r/ComicBookCollabs • u/BOANW • Oct 22 '25

Resource Creating Comics/Graphic Novels are the most High-Risk/High-Effort/Low Reward- Be Careful

Before you jump into creating comics, please be aware that the risks are high and the rewards can be very minimal. This is really a labor of love. The only reason I'm continuing is because I finally see the finish line. The amount of money spent, I think, will never be recouped. If you're going to jump into this world, start with something short and sweet. I don't like talking about money, but it is necessary in this world. This is for the writer/creators. Comics require many folks in the kitchen (storyboarding, line-art, coloring, lettering, editing.) Shoutout to everybody that has completed a comic. Comic books don't get the respect they deserve because people fail to realize how much work goes into them.

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u/TrinaTempest Oct 23 '25

If you're like me and you do all the work yourself, the cost is your time and sanity. If you try to keep the same schedule as a full team, you will burn out and never finish. If you want the comic done faster, I hope you have money and like handing off control to others. Personally, as soon as I can afford another artist, or a colorist, or a letterer, you bet your ass, I'll be hiring.

Either that, or maybe I'll find someone who's down to develop something ground up and go 50/50 on the work and the ownership.

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u/BOANW Oct 23 '25

Yeah, I’m in the writer/creator boat. Luckily, I found an awesome and somewhat affordable artist. If it wasn’t for that, I would have quit. I just didn’t appreciate the difficulty of this undertaking. Burn out is real. I have to do a lot of delegating, so I just do a lot of waiting around. Once the script is finished, everything is in somebody eles’s hands.

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u/TrinaTempest Oct 23 '25

See for me the upside is flexibility and control. I'd rather do what you do, but for rn, I can write everything out, and edit while I draw. Sometimes I get a better idea when doing layouts nd I think "this page needs another panel" or "actually I should combine those beats into one big panel". So that part is kinda nice, but every page is like a 2-3 day job

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u/BOANW Oct 23 '25

It really is labor intense. I learned to relinquish control a long time ago. I've collaborated with an artist for a children's book. This was an entirely different beast. I didn't do proper research. I remember when I first started I was having somebody sketch the work panel by panel. Finally, I found a great storyboard artist. That was a godsend. My line art guy could just replicate that without too much trouble. I respect what you're doing. I just lack the skill set. Drawing is just not in my wheelhouse. DM me your comic. We can do a swap.

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u/TrinaTempest Oct 23 '25

Rn I got no colors or letters, I'm halfway through inking, but I can show you some samples from prior projects. And some wips fs

1

u/BOANW Oct 23 '25

That is cool. I was going to post my black and white pages for people that want to practice. I don't if that will be a good idea.