It’s ok to start over

I’ve finally started work on a comic I’ve had bouncing around my head for years. The characters and story are starting to slot into place but there’s still a lot to do. The comic will be a fairly long story but broken down into smaller stories, which will progress the plot further.

And so, rather than wait for the whole thing to be written, I decided to crack on with the early portion of the story. I wrote the script, pencilled it all out and went into inks. I finished page 2 and life and other projects meant progress stagnated.

After a few weeks, I came back to the pages and they just didn’t feel right, particularly page 2. The main beats were there but not clear at all. Looking with fresh eyes, I saw I’d plucked a bush out of nowhere out of the necessity for something for the characters to hide behind. With page one, I felt the background was too busy and took away emphasis on the characters.

So, after spending a bit of time re-pencilling the pages, I got to where I felt like I’d addressed the issues mentioned above.

Sometimes taking a fresh look at something you’re working on might mean redrawing parts, which can feel like taking a step back. But, in the long run, if it improves the work and helps you feel better about what you’re putting out, it’s worth the effort.