Yeah, I had to put u some fillers and nonsense things in my comic fairly early when I couldn't make the daily update. Now i was wondering if i should delete them so I continue toward the 24-25 page mark for the first chapter.

Do fillers just take up chapter space? a sign of laziness? Or one big apology by showing something nice?

I've never worked on a filler because I was behind on an update.

I actually don't understand the point... If I'm working on filler, I should be working on the actual page instead.

I've posted filler on a few occasions, not very often on update days, generally on days that I wouldn't update. It's either an old picture I made or fan art. I've only drawn 1 picture with the mentality of putting it up as filler.

And that was my x-mas picture, which was posted on a day that didn't fall on my update schedule.

I don't delete them, but I move them to the ends of the chapters once I complete a chapter. That way it won't interrupt readers looking through the comic.

I dislike fillers.

In my 91 pages, I have only four that aren't comic pages or chapter-"covers" - and out of those four, only two qualifies as a filler; an apology-picture I posted after having gone on a two-week hiatus, and the filler I posted when I missed an update due to a Metallica concert. Neither one took more than two hours to make (which is waaaay less than my regular pages). The other two were a Halloween picture and a one-year-anniversary-comic, both of which coincided with an actual update.

If you can't update, don't be afraid of going on hiatus instead - your readers might be disappointed if there are no new updates, but if you have time to put up a lot of fillers, that begs the question of why you're working on filler-stuff instead of the actual pages. If it becomes too much of a challenge to make your updates on the scheduled days, remake your schedule rather than fill in the holes.

I agree, you should rather spend the time on the next page. Although, if you're behind schedule and happen to have some initial character designs or fan art for your webcomic, that'd probably be neat to put up (and since it's already made it wouldn't take much time). Moving it to the end of chapters afterwards sounds good too.

i don't mind filler as long as it doesn't break up the story.
sometimes it can really stunt a story's if there's fillers everywhere. i mean, once isn't too bad, but sometimes when a comic has too many that it's disruptive, i'll just stop reading.


i have absolutely no problem with it if it's between chapters or something, or at least between scenes!
i do understand why drawing fillers is a good break, i don't always want to be drawing a comic page, so i'll draw the comic's characters on their own. which is all good, and really fun, but sometimes they should just be uploaded somewhere else, like a deviantart account.

:)

Yeah, I agree. Fillers are okay every once and a while, but they break up the flow of the story, which might be okay if you're doing a gag strip, but if you're working on a story comic, it just distracts. I understand why someone would want to post some filler stuff every now and then, in order to feel like you're keeping up with the update schedule, but when it's done too much it can be the death of a good comic. What I would do is deleat it once you have a new actuall comic page, or move it to the end of the chapter, or maybe even, if you have a ton of filler, make another comic called 'filler for____' and post it all there. But that's for the most extreme cases.

I've never used filler and I manage to update daily. As most people have said it should be more of a bonus thing than a place holder. Sketches at the end of the chapter are cool, but they do get in the way while reading.

The way I've always done it is if I was late or making up for a missed day for whatever reason I just used my buffer and uploaded two comics at once. But if you don't have a buffer that's where you're going to run into trouble. Rather than spend time doing fillers and random stuff you'll never use, use that time to build up a buffer.

Use fanart as fillers.

fillers usually go at the end of every chapter. I keep it though to a maximum of THREE filler art in a chapter interval.

Bad.

I'd rather wait than see some half assed doodle.

They're harmless fun as long as you only post them between chapters/issues (if you have a story comic). Otherwise it breaks your story flow.

I have posted filler when I am delayed on a producing and posting a page.
but as people have mentioned, I delete those filler pages so the story isn't interrupted.

well it depends id probly do it in later times ive done one early but eh osmetimes thier good just to say

"i wanan take a break so **** off"

at first, I thought this thread was about filler content in comics, like how the naruto cartoon has a lot of filler episodes because they have to wait for the manga.

I was all prepared to rant about dragonball z.

The kind of filler you're talking about really sucks, imo. It's a nice reminder that you're still alive if you're running behind I guess, but it's not a comic page.

I believe I am of the same pace of thought as 90% of the other comments on here that reflect that "filler pages" are hardly ever okay unless used as chapter ends/beginnings.

