What I Learned From Drawing 8 Comics (Part 2)
9 weeks, 45+ drawing hours, 56 comic pages, and 147 panels later…I finished my 8 comic challenge! Read my takeaways here.
Yes, that’s right —
9 weeks.
45+ drawing hours.
56 comic pages.
147 panels later…
I DID IT!!! I drew 8 comics, all posted on my IG @jennyfangart. For a no-scrolling viewing option, read them all here. You can catch up on the origins of this comic challenge here.
It sounds cool to have finished a challenge. I’m pretty proud of myself 😁
But I gotta say — it was not easy…
Here’s the top 2.75 things I learned from drawing 8 comics…
1. Many small moves make a big move.
Every time I sat down to work on the week’s comic, I only thought about the next step.
What is the story about? Got it figured out… Okay, time to thumbnail.
I think I have the images down… Okay, let’s create line art.
Line art’s down… Okay, time to color.
Comic’s done… Okay, time to create a post.
I avoided thinking about the big picture of completing a challenge, because not useful thoughts like how hard it’s going to be would creep in. My focus was simply on the next task…and 9 weeks later, I realize I’ve drawn 56 comic pages (or 147 panels, however you’d like to look at it 🤓).
This habit was the power up that helped me avoid overwhelm and stay persistent in making progress.
2. How to do less and create more, faster.
The first time doing anything new takes the longest. My first comic took 10 hours to create. By my 3rd comic, I cut my drawing time by half (more on how here), but 5 hours per comic is still unsustainable. I cracked my perfectionism at my 6th comic and then had to take a week off.
It was only my 7th comic (8th week), which took 2.5 hours to create, that I achieved real efficiency. That’s when I felt I really learned from this comic challenge. It just took 8 weeks… 😛🤷🏻♀️
To summarize what I learned as an author-illustrator from this challenge —
Take the extra time to plan your stories well. It will save you time later.
Keep everything simple.
Don’t let your perfectionism hold you back from getting it done.
What’s next?
I’m going to try to continue creating a comic a week and post to my IG. No challenges this time, just an intention to continue telling stories about my experiences and experimenting with different comic styles.
The learning continues!
To view all the comics created for this challenge, click here.
📚 Learn more about my work ➡️ jennyfang.com
🎨 Follow my art journey ➡️ @jennyfangart