Hi.
I'm sort of new to creating comics, and I was a bit curious about how much time it's normal to spend on one page/strip on a comic? I guess it varies a lot from person to person, but I'm just curious to know :3
As for me, I usually spend several hours on one strip (black and white) from sketch to 100% done (with the text bubbles and all) :0
4-5 hours but I'm really hoping to cut that down in the future. Since I can't draw anyway, I find shortcuts both appealing and morally ambiguous. ;D
It depewnds on the content of my comic, and if I am building a new scene or using a previous scene. It can take from 2 hours to about 3 days if I dont watch it, sometimes more if PWtoon is being quirky.
Depends on how distracted I get. I have the attention span of a gnat and it's probably why I never managed to actually finish a project.
I have to agree with Funderbunk about the distractions. The time really is variable on the type of comic you do, your mind's layout of the comic, and if you have all your text known. Regardless, it's going to take a few hours no matter what.
It depends on my comic. My sketch comic? 2 hours, tops. My other comic, I can spend a good 5-8 hours on so far. But that's partially because I'm not used to inking digitally yet.
*Sigh* :-[
A couple hours to sketch...
Several hours to ink...
Several more hours to color...
So, maybe 10 hours? And this is assuming I already know the exact script and layout for the page. It's the reason I can only manage once-a-week updates. I'm just not that good of an artist, and I can only make up for it by being horribly meticulous.
Going the traditional route, it takes me about 2 hours for layouts, pencils & inks. Then another 2-3 hours for coloring & dialog. But I recently got a Cintiq and now it takes me TWICE AS FREAKIN' LONG. for now. I'm hoping to get better and cut that time down.
If I ace the sketching layer I'll just make it the inking layer. When I do that, the comic only takes a measly 4 hours. Usually, though, it takes closer to 5 or 7. If it's a rough comic, like the one I'm doing now, it can take 10. And that's faster than I used to do it, too. Once I settle down with the art style it'll hopefully go a lot faster.
I usually break my comic down into 2-3 hour sessions every day 6 days a week. That leaves one day for video games or other projects or catch-up for when I can't get my comic done between 4 hours of school and 8 hours of work.
my black and white comic: ~4 hrs
my full color comic ~8 hours
@_@ I know it's terrible... but I'm always watching TV or singing to terrible music while I'm doing it.
A little offtopic, but if you enjoy the music it how can it be terrible music?
Though one of the great Disney animators was once asked 'what kind of music do you listen to while you draw' and he replied 'nothing, I'm not smart enough to do those things at the same time' or something like that. I forgot the actual quote - it's been a while since I read The Animator's Survival Kit.
Quote from: Funderbunk on January 25, 2010, 03:48:29 AM
A little offtopic, but if you enjoy the music it how can it be terrible music?
I have an author friend who always has movies playing when he writes. He has stated that there is a delicate balance between a movie being good enough to make him actually enjoy having it on and bad enough so that it doesn't suck him in and draw his attention away from his work. He does not consider these films "good." For the most part they are just background noise and I've found that a lot of creative people need that to focus on their work.
I play my favorite music while I'm writing, drawing, animating, whatever but I've found that when I do I rarely actually hear the music. As much as I love it it takes a rare gem that I haven't herd in a long time to pull me from the fugue state I'm in while being creative.
All of that said. It seems like everyone here spends a LOT of time on their comics. This could be an interesting topic to tackle. Time management I mean. I'll have to think about that.
On average, a completed page like this one takes me 6-8 hours to complete. I have 3 stages in creating a page:
1) Sketch in Photoshop - This is the longest process. If it is a complex page with a detailed environment and many characters, this can take up to 4-5 hours.
