What have you learned from making comics?

[BrambleberrySquirrel]

I feel like I learn something new every time I complete an update. Here are ,some of my key takeaways.

1. Overly complex character designs will come back to bite you. You’ll be drawing them over and over again. Simplify to save time and frustration later on.

2. Draw your panels in a way that allows for flexible formatting for distribution on multiple platforms. I’ve seen surprising success putting my comic on Reddit in a non scrolling format in addition to having it here on Tapas.

3. After you finish all the panels in an update have someone else look it over before posting. At the very least take a few hours to a day and then look at it again with fresh eyes. You will probably find some things you want to fix before it goes out to your audience.

4. Backgrounds, shading and lighting really make a huge difference! Even if you don’t execute each of these elements perfectly in each panel they will come together to create a sense of depth and substance.

5. If you’re doing digital art: make sure all your canvases are set to at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). If you want to print your comic as a book or even share special panels or covers as prints for patrons etc this will matter. Most printers won’t print anything below 300 dpi due to low quality in the printed image.
   This isn’t something you can go back and change later. Your canvas needs to be set to a high dpi before you draw on it. I don’t know if I’m ever going to need to print them but mine are all set to 1,000 just in case.

6. Finally, have fun with it! Your passion and commitment to the project show through what you create. If you are stressed or not taking care of yourself in order to meet a deadline it will show in what you produce. Don’t make the mistake of taking something you love and making it a burden.

[Phantomlight]

Oh no! Don't say that! We're all a work in progress! We're all improving and learning! That goes for you too. You do not suck, unless you're a sentient vacuum.

[Sadboihours]

XD lol thanks! Rn I am working on a novel, but tbh, its really bad. # Hatecomments!

[Phantomlight]

@cookyroach Your comic looks great on mobile for me. Text is large enough and you're images are easily to see and format works well. I have seen some comic formats where you have to zoom for a lot of things. Yours works well ^^

[Kelheor]

It's better to start drawing a comic when you got the first itch to do it. You may never find yourself good enough, so there's no "later". You will learn how to draw everything much faster when drawing a comic: poses, expressions, backgrounds, coloring... Most likely it won't be good in the beginning. Most likely you'll need a few comics to become better. But it's okay.

Learn from others. You will have hard time trying to scoop the information from your brain that is not even in your brain. So you will need those references, tutorials, colour combinations, tricks how other people color and shade, use of hotkeys, etc.

There will be people who won't like something in your comic or the comic as a whole. People would want another cast of characters, another pairing, another font color, another plot twist... Tastes differ. It's okay, you're not a 100$ bill to be loved by everyone.

There will be hard times, but try to have as much fun as you can and enjoy the process, because only you can tell this story

[cookieroach]

Thanks for the great tips! Finding a good minimum font size would probably be a good idea for me. I make my comic like traditional pages, so I suspect that it isn't too good on mobile unfortunately. Oh that would be super nice of you! And if it's hard to read, don't be afraid to tell me!

[cookieroach]

Haha, I replied to your first comment before I saw this one... Thanks for taking the time to look at it! I really appreciate it

[cookieroach]

haha noo, I don't belive that! But if it's true, that would mean you can only get better right?

[Sadboihours]

I mean, ya. The only good thing about hitting rock bottom?
YOU CAN ONLY GO UP

[cookieroach]

1. Oh yeah, so true. I think it's a nice inspiration to look at character design for animation, where simplifying is super important.
2. This is a good one, but also hard (for me at least). I guess it takes practise to think about this in the thumbnailing phase.
3. Maybe the most important one? I think it's easy to get caught in a trap where you start out because it was fun, then it gets more and more serious and you lose the passion you had from the beginning. I'm a little bit worried about this for myself.

(And I liked your other points as well, just so they don't feel left out)

[TheGentleArtist]

What I've learned is don't' have slow beginnings. It doesn't catch the readers' eye and also it takes too long to get the story going.

Man, I really wish that I found out about that sooner XD; it happens though.

[CommanderMarty]

I learned how to draw, write, and pace a story.

[BrambleberrySquirrel]

I think building up a buffer helps with preventing burnout. Sometimes you just need a break for a couple weeks so you can come back fresh. I did this back in August and took a little mental health break.

[cookieroach]

Really good advice. I procrastinated on doing comics for really long because I felt I wasn't "ready" yet. But how can you improve if you never start?

I agree, tastes will always differ (which is a good thing). It can be hard to accept that not everyone will love your stuff, but also a kind of freedom to not feel the need to cater to everyone.

[oshirockingham]

I learned the hard way.
Tips? Uh, I don't think I have some.

