Carl Tsui
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All the time. For me, the problem was not having a draft of the completed story before undertaking it and figuring out what is it that I wanted to say. Or, I frittered about the outskirts of the story that really interested me in the hopes that by the time I was “good enough” I would be ready to do those parts. The problem with that approach is that, as you discover, you’re really working on stuff you don’t find terribly interesting and dreaming about the day you get to the good parts.
Find a way to get to those good parts as quick as possible. You’ll be more motivated when you’re there.
If you have to just throw completed pages away to get there then better to do that now than spend weeks/months working on what you don’t care for. I’ve learned this the hard way over years. I’ve shelved dozens of pages. I’ve had a colleague tell me she threw away over 100 pages to start again.
Wow. Thank you everyone for taking the time to compose your thoughtful and informative responses. I had been struggling with the question of what to do with my works for a while and this has helped put to rest some doubts. I really appreciate this as it’s advice that I think friends would never give.
So I agree with everyone who says that quantity is really the name of the game and that social media is pretty much a worthless exercise in my case. I came to a similar conclusion as Rick that the only sane move is just building a site for the work and letting that be it. Which leads me to a follow up question/thought exercise:
Say I have a completed long form work of 75-100 pages. Let’s say I don’t care to make a dime off this and just want to get it seen by as many people as could click on a link. It seems strange to release it bit by bit when it’s all done. Why not show it all? But no one really knows me at this (or that) point. What do I do then to maximize the audience (regardless whether any stick around because they probably won’t)?
I probably should have emphasized that I make art/comics because I’d do it anyway. I’m not looking for popularity or (ha) instant riches. I kind of regret even putting the word “monetizing” in the OP. However, at the same time it would be disappointing to know that no one would ever see the completed work beyond the limited audience I could personally show.
What everyone else said already. Occasionally, I will take my DSLR with an interval shooting mode and mount it on a tripod. Then I just self-pose (or even with others) for as many shots as I feel like doing and use those for references.
What I’m really curious about now though is this manga pose book thing that Brad & Co were talking about in one of the new Webcomics Weekly episodes (I think….now I’m wondering if it might be another podcast…argh). Anyway, it’s supposed to be this compendium of poses.
As far as Cintiq replacements go, I’m saving up for a Surface Pro. Unless I get a job at an animation studio, I can’t find a reason for me to plunk down that much money for a Cintiq. At least with a Surface Pro you get a computer with it.
You might not want to wait too long on this if you want Wacom technology with this. The Surface Pro 1 and 2 are no longer in production (although there will probably be a good amount of second hand stock for a while). Surface Pro 3 now uses an N-trig pen. Jury seems to still be out on that tech for art purposes. I hope it improves rapidly so Wacom has some real competition.
Overall though you get what you pay for in this area. Saving money only to waste hours dealing with issues and worrying about dependability is not really a deal. The Cintiq 21UX made a huge contribution in taking me to the next level of art. It’s costly, but if you’re purely digital like me then it’s worth every dollar. Save up for the real deal. Mobile is convenient (I own the Surface Pro 2 as well), but drawing on a big surface is a better experience. The colour accuracy was also a huge improvement and my only real gripe with the older generation TabletPCs.
I use OneNote for almost everything. From todo lists, to storing recipes, grocery lists, to memos, to story drafts. There are free apps for every platform and device and it syncs flawlessly through OneDrive. There’s even a web browser version. While you can sketch in it, I spend most of my time typing. You don’t need a Surface class device to make good use of it. OneDrive accounts come with 7GB of free storage to start. I highly recommend it. Way better than EverNote in my opinion.
