10 things I’ve learned after finishing my first graphic novel

A five-year project, coming to a close…

I finished my graphic novel last week. It’s a book I started five years ago and it’s coming to a close. Despite having a masters and “professional experience”, nothing really prepares a young, comic creator to go through the gauntlet of writing and drawing the same story for years, all 253 pages. Here’s a couple of things that I’ve learned along the way.

1. After going through the process of pitching a book, getting an agent, going through negotiations and finally, signing a contract, you realize you’re still at the starting line. Yes, celebrate the fact that your book is getting published! But now you have to make the dang thing and that dang thing is going to take a while. 

2. Drawing comic pages for an extended period of time is going to feel like a grind. This is not a derogatory statement towards the process of making comics (y’all know that I’m feral for the craft). But if you’ve never had to draw a comic everyday and had to get a set amount of pages done in a certain amount of time for at least a couple of months, building strategies to get the work done is a requirement. Finding your best working conditions is a needed skill. Sometimes I work best inside, sometimes I need to be mobile, sometimes I like working with other folks, sometimes I like to be alone. Recognize what’s the vibe of the day and make it happen.

3. On the flip side, have strategies for when it’s just not happening. There will be days, weeks, or even months where you hit a roadblock and you miss deadlines. Be able to find forgiveness towards yourself so that you can keep going the next day. I found that approaching the daily creation of pages as a habit to be built helps with my momentum. Sometimes there are days where I can only do pencils or I can only complete one inked page. You have to become comfortable with a spectrum of results everyday. What matters most though is that you’re continuing the process and that can mean a lot of different things. It can mean intentional rest, taking the day off and enjoying yourself to restart. It can mean lessening your output for the day. It can mean regrouping with friends for a different perspective. It’s about knowing how valuable it is to take care of yourself to make the best work.

4. Build your stamina towards the large graphic novel. In my career, my earlier professional experiences with comics tend to focus on shorter narratives, doing 4-8 page stories in anthologies or just single illustration covers. Even though I have done a number of self-published short stories, it does not compare to writing and drawing a 200+ page book. In fairness, there’s not a lot of professional opportunities for the mid-length graphic novel / graphic novella so it’s not surprising for me to see a lot of beginning comic creators jump from doing short stories to huge stories and being completely bamboozled. In hindsight, I would advise comic creators who want to do the full graphic novel to try their hand at self-publishing something mid-length such as a 60 page book to get a feel of the overall workflow of a large project.  

5. Communication skills are essential. Comics are often seen as a solitary activity (and it can be!) but working professionally with a whole group under deadlines requires that you be a team player. By communication skills, I mean, consider whether you’re able to have that awkward conversation of asking for an extension because life things happened. Or being able to ask for an assistant because you know you don’t like lettering or coloring. Or negotiating for more time and money when things are being unreasonable! Yes, an agent should help you with all of these situations but it doesn’t mean that you’ll be immune to navigating tense situations forever. Comics are not made and published in a vacuum and there are other people who are just as pumped to get comics out there. We just have to show up for one another the best way we can. 

6. Integrating my traditional practice into my digital workflow changed my speed and mindset. While I was working on my book, I completed a forty-page side project with friends that I did traditionally (ink, nibs, the usual) and you can see the exact page in my graphic novel where there’s a shift. I stopped using perspective rulers and eye-balled backgrounds. I got pages done quicker because I wasn’t getting stuck in the undo-line timeloop. It’s not about  perfection, it’s about completion with comics. A traditional practice helped me let go of mistakes that might not be mistakes but just lines that came out differently from how I imagined. Keep a small, pocket-sized sketchbook and a pen to draw from life and eventually, your visual vocabulary should be strong enough that you can build backgrounds and draw various people easily.

7. Make your important storytelling decisions in the earlier stages of the production of the book. Take your time with the script and thumbnails. Decide on balloon placement so that you don’t have to revise as much in the pencils/inking stages. Having to change things later on adds more time in the making of your pages. If you struggle with figuring out compositions and layouts for your panels, an easy tip is to take a look at your thumbnails and see if the sizes of the heads of the characters are varied enough.  When the characters have a variety of sizes, that means you’re moving the camera around to make for more dynamic storytelling. If the compositions are unique, it makes for a more fun reading experience, even if it is just talking heads. Although, revise when needed. Finished is better than perfect but if there’s little tweaks here and there you can do and know it’ll be better, just do it and then move on.

8. Up the drama in your story! Read comics, watch movies, and take note of how they build up emotion and tension. Be aware of what you want your readers to feel so that you can pinpoint where you can slow down, exaggerate things, and bring in more extreme layouts or shots. The reader will feel the emotions, if you’re able to show them the intensity of what the character is feeling. You can do that through spreads and panel layouts that can contrast heavily from what is the norm in the book. Highlight the sweat on their brow, distort their faces, and push the bodies. Show the reader familiar visceral feelings to get your message across.

9. When making comics, use the visual language of comics! Don’t be afraid to experiment with styles, textures, and references. Show off your personal style and reference the media that makes you excited. Use the speed lines, hatching, tones, and textures. Make chibis of your characters. Show off your sense of humor.

10. I don’t know, be grateful that you had this opportunity. I just never would’ve thought that this would come, you know? Again, I don’t ever completely agree with the notion that comics are solitary because it definitely took a whole village to help me finish it. And I’m grateful for my village and I acknowledge it would’ve been much more difficult if I didn’t have my fellow comic creators in arms.

My announcement for my graphic novel, PASSE IT ON (2025, RHGraphic), just came out in the middle of me finalizing this post. What an experience it is to complete such a large project! I’m sincerely excited to see what the rest brings. I want to see friends taking pictures of my book at Barnes and Noble or even pictures from back in the Philippines. I want to see what others think of the work. I want to talk to the world about how much I love comics and making comics.