[TheGentleArtist]

Things I learned while making a Comic:

1. Make sure that you have a buffer beforehand. This way, you can avoid getting stressed about getting the next update out; especially if things happen out of your control.

2. Have a schedule and schedule your updates; having a schedule helps keep you in a groove and makes it easier for your audience to know when you update so that they are in the know. Tapas also has a nice schedule system, so it is good to schedule the release of the next update to avoid whatever happens and give you a peace of mind.

3. Have an engaging synopsis. It is a quick summary of what happens in your story for the reader to not only get enticed, but also to expect; you can give the name of a few characters, a little spoiler of the story (not spoiling it entirely mind you) and ect., It is also fine to change the synopsis here and there if the current one is not clicking with you.

4. Reveal your important characters early. Do not dump all of them in the audiences face in one go, it gets overwhelming; reveal them either one by one or by groups at different times of the story.

[Rhonder]

ojeez, quite a lot lol. Here's a random list:

1.) something that seems obvious in hindsight but that a lot of people (myself included) miss at first is to design panel compositions with the speech bubbles in mind. I know how much people plan ahead varies a lot from person to person (from having the whole story planned on on one extreme to making up each page/episode on the spot as you go) but regardless of which style suits you, there's no excuse not to at least know the dialogue for a page/episode at the thumbnailing phase, such that you can figure out how much text there will be and where it can fit.

Granted I feel that vertical scroll comics have some more flexibility with this because worst case they can just shift the bubbles up or down into the space between panels and just add a little more if they need it. This is harder to accomplish in traditional pages, as any bubble that breaks out of the panel will likely be covering up a different one and so you have to make a sacrifice somewhere xD

2.) Comics help all art skills develop at a rapid pace I've found, as you're drawing a lot of different types of things and frequently, but I've personally made the largest strides in understanding perspective better and leveling up my backgrounds by doing comics. It's fun to see that improvement episode to episode and especially comic to comic~

3.) How to structure my free time more rigorously. I've always been into drawing since I was young, but even when I started taking it more seriously as a hobby, I was still rather undisciplined about it. Starting comics and especially with a page-a-week series helped me block out several times per week to sit down and just get some work done, which is great for finishing projects faster lol. But it's also applicable to other hobbies/just general time management discipline as well.

[Phantomlight]

I think building up a buffer helps with preventing burnout.

I highly recommend making a buffer! I did this before and it's so nice. And it's like really great when you can catch yourself at times when you're really motivated to create. Not to overwork oneself though, just to take advantage of those times when you feel ready, willing, and happy to draw! I would create two episodes or at least work on parts of the process on those days! And I would schedule 3 episodes in advance when I did that because I didn't know if things would come up or I wouldn't physically or mentally be feeling well. It's good to prepare for that kind of stuff when you can ^^

[rajillustration]

For me

1. Save time by just asking for advice, and asking for help
2. Research your platform before you post--not every comic is intended for Tapas, some comics will be very difficult to read on different devices, and you want people to find you in the right place. Don't just post to everywhere and then sit back and be like "oh damn now I have to figure out why this didn't work out"
3. You're more than just one comic, if something isn't working out it's A-OK to do a different one you'll enjoy more. Your comic will not be offended, it is not a living being. You are not married to your comics.
4. A little prep work goes a long way--so if you do a set of steps a lot--automate that set of steps. Learn how Actions work and Automate everything you can.
5. Draw designs you really enjoy drawing because you have to do a lot of it.
6. Not all Illustration is for comics. If you want to make concept art just make concept art. Comics are a completely different pipeline, and you do need to make a pipeline or you will never get fast enough to make these in a weekly manner.
7. Bold Graphic design choices save you a hell ton of time you would have spent drawing details.
8. Edit out your darlings. You don't need that character. You don't. You don't need that scene. You know which one I'm talking about. You don't have time to do it, it's a comic.
9. Seriously, write a script. Make sure something HAPPENS in every update. Know exactly how many pages you have to make to finish this thing and ask yourself...will I finish this thing? Or should I break it into smaller pieces?
10. Find out how long it takes to make a page--make your update schedule twice that amount of time.
11. Make a lot of buffer (like a lot) I had a years worth of buffer--I used up allllll of it.
12. What someone else did to get famous probably won't apply to anyone else anymore. Times move very quickly.

[cookieroach]

Really good to have a buffer and a schedule! I'm still trying to figure out what time and day to post new pages, but it's hard to figure out (should you try to post when there is the most traffic, or does it get drowned below the other comics?)

Also good advice regarding the synopsis and characters. I know I've gotten stuck with not wanting to reveal or "spoil" things too early, but that just makes the start of the story boring, and the readers won't ever find out about the cool things you had planned (because they give up on reading before that).