like Tapas and Webtoon make it really hard to advertise friends and such. You have no permanent place to put up links.
I guess they wouldn't want you to direct people outside their platform.

It also doesn't help that they hide smaller comics like some embarrassing secret.

[boondogggle]

There have been times when making comics was the hardest thing in the world, and others when it was a breeze. I think it largely depends on what you're working on specifically and what else is going on in your life. Stress can degrade someone's work a lot, so working on comics during a stressful period can be very hard. Personally, I think the worldbuilding and character creation is a lot easier and more fun than the actual page drawing itself.

[rajillustration]

For me it's not easy but I wouldn't say it's the hardest thing I've done, depending on the detail I'm putting into the comic. If I'm doing a simpler one...then it's full on easy (but no one reads those obviously). If I'm trying to stretch myself and learn new techniques and really try new things, then it does stretch my abilities. But comparing it to other art jobs I've had, it's not really a "job" persay, I don't have a patreon going, no one's business relies on me getting the art done in time. No client is going to call my phone and chew me out if they don't like my work and then threaten to fire my ass. So...it's difficult, but it just doesn't have that stress that I get from other art.

But I'll echo what other people say and add that it is very discouraging compared to other online art. If I post a picture, I can move on if it doesn't do well. I'll draw another picture tomorrow or next week. A comic though is such a commitment, that if it doesn't get off the ground, it's like "Well this is my life now." A lot of social media isn't really built around advertising comics as they are about advertising short one shot illustrations and short one-liner comics.

[FritzC]

I find making comics pretty intuitive, I often come up with stories and I enjoy writing them as well as drawing them. Sure sometimes some pages are harder to draw than others, and sometimes I get tired of a page and decide to come back to it later or I decide to give it 40% instead of 70% of my skill/time. But overall I find the whole process enjoyable, and, as I said, intuitive. I can make multiple pages on one day.

[joannekwan]

Heckin' hard.

I used to churn out weekly updates for 3 separate series like it was nothing. But after 4 years of that, I truly ground to a near stand-still in comic production due to extreme burnout and physical ailments. I forced myself to finish my first big series over a longer stretch of time as I got the treatment I needed. But to save my creativity altogether, my attention shifted to novel writing.

Now that I'm better, finished my second big series, and am in the midst of finishing my latest on-going series, I'm still more focused on novel writing.

I have my next long-term comic fully scripted and ready to begin production, but I'm dragging my feet. Like others have said, it's really discouraging seeing all the bright and shiny new comics coming out every month. I really feel like I can't keep up as far as the quality of my art goes. I'm definitely not ready to commit to another long-term series at the moment, at least not until my latest one is done.

However, I am toying with the idea of doing a series of slice-of-life strips with my novel characters, if only to use as promotional material for the main novel. It certainly requires less commitment than my next story, and each installment would ideally be around 4 panels. So it's appealing to me more and more than a whole-ass sequential story right now.

[Rhonder]

Mechanically, I still find comics challenging, but that they get easier over time. I feel way more comfortable making comics today than I did 1, 2 or even more years ago. And the challenge that's present is one that I enjoy, it's part of what makes comics fun for me.

But "time" is the hardest thing that I struggle with regarding comics currently. Producing content at a reasonable pace is haaaaaard and I really need to get a grip on how to alleviate that sooner than later. The project that I'm working on currently is a vertical comic with panels averaging around 20-25 an update. Sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. They've presently been taking me about a month to finish which I feel like is too slow but whatever, I'm planning to launch and do monthly releases even though that's horrid for visibility on these platforms

But what's been stressing me out the most lately is: I was finishing up my 6th episode of buffer at the start of December and was thinking about launching but thought "my episode 1 isn't as good as it could be. I'm going to insert a new introductory episode ahead of it & then launch". I just finished that episode last week, after 2 months of work. 27 panels Sure, it's a little longer than the average, and sure a week or two in there were lost in part due to the winter holidays but damn, taking double the time to complete this episode was a big hit to my morale lmao Like now I'm wondering if I'll even be able to maintain monthly releases and that's a scary thought xD

[ninjashira]

So it's definitely something that requires a lot of time and effort and mental energy, but I personally don't find it hard. I will certainly spend hours and hours and hours writing a script and doing layout thumbnails and drawing and coloring my pages, but I never find myself thinking that it's particularly difficult. I really enjoy doing comics, and it's what I do for fun to wind down and relax. And for the most part, visual storytelling tends to come easily to me.

But it's different for everyone, for sure! And I totally respect that different parts of the process come naturally to some people, and are more difficult for others.

