How Long

[ZOMBIE USER 11104]

It generally takes me about 3 hours to do a strip, but then again I'm just starting out. I'm wondering how long it takes everyone else to see what kind of commitment ive made.

[ZOMBIE USER 8296]

for most of 'em it takes about 2-3 hours, it used to take under an hour, but looking at my archives compared to what I have now, i can see why

[Jamie!]

Depends how focused I am on doing the comic. If i do nothing but it it can take less than an hour sometimes.

[Bliss]

Er, where's the 7 hour option? *whines*

[Dragonsong12]

I agree with Bliss.
As I posted in another thread doing all the writing/layout/drawing/inking/coloring takes a VERY long time. Sometimes it's really hard for me to get it done in a week.

The worst part is, I don't even think all this work is really worth it looking at some of your comics and hearing how long it takes you guys! *kicks all the 1-hour people*

Hey, anybody wanna do the inking and coloring for me?

hehehe, sorry all, there's my rant. Bye! *runs away*

[Twentyfour]

Actually if it wasn't for the fact that computer clean-up takes 30 minutes I'd have my comic done in under an hour. So I say 2 hours cuz I like to stop and look at my work and try and see how well it "flows", and check the poses, I love posing, it's too much fun...

[ZOMBIE USER 9264]

4 hours 'cause I suck. Guh! It takes forever to get into my 'zone' and get down to work. It requires alot of time, patience, solitude, trance and Pepsi.

[Sortelli]

Yay for me! I can cut and paste my way through a comic in less than an hour. Of course, that isn't counting all the preparation, like drawing new characters, drinking soda, scratching my lazy behind, playing video games... I usually churn out 5 or 6 comics on one of my days off and slack until I need to update again.

Of course, the other comic I'm working on in the meantime is taking me days to even finish a freakin' page. *eye twitch*

[Wiebe]

It took me an hour to begin with. Then I actually tried to make the art better. Then it took me 3 hours. Now it takes an hour or two.

[Chascraw4d]

I'm with Bliss here too. Since I do comics in batches it's hard for me to pin down an exact time, but an average of 4 hours per page is way too low.

[ZOMBIE USER 11104]

sorry, I thought I had a more than 4 hour option on there but it either got cut off or I fotgot to add it

[Lui Angus]

Once I have an idea for it, 1/2 an hour if we're taking about a 3 panel black and white comic strip. If its color add 5 mins. Style and experiance are also a factor. A person with a simple under detailed style and 3 years of drawing experiance shouldn't take much longer than an hour. People who use pen tones and heavy detail are sure to take a lot longer.

[THECapedCaper]

Making a 8-12 panel comic takes me about an hour. Usually more if I want it to be really good. Like, for instance, I go ahead with the plot and I decide I need to find a picture or another sprite to use, finding that picture/sprite takes longer. Special Effects (lens flares, different font, etc.) also play into it

Yeesh. My sprites must've taken me at least 3 hours to get and modify.

[Scrubbo]

I usually do two strips at a time. here's a ROUGH breakdown of 2 average strips for me. When I do funky strips, they take longer.

Panel layout : 10 minutes.
Pencil dialog : 10-15 minutes
Pencil the rest : 45-1 hour.
Ink dialog : 15-20 minutes.
Ink details/background : 30-45 minutes.
Ink characters/foreground : 15-30 minutes.
Fill/touchup : 10 minutes.
Scan/resize/digital touchup : 15 minutes
Upload : 1-2 minutes.

Et voila'! 2 new strips on my site.

Low time estimate : 2 hours and 32 minutes, or 1 hour and 16 minutes per strip.
High time estimate : 3 hours and 16 minutes, or 1 hour 38 minutes per strip.

Now, if I'm chatting with my hooligan friends at the time.....well... those estimates go RIGHT out the window. Also, I tend to work in small bursts. I'll get in a grove and whip out a couple of penciled panels... struggle and mope for a bit... get back in the grove and do a few more.... then stare blankly at the last panel for a bit......if I knew exactly what I wanted to draw before I did it, I'd be on easy street and my times would drop. As it is, I almost never have the drawings roughed out before I start a strip. I ALWAYS have dialog done. (Although I do tend to rewrite a bit as it hits the bristol.) But unless the writing is dependant upon the exact visual, I usually like to seperate it out from my writing. The art feels more spontaneous to me that way. So it's more fun to draw!

As far as writing a strip goes, sometimes I can write six or seven strips like it was nothing, averaging 10 minutes a strip. Othertimes I struggle to come up with anything I like and I can blow an hour or two and not like anything.

Man, I have a bad case of longasspost-itis today. I oughta see a doctor about that.

[Procrastination: Alex]

I take a hell of a long time...it might have something to do with being new to CG though.

Writing a script for one comic only takes a little while, depending on how creative I am. Less than 30 mins, definitely. Then I give the scripts to the artist.

I think she said it takes 30-60 mins for her to draw. Then she has to get the comics back to me cause she has no scanner (this step can take days...)

Scanning, cleaning it up, inking takes me 60 to 90 mins. Colour takes another 60 to 120 mins.

So, 3-4 or more hours. I get kinda distracted too...

[TheWhiner]

Er, where's the 7 hour option? *whines*

Amen to that one! I spend hours upon hours on my comic; only to shrink it down so that you can't see the detail and then you read it in less that a minute...

*sigh*

[Lui Angus]

just saw this thing on the Disney channel a few days ago... has anyone seen the cartoon that pretty much started the Disney Company,"Steam Boat Mickey". Well its said the guy who animated that cartoon drew 700 frames a day(did I hear that wrong) well if its true I feel pretty ashamed of my lazy ass.

[ZOMBIE USER 9264]

I'm sure you meant 'Steamboat Willy'.

[Lui Angus]

"Steamboat Willie" I knew something seemed off when I was typing out the title.

[Ratbert]

It depends, really. If I do a comic cropped together from photos, which I used to do a lot, it takes about 30-45 minutes only, provided I have the pictures and it's not overly complex. Drawn ones take about 30 minutes- an hour to draw and then about 30 minutes or so to fix up.

I don't ink them, I just use pencil and use Gimp to level it. It's a great tool, makes all the pencil lines black and such and takes away a lot of the odd marks on it.