Things that you should improve about your comic /novel...but you won't

[amortelito]

Hey I hope you are having a nice day.

I adore and admire some creators in Tapas because of their impecable comics, they inspire me to do better. However, there are some improvements that I'm afraid I won't make.

-Backgrounds: I have no issue whatsoever with my characters floating in nothingness . Backgrounds are boring and uninteresting to me. Also, I barely have the time to do the comic in general, I am sure that I will feel frustrated if I spend my time on this. And my comic is made to make me feel happy about drawing.
Also, I don't know if my readers have noticed that the colors of the backgrounds have a very specific meaning, based on color theory and the characters that represent them. They are not chosen randomly. So, is not that I'm totally lazy.

-changes in the lineart: I think I'm improving my skills but I want to keep a consistent look through the comic. I won't change much.

• the "mangaish" style: this is not my natural style, but I chose it because it fits the type of story and I sm very happy with the way it looks. I'm aware. That there are more edgy, fresh and unique styles out there... Sometimes I feel that stuff like mine instantly gets looked down by some people because they think manga is lazy or childish. It should look less generic but I like it like it is.

OK, share your non-imorivements.

[KoreanTacos]

I need to stop being an ass to my own audience, but really whats the fun if I'm not...

[Random_Guy]

Oh, god, backgrounds. I work to make good, interesting backgrounds but it's such a pain, I usually just leave it as nothingness.
What's the point of an interesting background for a one-off joke, right?

[unknown_user]

I really must learn to draw dynamic scenes better, as well as to improve existing ones... especially this:

But OMG... it's so complicated... and I'm so lazy

[rmdooley]

I'm pretty sure more folks would read my comic if it was in color.
But that's not going to happen

And I like your comic, Melfie, it's fun and character driven

[martinadenatale]

I think that the most problematic thing in my comic is the structure itself. I started publishing it on Instagram, pages by page, so the panels were designed to adapt to a completely different structure from the vertical scrolling of Tapas but I don't intend to change it because my dream would be to be able to publish it one day and I would not have to go crazy to format it from the beginning. There are other problems too (obviously ), but I am trying to fix them by slowly improving.
Have a look if you like and if you also would you like to suggest me ideas for improvement

Versions - Doppelgänger | Tapas

[Rin_sugarawa]

Spent 4 hours drawing this page when reader just read it for 15s. So i just skip the bg scene

[vothnthorvaldson]

@tired_programmer
I think OP means stuff you don't WANT to improve (because you're fine with it for x or y reason), not what you did not tackle yet. If I understood well, dynamic poses are on your mind for later work on them.
I also need to work on that. And will.

‐--------

What I won't improve:
The pacing.
I'm fine with improving the perceived pacing by posting more often as best of my abilities; however, changing the pacing of the finished product is something I won't do. I'm not saying that it's impossible to do in a way that would serve the story. I'm sure it's possible. But I have absolutely no idea how to do that and not lose the general atmosphere I want to give. So for now, pacing changes are out of question.

[unknown_user]

If I understood well, dynamic poses are on your mind for later work on them.

Yes... I just postpone it again and again...

I think OP means stuff you don't WANT to improve (because you're fine with it for x or y reason)

@amortelito Is this correct?

[Iris-Grimoire]

OP, you don't have to use a whole background to fight the featureless void problem. Something I see a lot of people do is A) get free to use 3D models/pictures and blur the shit out of them or b) get very light brushes and only do the vague suggestion of a location, like the ground and geometrical shapes of buildings or furniture. It's not the perfect solution, but if your problem is time and not a story driven reason to not draw them, here's some tips.

I'm not changing my story's major pacing even though I know I'm coming up on a lot of flashbacks and people telling stories. The story originally had a very straight timeline and I hated rereading it(made the characters at the same time petty or too justified, when the situations are ambiguous and no one had the full story), and I feel like putting the past and present together as the characters space out every now and then serves the theme better - even if that means the present sequences will be broken up every end of chapter. What's in the present events itself can change, like having the characters run their mouths less, but the flashbacks need to stay.