2) Lineart in Illustrator -I basically just trace over the sketch with vector lineart. Sometimes I notice errors at this stage and I have to go back and fix them. 2-3 hours
3) Color, resize, and add credits in Photoshop My favorite part of the process! Mostly because it's so nice to finally get something DONE. XD 1-2 hours
Normally it only takes me 3-4 hours for a strip, but I do so much in a day that I have to spread that out over the course of a couple days. However, my current storyline has some crazy lighting in it, so it's been taking me an extra couple of hours (I spent about 8-10 hours yesterday doing today's strip).
It takes me about 90 min to do a b/w strip on a comic page I take about 6 to 8 hrs just to get everything right. on my posters It can be 3days to a week.
Quote from: Funderbunk on January 25, 2010, 03:48:29 AMA little offtopic, but if you enjoy the music it how can it be terrible music?
"So I want to kill this waitress.
She's been here a year longer than I.
If I did it fast,
You know that's an act of kindness."
:D I love this song, but please tell me that this phrase is not terrible in some small way.
Quote from: Rob on January 25, 2010, 06:03:56 AM
I have an author friend who always has movies playing when he writes. He has stated that there is a delicate balance between a movie being good enough to make him actually enjoy having it on and bad enough so that it doesn't suck him in and draw his attention away from his work. He does not consider these films "good." For the most part they are just background noise and I've found that a lot of creative people need that to focus on their work.
I play my favorite music while I'm writing, drawing, animating, whatever but I've found that when I do I rarely actually hear the music. As much as I love it it takes a rare gem that I haven't herd in a long time to pull me from the fugue state I'm in while being creative.
You know, this is going to sound really strange, but when I draw, I feel like my ability to listen actually increases. When I look at the image I made later on, and remember each stroke, I can often recall exactly what I was listening to at the time. It ended up being a really useful tool for me in college. When the professor was being really boring, I'd just start drawing whatever he was talking about (or sometimes something completely different... like doughnuts) and I could remember his/her entire lecture just by looking at the image for a while before the exam.
I don't have a terribly good visual or an outstanding audio memory, but when I put the two together it stimulates some fact-storing part of my brain it seems.
I've thought about making a book just of these little "mind drawings" I've done over the years, since I have thousands.... but then again, I doubt people will be riveted by a cluster of 10 bird skeletons and five glazed crullers scribbled about on lined notebook paper.
I usually spent about 25-40 hrs per page. Yeaah, I know. insane. :o
I'm working to cut that time down when I relaunch. 8)
A Millennium page will take about 4-7 hours.
Lovefeast pages usually take 4-6 hours. Sometimes I'll get stuck on something and they take even longer.
The only thing that makes drawing pages take longer is if I have to draw a whole lot of figures or lots of background details -- but mostly figures.
Sometimes music helps, and background noise like TV almost always helps, but sometimes I prefer to work in complete silence.
I'm also starting to use the Pomodoro Technique (http://www.pomodorotechnique.com) to better time myself and make it so I don't get so worn out when doing things that need to be done on time.
Quote from: Senshuu on February 01, 2010, 09:57:13 AM
I'm also starting to use the Pomodoro Technique (http://www.pomodorotechnique.com) to better time myself and make it so I don't get so worn out when doing things that need to be done on time.
I checked this out and I don't think it is something I could ever use. When I'm in the creative zone I lose all track of time and immerse myself in the process. An interruption every 25 minutes would be maddening for me.
When I'm writing it's like I'm possessed and when I finally come up for air it is often hungry, tired, dazed and usually having to go to the bathroom really badly. :-\
I am kind of the same way; however, it has incredibly negative effects on both my body and my mood. Taking breaks in the middle of things is necessary for my continued and timely productivity, I've found, and good artists (and people who are good at anything) won't have their creative completely thrown just by taking a short break.
Of course, THE ZONE is a little different for different people and things. Drawing can be kind of monotonous, though, depending on what you have to do, especially at a computer desk with a less-than-great chair...
