Time, how long?

[Amante]

I rush and generally make a big sloppy mess out of my pictures and could probably slam an average page out in no more than 2-3 hours, start to finish (less if the page is easy)--it helps that my pages usually begin life digitally, so I kind of blend my sketch/ink stages together. Also, did I mention I'm really sloppy?

I share the sloppiness trait for sure. My lines are always very sketchy unless I get lucky.

[Sonic-ock]

As much time as it takes to get it right.

Now deadlines is a different story, I've been having a lot of trouble with deadlines. I can rock a deadline, butI find that I often don't. it makes me feel horrible.

[UrbanMysticDee]

Assuming we're talking about comic pages:

Generally I'm unwilling to sit for more than three hours to draw a single page. For The L this means I finished one page (54, due out 19 March 2011) in a single sitting. Most take two or three days to complete, from writing to final drawing. From there I scan it and edit it on the computer, which takes several hours in itself (maybe six or eight, sometimes more). This is usually spread out over a couple of days too. It takes about six days from writing to completed page, which is why I update every week. Some early pages took much longer. Page 22 has the distinction of the longest time from start to finish of any page I have ever done, 564 days. It was the map's fault.

For Trapped in the Closet, each page is completed in a single day, from writing to completed page, because most of the work is making things black on the computer, which takes hours, but is very easy. I would have to say that for the first time ever I'm completely satisfied with the level of black on each page.

Assuming other works:

It depends. Drawings can take hours, and then I tool around with them for days to months, getting them just right. Videos generally take less than ten hours to complete. I have a game that I've been working on since May 2008 that looks as if it will never be completed. Fully printed out the board will be about six feet long and game play is expected to take days. I build scale models of vehicles, weapons, and people out of cardboard and they take very long. The average person, with eight points of articulation, takes about twelve hours to complete. The ones with ten points of articulation, of which I have made only two, take much, much longer. Every one I make I swear it's the last one because of the living hell of working on something that small, that detailed, over that long a time, often having to redo things multiple times, with that unforgiving a medium, and each time I come back for more like some sort of masochistic architect seeking to populate his world with ever more subjects so as to increase the realism. I've been working on a building for months that I probably won't ever finish. I've been writing a novel since 2006 that is also unending, seeing as how each chapter turns into a seperate book. I'm up to six so far, one of which is finished, with three side projects.


So, are you spending too much time on your art? I suppose if you're like me you could ask the question "am I suffering enough?" and if the answer is "no," then, no, you're not working on it enough. If you're not like me then, firstly, I congratulate you for avoiding that situation, and secondly, you can take great solice from the fact that you are not like me. Set me up as an example of the guy who takes too long to do things and takes on way too many projects at once.

And now the return of the best smiley face of them all, in spades. It's so cute.

[H0lyhandgrenade]

I've managed to get it to about 5-6 hours a page... I'm quite pleased with that but speeding up is my goal as of late.

[redandblack64]

^ It took me that long to just pencil and Photoshop my older pages. Since then, Ive managed to lay out and pencil pages within 3 hours, sometimes 1 hour. It takes an hour or less to 'docter' the pages in Photoshop.

[mamorii]

honestly, i spend hours drawing all day. part of that is because i'm an art major, so, i draw all the time for school. and drawing is my hobby, so i draw all the time outside of that!

[Andromeda]

Pencil, anywhere from two hours to... God, I don't know, maybe ten? Depends on the difficulty. I'm really slow with this.

Inking takes an hour. I'm pleased with this time, given the amount of hatching I throw on.

Digital fixing-up takes anywhere from one hour up to... two or three? Depends if I need to fix any blatant mistakes in the lines, and whether the tones are all simple or if I want something special. And sometimes my program likes to stop working, so I sit there and scream at it for twenty minutes before ragequitting and picking it up again the next day.

Start to finish, between four hours and way too freaking long, usually the latter.

[Charliedog]

The bulk of what I draw is five-minute sketches I have done a couple of pics that have taken several hours (most of the time over a time period of several weeks. I have the attention span of a goldfish OTL ;;) Comics-wise,the only comic I have up on smackjeeves is a sketch-comic,but even for that most pages take me 30minutes to an hour to make. Again,over the course of several days XD Very rarely do I finish anything "big" in one sitting.

[Crystalbear]

I take hours on hours on hours to do anything. I daresay i'm the slowest artist in the world.
penciling =4-8 hours
inking= 4-8 hours
coloring = god lets not even go there.

I'm so glad that I am not alone. This pretty much sums up my time.

And sometimes the amount of time something takes me can really frustrate me, but most times I don't let it get to me, personally.

[jazylh]

I usually spend atleast 7 hours a day on my art. I do a 9 to 2 job in an animation studio & after that when I come home it's either the comic or commissions I usually get. But it's all fun, theres nothing I'd like to do more.

[Tomete]

Normally I spend the most time sketching, because I don't like improvision when I ink. So normally my sketching takes about 4-5 hours minimum.

My inking takes about 30 minutes, since my sketch is generally clean and crisp once I finish. and if I ever want to color (I never do it traditionally. I am terrible at that kind of thing), it would take me around an hour or two.

Needless to say, I rush some stuff.

[magnetic-porcupine]

I used to take ages and ages, about 6h in total
1h drawing
2h inking (yeah i'm really slow at that stuff)
3h coloring and lettering

I'm just scanning in penciled pages now, and doctoring it in photoshop
so now it's 1h drawing, 1h lettering

but then again the 1h lettering is because I never plan what the people say beforehand so I have look through the panels I drew and see which words fit in best ^_^

[wulfsaga]

if your technique wrong or you dont like what you are drawing it feels Long, try to learn alternative drawing technique, maybe youll find one that more faster!

[Tomete]

but then again the 1h lettering is because I never plan what the people say beforehand so I have look through the panels I drew and see which words fit in best ^_^

I'm the opposite. I like to type/write out a full script in detail of what's happening in each page. I may be a visual learner, but I like working from words LOL

[magnetic-porcupine]

I'm the opposite. I like to type/write out a full script in detail of what's happening in each page. I may be a visual learner, but I like working from words LOL

Yeah, my method of doing stuff is crappy i need to do what you're doing haha

But I find that writing out a full script beforehand makes the drawing boring. It's like, first there's the thrill of creation when you plan out the world and all, and then the rest of the time is spent ... mindlessly copying your words out as drawings I know that's not really the case but whenever I plan the full script out before I start, I tend to feel that way >: