Say you draw a page, a perfect page, one that you could do no better. Inside this page lies a small flaw, be it a smudge, a wrongly drawn something, or whatever. Now this small flaw in this page drives you insane, even if the page is utterly perfect. So much that you obsess over it, focusing on that very small flaw. Trying to fix it, you risk ruining the page. Ignoring it, drives you insane. Does this happen to anyone a lot? If so, how do you guys get over it? Do you try to fix or do you ignore it and let it be?

Or, in the case of some artists, you just don't give a fuck. It's nothing.

I obsess over even the smallest flaws in page, smudges, crooked lines, everything. One time I went as far as crumpling the page and starting anew. D: Sometimes I'm more lax about it and just let it be.

I obsess over small flaws in pages sometimes and other times I just shrug my shoulders and let it go. I used to not be able to sleep at night until I fix the page to my liking...lost a lot of sleep that way. After drawing 290 pages you sort of just accept the fact that not all the pages are going to be perfect and just let stuff slide. Anymore I almost like small mistakes in my pages because they sort of give them a sketchy or rough quality that I feel gives my pages character.

All the time. I recently had to fix a crooked thumb in a pic, only to have something else pointed out about the character's legs that was too hard to fix without probably ruining it....now it still drives me insane.

Moral: Use more layers? I don't know.

If I find a mistake on a page that's bugging me I tend to look at it from a natural reading distance. If it's still obvious, then I fix it. If it isn't obvious, then I just leave it alone.

Now that we have CG programs, fixing stuff is easy. Too bad the paper you hold in your hands will still carry the blemish.

Naw, my comics are infamously sloppy. If I had a page with just one small flaw I'd be happy with it.

I use MS PAINT so there is no risk of ruining the whole page! Just save it first. (Another reason to use MS PAINT.)

I suggest putting it away for a few days or more and moving on to the next page. Go back to it later when you have some distance and it will be easier to fix.

Perfectionism is good.

The thing that works for me is to upload the page with the flaw and think "well, I can change this later if I want..."
Of course this is just to fool yourself because you'll move on to the next page and never touch it again. Hey, it works for me! :)

I obsess. To the point my left eye twitches. ;) I try to fix it, and if then the rest of the page needs fixing, I fix that too.

Often when I draw, I leave gaps open for stylistic purposes. That doesn't bother me, but what does bother me is when a little black line from my drawing goes just a little tiny bit too far into the other colored area, or just outside the line. I'll obsessively erase, re-draw, re-erase, and so fourth until it looks right or I get frustrated with it.

As for the writing, I don't have to worry about it. All the scripts are written by Richard Pyror's ghost.

For really obvious, big problems, like a characters' expression coming out totally wrong, I'll restart a page, but most of the time for stuff like little smudges or marker bleeding, I can fix it with photoshop afterwards, which saves me a lot of time and hassle.

I have yet to make a page where I'm like, "Whoa! This page is PERFECT! There's nothing I can do to make it better!", but the thing I've learned about doing webcomics is that it's more important to get things done fast than it is to get them done perfectly. Readers can forgive crappy-looking pages a lot easier than they can forgive no page at all. Really, you just need to learn how to finish a page and move on, and come to terms with the fact that you can always make more.

Terminal
Say you draw a page, a perfect page, one that you could do no better. Inside this page lies a small flaw, be it a smudge, a wrongly drawn something, or whatever. Now this small flaw in this page drives you insane, even if the page is utterly perfect. So much that you obsess over it, focusing on that very small flaw. Trying to fix it, you risk ruining the page. Ignoring it, drives you insane. Does this happen to anyone a lot? If so, how do you guys get over it? Do you try to fix or do you ignore it and let it be?

Smudges? Photoshop.

Something mistaken with the drawing? Then it's NOT a perfect page. But I fix it by redrawing the panel on a separate piece of bristol board (smaller, like I have scrap bristol for things like this usually). Scan that in. And place the corrected drawing in its proper spot in ... Photoshop.

I don't stress blemishes. I do try my best to fix mistakes. I don't stress over this much at all anymore since I started using better tools to make my pages. There's a lot of room for correction in the entire process.

Oh yeah, and working at a comic book company back in the 1990s really helped me get over the "fear" of going back into a finished comic book page with correction fluid or white opaquing paint or an exacto knife. Once you've been given a task to "correct" production problems on Barry Windsor Smith art ... doing so to YOUR OWN pages isn't so scary.

Hapoppo
it's more important to get things done fast than it is to get them done perfectly. Readers can forgive crappy-looking pages a lot easier than they can forgive no page at all. Really, you just need to learn how to finish a page and move on, and come to terms with the fact that you can always make more.

Yup, I agree.
With my current EXTREMELY rough style I finish a page in 45min - 1,5h. That way If I have nothing else to do I can submit daily, or even several pages a day.

