Why I Didn’t Work On My Graphic Novel For A Month

(Other than just being lazy.)

Near the end of May through the end June, I took a month off from working on my graphic novel, The Forgotten.  Not because I WANTED to, but because I kinda needed to.  You see, I bought a house and on top of moving, have also had to do some repairs/improvements to the house as well. (Which MAY or MAY NOT be finished yet. >ahem<)  Plus, I was still working full-time at my day job, which can be a little time-consuming.

“Now wait a minute. . .”  I can hear you say,  “You’ve been uploading pages every week for the past month, how did you manage that?”

 

That’s a great question, I’m glad you asked.  The answer is, I have a buffer.

 

THE BUFFER

(It’s all about those Gains)

The truth is, I didn’t work on The Forgotten because I didn’t have to.  Although I am currently uploading pages from chapter 1, I’m actually completely done with chapters 1 AND 2, and have almost completely finished chapter 3 (as of me typing this.)

The problem with making a story in a webcomic format means that everytime a page is uploaded/updated is another deadline.  In my case, I have a deadline every Monday morning.  Every Monday, a new page goes up, and then the clock resets and I have another deadline in a week.  Sound stressful?

It is a little.

That’s why I decided to make a “buffer” of content, before deciding to release The Forgotten online.  Basically, I worked “ahead” and completed the first few chapters (and started drawing/inking the next several) before I ever posted the prologue.  What this has allowed me to do is have some flexibility in my day-to-day work/life balance.  If I am a little late on getting a page done any given week, it’s ok, I’ve still got pages to upload: that’s the power of having a buffer.

It’s actually an old trick that Newspaper Comics would use.  Syndicates would require comic artists to have weeks (oftentimes, MONTHS) worth of comic strips done.  This oftentimes meant that comic strips about Christmas were being done in August, etc, etc…

I still aim at getting done as much (and hopefully more) than I’m uploading each week, but sometimes life (Aka moving) happens and I find myself otherwise occupied for a month and not much time for working on comics.

Thankfully, the buffer allows me to have some peace-of-mind while I try and get back into the rhythm of things.