Working on Your Comic But Not Really (+Shameless Plug)

fakey 2019-09-03 20:27:18 UTC #1

So, what I mean is when you aren't actively drawing pages for your comic, how else do you spend time working on it? For me this mostly falls into planning things out for the story or characters. I like to review the plot multiple times to make sure I have a firm understanding of it and to make sure that I don't come back to it and find something I suddenly dislike. I also just like redrawing characters, or trying out different designs for ones that haven't appeared yet. It's really all about making sure I don't become too distant from the work during long gaps in production. By constantly interacting with the comic in some fashion it's easier to get right back to work when I find the time to do so.

This leads me to my next topic - Hey I posted a new chapter of my comic "Detective Jay" and it's been about half a year since I posted the last one! How did I manage to avoid growing distant from the story and characters of the comic, you may ask? Well, see above! I came back to this new chapter feeling even better about the comic and ready to start drawing and writing, despite being away from it for such a long time. I'll just casually drop a link to it right here:

So tell me: What are the ways you deal with long gaps in comic making? Do you try to tinker away with the elements of your story? Redesign old and new characters for fun? Plot out entire arcs or storylines?

IndigoShirtProd 2019-09-03 21:48:35 UTC #2

I usually do the same, going back through my outline, reviewing chapters, and general planning. I often use just drawing the characters in one-offs as an excuse for "working" on the comic, even though I don't really see it as such. I'm just constantly thinking of ideas that I can work into my comic as I slowly build up a buffer to finish the chapter I'm on. Things for other chapters are finished in tandem even when I'm working on one specific chapter.
I also work on promotional things like covers, logos, posters, etc.

Kann 2019-09-03 22:05:20 UTC #3

General planning, writing down dialogues and ideas, doing research if necessary... Also some comic-related art. xD

BlueWorldComics 2019-09-03 22:15:40 UTC #4

Working on your comic? What's that?

draweththeraven 2019-09-04 11:24:12 UTC #5

Anthrel technically comes under historical fiction, and doubling that with religious history being the focal point, it's really important to be respectful and accurate, so 99% of my time is spent researching! This can go from Wikipedia and Britannica articles to full on academic journals I found by accident. That stuff influences plot and character outfits especially so I also do a lot of design/plot revision!

My favourite version of comic-work-but-not, however, is forcing my friends to listen to me talk about it while i spam them with doodles that have nothing to do with the story.

Cavechan 2019-09-04 11:40:22 UTC #6

My comic, True Power: MS2, already has all the thumbnails done so when I put it onto hiatus I'm actually working on sketching out pages.

For my comic, Celestial Chronicle Shion, I am still working on the thumbnails. So down time is working on thumbnails, tweaking them, or doing research for them.

Lucca_Vendramel 2019-09-04 13:00:47 UTC #7

i like to think of dialogues and possible plot holes + their solutions
Scenes are also really nice

ProjectHybrid 2019-09-04 15:40:50 UTC #8

Usually when I'm not working on the current story, I work on one of my other ones. That, or planning the story, proofreading my scripts and just imagining what the characters say/do in a situation. I haven't been able to do so due to other commitments but when I do have the time, I like to devote a good portion of it to planning the story from writing to art to characters. Lately, I think I've gotten better with my backgrounds!

AureliusSnow 2019-09-04 15:46:56 UTC #9

I mostly make concept art or spend time planning my other comics. For the one I'm currently working on, I already know how it's gonna go down. Though I do have a script I'm still working out and thumbnails that still need to be sketched. I just wish it was a faster process lol! There's an amino I'm in called the Comic Maker Amino which helps me a ton as well. It's rare when I'm not thinking about my comic.

kaetana 2019-09-04 17:31:09 UTC #10

The most common thing I do is go on walks, listen to music from my comic playlists on my headphones, and just brainstorm various things for the comics. Scenes, character arcs, whatever pops to mind. I have an app on my phone in case I need to jot something I think of down while I'm out.

I'll also sometimes do illustrations related to the comic, but that aren't directly meant for pages or cover art. Since I go more detailed with my style when I'm not doing pages, this can sort of feel refreshing as a break from the grind of drawing batches of pages, while still keeping my brain focused on the comic. ^_^

If I'm really just not wanting to work, I might watch or play something that is an inspiration towards some aspect of the comic, and see if that gives me a boost.

irene_addler 2019-09-04 17:35:21 UTC #11

Ehh, I'm either working directly on my comic, maybe editing the story, or derping around not working on it like I should hahaha very occasionally I'll work on a banner/ad/image to promote my webcomic elsewhere with, but not often!

OttoGruenwald 2019-09-05 13:08:45 UTC #12

Lazy? I'm not lazy! I just...work slow!