When to stop

[Kissingkerie1]

At one point do you stop drawing/producing the comic you're creating, eh?

Yes, sure, when it's no longer fun. I get that. When you no longer enjoy it. That's the easy answer.

But a lot of the webcomics I see seem to stop in the middle of everything and disappear. I assume the artist got busy and didn't have time to finish. I understand that as well.

I would at least like to stop at the end of a story arc, and not just drop it like dead rocks. And it's not that I don't enjoy it anymore either. I'm drawing another comic however that seems to have energize me more.

For all you artists that are drawing or have drawn more than one comic at a time...what finally made you give in and quit that "one" project?

I don't doubt for a second that people are reading it. I believe they are, whether or not they comment/email, etc. I guess I'm a little conflicted about whether to stop it and concentrate on my new project.

Then I swing back and forth as well. When I'm drawing the new comic, it's all I can think about (well, except for sex, and so on). But then I get to a stopping point and find my passion reunited.

Maybe I'm one part fearful that I WILL lose interest in Kissing Kerie. It's sort of been my baby for awhile.

Any advice?

kk

[Toxic]

At one point do you stop drawing/producing the comic you're creating, eh?

When they pry my pencil from my cold dead hand.

Or I just move on to bigger and better things. Probably the latter.

[Mr. Caravaggio]

Well, not that I have any experience, but...

You might be able to find a middle ground, where you change things but don't necessarily quit them. Look at any tv series that lasts longer than a season, they have to change something to keep it interesting. Kill off a character, bring in a new one, have everyone move to a different city, get new jobs, something that helps ramp up the energy.

In your case I think the obvious evolution would be to transform the comic into "******* kerie", though you'll probably have different ideas about that.

There's also no reason you have to quit altogether, just take a break and work on your other thing for a month or two, then come back. See how you like it then.

[Dutch!]

I don't want to think about any other comic project because I really think I can make something worthwhile (not to be confused with popular by any means) out of it. I don't want to finish it at any time in the near or even middle future.

That said, at the moment I've probably had the longest break from actively working on it than I have since I first started fiddling a year or so ago. I know what the next story's going to be, I just haven't had the urge to sit down and work it all out and draw it all up. I've got about a week and a half of strips still waiting, so I'm slowly getting my head back into gear to work on it again.

I guess I'm saying that you'll go through lulls and troughs from time to time. The periods of active creativity makre it so much more fun though, and before long you'll find you've got a hefty little pile of comics and story under your belt, and personally I think it's not a bad little pile I've got so far.

From what I've read of yours recently I think if you stick with it, before too long you'll look back at it and think much the same.

Cheers.

[Black Sparrow]

The idea with many comics that go on hiatus is that, eventually, they might be picked up again. Yeah, when comic writers lose interest or time, or when they don't know how to do the next storyline, they sometimes stop in the middle of the comic. Sometimes the pick it up again. Sometimes they don't.

I'm going through a difficult time with my comic right now. I don't have the passion for it I once did, and I've got a couple other possible comics in the works. So, I downgraded from a three-a-week schedule to a once-a-week schedule.

I refuse to stop this comic altogether. It's a story comic, and I want to see that story through to the end.

If you can help it, try to pick a good stopping point. A "natural" exit. "Boy Meets Boy," for example, is a gag comic that ended by having the two main characters move away to a house on the coast. It was out on a nice note, and it left a nice feeling of "starting a new story." Or something.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck with it.

[McDuffies]

I have the same problem right now. I would stop the comic, but if I don't finish it, I will feel like a sad, pathetic loser.

[Starline]

I stopped my old comic when I realized I could do much much better.

[K-Dawg]

I think my main problem with my other comics was that I had no real planning for them, so once I got stumped for what to do I was stuck. I did try though with my first story comic to plan out EVERYTHING...bad idea. I wrote out about 25 chapters, chapter 2 to 25 were epic and I absolutely loved them...but I barely put anything fun into the first chapter. So what happened? I got stuck in the first chapter and realized it was soooo boring.

With Angry D. Monkey I learned from all my mistakes and made a comic that had a lot of story by had enough in it to keep me entertained through the rough beginning. I don't think i'll be stopping this comic anytime soon. I have so much more I need to do and draw, and think!

[[geoduck]]

My comic will end someday, when I die of old age or when the plot is finished, whichever comes first.

[Phact0rri]

I believe a comic ends when you finally feel you are done. Wether if its the story being done. Your characters ready to move on, or if you don't feel like doing it anymore. A comic doesn't have a clear cut finish point. I would believe every artist shouldn't have to question win this time comes. as sad as it is.. its a happy time, cause that means you can create yet another one.

[LibertyCabbage]

i like to think that it'll end when i take on a more important creative project but it would also end if i explode or go to jail. so, whichever comes first. although maybe i'll do a real not-exploding ending sometime.

[MixedMyth]

I actually wrote an article on this for the keenspace newsletter. Now where was that link...

[K-Dawg]

I actually wrote an article on this for the keenspace newsletter. Now where was that link...

http://newsletter.keenspace.com/d/20050525.html

there you go.

[Anywherebuthere]

Ill stop when the story I want to tell is told...which should be in about...two years I think.

After that, I donno. I'll see if I want to do a spin off, or if I'll just put this into my bag of "Stuff I did, but no longer do".

[Vorticus]

Someday my comic will end, probably whenever I get around to making something better.

[Nicked]

I'm pretty much hiatus-ed right now, but I want Red Tape to stop at a later point. It was never meant to be a long story, so it won't last very long. So once I finish what I want to do with it, I'll start another comic, probably.

[Kirb]

I'll be continuing JaE until the storyline ends.
Afterward, I might do a spin-off, but I dunno.

But this reason motivates me above all else:

if I don't finish it, I will feel like a sad, pathetic loser.

[Keffria]

For all you artists that are drawing or have drawn more than one comic at a time...what finally made you give in and quit that "one" project?

I stopped when I realized that the only reason why I was carrying on was that I knew my readers would be disappointed if I just quit. The fact was that drawing my comic had ceased to be fun - sitting down to draw it was becoming more of a chore than anything, and when that happens, what's the point in continuing?

Right now, I'm focusing my energies on recapturing the sense of fun I had at the beginning, by playing around with different art styles and character designs for a new comic (one which is more arc-based, I might add, so I don't get so caught up in tangled plot threads).

[Jackhass]

I have no particular plans to stop making my current comic...I'll continue to make it for as long as it's fun and/or profitable.

[Blackaby]

When Viger dies of exhaustion.