The Necessity of Buffers

24 Aug 2009 21 Comments

by Nikkiin comics Tags: ,

Or, rather, why I feel that having a buffer for myself is important.

There’s a lot of reasons why I feel that, personally, I desperately need a buffer when (if, at this rate) I start a webcomic.  At the same time, I’m well aware of the fact that buffers won’t work for other people/types of comics and I’m aware of when other people should have a buffer but, for various reasons, don’t.

I suppose I should start with why I feel that most comics (actually, pretty much all comics except for ones satirising current events) need a buffer.

It’s actually a very simple reason, really.  Buffers exist to protect you when life happens.  Ever had a 24 hour flu and spent the morning intimately acquainted with the toilet bowl and the afternoon passed out delirious on your bed?  Or maybe you’ve had your ISP decided that you no longer deserve internet and you spend an hour on the phone trying to get it working again and you’re just too frustrated to draw (and have too many missed tweets to catch up on).  Or perhaps just a really long day and all you want to do is just collapse and sleep for the next twelve hours but, gosh darn it, you’ve got that comic to draw.  If you had a buffer none of this would be a problem.  And it’s not like you have to make up the bit of the buffer you lost the next day or anything.  Nobody but you sees how large your buffer is and, thus, you can take your time building it back up.  Devote an extra hour every day to your comic until you bring your buffer up to a comfortable level.  You should not be stressing over something that your audience doesn’t see and shouldn’t even care about.

Of course, there’s also the secondary purpose of a buffer – to cover vacation time.  Sure, you can run guest strips or silly little doodles but, you know what?  Nine times out of ten that looks incredibly unprofessional and I won’t check your website until you come back.  If you’re in this game for money, well, you just lost out on advertising cash for however many days.  If you’re not?  There’s a chance that, after your holiday is up, your more casual readers will have forgotten to check your comic entirely.  Nobody wants a decrease in viewership.

The thing I find that people don’t understand about buffers is that working with a buffer is not like working without one.  You do not need to have a page done by  x  time on x date.  You do not need to rush and make a sloppy page to meet a deadline.  And you most certainly do not have to have a constant number of pages in it.  It’s flexible.  That’s the entire point of it.  It is like having an assignment done a few days in advance instead of completing it the night, or even hours, before it is due.  That has always been discouraged in school because you can always tell the difference between an essay written the night before and one that was finished at a more leisurely pace.  Do you want your comic to have a rushed look to it?  Working on your pages days, weeks or even months in advance means that you can take your time with them.  It means that if you just can’t draw anything decent one day, it’s okay.  You can work on it tomorrow.  It means that you don’t have to do one page from start to finish.  Instead, if you get into the pencilling groove, you can pencil until you don’t want to see another pencil ever again.

On the other hand, if you’re someone who can consistently turn out quality comics the night before and never get sick or have extenuating circumstances, sure, go ahead.  Or perhaps you’re someone who cannot work at all unless they have the pressure of a deadline bearing down on them.  I can understand people like that – I’m very similar until I get into a routine.  (That’s actually the reason why I participate in the NaNo – it has a deadline and should, hopefully, get me into a routine of regular writing.  It did not work last year, but, dammit, it is going to work this year!)  But, hey, if the time comes that you do get sick… well, damn, guess you should have had a few extra strips saved up, hmm?

As for why I need a buffer?  I’m a crap artist.  I can write and write and write and rarely get blocked (if it is my own stories and characters.  Fanfic is a different story altogether) but when I have bad art days… I have really bad art days.  Nothing works.  The problem is that I’ll have one really good art day and then a week of producing nothing but shit.  It’s why I rarely, if ever, post anything to dA.  I just have nothing worthwhile to show.  So, yeah, I need a buffer simply so that on the days I can’t pencil anything, I either have stuff ready for inking or colouring or I don’t have to worry about it and can try again tomorrow.

That’s the primary reason.  The secondary reason is that I’m a university student with an unpredictable schedule and, well, the finals weeks shouldn’t be spent working on a comic.  Plus, if I get a part time job, I’ll only be able to work in bits in pieces here and there.  It’s just less stressful to have a buffer and, thus, not having to worry about producing x number of pages in a really busy week.  Especially if the next week is going to be really slow.  Also, in the summers I can theoretically build up a massive buffer because work takes up less time than school (plus work).