I CAN draw "flawless" pages... but that takes time. If I did, I'd only be able to submit once or twice a week. And I'm that kinda person, that if telling the story takes too much time I get bored easily. So in benefit for everyone; the hell with perfect pages!


If talking about traditional art... When I do a major mistake, it's usually OK if I just paint the area black. Or continue something else from that mistake.
I rarely start from scratch at that point.
Smudges etc are of course easy to fix with PS.

Runosonta
With my current EXTREMELY rough style I finish a page in 45min - 1,5h.

Even with all your artistic burnt coloring you can finish a page in an hour?!??

mlai

Runosonta
With my current EXTREMELY rough style I finish a page in 45min - 1,5h.

Even with all your artistic burnt coloring you can finish a page in an hour?!??

Hahaha, yeah. Sketch in 15-30min, then I just fill in the colours, then use burn tool and sometimes overlay a shade of colour. Afterwards add colour balance, texture and text. QUICK. I don't colour with mouse at all, just use black block rubber for the messyest parts.

It really is the quickest decent looking PS colouring for me.

Gah, I'm jealous. It takes me 3 hours minimum to finish a page, usually it's closer to five.
Anyway, I don't think I've ever drawn anything I'd consider perfect, or almost perfect save for one little mistake. I just try to spot most lineart errors and fix them before doing the inks. If I make a mistake with the ink or markers I either cover it with more ink, or if it's really important I'll fix it digitally. Otherwise I tend to just leave them. If I don't mention it, usually no one else says anything, so hopefully they don't notice.

No, I do not obsess. I approach every page exactly the same. I draw it as best I can at that moment & move on. I'd never finish a page otherwise.

Plus, there is no such animal as a perfect page.

Later,
Chip

What Chip said. The trick is to find out where to draw the line, really. If I wanted to produce perfect pages, well... I'd still be on page 1. At some point you just have to be able to say "good enough" and move on to the next one. If you make mistakes, learn from them.

Terminal,

You are not alone. I am super obsessive over little details like that. Makes it hard since I only write our comic and Ethan draws it and he could care less. We argue over the quality a lot and I'll sit there for hours touching-up comics in photoshop. I realize I'm over-doin' it, most of the time; but, I can't stop.

Personally, I will spend months on something and won't stop 'till I'm either satisfied or I throw whatever the project is away in frustration.

I need to work on being able to just let it go. Naaawwww...That's just not the way I roll, I have to be picky.

Runosonta
With my current EXTREMELY rough style I finish a page in 45min - 1,5h. That way If I have nothing else to do I can submit daily, or even several pages a day.

Holy wow dude, and I thought 3 hours a page was quick. And it looks great for a 45 minute-1.5 hour comic!

Yup, none of my pages are perfect. Far from it actually. Like Hapoppo I want the story to move along more than I want to produce as perfect as possible pictures. Chip hits the nail on the head as well cause you just need to draw as best as you can and move on.

Quit nitpicking and such, everything I see wrong with my images I try to make a mental note to not produce such a mistake next time.

And yeah 1.5 hours for a page o_O It takes me that long just to draw my work and another 1.5 to color it.(average)

I want to get to the point I can produce 3 pages a day. So I gotta keep getting quicker without too much expense in my art.

I mean c'mon, my prologue is 7 comics, nearly 250 pages before I can bring in my main character and actually start my story =P

JustNoPoint
I want to get to the point I can produce 3 pages a day. So I gotta keep getting quicker without too much expense in my art.

I mean c'mon, my prologue is 7 comics, nearly 250 pages before I can bring in my main character and actually start my story =P

I've uploaded up to nine pages a day - my dear, well-selected 8 readers whined about it! O_o


And GEEZ! Here I thought my prologue was too long (six pages) :D

How does that work, not having a main character around? Or do you mean your fave main character, switch between the two or something? Curious.

Runosonta
I've uploaded up to nine pages a day - my dear, well-selected 8 readers whined about it! O_o


And GEEZ! Here I thought my prologue was too long (six pages) :D

How does that work, not having a main character around? Or do you mean your fave main character, switch between the two or something? Curious.

Well, I have Fenny and Sally as main characters at the moment. But my over all story revolves around a guy named Rick Devon and some of his family. That's why my comic is called "The Devon Legacy".

But I didn't name it that till after I knew how important he and his family is. My comic has lots of stories and changes quite a bit and him or someone from his family is present in almost the entire story except the 1st 7 issues which is why I called those issues the Prologue.

They will set up the world my characters are in and set up some story. Basically what I am doing now is just a story that takes place before you meet any Devons.

I actually like that idea! Good luck with the rest of the 250 pages to come :D

When I reach the nitty-gritty, driving-me-insane details stage, I show the page in question to my business partner or my girlfriend. If they don't blink an eye at whatever it is, I let it go. The artistic process is slow enough without getting bogged down with stuff only you can see.

I learned that lesson after working through many many projects in film school.