No Excuses: My Idea isn't perfect yet...

Well then I guess we'll be waiting forever then because no idea is perfect.

This is one of the biggest problems people have when trying to start their comic.  They have this fabricated notion that the story and/or art have to be the perfect before you can even start. Well, I have news for you... that's not how it works.

All of your favorite comics, books, movies, and video games did not start out the way they ended up being published. The creator wrote down their idea. Then revised it, changed it, came up with new ideas half way through until what was produced simply resembled the original idea.  It was perfected through its creation, not prior to it.  This is especially true with comic books.  Comic book series, especially long running series, go through a long and slow change as the creator(s) figure out who the characters are and how they live, and even what they look like.  And the more they work on their comic, the better it gets. (especially art.)

The two examples I love giving is Penny Arcade, and Invincible.  Two of the most successful creator owned comics out there.  Look at the first Invincible book Ryan Ottley drew in Invincible #8



 

Now lets fast forward 90 issues to issue #98



 

Now the first Penny Arcade strip:



 

Now for the latest one: (as of the time I'm writing this)



 

A vast improvement wouldn't you say?  Now what if these artists waited all these years to have their art be this great before they even started? They would have missed out on all these years of success they have had.  And that's my whole point.

If you wait until your idea is perfect, or your story is perfect, or your art is perfect, you're never going to start, because it'll never be perfect.  And if you never start you're never going to build your fan base, and you're never going to have any success.

Time for admission of guilt.  I also suffered from this problem  I kept putting off my comic Shadows of Oblivion because I didn't have the story written enough, and the art style wasn't established, and the characters and environments weren't 100% hammered out.  But I was snapped out of this endless circle when I posted the first page of Issue #0 online just to gauge what people thought of the drawing style. Many people liked it and one person in particular was so excited about the page he needed to know when the next page would be released.  Thats when It occurred to me that I can't build my fan base to this comic unless I started actually making it. So I started working on it, hammering out all the details as I went.... and now the 4th installment of my book will be released in a month.  The improvements in my comic are obvious, but I promise the more I work on this book the more it will improve.

So please don't let this false concept that your idea needs to be perfect  prevent you from actually starting.  It'll never be perfect, and while you wait you are just robbing yourself of fans and support that will lead to your success. Besides, I don't remember anyone making any sort of rules against improving a story or art as you go! So what are you waiting for?

So stop making excuses and make your comics already!

Also while your at it follow me around the web:

Like me on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

Re-blog me on tumblr

And if you love my artwork don't forget to pick up my comics!

And remember: Make Comics! Not Excuses!