How do cartoonists do it, /co/? I'm trying to build up a backlog for a webcomic I want to release, and I can't even come close to one comic per day. It takes me at least three or four days to conceive, draw, and color a single five- to ten-panel comic. I work several hours a day at it, and the drawings aren't even that complex, but I guess my process is just really inefficient. Do any experienced cartoonists have tips?
>>150210458Dedicate days for certain things. Come up with your story for several consecutive comics one day. Rough sketches the next just to get your paneling and layout ready. Refine/Line your drawings the next. Color the day after. Last review and changes after that and so on.Don't do it all in one day, space the process for all your comics across the week. After a few weeks of this, you'll have a nice backlog.
>>150210458Have you tried breaking down the process into smaller tasks? Say, instead of drawing an entire page at a time, you wrote/drafted out a whole batch of pages as rough thumbnails first. Then you went back and edited the worst/best stuff around, so now you focus on just sketching everything. By the time you go back again for cleanup, you'll have muscle memory'd all the little steps it takes to simplify the designs so you know where you can cut corners and what parts need more attention/time. Maybe consider collaborating with someone on colors, if not maybe sit down and develop a palette you can reuse a lot. If you do this enough times it becomes a cycle of going through the different phases for each batch and its a little less tedious.Compartmentalizing the process helps to speed things up, but end of the day its still something that takes up a lot of time and you kinda have to live and breathe it at the expense of time you could put into other things.
Excellent threads anon - investing.>>150210458>>150210485>>150210505For once OP is not a faggot.
>>150210485Damn, I feel stupid for not thinking of this. Obviously transitioning between so many different types of task is slowing me down. I need to reduce the switching friction.>>150210505Yeah, I realize my problem is trying to do the comics one at a time instead of concentrating on different elements. It makes sens.
>>150210458I used to do the mistake of trying to do a page daily. Don't fall for a "daily upload schedule", space them out. Take your time working on your craft and as long as you keep at it you'll also keep improving and learning new tricks, leading you to start finding the process easier and getting things done faster.
>>150210458How much time does it take for you to execute one piece WITHOUT factoring in "writing" time? That's as close as a consistent factor you'll get (ideation time is wildly variable even for experienced professionals), so you should determine whether that part is sustainable with your skill, experience and choice of style.Also, note that sustaining the writing of a "daily" strip is in a way much more difficult than doing an ongoing narrative as every piece must have self-contained value and there's much less margin for filler content.
>>150210515Thank you anon.>>150210552Hmm yeah, I should probably space them out. Daily is not realistic for me, even if I become more efficient.>>150210556I have a writing background and got into drawing kinda late, so the bottleneck for me is definitely the drawing. I care a lot about line quality (Walt Kelly being my ideal in this regard; see pic) and will Ctrl-Z compulsively until the line feels right. I've done a lot of fundies, but I think I'm a slow drawer by nature and this is causing issues.
>>150210458>How do cartoonists do itIt's their literal full-time job>I work several hours a day at itThey work 8 or more per day at it
>>150210536>Damn, I feel stupid for not thinking of this.Don't be, it's an easy thing to fall into the "Do one thing, completely and then move on to the next thing." mindset. It's how we were taught to do shit all our lives. What they don't teach you is that the "Ford Method" of automation can be retooled to do a lot of the same kind of projects across multiple days by completing the same parts of each project each day.It took me a few years to figure that shit out and when I did my output stream lined over the months that I could do "a comic a day" by having them all finished by friday or saturday each week. Of course, I don't do that kind of output anymore, damn carpal tunnel's been chipping away at me. Take care of yourself my dude.
>>150210591Walt Kelly never had ctrl-z and that's why his line was so beautiful. Digital is a crutch and you'll advance in skill a lot faster by using traditional materials and learning from your mistakes.
>>150210458Good thread, and good OP image. Rosebuds has been a fun read since it went daily.But as every other anon has said, don't do it all at once, split up your work between objectives. I think newspaper artists do this, too. Can you also share with us some of your work?>>150210552And this. In today's creative climate it's kind of unwise to do comics daily. That type of grind was from a time when it was viable to do it for newspapers. You're better off doing 1-2 comics a week.
You need a style and designs you can do fast, then you need a premise that allows you to add whatever silly shit you might notice while walking down the street, from your current life or childhood or what happens in the mainstream media.Consistancy is hard but when you got the formular down it gets a bit easier.
>>150210458>how do cartoonists do it?by being paid full time for it or by having a social safety net in the form of a relative, spouse, or parent
>>150210458I have always emphasized developing my drawing speed.
>>150212359>dat nameDo you hiss and roodypoos too?
>>150210458I don't know, I did webcomics back in 02 to 05, PA, CAD etc, I wanted to BE the next GAMER COMIX GUY when the market was flooded.Then I got out of HS, college was a joke and my drawing ability waned massively. I stopped using my DA, picked up a Pixiv account and chatted with ppl who are now way bigger like 774 and Cool
>>150210458>It takes me at least three or four days to conceive, draw, and color a single five- to ten-panel comic.that is about my speed. but the amount of effort is relative to how simple your pages are. >>150210552>Don't fall for a "daily upload schedule" I think the daily update is a good idea. because today we're in a content creator culture. I try to aim for daily updates, but I may do a simpler update one day.
Some great advice in this thread
>>150210458>I'm trying to build up a backlog for a webcomic I want to release, and I can't even come close to one comic per day. It takes me at least three or four days to conceive, draw, and color a single five- to ten-panel comicDepending on your art style and how much detail you put into your art, that's not actually that bad. Even making a daily comic in the simple style like peanuts can be pretty hard, since you still have to worry about composition, inking, keeping characters consistent, etc. Creating comics isn't easy, and most people don't really get successful from it. Just know what you're getting into and why you're making your comic in the first place.
>>150210591>>150210648You can definitely still make beautiful lines in digital, you just have to be aware of your lineweight and what brushes you're using. It's only a crutch if you didn't learn fundies
>>150210485I need to do this too. I always try and do everything all at once and spread myself too thin
