Managing The Crunch

Download: Comics Production Spreadsheet

It. Is. Crunch TIME! I am in the final two months of work left on book 1 and things are getting intense. I am basically doubling up all effort to be finished by the end of August. And that is a daunting thing.

For months now I have been doing a series of math problems based around the steps needed to finish my book and keep things manageable. The problems is everything would shift, or I would miss a day and then everything was thrown off and I couldn’t keep it all set in my head.

Then in the recent Making Comics interview with Kazu Kibuishi he mentioned how they had effectively managed this all themselves through using a spreadsheet and it would hold them accountable. I was really interested in this since I was already trying to do it and failing. Turns out a lot of my comics friends had the same reaction and we all started talking about it. After gleening from Kazu the basic idea of it, I set out to make my own version. I had my own set of goals in mind and thought how can I make this useful for others as well. So I mocked up a version of what I was looking to make and sent it to my buddy Chris Wharton and he worked his magic and made it a very nice and user friendly tool for everyone. ANDDDD we wanted to share it with you all!

Already it has been a huge benefit in just a few days. It helped me realize that I actually can have weekends off and enjoy some down time. While the workload is still really heavy it makes the crunch feel more like a video game and really helps you see the long term effects of today’s decision on your reaching your goal.

I hope it helps you all as much as it has for me…

Well, back to plugging away.

10 thoughts on “Managing The Crunch”

  1. Thanks so much for that spreadsheet! I’ve wanted something like this for ages, but I’m no good at setting up the spreadsheet formulas haha. I’ve just used it for my current comic, and found that I’m at 80% completion! Looking at it that way is so encouraging!

    I’m really excited for you, it’s great how close you are to completing your book!

  2. I’m so glad it’s been helpful for you! It’s been literally life changing for me. It actually gives me days off that I know aren’t eating into the finishing of the book.

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  5. Jacques-André Blouin

    This is a great idea and help me so much in establishing a routine. Since, I am involved in the script process, I’ve added a section for that aspect. And being the French man that I am, I translated it in french.
    Will be glad to share it if someone interested.
    Thanks for share this wonderful tool!

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