I currently have three weekly comics, each of them with more than 100 pages. Here's what works for me.

Keep a buffer. Never start a new comic without a generous buffer, and then gradually maintain it. Take the occasional holiday break if you need to, but never let that buffer drop to nothing. Having no leeway whatsoever piles on the stress like nothing else. I don't want my hobby ruined by the stress of overbearing deadlines. Also, life gets in the way, so a grace period is a godsend.

Stick with a schedule. Pick a regular time to work on comics and stick with it. For me, that's weekends once I'm done with my chores and errands and weeknights after I get home from work and finish with dinner and cleanup. Since I run three comics, it takes up several hours per week, but if you, say, run a single comic updating once every other week? It shouldn't take up nearly as much of your time.

Upload half as often as you produce. This should speak for itself. Never post more often than you actually work and avoid posting exactly as often as you produce unless you are OBSESSIVELY diligent.

Comments/readers make it worth the effort. Having people who leave comments motivates me a lot. Knowing that people get some enjoyment out of what I do makes it feel more worthwhile and makes me excited to see how readers will react to the next page. It also pushes me to put more effort into it.

Accept that you'll need to take shortcuts. It might sound lazy, but sometimes you just need to take the path of least resistance. Silhouettes instead of detailed shots. Word-only panels. Copypaste. Cropping to avoid difficult details. Occasional tracing. Hatching/pointillation/etc. with tools instead of by hand. Using tricks and tools to take the tedium out of pages while still making it look visually appealing means you aren't too worn out to put in that extra effort when it really counts. Ideally you would want every panel to be made with love, but the reality is that if you're doing this as a hobby for no money while holding down a job and whatnot, you need to know when to conserve your efforts.

Experiment often. Don't do the same thing over and over again. The reason each of my comics has different art styles is because it helps keep things fresh when switching between them. If you have one comic, try something new with the style now and then. It might work great and become a part of your usual toolkit, or it might be a one-off. Play with gifs. Use different colors. Play with new software. Try out panel layouts that are different from what you usually do. Whatever it is, just be willing to try new things so you don't get sick and tired of doing the same thing over and over again.

Get some solid listening material. I do all of my art while listening to music or YouTube videos. I just can't concentrate without it. If you're of the scholarly persuasion, listen to TedTalks or something. Then you can learn while you work.

Actually enjoy it. Yeah, yeah, I know. But seriously, if you don't like making art all that much, don't make a long-running webcomic. You'll start to hate it really fast. Part of the reason I've kept it up this long is because I like to draw. Always have. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood, and that's why I keep a buffer--so I can have a break and enjoy one of my other hobbies instead--but in general, I like making comics and I'd be very bored if I suddenly stopped.

Princess Chroma: Rainbow Brite but she tries to solve all her problems with violence

Here I Lie Awake: Insomnia is horrifying, actually.

I really don't think this is about sex. Or even relationships in general, for that matter. I think this is about your sense of self-worth.

Let me tell you a little story.

I always believed I needed a career and my own house to be worthwhile. I spent years at university working very hard to get a degree so I could get a good job in my field. The field I chose is a difficult one to get into, and the struggle I went through and the constant rejections and failed job opportunities ate away at me. I felt like a failure and I hated myself.

And then I finally got into a good, reliable career position and moved out of my parents' house. Yay, I got everything I ever wanted. Guess what? I hated myself more than ever.

I thought I was a fraud and I'd lose it all. I harshly berated myself every time I fell short of my own impossible standards. Anytime I did succeed, it "didn't count" or it just wasn't "good enough." I told myself nobody really liked me at work. I pushed myself constantly, trying to prove myself so I could keep my job despite everyone around me affirming that my position was not in jeopardy. I told myself their reassurance applied to everybody but me. Every time the smallest thing went wrong, I was terrified. Despite all the support I had from family and friends and at work, I felt isolated and depressed. After about a year of that, I finally landed myself in the ER with a severe migraine headache.

Welcome to rock bottom. After all of that, I finally had no choice but to see this whole mess for the mental health problem that it was.

Do you maybe see what I'm getting at here? When you tie your self-worth up in one arbitrary thing to such an unhealthy degree, it doesn't matter if you reach your goal, because you'll never actually "reach" your goal. You won't feel better. In fact, you might even feel worse.

That doesn't mean what you want is a bad thing or that you shouldn't want it. I certainly don't plan to quit my job anytime soon. But what you want won't fix your problems. You need to work on developing a healthier outlook on yourself as a person, which may be a long, gradual process. But an important one, nonetheless, and if you are struggling to know where to begin, I strongly recommend you seek help--professional, family, friends, or otherwise.

