lothar
so... does everybody here just draw one page at a time or what ? i tend to layout ten to 30 pages at a time , but i usually finish between 5 to 8 at a time , the others get stuffed in a drawer or trash can , i cant realy calculate how long it takes for one individual page , i've made 8 pages in 8 hours or 5 pages in 6 weeks . time is kinda irrelevant and clocks are annoying

QFT. I lay out my stories in "chunks".

also, it depends on the series. when I was doing my batman story each page took me 1-2 days...it was the tightest thing Ive ever penciled because I inked it all with brush and wanted it to be perfect....2nd day was all inking. That was hell and ill never do it again.

on my smokar short story, both drawing and inking each page took a day.

on KFK, things are ALOT faster. since i dont consider pencil to be a drawing medium, I just lookely sketch out where the figures are going to be...Im basically drawing that comic straight to ink, so it takes me around 3 hours to get a page done, counting distractions like phones and the internet and my recent break up with my gf.

for my heroes unite page, That took me 2 days, because i was using so much reference for each character.

and for this upcoming project im working on, Each page so far has taken me 2 days to pencil and ink.

I work on all my pages and art on-and-off (though it's more likely for me to finish an LF page all at once), so it's hard for me to time things. It'll be integral for me to time my work if I want to make money though, lol.

I need to get in the habit of at least sketching lots of pages at once. Linearting, too. Doing it in bulk would definitely be easier and quicker. Also, doing it out of order, which I can't seem to do...at all.

I still have yet to do a 24 hour comic. D:

Senshuu
I still have yet to do a 24 hour comic. D:

I have, they are alot of fun.

Hm... I'd say it takes me at least 5 hours to do a page, but I'm not entirely sure. The one and only 24 hour comic I've done is probably not a completely accurate basis of measurement for this. I was cranking out pages anywhere between 15 minutes to 1 hour, sketched and inked. There wasn't any written dialog, either.

Pencils and Inks: 1 - 2 hours
Lettering and Coloring: 3 - 5 hours

I bet the time it takes me to ink my pages will double once I start inking my comics with nibs and brushes. I used to do my comic in just technical pens: I'd get the line variation by inking the page multiple times, increasing the thickness of the pen each time. XD

I just finished mine yesterday. I had to do it in a few chunks, because I can't get enough time off from work to do a "real" 24-hour comic. So I timed myself as I did it to make sure I did it in under 24 hours. Clocked in at around 20 hours.

I did this page in 55 minutes:

3 to 4 hours is probably the total amount I spend. Sometimes more. It always seems like way too long.

for me it depends on style... One of my comics takes me roughly three hours per page and another one can take up to three days (off and on ofc).

but this is the drawing process, writing may take the longest.

While I've never really kept track.. I'd say an average page could take me from 4-8 hours of actual working time to complete. I say actual working time because I don't always get a solid chunk of time to work in.

Typically I spend a good chunk for referencing and final layout.

The "penciling" part is really quick-- like NickGuy, I figure since I'm doing my own inking, it would be really redundant for me to spend a lot of time getting the pencils to look refined/finished. I just get everything where it needs to be.

Inking is the next big chunk of time. I typically do my inking on a separate day because I like to try and get a page done all at once for consistency sake. I have made exceptions.

Lettering is quick for me. I don't really consider myself a letterer, so I mostly just do what I can to get it done. I should probably focus more on this as everything else starts to get dialed in.

I've yet to definitively decide if a page with more or less panels is faster for me. I would say probably more panels is faster though, because I fill the same amount of area, but typically with less details because the panels are smaller.... hmmm... food for thought.

Drawing a single page doesn't take a lot of time (maybe 30-40 minutes), but then my pages tend to go through an inking process (another 30-40 minutes) and a 3+ hour coloring process. Take into consideration that my writing process is pretty involved and takes a long time, and each page I do takes anywhere from 4-8 hours each.

This page only takes me 15 minutes (at the most) to do:



As they were done long ago, all I do is the translation and putting the dialog / narration boxes in photoshop. Thats it.

megan_rose
I just finished mine yesterday. I had to do it in a few chunks, because I can't get enough time off from work to do a "real" 24-hour comic. So I timed myself as I did it to make sure I did it in under 24 hours. Clocked in at around 20 hours.

I did this page in 55 minutes:

RAAAAGGHHH!!! *envy*

It usually takes me 8 hours to draw, write, letter, color and upload/update a page.

An hour and a half to two hours. Sometimes more.

I don't think i've ever spent more than four hours on a page. Probably not good, considering my level means I need to put in more effort, but I'm not the kind of person who can sit still for longer than that.

Living With Insanity is easy, as I don't vary the poses too much. It takes about:

5-10 minutes to come up with a vague idea of the strip's content.
30-40 minutes sketching, coming up new characters, expressions, etc. and also making the characters look alike.
10-20 minutes inking
I then wait 15 minutes for the inks to dry and then scan the page.
Another 20-30 minutes colouring the page.
10-15 minutes lettering and refining the dialogue.

So in total, anywhere between an hour and a half and 2 hours normally.

I'd probably be quicker if I actually wrote out a script, but I've done that before and I always end up changing things while drawing. Also, i tend to script things above my talents.

However, I am thinking of doing a 24 hour comic this year, entirely by hand and B/W so I don't spend extra time waiting for the scanner.

~ David

Since this thread's started I have been paying more attention to time. From the moment I fire up the lightbox to transfer the rough sketch to the card stock to the moment I upload to Drunk Duck the process takes an average of 2 1/2 to 3 hours; so that's re-sketch, ink, scan, color, dialogue, word balloon, turn the GIMP art work into a jpeg, think of something pithy to say in the artist's comment box, and then upload the finished page.

Even for a gag strip concept that's probably way too fast to work because it encourages sloppy execution of techniques. On the other hand, my stuff usually accurately reflects the current degree of my skill level, and taking more time would only result in marginal page improvements. So it goes.

albone
RAAAAGGHHH!!! *envy*

It usually takes me 8 hours to draw, write, letter, color and upload/update a page.

But, see, yours is in color, which takes a lot more time. I've always found coloring to be the most time consuming step, and if I'd done this in color, it would have taken me 3 times as long at least!

Reva often takes between 2-3 hours usually, depending on the complexity of the page. A few panels will take her less time than one of the bigger/detailed street scenes. Reva works quickly, but is a professional illustrator/cartographer for the rpg industry so that meant she had to develop a quick/clean style.

She also does everything traditionally, by hand.

Once she's done the art, it's over to me to letter it and that doesn't take too long in AI.