From Sketch to Finished Page (Patreon)

What a page looks like from sketch to finish. There's a lot not pictured here: 

planning the page

finalize dialogue / script

determining how many panels to put on one page

figuring out what font to use for certain dialogue or SFX and how the word balloons should look [I hand draw the balloons for "loud" or intense dialogue]

deciding what characters appear in the scene

deciding where the scene takes place

figuring out what the characters are going to wear

deciding what to show, what not to show [my pace has been slower because I decide to show more shots per scene]

 what angle / perspective to draw the characters [top angle, bottom angle, flat angle--can determine how a character is interpreted or overall feeling of a scene]

figuring out how to move the scene around so it's not just a bunch of talking heads

zoom shot in or zoomed out [determines how personal a panel is or could make a scene feel more claustrophobic or spacious]

finding references for anatomy, clothing, environments, props, hair, make up, shadows, color

posing 3d models for the character proportions, poses, and perspective

finding assets / props to use in the scene

editing assets to fit the scene

composing background for new scenes [figuring out lighting to suit the mood of the scene, adjusting colors and textures, moving stuff around, removing stuff, or adding stuff to make backgrounds look pleasing, feel believable, and appear lived in]

cram all of this within 2-3 days [sometimes more depending on complexity of scene or energy levels] and rinse and repeat without getting burned out

Some steps can be omitted, but that usually means less detailed panels. If you ever wonder why a comic's art gets watered down--simpler anatomy or designs, reusing panels, no shading, plain backgrounds, the lines and colors gets messy, or the script suffers--it's usually because artists need to make money, so they push forward with what they can manage, but don't have the time to improve their script or experiment with their art. In the past, for instance when Japan was able to put out highly ambitious anime during the 90s, it was because the economy was healthier, so more money could be invested in the production and the artists had more time to figure things out and make stuff look more polished.

Comic artists don't typically have that luxury, especially if they are working alone and not getting any funding from a company. Now, sources of income are drying up for canvas artists. Recently, the rewards program that allowed artists to get money from views on their comic is ending. It was already difficult to make money from that to begin with because you had to have high number of views to qualify--like I had to get 1.5 million views per month to make 1,000 USD from the program. Now we don't have that anymore, so all I have is Patreon because people are less likely to tip. They don't even want to let a 30 sec ad run on their mobile devices or be content with a page that took me several days to make because they're used to getting 50+ panels for free every week from paid artists, so canvas artists have to find other ways to monetize our work.

I'm always trying new things and working on the script, I also take plenty of breaks to rest so my output fluctuates, and my earnings can go down if I don't put out as much of this or that, or if I take too big of a risk and deviate from what people expect or desire. It's a constant battle to figure out what exactly I should be doing, and I know many other artists feel the same regardless of what position they're in.

It's not all doom and gloom though because I'm fortunate enough to be able to keep my comic in the drafting stage and modify things as I go, even if I've already posted them. I can ask for your input or feedback and use that to improve the art and the script. Hopefully this post helps provide a bit of insight on what it's like to produce a comic as an independent artist. There's a lot of freedom, but also a lot of responsibility.