Passion and Back and Forth

In this blog post, I will talk about comic creation and its repetitiveness and how to get through it. Enjoy!

Comics take time. This could or could not be a surprise to some of you. Like animation, you're drawing a sequence of pictures that, together, tells a coherent narrative; there is some form of planning involved, whether it be for a single-panel comic or a 500-page graphic novel. It all depends on the author or illustrator and what they want to make. But, one thing that remains true for all comic forms is the constant back and forth of looking at references, outlines, and re-analyzing past pages. You are constantly looking at the source material and edits, just to make sure the comic stays consistent. I do this a lot when drawing comics. So much so that I can draw characters from memory.

For some of my most recent comic pages, I’ve been looking back at the source material. I want to accurately draw specific backgrounds, character placement, or visual choices, just so I can stay consistent with past pages and the original source material. Besides the prologue, I’ve been drawing out all the pages in pencil so they are all outlined and ready for inking. I do this so that the comic feels like there is some sort of progression (close to completion). Sitting down and focusing on the project is hard to do, especially if you’re in school and have a social life; so, getting pages done can feel like a hassle. A story can feel too big, or the plot may take too long to get to the exciting parts, or you don’t see an ending for the story; those feelings can cause burnout for cartoonists. Sitting down and getting it done won’t always work.

So, how do you finish a comic? How do you not feel tired or forced to complete something? How can you still love something and find the time to work on it? I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to figure things out myself. However, I have found one thing. First and foremost, you gotta have passion for what you're working on. You gotta believe in what you're doing. Skill can only take you so far. You can add on to your skill sets to your heart's content, but if you don’t have passion for your work, it will show. Passion can get you through a lot of things, without it, your will burn out quickly.

-Bellapinkpen