do you have any tips for new comic artists looking to post their work? Any tips on work flow or avoiding burn out! I’m curious to see what personally works for you!
also I LOVE your designs!!
WAH thank you so much TT_TT i'm always very flattered when people come to me for advice. I never feel particularly helpful, but here's what I've told folks in the past -
You HAVE TO be having fun. This is nonnegotiable. Unless you are planning on making some kind of income off of your comic, you are doing this for you. Fall in love with your work, with your story, with your characters. Make something YOU want to see more of, something YOU have to see through to the end. Cater the experience of creating and posting to yourself and your enjoyment as much as possible. If there is a step of the process you hate very badly, try to find a way of circumventing it or doing it in a way that is fun for you. Set boundaries for how people interact with you, and don't feel obligated to meet anyone's expectations but your own. I look forward to working on my comic, and when I don't I just... don't work on it. Because the moment this thing becomes a chore I know I'm going to hate it and not want to come back to it.
Be prepared for things to change and adapt as you go, and try to maintain forward momentum as much as possible. It can be very tempting when you discover something isn't working for you to look at your entire body of work and think about scrapping it and starting over so it can be perfect. THAT IS THE DEVIL TALKING. Your first pages are never going to be as good as the ones to follow. You will get better as you go, you will learn, and you will grow as an artist. You will look at something you drew 50 pages ago and go "what was i thinking? i could do that so much better now!" And yeah. You could !! So take that energy to your next page instead of dwelling on what is done. You can fix errors and mistakes, sure. But try not to fall into a cycle of endlessly editing and redoing your finished work. You can tweak your formatting, designs, and style as you go. Your art is going to progress naturally anyway, so you might as well adapt and embrace change and use what you learn to keep your story going.
When it comes to posting and scheduling, try to evaluate your output first. This is something everyone else does differently. I have a massive backlog, and I am able to knock out several pages within the span of a week. Because of that, I'm very comfortable posting many pages at a time for my updates. If you are trying to adhere to a posting schedule and keep a backlog, don't post more than you can reasonably replenish within that timeframe. I am a big fan of keeping a backlog. I think a regular schedule is better for engagement, but it's also nice to have a cushion so you know you can take breaks and give yourself time to rest between updates without feeling like you're running out. and you do HAVE to take breaks. seriously.
Try to establish a healthy relationship with engagement and numbers. This one is easier said than done. I find it very naive and disingenuous when people say you shouldn't care about numbers on social media, because I think a huge driving force of making art for many folks is the desire to be seen and connect with others over it. I think it is VERY normal to be frustrated when something you put a lot of effort into "flops," but I also think preparing yourself for that disappointment is absolutely critical. It takes time to build an audience, especially if this is your first project. The number of likes or asks or followers you have is not emblematic of the quality of your work. Try to remind yourself often that behind every like and comment is a real person who cared about your work enough to let you know. And always, always circle back to my first point - Make sure YOU are having fun. You are the most important audience you will ever have, and I sincerely believe that if you have passion for your work, there is SOMEONE out there that will feel that and connect with it. Likely many someones! At the end of the day, we are all playing an algorithmic slot machine, which means it may take some time to find your audience. But you will never, ever have an audience without putting something out there first.
as always, I apologize for how much I ramble when I give advice. I tried to really focus on workflow and posting here specifically. I hope it helps you in your future creative endeavors!!