I think it depends. The more you draw the easier it is to stay in the zone. I have periods where I draw a lot and I get in the zone as the drop of a hat. Then I have periods where I barely draw at all (for example, I had a temporary internship for the last few months that involved 4 hours of commuting each day added to regular work hours that caused me to have almost no free time) and then I feel uninspired, out of practice. At those times I have to rely on random bouts of inspiration to get me in the zone and any interruption will break it.
if anything interrupts me while I'm in the zone I get really really pissy about it. And then I lament the fact that whatever I've been interrupted for is now keeping me from whatever it is I want to be doing creatively. If I actually have to stop and go do something else for awhile I can get really frustrated.
But that's life. My best work comes from those crazy hours when I surrender my consciousness to the universe though. So when I find the path there I really like to respect it and get as much as I can from it. Because it can be elusive.
I have movies and music going on in the background all the time when I work. I figure it's an extra bit of something going on that keeps the part of my mind occupied that usually gets distracted and derails me when I'm trying to concentrate.
I'd say it takes 3-4 hours per page: layouts in my sketchbook, which I do a bunch at a time, then ~30 minutes for the rough sketch in Photoshop, ~30 more for flat colors and darker final lines, then anywhere up to a couple hours for polishing the edges of my usually crazy-messy colors and getting the slightly painterly look. Lettering doesn't take much time, and usually I'm impatient at that point because I've just sat refining the same panel for an hour.
I spend 1-3 hours on a comic, depending on whether I need to make a second copy for scanning. If I scan the first copy, drawing and editing doesn't take me too long, since I draw more for textual content than artistic complexities.
I spend about 3-5 hours. That's prominently due to the fact that I look at something, dislike it, then redo it about 4 times lol. I do a really rough sketch in a book, then I do a panel layout on the computer and start the sketch. Then I ink it, color it, then do a little something for the bg. Then word bubble time, resize and save as.
Oohhh yeah, movies on while drawing is the best. xDD I used
to do music, but it would distract me sometimes... like I'd wonder
about the lyrics, or the lyrics would make me think of something
and I'd have to look it up...
Now I turn on movies I've seen several times [on youtube or netflix].
It's weirdo, but it seems to keep my ADD in check... when I get the
urge to look up something while drawing, I'll look at the browser and
get distracted by the movie for a moment, then forget what I was
gonna look for after about 5 mins of watching and go back to art.
It ends up wasting much less time watching the movie for a few
mins than me looking up whatever I was going to look up...cos I'd
start browsing the web afterward and spend hours doing it lol. :<
Anyone else like that, or is it just me and my horrible ADD? XD
Actually, I took a pic of the setup I have to do this [tho this is from
3 pages back -- normally i am not looking up wedding stuff or ringworm lol]:
(http://storage.dream-scar.net/Hchano/dsjunk/distractedagainjesus.jpg)
It's so squished lmao...
Artists, from start to finish what is the rough amount of time it takes you to make a page? I am curious to see if I am the only one who takes about 4-6 hours on a page.
Is it worth it to take your time or does taking your time just put more pressure on you as you get closer to a update and it feels like you have nothing done?
I have two different comics.
http://funzietown.com (http://funzietown.com) takes me FOREVER to do. I try to do more elaborate backgrounds in it (my inspirations were Tin Tin, Buck Rogers, Lil Orphan Annie, etc.). It is story driven and long form. I'd say it takes me 4-6 hours to do. It is pretty much entirely done on the bristol. I scan and do a quick clean up, but that's all I do on the computer. The most recent one looks terrible by the way. I did it with PITT Pens instead of brush or nib. Turned out just awful.
http://galacticbeacon.com (http://galacticbeacon.com) are single panel, gag comics. I'd guess it takes me around an hour to do each one on average. I figure the writing on those (well the gag) is the important thing, not the art. I do the art as well as I am capable, mind you, but I do it in far less detail. I'm also doing those in a larger original format and using a brush. I'm doing the lettering on the computer for those, as well as the baloons, so that saves me a ton of time.
As much as I like Funzietown, I've never gotten any traction with it in terms of attracting readers.