I think that they could easily be used as a title page if handled correctly, but again, if your story is flowing well, then stick to the story and get the work done. :)

Readership and building a fanbase of any kind is based absolutely on this fundamental concept.

I occasionally use fillers, usually they are pages explaining why I'm not there that day to update. For example the day the dishwasher pipes burst sending hot water everywhere in the kitchen. That day warranted a filler.

So do I support overuse of fillers? No, same reason stated by most of you that it breaks up the story. Are they a bad thing that the artists should be burned alive for? No, because life happens and we can't always devote time to awesomely illustrated pages.

That's my two cents. *clink*

Wow I' really surprised to see how many people hate fillers! I would have thought that fillers in moderation were a good thing. I thought that they were a way of pleasing the masses and being able to say why there is no comic. Kinda like saying "sorry no comic today because _____________, but here have this sexy pin-up!"

I would say to never exceed a comic:filler ratio of 20:1 so it doesn't interrupt the storyline too much. Also, I think its a good idea to keep a stash of finished side stuff that you did just for fun that can be used as emergency filler because face it, sometimes things come up. I also like the suggestion that was mentioned about deleting or moving the filler art so it doesn't mess up the flow of the archives.

onyxrose
--I think its a good idea to keep a stash of finished side stuff that you did just for fun that can be used as emergency filler because face it, sometimes things come up.

Totally agree on this, is better to work on the comic than with a "filler". I haven't used any fillers in my web-comic (yet) but when I do, it'll be and the end of chapters and probably to show some previously done character designs and other stuff that reader might like seeing and maybe enjoy.

I have a filler up like right now. An old image I made. I updated the colors a bit. I just put it there to announce I was taking a break for a bit.

Once my break is over I'll take the filler down and continue as nothing occurred.

One or two occasionally is ok.
But if your comic is just:
Cover
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
comic page
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler
filler

this is when fillers are completely out of the question. Seriously, don't do it. A comic that is 90% fillers should be on DeviantArt, not DrunkDuck.

I can tell you that a comic with a bunch of filler in its archive ain't gonna get featured no matter how good it is. Never interrupt a chapter or arc with filler if you can help it (or at least delete it when you get back to the regular comic). Between chapter stuff is fine, as long as it's not too much. If a comic has more than say, 1/5 filler in its archives, it makes it look like the artist has had a hard time updating with comic material.

If i had time to do filler, I'd never get my comic done!

I like having the number of pages in my comic match the number of pages that are in the actual story. I have thought about doing fillers but I don't like them. They are in most cases a disappointment to readers for me.
:/

I think fillers are actually a good thing to kind of appease a missed update, but I don't think they should remain in your archive. It's a nice token to fans who expected something when coming to your site, it's a way of showing them that you didn't forget about them. Obviously fillers should be kept to a minimum, and I actually prefer the "work so far in advance you won't need them" method, but if you're putting your comics up as you make them, I think fillers can be a good gesture. But it's really frustrating reading through a comic's archive and being interupted by fillers. They serve a purpose in the heat of the moment, but normally they don't provide much lasting value. If it's a piece of art that you really think deserves to remain on the site, make a new section where you put that kind of stuff. There's no real reason to have it interrupt the flow of your archive.

I had to do a bit of filler recently...I was on vacation and didn't have a scanner, so I doodled up stuff digitally so it didn't seem like I had died.

But I still inked pages and stuff, so when I got scanner access back, I just scanned them up and toned them and whatnot. It worked well enough, and I deleted the fillers when I started the comic up again.

In a different situation, like say I was late updating the page, I'd just work on the page instead of worrying about filler. I'd rather have a late page than have filler to delay the comic later.

If something big happened(like, say relative dying or something like that) then I'd put up an old sketch or something and explain the situation in the description.

So...I'd only use filler when you absolutely can't work on the comic for whatever reason.

I think fillers add to the comic's universe, but I agree it's best to update them between chapters as otherwise can be an annoyance for the reader.

The only kind of filler I'd ever do is one that's just there, not to make up for missed updates, but because I thought of a joke, but couldn't fit it into the current story arc.

Still, I've yet to experience that...