Creating a webcomic is a multi-faceted endeavour. There are many moving parts from writing to drawing to managing social media accounts and everything in between. For me, there are some parts of the process I like and some which I really struggle to find motivation to do, particularly when life picks up.
The process of making an issue or page is a peaks and troughs experience with regards to my level of motivation. I love writing the script and dialog as I do that with my comic partner. It makes the process so much more enjoyable as we can bounce ideas around between us and see what does and doesn’t work.
However, when it comes to doing the comic layouts and placing type on the page, oh boy, do I struggle with that process. Trying to think of new ways to present the information and where the characters are going to stand vs the panel and flow of the page takes a bit of mental maneuvering for me.
Though, once that process is done and I can move on to sketching, things go quicker. Sketching I find a bit tedious, because I’m anxious to get to my favourite stage, the inking! I love seeing all the beautiful black lines. It’s akin to sculpting into granite, where with each stroke you see it all come together. And don’t get me started on drawing hair! I spend way too much time playing with aspect of drawing.
Once that’s done, I apply the flats and render. The degree to which I enjoy this part changes day-to-day. Sometimes it's a real struggle to work out how the lighting looks and how the hair should be rendered. It’s also one of the more time consuming aspects of the comic to do, despite the shortcuts I find.
When I am finally happy with the page, I send it to my comic partner for review and then resize, cut and upload it to the various platforms. This is either a painless activity or one of hair wrenching frustration, as some days the systems do not want to cooperate. Generally speaking though, it’s a bit of a chore so I try to do a few at a time.
The part I struggle with the most when I am really in the comic producing stage, is putting it out there on social and having something to say. These days I push a lot of that now onto my comic partner, but when I have the time, I enjoy interacting with everyone. It just comes down to that all important factor, time.
What part of the webcomic process do you enjoy the most? What part do you dislike? Let us know in the comment section below! And join us on Sunday evening for our Quackchat at 5:30PM(EST)!
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What you love and what you hate about comics
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Aug. 16, 2019
4 likes!
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cdmalcolm1 at 9:11PM, Aug. 16, 2019
I love inking and pencils.... Coloring flats and details to coloring I don’t like. Sometimes I hate drawing parts of a story. I hate that I have to be in the mood to draw.
HyperFabMag at 6:34PM, Aug. 16, 2019
I personally don't mind doing everything, but it'd be nice to have a person share the load just for the sake of getting my stories out faster, but if I HAD to choose one task it's probably be clean ups, I guess I could go digital but I honestly feel like I work faster on paper.
hushicho at 6:08PM, Aug. 16, 2019
I despise social media, and it is absolutely my least favorite part of the whole process. Probably understandably, I've drastically reduced my presence on it in the last few years. But social media, promotion, advertisement...I loathe it, and I wish there were any better option. For so many of us, there simply isn't.
ShaRose49 at 1:25PM, Aug. 16, 2019
I love almost every part except for maybe keeping a schedule, that part can be a little stressful. Also, on some pages with big illustrations, the shading and colouring can be very time-consuming.
usedbooks at 9:09AM, Aug. 16, 2019
If a page is going well, I enjoy every step but the tedious less creative steps less. If I can't seem to make a page work, I hate every step (but the tedious less creative steps LESS because they are mechanical). The worst part, though, is accidentally merging layers mid-edit and saving over both your file and your backup file without realizing it.
bravo1102 at 8:48AM, Aug. 16, 2019
I hate everything except looking at the finished page and realizing I did that. ;) And then editing and tweaking and editing and tweaking. I like tweaking.
Ironscarf at 6:38AM, Aug. 16, 2019
The hardest part for me is definitely self promotion. I used to hate lettering, but now with digital fonts I actually really enjoy it. My favourite things are probably the layout stage and that feeling when a finished panel turns out well.
KAM at 5:31AM, Aug. 16, 2019
Hate that I can't make any money at it.
Froggtreecomics at 4:22AM, Aug. 16, 2019
Love the drawing, loathe the colouring.
IronHorseComics at 3:17AM, Aug. 16, 2019
I really enjoy bouncing ideas around with a couple of people I know. The worst part to me is drawing the lineart because it takes so long to do.