#kind of shamelss plugging of my original work

[morimakesfanart]

Hi (●’◡’●)ﾉ first I'm not trying to be rude or rush it's a genuine question 😅 but ruffly how long does it take to write and draw one chapter? I've always wanted to write and draw my own comic but as a college student I hardly have time 😅

It completely depends on the level of detail in the drawings and the number of panels. It's been a while since I timed myself. I took a while to answer this so I could see how long things actually take for me right now. Also, note I am doing this while working a full time job, taking care of my family, and doing constant physical therapy to combat my chronic pain and other disabilities. (I only have about 10 hours of free time every week to work on drawing comics if I'm lucky.)

I write my stories in arcs. First I write a lot of events and character developments (including character motivations) that will happen in the arc -often this is just in my head (not written down). Then I just start writing and I don't worry if it's good or in character though I will still try to do that. The point of this is to give me a more concrete outline to work with. "It's easier to edit and change something than it is to make something new," I think that's how that saying goes. Then I reread and edit/rewrite scenes keeping every character's motivation in mind. This often leads to many changes in how things happen because once every character is having their motivation and ability to problem solve considered they can't act as plot devices as easily.

With fanfiction specifically, this is the stage where I rewatch and reread scenes with the characters I'm writing. The types of neurodivergent that I am makes mimicking and mirroring easier for me. It also helps that I grew up in theater. I do my best to mimic their ways of talking, and get into their head space so I can better write them. When I reread what I wrote and I can hear the actor's voice in my head then I know I captured the personality of the character.

Writing an arc normally takes me 3-5 months depending on length and what I have to set up for the start of the next arc. As the first chapters in the arc solidify I can start posting them, but only if I have about 1/4-1/2 of the arc written out in full. When writing, I go back and forth between all the chapters to make sure that there is enough foreshadowing and follow through. I reread my own story many times to make sure every flows together too.

Now for the drawing/comics side:

The long chapters of Sindria's Prophet have as much plot as 3-6 chapters of comics. Webtoons originals have a minimum of 30 panels per chapter for their plot based series. My average for comic chapters is about 45-50. (I am not an Originals writer & post on both Tapas and Webtoons CANVAS.) After learning how short their chapters are, I've started writing shorter chapters.

I can get done chibi panels in 15-30 minutes. My slice of life comic is normally 5 panels, but sometimes I've gone as high as 15. I tend to take between 45 minutes and 2 hours to get done 5 panel chibi comics.

Non-chibi panels take between 30 minutes and 2 hours. That's for each panel. If it's just a head shot and I've draw that character from that angle before it can be done in 15 minutes as long as it's not a character with a lot of accessories.

The lineart for the Gojo piece I recorded before took about 20-30 minutes. I was also chatting with a friend at the time or I probably could have done it faster. I got the whole thing done at a leisurely pace in about 2.5-3 hours. (picking colors took me a while.) The Sinbad sitting up in bed illustration took about 2-2.5 hours because of the amount of detail that went into the background and checking references. Most of that time was on line art. only about 5-10 minutes were shading.

A waist up of Sinbad with all of his metal vessels used to take me 2-3 hours for just the lineart because of the amount of detail. I've cut it down to 1-1.5 hours since I've drawn him so much and have figured out short cuts for drawing him.

To cut time for my original comic, I don't do shading anymore, but I do have a flat grey layer so I have a few tones to help things stand out. I do most of the shading in the lineart now. For special moments I will use a shading layer though.

Time break down for about 40 panels (after scripting): 5-10 panels will be chibi - 75-150 mins (1h15m -2h30m) 5-10 panels copied with minor edits - 60-100 min (1h-1h40m) 5-10 panels of just head shots etc - 150-210 min (2h30m-3h30m) 5-10 panels of high detail/ with background - 330-630 min (5h30m-10h30m) Total: 10h15m - 17h55m

This does not include figuring out panel layout or lettering etc. For that add another 2-4 hours. Also note that none of my comics are in full color. For full color add 30mins -1h30m per panel. I have an editor for my original work which adds a lot of extra time too.

Things taking so long to draw is why I only make some comics for the fanfic instead of drawing the whole thing. We would still be in the Balbadd arc if this was a full comic