I always keep at least two pages ahead of my comic, but I'm trying to build that up as much as possible.
Since my series is just starting out and I'm still trying to balance out the schedule, I give myself longer than needed to make my comics and use the extra time to experiment and build a backlog.
I'm the weirdo and made a buffer of 50 pages which took me over a year to do thanks to school lmao....
but a buffer is always good to have! especially for days where you don't feel like working/taking a break from drawing comic pages - even an added bonus if you decide to have a patreon, you can have it as a reward that people who donate can read one page ahead or smth along those lines.
Hell yes! Never start a new chapter or set of strips without it. Moreso if you are doing a long form comic though.
LOL nada.
I update an average of 40-50 panels an update that usually takes me 2 weeks to finish. Even if I want to make a buffer, I just can't seem to break ahead. I have been going at this, finishing my update last minute, for over a year so I guess it's not too bad. But it's definitely great having a buffer. You would feel less stressed about not being able to finish your update on time!
I have a gag comic and I still recommend having 20 pages of buffer minimum. It doesn't seem necessary until you really need it.
Yes and no.
Patrons are ahead on 3 of my series, so on those i have the patreon buffer. Meaning if I know I will update on one specific day, I can upload a page on tapas at a more "profitable" time even if I haven't finished drawing the page for patreon yet. Usually patrons get pages either a few hours before or a few hours after the tapas update, but it's always on the same day.
Fourth one has a big buffer, but isn't on patreon.
Fifth one is a short comic that will hopefully run less than 100 pages, which I'm planning to finish within the upcoming 1-3 months to free up space to work on something else. This one has no buffer.
I update as a daily strip and currently have a buffer of three months~90 strips (original it was six but it slipped heavily due to a rough start and lotsa stress. I'm such a noob 
)
Right now I caught myself and keep my buffer quite well. If I ever catch up, I'll probably go on an hiatus for a week or two and post reruns in that time...I hope that won't happen for a while tho...
I upload 1 or 2 pages a week and I've never had a buffer… but I do find them very useful and wish I had one, haha.
I previously had a buffer on a different comic, but it was too far ahead (over 100 pages ahead, actually) and it really detached me from the story and made it hard for me to remember to post on time since I wasn't constantly working towards a posting deadline. So that actually worked against me, haha! 
I have almost a year of comic buffer. May seem crazy but I have a full time job and I need some breathing room. It also gives me time to relax so I don't get burn out.
Oh, those good old days when I had time to have a buffer. I used to have one when the Support Program was still active. I had two pages for the early release and then two page buffer. So fo regular readers, it's like a 4 page buffer.
Now, because of college, work and preparing for finding a full time job, I have 0. I do recommend a consistent schedule (in other words, not what I've been doing lately). The only time I would have hiatus after finishing a chapter is to work on writing up the next chapter and drawing the thumbnails, which can take hours.
How long does it take you to complete a single page? My work takes less than 20 minutes on paper and 4-6 hours to ink it digitally and add panels, speech, tones, etc. 8 hours tops. Depending on how busy you are, once a week is pretty good. Twice a week is better but quite a bit of work.
No buffer here. If I get ahead with drawing, I usually end up being lazy and take it easy until it's gone again xD
Of my 3 series, I have a 2-3 page buffer for one of them, and I only built that buffer a couple months ago when the comic is over 2 years old.
This! Plus, I also get really anxious if I don't show the finished material to people right away. Like, does this even make sense to anyone other than me???? It's like someone with arachnophobia needing to know if there's a spider in their bed. It's not about wanting praises right away; it's about wanting to make sure there are no metaphorical spiders lurking in my buffer!
I have a small buffer, about 1-5 weeks ahead (varies), but only because I share the buffer with my Patrons. I don't think I could maintain ANY buffer without that.
I have like half a year buffer for both my ongoing comics D:
It's not fun feeling detached to it (because I do) but I also enjoy being able to take a week or two off and not work on comics at all.
I mean, life happens so it's nice to not feel guilty (I do, even so) if you prefer a week on the couch.
yeah, I had a thirty page buffer before starting and generally have a half-year buffer like a few people here. It's nice to not have to panic if you don't finish a page in time. It also lets you work in chunks, which for me at least, helps create flow in the pages.
I have about 2-3 pages drawn out ahead of time.
My comic style is pretty simplistic but it's still better to have stuff ready than to not.
I try to have at least a few pages, but have a bad habit of running out. Usually when starting a new story.
