Do you maintain a schedule for creation of your comic? Do you use a buffer?

ATM I draw my chapters a day or 2 before the release date and I comment and read a lot of comics. Everyday I draw, so I try to choose consistency.

I work on a schedule of pencilling 5 pages a week, then cleaning/toning/finishing those pages the following week. I work one page a day so this gives me some days off or room to catch up if needed. I end up with 5 finished pages in a 2-week period but only post 4, so I build a buffer slowly.

At my comic’s peak the buffer was 12 pages, I kinda loved and hated it lol. I liked seeing the number up and knowing I could take a break if I wanted to, but I also hate sitting on finished work! I want feedback right away! I know some folk who have 100 page buffers and I could never do that lol. I am aiming to get a similar size buffer when I end the hiatus tho.

I think mostly, I like a routine work schedule, and I deliberately set it so I would have room for other art projects. Or so I’d have time to relax my hand and avoid re-triggering an RSI from last year.

I'm still new to this whole thing so I don't have a schedule planned out for my drawings yet do to moving to a new state, and I don't fully understand abot buffer.

@Macomic Buffers are just the amount of updates you have completed and ready to publish before they are made available.

So for example, if you update every Wednesday and you have 4 pages (updates) already done, you are currently sitting at a 4 week buffer. The idea behind a buffer is that if for some reason you can't create a new page for an update day, the ready made pages "buffer" you against missing an update.

I don't think I can go along with this idea because I'm slow at drawing comics and mostly unavailable do to house chores and family favors.

Thanks for the info, I'll keep it in mind.

@Macomic That's fair! It's hard to find a schedule that works for most people. We are all so busy. I think whatever works best for you should be what you do.

@MisterCrowbar Penciling 5 pages a week! That's a lot of work. How fast do you ink? You can finish all of those pages the next week? I'm also in the same boat and trying to get my buffer built to. RIP

@ArtCrumbs I don't ink the pages, they end up as greyscale toned pencils. Pencilling or cleaning/toning a page usually takes 1-2 hours if I am not being distracted by social media lol.

@MisterCrowbar Ahhh I see. That's still incredibly efficient! A single page takes me about 8hrs on average. That's amazing you work so fast.

@ArtCrumbs I prioritise speed and the pages turn out a little on the rough side! If I did clean, inked pages I'd hit the 8hr mark per page too, no doubt. I can definitely see how much the time you invest into Godsbane pays off, your inks are so nice and character designs are so detailed!

@MisterCrowbar ah I see! I stay on a schedule as best I can, but I prefer quality over quantity, and only post about half a chapter a month to allow myself to rest and take my time.

I usually story board 8 pages a day for 3 days on average, following up with rough draft inking 3 pages a day for 8 days (average out of 24 pages) then I spend three days screentoning nd cleaning the art. Might change it up to 8 days of inking and screentoning since, surprisingly, storyboarding is the hardest part of it all

I usually makes the scripts far in advance of all of this that way I know what I'm doing beforehand. I like to make sure the storyboards are nearly one to one with said scripts, minor changes not withstanding.

I'm halfway through my series. I have 10 chapters up but its 24 long and I have finished 16 chapters so far in the span of 3-4 years (a year break in between) My series was planed after a flop of mine and how poor the art was, so, this series was meant to be a wing-it series to allow me to make mistakes but my art improved so much from advice I was given it became far more serious. So, I made it a goal to make it pop off as hard as it could (Relatively speaking, not concerning views or attention). I gave myself a goal and a deadline with some wiggle room so when I finish this I'll retry my first manga. Also, this manga is a prequel spinoff to my original manga even though they are two severely different plots, but they still manage to connect heavily and hold meaning.

I hope I can actually spread hope through my comics. I want everyone to know the truth, even if and when rough. I want to write things that may be challenging and unpopular even if I really don't want to write them, because I feel no one wants to talk about it or is simply afraid to. I want to have genuine non malicious conversations, and I hope my content can reflect that

@seranazentha That's a seriously impressive production schedule. I really love that last part and I think a lot of us creators feel the same way!

I do work on my comic on a regular schedule - every weekday morning I do about an hour and a half on it - but I long ago abandoned the idea of trying to keep a regular schedule to post pages. So I have no buffer, I just try to make each page look as good as I possibly can, however long that takes. I find it is a lot less stressful that way.

Usually yes: two pages a day and giving time for each page instead of rushing it like I used to. I also found that preliminary planning and 'bad sketches' are incredibly useful. But since I do want to maintain good consistency with my art and story, I give myself a break every now and then. So, I kind of have a schedule but also allow time to make it better.

@MattSchofield That's fair! It can be tough to maintain a schedule when someone is as busy as you are! Plus spending so much creative energy during the day makes it hard to do more later. Smart to do it in the morning.

@JanneKarneus Two pages a day is still an incredible pace. I'm only able to do about 4 or 5 pages a week at my best. That's awesome!

@ArtCrumbs The morning schedule came about because originally I would work on the comic at night after my kids were asleep, but it was far too easy to stay up late, thinking "I'll just do this one last thing, then call it a night"... But then I'd find another tweak I'd want to make, and another, and before I knew it, it was 2 am. I ended up getting really tired. Switching to the mornings gave me a "hard out" - a time at which I HAD to stop working on the comic and get ready for my day job. It's worked much better for me.

Ah Matt, that makes sense! I had a similar schedule a while back and it was really productive! I tried staying up late again and it just doesnt work.

I like the way you describe this and the concept of a "hard out", especially as a motivator. Thanks for your insight!

i dont use buffers currently while i can see the benefit i feel i put enough work as is into my series and cant see to far in it s future(storywise) while im working on it.its either the chapter im working on or the end and not the inbetween choosing a comfortable pace of once month works for me really comes down to preference

@ZaGrizza That's fair! Kinda rolling with it freestyle and seeing where it goes! Lots of people do that!

While waiting for this one good release date of the year, I... don't have buffer right now. I studied the community tips you posted a year ago and honestly I started think if I could stockpile a year worth of buffers that'd be nice...

Seeing the actual number of pages sounded hell though, so I might start making attempt to stock as fast as I could, as much as I can while not looking at the exact number hahaha, still trying to figure out the workflow that actually works

You definitely have to stay consistent. Discipline is important and you don't want to go on break then you never finish the work. One tends to get tired of work that isn't progressing.

I most certainly do. I work on my comic on weekdays and make sure I have a 20 page buffer at least. My art really is my job.

No buffer for my BlogSpot site. Also I don't have a schedule. I go where the muse takes me. You get it when you get it.