I only launched Galactic Beacon over the past weekend, so I don't know how it will be received. It's primary existance is as an eBook Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology that includes the comics. We'll see how it goes.
Oh my goodness, I merged two topics successfully! I feel kind of like a rockstar.
Quote from: amanda on February 16, 2010, 06:55:10 PM
Oh my goodness, I merged two topics successfully! I feel kind of like a rockstar.
I was wondering if this was going to happen. Well done you. You earn your rockstar cred. 8)
Ow, I spent so much time on hiatus (from drawing and everything, writing my senior thesis was terrible) so I totally lost all my practice =X I used to be able to finish a Springiette strip in less than an hour (and the quality didn't suffer that much I'd like to think, haha). Now it would take me around 3 hours, with distractions in the middle ("I forgot to write an e-mail!", "I'm so tired to stare at PS I need to walk around", "the cat is destroying the couch! quick!"). In this particular style I prefer to sketch the different poses on paper, then lay it out nicely on Photoshop, draw the lineart over those sketches, then tonning (which is not 'real' tonning but it makes it cute I guess). I haven't really timed myself with my other comic styles and I fear to do so... I've been drawing a comic for my boyfriend and it took me like three days to sketch the whole thing (24 pages). I need to draw more. :/
24 pages in 3 days?! And you think you need to draw more?! :o >:( :'(
Quote from: Alectric on February 17, 2010, 02:09:34 PM
24 pages in 3 days?! And you think you need to draw more?! :o >:( :'(
It's just the sketches, believe me, it looks terrible! XDD Random limbs flowing everywhere! Total disregard of layouting process! COPY-PASTE-ROTATE =D
I worked it out once as 6-8 hours. I've gotten faster since, but at the same time the pages have been getting longer, with a 20-something panel page coming up in the next few pages, so it probably still is about 6-8 hours (that page I mentioned will take a bit more than that) because I keep giving myself more work to make up for the fact I'm quicker these days.
A single panel will typicaly take me a little over an hour, so I'd be in the 4-5 hour range depending on the strip (which seems to be about average). I do my pencils at work during lunch break on an A5 notebook, then ink them at home and colour them on the computer. I also recently got a Cintiq, so it's taking a little longer now. I think that's partially getting used to the cintiq and partially because I'm playing around with the art a little more.
I come in, generally, between 6-8 hours for pencils, inks, digital touch-ups, colours and letters.
If you add in the writing process, it goes to roughly 8-10 years.
in the beginning 15 minutes(but I was using a paperback for a straight edge and a ballpoint pen for all the "art")Now 1 and a half to 2 hours depending on how much I try to do in each strip.
Writing: 30 minutes.
Art: about an hour and a half. The half is for letting the frames dry from the super heavy inks.
It takes me a minimum of 4 hours, and that's assuming that I already had the script done (I'm really trying to spend time out-of-band amassing scripts weeks ahead of time -- a strip can survive an art mistake, not so sure it can survive many scripting mistakes, be they jokes that don't work, continuity problems, or are just plain boring) and I'm doing the normal 4-panel format that I'm doing lately.
Add in new(er) characters or complex sets, and it can easily be longer than that. I wish I was faster, but 4 hours seems to be a very common ballpark for folks who do full-color, multi-panel strips.
I plan to try and make pre-drawn backgrounds and sets sometime in the near future to make strips look good without adding significantly more time to draw them every time.
It kind of depends for me. Usually in terms of actual elapsed hours spent, probably between 4 and 8 per strip depending on complexity.
In terms of actual elapsed days to get a strip done, usually three or four. A 9-5 job wrangling with 12 year-old computer code and oracle databases usually somewhat kills my muse.
I usually need about 2 hours just to get sorted around the house and get my brain back on a weeknight, so I can usually only squeeze in an hour or two then.
I love the weekends because I get a chance to work uninterupted with some actual cogent thought processes :D