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Somehow my character has changed in proportion from like 4 heads tall to a good 7 heads tall during the course of my comic so far. What will his family back home think when he has returned from his adventure?

Guuuuh, I haven't completed a comic in ages... I've got like four ones that I've started but just don't have the enthusiasm to finish. :/

Same here. In fact, I think I've burned upwards of fifteen incomplete comics within the last six months.

Taking me an eternity to color a single page.

It depresses me a bit because I spend soooooo much time on a page where I could actually be out having fun and getting my drinks on.

Eh, I saw the Avengers and got slightly buzzed yesterday.
But now when I get back to working on my comic I feel so down.

I know there's more to life than webcomics, and I know patience is a virtue and all that shit but dammit there's gotta be a faster way to do to these things!

Webcomics = BYE BYE SOCIAL LIFE. x[

EDIT: Oh and I am late for my update; Apparently me having fun is making my progress suffer. GYAH.

Pretty much a golden rule.

Haven't updated in a month but I really don't care as of current, until may is over I won't even be attempting to update regularly. Still haven't managed to get a blood test.
On a plus note though, I've only got the background, colours, shading, lighting, borders, speech bubbles and touch up left to do! :D

I do this way too much, and not even a gradual change, my proportions are constantly all over the place with my characters. I'm really bad at continuity like that.

Well, your characters are recognizable enough that it hasn't been confusing to read.

My character is really just all over the place as well, it is not just the proportions, I think it just comes from not being good enough to be super consistent at drawing while getting knowledgeable enough at understanding proportions and the human body that I can draw my character better than I did at first. I think that it helps that I really only have the one main character in my comic. If you see someone, 90% change it is Jac.

So now I'm just doing unscripted, disjointed pages and hoping they'll come together and form a coherent comic.
Bluh. My work process sucks.

I do all mine using stick figure skeletons. It helps a *bit* to avoid the size changing, but I think my only real fix is just going to come with time and practice. My own characters morph and change in height and proportion a bit, but I'm of mixed feelings on the subject - I want it to look professional, but at the same time, I'm cognizant that I've drawn exactly 8 strips and some changing is just GOING to happen, regardless... And that trying not to change would probably be limiting, because a little flexibility allows for evolution and improvements to the designs. Look at Peanuts from the early 60's through the 70's, at how the characters shrunk and morphed. Original Snoopy had little in common with "established" Snoopy.

My favorite is Garfield. The really old strips make me laugh just because of how monstrous he looks.



But yeah, it is very frustrating to have older pages look distinctly different than the newer ones. But it is a nice feeling to know you've progressed.

I love looking back at Snoopy and Garfield. The great thing is that you can see those traits that made the character unique through all of the versions, there is always something connecting them. It is true for most any comic, take Foxtrot or even Calvin and Hobbs, the characters change, but you could always look back at the earliest ones and know which character is which.

How it look at it with my comic, is that I have to let my character change, if I didn't I would be working on a 100 pages with the same stunted art when I could be doing something better.

Characters will almost invariably change over time, especially over a long period of time, as is seen with Garfield. It's very easy to completely reinvent a character. The difficult thing is to moderate this. Consistency with characters is very important.

Unfortunately, I can't tell whether or not I'm good at this as I burn my old work.

I bought a couple of books from this guy, Michael D. Mattesi, Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators and Force: Character Design from Life Drawing, both are really interesting and insightful whether or not you are into animation and have tons of examples showing what he is talking about.

There is a bit I want to quote from the Character Design book because it is really great advice:

I've been doing RQLT faithfully for 2 years now, and as soon as I complete an eppy, I can't wait to do the next one! Guess I'm weird.

That was basically my whole thought process behind starting my comic, Gecko. I had been working out the story for years and would never start it because of excuses like "I'm not good enough yet", and yet I was gradually drawing less and less. I'd listen to critiques tell me " you need to study for at least two more years before you even think about things like comics" and I really bought into it. Not that I think studying is unimportant, but you have to practice, practice, practice. Nothing will make your artwork better faster.





I feel the same way. If I'm out doing something fun, or at work, 90% of the time I'm thinking about my next page and looking forward to working on it. It's an obsession for me now. :S

I seriously, seriously regret giving Fathead his line mouth. It makes it really hard to make him express emotions, he can't open it and there's basically no end to it. Do you guys think it would be acceptable if I changed it to a normal mouth? :/

Consistency is not my friend. But the inconsistency in my work gives it a special feel. Sometimes I purposely draw my characters differently... Dretta is a child, so I try to make her more cutesy around adults... bigger eyes, rounder face. But when she's with her friends, I try to draw them slightly more mature looking. Or at least, that's the concept... Almost always I'll start drawing, and if I like the way it turns out, I'll keep it, regardless of whether it fit the original intention.



Purposeful change is a difficult transition. Never know until you try and see what kind of reaction you get. People could initially hate it, but grow to love it... or at least get used to it.

I feel much the same way. Don't really have any fears about its acceptance - I mean, like most I am insanely curious to hear what people think of my comic work, but I don't worry about that dread of rejection anymore, which I used to have back in my 20's. I know that in my case it's just a matter of age and experience - Once you've traveled around the world, lived overseas extensively, lost everything, come near to being homeless on the streets in a foreign country, and rebuilt your life from scratch, I just don't have much fear left for some random critic telling me my work sucks. :)

I guess my only practical advice for someone paralyzed by fear would be to get out and live more - Date wild women, take chances, do scary things. That helps a LOT to alleviate artistic shyness.

I'm starting to notice people taking a real interest in my comic, to the point where they are trying to work out what's going to happen next in the story and what motivates certain characters and it's only 18 pages in. I mean, some of the theories have been pretty interesting and funny so far, and some I read and go: "Oh shit that is most certainly not what I wanted to portray D:" while others I'm like: "Oops that may or may not happen"

I've never really had anyone take an interest in what I am doing like this, it feels so surreal. :L

Your comic is awesome. Seriously. It's like a visual representation of all the YA fantasy I read as a kid, where Dickensian characters dragged children off on adventures through magic wardrobes instead of by spaceship. I am thoroughly curious to see where it is going. Also, the people who come up with the craziest theories can be fun - Sometimes they'll give you insights or ideas about your characters that you'd never have thought of yourself. That, I think, is one of the key elements toward when characters really start growing and taking on a life of their own, instead of just being story pieces or author mouthpieces.