[SuperRazz]

One trick I do with BGs is that I do just one panel of an establishing shot with a background and then the rest of the panels are just filled with solid colors as BG. Just to convey to the readers the location and the place of the characters with in the set.

I could use a simpler style for the sake of practicality but I dont wanna because my current more anime-ish style is prettier. It's harder but I'm ok with it at the moment. Well not really, my updates suffer because of it. I'm a bit conflicted and I can't decide yet.

I also try to keep the story as straightforward as possible with a simple structure. I could improve it with more twists and arcs and good fillers but I just want to get it over with and have a finished project to show for.

[frgmnt]

Very interesting thread As for my comic, I know it's a bad idea to open the story with a long scene featuring supporting characters talking about things that aren't relevant yet (or at least, not in a way that is easily apparent), and only showing the actual protagonist in ~5 panels in total, but I have not found a better way to do it - actually, it kinda has to be from the perspective of these characters - so I will absolutely not change it ¯\(ツ)/¯ I may remove/rearrange some dialogue but this opening is here to stay.

Also... tbh I kinda really don't like it when writers spoon-feed the reader exposition from page 1 and explain every single thing straightaway... I prefer to leave bits and pieces of information and foreshadowing here and there, so yes, the story might be confusing FOR NOW, but, that's the way I am doing it.
(...well, some panels might be visually confusing because I couldn't figure out how to convey what's going on right, that's a different issue and it is something I do want to improve. )

[Cavechan]

So much stuff.... A lot of the art, especially in the first two chapters. Some of the writing to make it a bit more exciting/natural. But I fear it would require completely rewriting some scenes which I'm just not going to do. I've already done enough revisions...

[Mallory]

The panel layout.

Back when I did my creative writing coursework I used to do a LOT of fancy footwork with paneling. Funny-shaped panels to mimic the mood, inserts within panels, whatever. I got fantastic grades and positive feedback from my classmates in workshops, but I honestly hated it. It took so long to figure out, and it was my least favourite part of the entire comic - even more tedious than drawing the same background elements! Because you have to sit over it for so long to make sure that there's a clear visual direction and that the readers can figure out what's going on. So I said, if I do my own comic outside of the classroom, I will do it in the style of storyboards. Originally I only had one panel shape, but I've diversified it... slightly. But they are still all regular shapes, no overlap, no inserts, 3-6 panels per page.

So I'm now I'm 10 pages into drawing it and I realized that hm, you know what? There's a good reason for all those fancy panels ^^; If you use the same panel size for everything, it's harder to draw importance to actions or scenes. It also makes your story WAY longer, like a good 20% longer when it comes to page count, because you can't "double-up" on real estate. I'm not changing it for the next 40 pages (would be 30... if I didn't insist on this layout...) though, because that all tells one cohesive story and I want to maintain visual consistency. Once that arc is over, I will consider fancying up the layout... slightly.

I honestly still just want to stick to storyboard-like appearance. It's just so much easier. But I MIGHT use some inset panels.

[amortelito]

Yeah, it is correct!
Whatever you won't fix, despite knowing that you could improve.

[joannekwan]

Color and real shading for my grayscale comic.
I would hate coloring/shading my detailed line style every page, let me have my rest.

[Kaylim]

Describing my characters. I don't do it in my short stories. Longer works, yes. But not for my one-page stories. That's something I could fix, and probably should, but won't.

[Azifri]

I won't change the multiple storylines happening in parallel. Back when we were playing the story that would later become Terra Prima as an RPG, several scenes happened like that and I want to keep that feel. The storylines will come together in the future, but there is still a while to go. Also characters, I have dozens, but I like them and enjoy drawing them and their interactions. Maybe as I learn more about comics, I'll make this kind of narrative work better, but it's the best I can do right now

[PaulDevers]

Same as @joannekwan, color and grayscale shading! I know that colors would probably help my comic's performance, but I right now cannot really get the time to do so! Maybe one day, but I really just cannot get the time.
I'll stick with hard black shadows and black details and I'll roll with that!

[Kann]

I refuse to drop the sketchy artstyle I have for comics. It takes less time to finish pages and coloring is easier and faster. It might be messy but I like it that way.