First off let me say, not everyone’s goals are the same.\u00a0 Some just want an avenue for self expression.\u00a0 Some are looking for a way to just get their work out there, or are looking for work.\u00a0 This post is for those who say that what they want to do is write and draw their own graphic novels, mostly.<\/p>\n
I think you should quit webcomics.\u00a0 Just do it.\u00a0 Go on, go ahead and do it.\u00a0 You’ll be happier, healthier and possibly more productive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Webcomics\/novels do many things well for an artist.\u00a0 It gives them a means to share, and build a community around other artists.\u00a0 It helps you to develop good habits, like working within deadlines and, you know, actually working period towards a goal.<\/p>\n
But I think you should consider quitting them because, let me tell you, after making\u00a0one graphic novel completely offline and now starting another… it’s just plain better.\u00a0 So much better.\u00a0 People fight to have a buffer ready of like two months for their webcomic.\u00a0 Well sir and maddam, I have a year and half buffer of a two page a week webcomic, just waiting if I have to.\u00a0 Do you know how freeing that is?\u00a0 Very freeing.\u00a0 For a whole list of reasons.\u00a0 I will share a few right now.<\/p>\n
1.) Changes Get Made All Of The Time-
\nWhen you make a webcomic, you are usually making it on a week to week, update to update schedule.\u00a0 Usually those updates and all are your first draft of the material.\u00a0 You can’t see the whole thing yet and there are things down the line that you may change and improve and simply put, its not your best story yet.\u00a0 When Hollywood makes a movie they don’t edit the movie and show us all bits and pieces without ever once conisdering the whole and how it all works together.\u00a0 Instead they sit down after it’s all done (and this could be your thumbnails or pencils for the whole book) and review the entire story: the pacing, the dialogue, the shots themselves.\u00a0 I found that after I was done with my book, I was changing stuff all of the time.\u00a0 I was adding new shots, new pages, new scenes. They weren’t just like, “add on” scenes that I could say were bonus content later.\u00a0 They were important pieces to my narrative that drastically changed the reading experience in the book.\u00a0 Making your book offline, allows you to make decisions about your book without the pressure and input from an entire internet of people.\u00a0 I do recommend sharing your book with people, but maybe only five to ten friends and colleagues for their input and let them function like editors.<\/p>\n
2.) You Pay Forward The Business-
\nOne of my favorite things about having done all of this work now, is that I finally get to share a completed story with everyone and can focus on that instead of making the story and sharing it too.\u00a0 Normally we are busy tweeting and posting and advertising our book to everyone, as well as trying to finish up our book.\u00a0 That’s too much!\u00a0 Consider the benefits of being able to with all confidence tell everyone, this book is done and it’s coming your way, now let me share it, kickstart it, publish it.\u00a0 Whatever!\u00a0 The freedom I am finding now is that I am planning and writing my next graphic novel without any hestiancy and can play in that book’s playground while the other book goes into the real world to become a man.\u00a0 This I think gives a huge amount of confidence to your readers, you, publishers, reviewers etc.\u00a0They know you are good for it.\u00a0 So like now, I get to do\u00a0all this fun stuff, like query agents, submit to publishers, consider Kickstarters and webcomics and share it… and all the comics work is done!\u00a0 Huzzah!\u00a0 It’s a beautiful thing.<\/p>\n
3.) This Isn’t Goodbye To Webcomics- With that said, go make books!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" First off let me say, not everyone’s goals are the same.\u00a0 Some just want an avenue for self expression.\u00a0 Some are looking for a way to just get their work out there, or are looking for work.\u00a0 This post is for those who say that what they want to do is write and draw their 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\nI don’t think webcomics should go away as an option for graphic novelists.\u00a0 I just think they should be delayed, but I know how hard that is to do,\u00a0 I don’t think we’re making a daily syndicated comic strip.\u00a0 We’re composing a book and the whole thing is one thought.\u00a0 Without giving each and every part it’s attention and detail, we run the possibility of putting work out there before it’s ready to go.\u00a0 If you want to put the book out there before its 100% done, I would recommend breaking your story up into parts, finishing all of that part, and then start serializing it.\u00a0 I can tell you that my friend Josh Ulrich<\/a> tried this approach before having his whole story figured out, released\u00a0his first issue of his book, completed ALL of\u00a0issue 2 before realizing it didn’t work and\u00a0scrapped the whole thing.\u00a0 In the end he had to rebuild from the ground up.\u00a0The point being, taking the time to get it done right<\/strong> before you go public with your work.\u00a0 Trust me, as someone on the other side of taking a year plus to make a book in private, it is much better, healthier and freeing to have it done and ready to go after the fact.<\/p>\n