For some reason, I have an aversion to my (real) name. It's a very common name in my age group, so I grew up hearing it a lot, directed at me or otherwise. But outside of introducing myself (and even then), I dislike saying my own name out loud. I also tend to instantly dislike fictional characters who have my name, especially if they use the same spelling. There are offensive words and such that I don't care for, but it seems nothing makes my skin crawl like having to say my name.

What's with people suddenly stepping in to call tea bitter? There are plenty of teas that aren't bitter. Have you people never heard of peppermint, cinnamon (and other spice teas), or chamomile? You never gave sweet chai or milk tea a chance? Also, the quality and brewing of the tea has a bearing on the flavor, too.

Like, do you guys only drink stale dust-quality English Breakfast Tea in a single individual complementary packet that you picked up at a hotel somewhere that you didn't even add cream and sugar to? Just...

Personally, I prefer tea, but I don't have anything against people who are coffee drinkers. It's not their fault their tastebuds are on backwards.

It's about time for a bump. Today, we attempt to talk about feelings, pharmaceuticals, and cats.

I'll apologize for the song stuck in the head and the pebble in my shoe when you explain why I get carded every time I buy cold medicine. And don't even get me started on TSA, audits, and job interviews. Yeah, I'm deaf, but what's your excuse?

So calling myself a scrub gets me a shower emoji title, does it? I see what you did there, Kyo.

Ooh, a title sounds fun. I'm sure there's a title out there that fully conveys how much of a scrub I am.

The thing is, there's no such thing as a character being unrealistic as a man or woman (or boy or girl, for younger characters). Men and women alike are individual enough that any combination of personality traits is not only possible, but exists in significant numbers in real life regardless of expected gender roles. You may worry that you don't meet many girls who act a certain way, and that may be true. But it's not considered unrealistic for a woman to show any particular behavior or personality trait, it's only uncommon. The only thing that will come off as unrealistic regarding her personality is if she does something out of character. Knowing your character's background and motivations is much more important to keeping internal consistency in how you write her, so try to focus on those things.

If you're interested specifically in taking art classes to improve your art for the sake of personal improvement, college is not necessary. However, it does have some very specific benefits, and if alternate means of art practice (a community studio, local club, or noncollege night class, for example) are not available in your area, it's probably the most accessible venue you'll find, if you have the money for it.

Taking a class at, say, a local community collage, would provide you with:

-A set, regular time to set aside just for art
-A space to work in
-Materials to use (though you may have to purchase some of your own)
-Other people to interact with

If you can find these four things in some other venue that costs less than a class at a community college, then it may be worth looking into that. I don't have experience with alternate options, so I can't offer cogent advice on which is better. But I can list possible downsides of a college art class.

The downsides are:

-cost, obviously
-whether your daily schedule allows for regular classes
-medium and technique options are limited to class scope
-the inconvenience of having to register as a student if you're not one already

I can't tell you if taking a college course is worth it, in your case. I know taking classes in figure drawing and color theory was very valuable to me personally, but I took those classes as electives while I was working on my major. Your situation sounds different from mine. You'll need to weigh the pros and cons and figure out if your life situation makes it feasible to do.

If taking a class is out of the question, you can always try following along with art tutorials on the web. While those lack interaction and direct feedback, they do have the convenience factor of you being able to choose the time and place to follow along.

The first webcomic I ever saw was Brawl in the Family, so obviously I have a soft spot for fancomics. I mean, if your definition of fancomics includes derivative work based on any prexisting work, then the first webcomic ever made as far as I know would technically be a fancomic, that being a Wizard of Oz parody called Witches and Stitches. Fanworks are a huge part of webomics and will probably always be.

On this site alone, I also follow Heavy Metal Sailor Moon, as well as Consolers, Spelunkying (now complete), and Beauty and the Beast (admittedly more a retelling, but it fits the category of "derived from a previous work"). Outside this site, I've read several different Nuzlocke comics, most notably It's a Hard Life and A Petty Nuzlocke Run, this Ice Climbers-centric SSBM fancomic on DeviantArt, a Peter Pan adaptation that's quite faithful to the source material, and Ocarina of Whatever, which is a travesty, but I still enjoy it very much. I never did claim to have refined tastes anyway.

These are all just the comics that I recall reading off the top of my head. There are probably others that I follow and just can't think of at the moment. And considering I have an ongoing Undertale fancomic, I'm obviously not above making a fancomic myself. What can I say? They're fun.

How do you keep a forum member in suspense?

You can't post a picture of your tooth and expect some strangers on the internet to reliably diagnose you. Even if there's a forum member here who's a certified DDS, a picture alone doesn't give all the information needed to determine if you need an extraction. You need to be examined in person and it may even be possible that a dentist will have to do x-rays. A tooth might look straight to you, but an x-ray could reveal something going on with the root that you can't see with the naked eye.