Long story short?  Nine times out of ten the excuses to not have a buffer are just that; excuses.  Just shut up and make one because I do think less of a person for posting late updates (or missing them altogether).  Yes, yes, I know I’m getting it for free and I shouldn’t bitch and blah blah blah but, y’know what guys?  When I hand in assignments late, I lose points.  There’s no excuse for poor planning.  For those of you that your webcomic is your job?  Yeah.  I have no respect for your punctuality (and, a lot of time, for you).  Thanks for showing up late for work again.

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  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    YES! I know its really petty, but if you are going to call yourself a professional comic artist and that is your primary job, you have no damn excuse to not have the comic up on time everyday. That shit doesn't fly in the newspapers. Plus it doesn't inspire confidence in me to buy merch. And not sending my merch asap is unacceptable!

    People say you can't make a living at webcomics (even the pros are only doing it cause they have a SO with a steady job) maybe it would help if they would show the least bit of professionalism in there work. I don't get the seeming mentality that being professional about the business part would kill the fun of the comic side. They aren't mutually exclusive.

    My buffer creation is less about having a buffer (though I need it) its about building the habbit of creating comics regularly, and getting the process of making a comic start to finish down to less then an hour or two. having the buffer though means I have the time and freedom to throw the crappy strips away.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    Exactly! It's just not professional to have the comic up on time. I'm pretty fine with people doing it as a hobby since real life does interfere more frequently then, but if it's your job…! Even if it is just a part time one, essentially, that brings in a little extra cash for the house. I mean, I can't bitch about that – that's what I want to do if I ever get married, XD

    Ah, yeah, your buffer creation is pretty similar to mine (and why I do the NaNo). I forgot to mention that. Oh well, that's what you are for, XD Puttin' in the stuff I forgot in the comments :P

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    YES! I know its really petty, but if you are going to call yourself a professional comic artist and that is your primary job, you have no damn excuse to not have the comic up on time everyday. That shit doesn't fly in the newspapers. Plus it doesn't inspire confidence in me to buy merch. And not sending my merch asap is unacceptable!

    People say you can't make a living at webcomics (even the pros are only doing it cause they have a SO with a steady job) maybe it would help if they would show the least bit of professionalism in there work. I don't get the seeming mentality that being professional about the business part would kill the fun of the comic side. They aren't mutually exclusive.

    My buffer creation is less about having a buffer (though I need it) its about building the habbit of creating comics regularly, and getting the process of making a comic start to finish down to less then an hour or two. having the buffer though means I have the time and freedom to throw the crappy strips away.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    Exactly! It's just not professional to have the comic up on time. I'm pretty fine with people doing it as a hobby since real life does interfere more frequently then, but if it's your job…! Even if it is just a part time one, essentially, that brings in a little extra cash for the house. I mean, I can't bitch about that – that's what I want to do if I ever get married, XD

    Ah, yeah, your buffer creation is pretty similar to mine (and why I do the NaNo). I forgot to mention that. Oh well, that's what you are for, XD Puttin' in the stuff I forgot in the comments :P

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    my SO comment was more in the vein of, they don't work to be professional because their income isn't what is keeping the lights on, and food on the table. their income is what they use to buy the fun stuff on top of the essentials. And if cutting back sometimes is what it takes to live the dream then so be it. if anything Dave shows you can make a pretty consistent living if your professional and are always thinking 6 months ahead. I mean both he and his wife are creative people, that is a match that shouldn't work on paper.

    This blog competition thing has been really good thing to have done, don't you think? I know I am getting a lot of value out of it even if you're the only reader.

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    my SO comment was more in the vein of, they don't work to be professional because their income isn't what is keeping the lights on, and food on the table. their income is what they use to buy the fun stuff on top of the essentials. And if cutting back sometimes is what it takes to live the dream then so be it. if anything Dave shows you can make a pretty consistent living if your professional and are always thinking 6 months ahead. I mean both he and his wife are creative people, that is a match that shouldn't work on paper.

    This blog competition thing has been really good thing to have done, don't you think? I know I am getting a lot of value out of it even if you're the only reader.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    I have one other reader. I think it is my mom. Value wise… totally, totally worth it.

    So people think that they don't have to act professional just cuz they're not the primary source of income. Lame – their life would probably be pretty sucky if the the cash flow from the comic stopped. Dave is an awesome example of someone who does the professional thing 100% right. I mean, I hate his website, but damn he knows what he's doing.

