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I inked 200 pages of comics with ADHD in 2 months without hurting myself physically. Here’s how:
-Full nights of sleep, no compromises.
-I worked 6 days a week, and a very strict day off. Not even emails allowed.
-Make your 60% effort good. Never work a page to 100% effort.
-Full nights of sleep, no compromises.
-I worked 6 days a week, and a very strict day off. Not even emails allowed.
-Make your 60% effort good. Never work a page to 100% effort.
-learn your pace, and try to find a hard limit for how long you work on any page. My hard limit was 3 hours, for even the most ambitious page. Anything more isn’t worth it. My average was 1.5 hours.
-Divide the work into bite size chunks. Focus on the weekly goal, not the total.
-Divide the work into bite size chunks. Focus on the weekly goal, not the total.
- everytime you sit to work, have your collection of references ready. Stuff you know right off the bat you will always need. Hand poses, character sheets, environments, etc if you go looking for them every time you’ll get distracted.
- stretch stretch stretch stretch stretchy
- stretch stretch stretch stretch stretchy
- seriously physically get up and dance around do whatever you gotta do to stay active between pages. I have experienced carpal tunnel in the past two years, and didn’t ever feel a twinge of discomfort during this work burst as a result of regular stretches.
- Good chair, and a desk that mentally put me into “work mode”. Make the lines between work and rest as clear as you can with your clothes, space, routine.
- recognize when in the day/night you work best, throw the phone in another room during that time.
- recognize when in the day/night you work best, throw the phone in another room during that time.
- I am not telling you go draw 200 pages in two months, and it was not a choice I made for fun. it was mentally exhausting, but it was a crash course in how to make sure I stay physically safe and set myself up for success no matter what’s thrown at me.
-have friends and work buddies or at the very least your favorite show/podcast on as much as you can. If you’re ADHD like me you need all channels of your brain occupied or else it’s distraction hell
- having a cat helped ngl
- having a cat helped ngl
- I did this thing where I would “prove I could draw” only a few pages a chapter (big environments, dynamic full body poses, etc) but then let myself off the hook to just do talking heads for a while. The dialogue is gonna cover the art either way don’t break yourself over it.
- prioritize mood over everything and crop down economically. If you can get a great impact by just drawing a terrible grin, why even bother showing the rest of the character if that’s the main detail. Think like a reader not an artist.
In conclusion seriously don’t draw 200 pages in 2 months if you have the choice, just know that your body can endure if you take the necessary precautions. Do the math early. If you can’t sleep a full night or leave buffer room for a few days of being sick: it’s never worth it.
If you made it this far, follow along for SQUIRE, my graphic novel alongside @Nadia_Shammas_ coming out with Harper Collins this time next year!
It’s about YA fantasy book about a young girl who hides her identity in order to train as a knight, set in a fictional Middle East!
It’s about YA fantasy book about a young girl who hides her identity in order to train as a knight, set in a fictional Middle East!
To really truly stress I am in no way endorsing or encouraging what I did: this is how I survived working a very unfortunate schedule. I am never doing this again.
These tips are to outline some bare minimum boundaries you need to stay healthy.
These tips are to outline some bare minimum boundaries you need to stay healthy.
It will take a long time for any artist to truly know how they work best, so be very generous with your time when scoping out long term projects.
It is always best to communicate when you’re struggling and as early as possible to editors, clients, peers, etc
It is always best to communicate when you’re struggling and as early as possible to editors, clients, peers, etc