Please make a dental appointment and have a professional examine your tooth in person. It's the best thing you can do for yourself right now.

I've had four molars removed while awake and one impacted molar surgically removed while under anesthetic. In both cases, I will admit that the procedure is not pleasant, but you will make a full recovery. I'm not going to be able to paint a pretty picture for you, but I can tell you what you can likely expect if you get an extraction based on how it went for me.

You'll be able to eat the same day your teeth are removed, but you'll be limited to things like soup for a little while. Avoid very hot, very cold, and acidic foods (tomato soup is a major NO), and absolutely DO NOT drink with a straw. The socket where the tooth used to be will scab over and drinking with a straw can dislodge the scab. This is painful and you don't want that to happen. If your dentist says not to do something, LISTEN. You'll be able to eat solid food within the week and the loss of some molars will not inhibit your ability to use your incisors, so you'll be able to bite into things and then carefully chew.

If the teeth are extracted while you're awake, then the recovery will probably not be very long. You'll want to take some painkillers for a couple days and your jaw will be sore, but you'll be on your feet quickly. If you have to be put under, then the extraction will probably be more invasive. You may have some stitches, which will dissolve on their own but they'll feel weird and it'll make opening your mouth wide uncomfortable. Your cheeks will be swollen for roughly a week and your jaw will be sore. Again, take some painkillers. The worst of it will be over after the first day or so. During the first couple days, take the day off. You'll be sore and tired and getting some rest will do you some good.

I don't know if this makes you feel much better about it or not. I'm being pretty frank about what I went though. But consider this to be the takeaway--the first day or so will suck, but by the time a week passes, you'll be mostly back to normal and you'll most certainly be able to eat and speak normally in well under a month. You'll be okay.

I'm a fan of many things that are popularly defined as "cringy." I don't really care if my interest is cringy to other people or not, but I'm often shy about bringing up those personal interests unless it was already being discussed. I don't really care if people think what I'm into is dumb, but I do worry about people finding me annoying if I talk about it too much. So I try to bottle it up a bit and indulge in my little obsessions quietly.

For all intents and purposes, what you define as censorship is similar enough to what I described to be a reasonable use of the term in this context. Let's concede that for now.

Let me reword my prior post more succinctly: I think that assuming anyone who says their artistic vision is being censored is just making excuses to be offensive may be grossly misrepresenting what they really mean. Likewise, I think that a person giving out nonspecific writing advice like "just write good characters" is probably coming from a place of good intentions, but that advice can seem frustrating or condescending to the kind of hypothetical writer I described.

Failure to communicate is the problem. And yes, there is something to be said for words having meaning, and I think that's why you keep defining the meaning of censorship and newspeak in your posts. I see your point. But my point is that for this topic in particular, it seems the slightest misunderstanding leads to very ugly assumptions. Sometimes we don't fully appreciate a person's well-meaning efforts or understand their resentment at being misrepresented.

If you believe this is primarily an issue of censorship, then I can't say I fully agree with that, but I'm not going to try to change your mind, either. I think the underlying baggage is complicated and individual to each person who struggles with inclusivity in their own writing. That's why I dislike these ugly assumptions, and that's why I made that post.

I agree with your definition of censorship, and I agree a demand for proper representation can't be considered censorship. But it is a demand nonetheless. Those who call that demand "censorship" are incorrect in doing so, but for many writers, this comes from a place of anxiety and earnest, not malice and bigotry. For a writer from majority groups, there's a grey area between the advice of "be inclusive" and "write what you know" that's hard to navigate. Consider this hypothetical scenario (spoiler'd for space):



We often see the word censorship bandied about improperly, but I think what some majority-group writers really mean is they feel stifled and intimidated, and the vague advice of "just write good characters" isn't the answer they need.

My parents repeatedly tried to encourage me to pursue teaching because they were concerned about my career prospects, being an English major and all. And I did give it a fair shake, but it simply didn't suit me. I wanted to be a proofreader because that's what I'm good at and it's what I care about, professionally speaking.

In my parents' defense, they didn't discourage me from pursuing that as well and they respected my decision to leave teaching when, after tutoring for a couple years and eventually getting a job at an after-school program, I decided I hated it and left the minute I got a proofreading job offer. And they fully respected my decision to commit to proofreading even after my publishing company closed and I struggled as a freelance proofreader for a year before finally landing a job with the Legislature proofreading bills and other legislative documents, for which I make a much better salary than at any previous job I've had.

Sometimes you get lucky and chasing your dreams also leads to making a good living. I'm glad my parents respected my choices despite the struggles it took to get there.