I’ve just finished my work on the monthly book from BOOM!, Thomas Alsop. This video is about some of the lessons I learned working on that book – hopefully there is some value in it for you too!
productivity
Writing tips for scatterbrains
What is the best method for working on a story? Digging in and camly solving every problem as you come upon them? Or just jump to the next project and find energy in the constant creative flow?
For many years I suffered from the delussion that “real” writers worked from page 1 until the book was finished. This resulted in many a stranded story for me. When I finally gave myself permission to go ahead and skip to the ending or the middle, if I had an idea for that, my creative juices really started flowing.
These days I’ve also allowed myself the luxury of jumping from one project to the other, and I find it works the same way for me. Instead of standing still, I go in another direction, keeping the forward momentum.
Every project is a learning experience, every story brings new ideas. I can skip from one story to another, using what I just learned for something else, perhaps as a way to get unstuck on a story problem or motivational issue.
The downside of working on multiple things at once, is that you can get the feeling you’re not going anywhere. That you are just spinning wheels when in fact you are moving forward.
The need to focus in certain phases can be neccessary
Jumping around is fun, but to finish something, you need some crunch time. I always seem to forget that stories and projects don’t push themselves into my work day. I have to put them there, block out time to work on them. If I wait until I get some free time or get “inspired”, I will take all these projects with me to my grave. Unfinished.
As Stephen King once says in his book On Writing:
Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.
My method of jumping from one project to another might not be for you. But as long as you finish them eventually, (see this post on finishing) I see no problem with working on five things at once. It might just spark that creative energy that keeps the creativity flowing instead of running dry…
Do you work best with one thing at a time or are you a scatterbrain like me? Let’s hear your story!
Get To The Finish Line
The most important thing about making comics, is finishing what you start. No one will get anything out of a half-finished story, least of all you!
Be aware that when you are working on a project, it can be very tempting to bail when problems arise. You get stuck on some aspect of the story or things that are hard to draw. That other story you have brewing somewhere in the back of your mind suddenly seems way more attractive. You feel like that’s the one you should really be working on.
But with every new story, comes new problems! You just don’t see them now, because you are not deep in the story yet. It is simply the dream of what it could be, so much better than what you are currently working on.
And of course you can work on any story you feel like. I would just advice that you finish them eventually. One by one.
Another thing that happens as you’re working, is that you learn. You grow. You look at the work you’ve already done, and you think you could do better. If you go back and change that particular scene or redraw that particular panel.
My advice? DON’T!
You’ll end up re-drawing the same three pages over and over again.
Finish the story. Then go back. If it still needs some work. 9 times out of ten, what seemed hopeless and bad during the process, will seem irrelevant and pretty OK after you have finished the story.
The most important thing to gain by finishing a project, is the confidence you build. Making comics is a lenghty and often gruelling process. It’s easy to feel like it’s all for nothing. You start beating yourself up. You feel you are not good enough, that nobody cares.
Having something finished changes that. Now you can show it to others, get feedback, respect. You have achieved! You are a success!
Abandoning a project half way through has the opposite effect; You feel like a failure. Do you think feeling like a failure helps your productivity?
The short answer is NO.
You learn more from one finished comic, even a three page one, than from ten projects that are halfway done.
Get to the finish line. Even if you have to stagger or crawl to get there.
Bonus Vid – Sketching a page of Thomas Alsop
Another look into the my process as I sketch a page of Thomas Alsop (out now from BOOM! Studios).
For more on Thomas Alsop go to http://thomasalsop.com/.
8 Steps to Comics Success – Comics for Beginners podcast episode 24
As you may know, my first monthly book Thomas Alsop is out from BOOM! Studios and is doing very well. Hooray! But how do you get there? In the first episode of this podcast, I discussed the three biggest mistakes of my comics career. But it was a different time back then. In this episode I go into what I would do if I was starting out making comics today. Follow these 8 simple steps and your comics career is guaranteed! Er, no… But there are some good tips in this episode, that’s a promise.
Related podcast: The Three Biggest Mistakes of my Comics Career
Finding time to do comics
A lot of us struggle finding the time to make comics. There just aren’t enough hours in the day!
Though some of us are richer or more talented than others, there is one area were we are all equal: we all have the same 24 hours in day. Here are a few tips on how to make your comics hours count.
Get up earlier.
An hour a day can really make a world of difference. Small steps towards your goal is better than none.
Plan ahead.
Before you go to sleep at night, decide what piece of the big picture (page, panel, scene, character) you will be working on the next day – Or whenever you get a time slot. Oftentimes small breaks pop up during the day, which we end up wasting on Twitter or goofing around. Have something ready that you can just pick up and work on whenever the opportunity arises.
Focus on one little step at a time.
When we think of our comics as a whole, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of work that lies ahead; outlining, scripting, thumbnails, rough sketches, research, more sketches, character design, pencils, inks, color, lettering, promotion… Arrgh!
Stop, take a deep breath and focus. One thing at a time.
Just say no.
If we all have the same amount of hours in the day, how come some people get more done than others? My guess: They either have enough money that they don’t have to spend all their time shovelling coal. Or: they prioritize. If you really want to make comics, you will probably have to sacrifice some things to clear your schedule. If you can’t cut down on working hours, maybe cut down on the hours you spend playing videogames or watching tv.
What are your tips for making more of the time you have available? Please share!
Related podcast: Getting Stuff Done