[Quetzal]

Phew, it's definitely very hard for me. It's fun to line and stuff, but it takes a whole hell of a lot of effort for me. Though, I think the end result of making the story is nice so I just keep doing it.

[gabriellabalagna]

Hard. Since there are so many comics out there, it's easy to feel like everyone else must be having an easy time. But then again, there are a lot of people that do hiatuses/quit, so I realize it is hard. Yet I do it anyway, because the end result is worth it.

[Tanako]

its very hard. so hard i have RSI now
and sometimes sleepless night.

[OffBased]

To a degree? Definitely putting it all together—writing, sketching, lining, coloring each page for an update and doing it almost every week—is a lot. It can be a grind. But I think I’ve tailored my comic making process to where everything I mentioned is quite enjoyable for me, or at least somewhat mindless

[Kaydreamer]

Making a comic is the hardest thing I've ever done artistically, for sure. But I also find the challenge extremely invigorating. Each page is like a puzzle which needs solving. Where do I position elements for maximum impact? Where do I fit the text? How do I jig the composition to have the eye flow to the right panels in the right order? Which moments in the timeline of a scene need to be drawn, and how long do I linger on each to get the pacing right? Then I have to, you know, draw the thing. And my comic is full of stuff I've always found challenging to draw. I like to draw organic shapes, forests, flowers, plants... so naturally, I set my comic in space. On spaceships.

I also tweak and change the script as I create the pages, usually just to add in extra humorous bits of dialogue. But I'll be honest, I find writing pretty easy. Especially comic script.

I'm still in the very early stages of learning How To Comic, but I think it's the perfect artistic niche for me, since I enjoy illustration and the addition of sequential and storytelling elements only makes it more fun.

So yeah, comics are hecka hard, but if you're a person who loves storytelling and sequential art, and who finds a good challenge invigorating, they're so satisfying!

[carloswebcomic]

However, I am toying with the idea of doing a series of slice-of-life strips with my novel characters, if only to use as promotional material for the main novel. It certainly requires less commitment than my next story, and each installment would ideally be around 4 panels. So it's appealing to me more and more than a whole-ass sequential story right now.

Nice!
Just be careful as I've found slice of life tends to be harder than full blown stories if it gets out of hand.
They are beasts that want to expand on the universe and have a very limiting format to do so.

[BitterBadger]

Used to be extremely taxing. So much so that I've rebooted every comic of mine at least two or three times already. Still hard art-wise, but mostly had to do with what to include or exclude when it came to the story and how to make a smooth transition from chapter to chapter without deviating from the main storyline. With every idea that popped into my head or bit of inspiration that I felt from any analysis videos on art or when I read a certain comic or manga, I had immediately regretted what I had already drawn out and began to see where I could have fleshed out my characters' personalities and put them in situations that could have tied them to the overall story.

[Eiranyx]

It's hard for me when I was starting because I don't really have an experience making a webtoon. Also the fact everything has to be done by myself, the script, the editing, the concept, the character designs, the building designs for that particular world, the items, furniture etc. -- and to think that i have to conceptualize everything within half a month (because originally, it's a contest entry with a set deadline before I published it here ^^) ---it's stressful I know.
But then I thought: Yes it's hard because nothing is easy when you're making something in the first place, especially if it is something you think of something great. But For me, rather than saying it's hard, I would rather say it's challenging. It's challenging because it test me to go out of my comfort zone and past to the limit that I unknowingly set myself in and I have this urge to break it down.
whenever I was about to give up, I would look back at the first few pages and tell myself --- you've come this far, it's a waste of your own effort if you give up now. If I can make something out of the efforts I've already spend even if the 'fruit' it bears is small, or no fruit at all I will most likely still choose go on, because I may not get that result I'm expecting, but I at least managed to get a lot of experience out of it and because at least I tried rather that not trying at all.
Yes I didn't win that contest, but at least I get to publish it on my own and see my comic grow slowly. I was able to use it as a ' grindstone' to do better so that I know the things I still need to work on and because of that, every time I finish a page I feel much more satisfied and ready to do better than the last ^^

[Mallory]

And my comic is full of stuff I've always found challenging to draw. I like to draw organic shapes, forests, flowers, plants... so naturally, I set my comic in space. On spaceships.

Oh, I feel this so much. I also generally draw organic stuff (I learned cars because I like cars, but like, building-wise... dirt huts are ok, yes?? :D?) and I ALSO set mine inside of a space-ship and on a robot planet. I have not wanted to run away from a drawing so much.