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    heh according to feedburner I have 21 followers at monocle lad and 3 people who click through. though 17 are friendfeed so they are all me, and then one of the google is me, but still that means you and 2 strangers are reading it!

    oh man I am so with you. Dave's site is so 6 years ago in design mentality XD Not that I'm one to talk my site kinda sucks, I keep working on it but it doesn't stop sucking.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    Oh snap, I should set up feedburner. btw, it only monitors the people subscribed, right? If so, I'm pretty sure you have me and three strangers using it – I haven't opened up google reader in forever cuz Chrome is annoying POS with its lack of built in feed capabilities. Yeah, I'm *really* far behind on comics… again.

    Yeah, it's okay for us to have crappy sites cuz we're constantly working to improve them. Dave, however, has a site that's left aligned and he hasn't even bothered to fix that.

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    yeah its just people following you via rss. specifically the feedburner rss (theres a plugin that forces everyone thats subscribed to the defaul rss into the feedburner one. “FD Feedburner Plugin”) but its cool stuff to look at above what google analytics provides. I can tell how many people click through the rss and actually read the blog (3).

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    Sweet – Imma gunna look at that once I get internet that doesn't suck.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    I have one other reader. I think it is my mom. Value wise… totally, totally worth it.

    So people think that they don't have to act professional just cuz they're not the primary source of income. Lame – their life would probably be pretty sucky if the the cash flow from the comic stopped. Dave is an awesome example of someone who does the professional thing 100% right. I mean, I hate his website, but damn he knows what he's doing.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    I have one other reader. I think it is my mom. Value wise… totally, totally worth it.

    So people think that they don't have to act professional just cuz they're not the primary source of income. Lame – their life would probably be pretty sucky if the the cash flow from the comic stopped. Dave is an awesome example of someone who does the professional thing 100% right. I mean, I hate his website, but damn he knows what he's doing.

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    heh according to feedburner I have 21 followers at monocle lad and 3 people who click through. though 17 are friendfeed so they are all me, and then one of the google is me, but still that means you and 2 strangers are reading it!

    oh man I am so with you. Dave's site is so 6 years ago in design mentality XD Not that I'm one to talk my site kinda sucks, I keep working on it but it doesn't stop sucking.

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    heh according to feedburner I have 21 followers at monocle lad and 3 people who click through. though 17 are friendfeed so they are all me, and then one of the google is me, but still that means you and 2 strangers are reading it!

    oh man I am so with you. Dave's site is so 6 years ago in design mentality XD Not that I'm one to talk my site kinda sucks, I keep working on it but it doesn't stop sucking.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    Oh snap, I should set up feedburner. btw, it only monitors the people subscribed, right? If so, I'm pretty sure you have me and three strangers using it – I haven't opened up google reader in forever cuz Chrome is annoying POS with its lack of built in feed capabilities. Yeah, I'm *really* far behind on comics… again.

    Yeah, it's okay for us to have crappy sites cuz we're constantly working to improve them. Dave, however, has a site that's left aligned and he hasn't even bothered to fix that.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    Oh snap, I should set up feedburner. btw, it only monitors the people subscribed, right? If so, I'm pretty sure you have me and three strangers using it – I haven't opened up google reader in forever cuz Chrome is annoying POS with its lack of built in feed capabilities. Yeah, I'm *really* far behind on comics… again.

    Yeah, it's okay for us to have crappy sites cuz we're constantly working to improve them. Dave, however, has a site that's left aligned and he hasn't even bothered to fix that.

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    yeah its just people following you via rss. specifically the feedburner rss (theres a plugin that forces everyone thats subscribed to the defaul rss into the feedburner one. “FD Feedburner Plugin”) but its cool stuff to look at above what google analytics provides. I can tell how many people click through the rss and actually read the blog (3).

  • http://www.monoclelad.com monoclelad

    yeah its just people following you via rss. specifically the feedburner rss (theres a plugin that forces everyone thats subscribed to the defaul rss into the feedburner one. “FD Feedburner Plugin”) but its cool stuff to look at above what google analytics provides. I can tell how many people click through the rss and actually read the blog (3).

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    Sweet – Imma gunna look at that once I get internet that doesn't suck.

  • http://anovelconcept.net aethre

    Sweet – Imma gunna look at that once I get internet that doesn't suck.