END OF H8 SPREE II LIVE SERVICE // HOW TO FINISH (your art product) FAST

H8 SPREE II production has ended. It is now complete, and I'm moving onto other stuff. If you didn't see the update on the main book page, I switched from 3D models to just doing 2D images. These images are included in the main book zip.

More than a PSA of things getting done though, I wanted to talk about some lessons I learned from doing the art side of H8 SPREE II in terms of

HOW TO FINISH (your art product) FAST.

Disclaimer: This is generally for smaller, independent productions.

Now in the words of David Heinemeier Hansson:

DON'T DO IT.

^^ (not his actual words, my mind's paraphrasication of whatever the dude said)

Example: You wanna know why this article came out so fast? BECAUSE I DIDN'T MAKE SOME SEXY HEADER ART FOR IT.

Now if we ASDGJASDIGJAPDSG REWIND to when I was talking about how I was going to do 3D models and shit, I thought I wanted to just chill for the rest of the year with art after spending a good long while just writing and doing minimal art. After a couple months in, I realized. No, I didn't want to do that.

A. 3D Shit takes waaaaaaaaaaaaayy too long. Like even longer than I thought even with a lower quality bar than some incredible 3D models on Art Station.

B. I actually didn't want to be stuck on a single project that fucking long. Could I? Yes. Did I want to? NO.

Which brings me to a very important and to be expanded point C:

Nobody cared so I could pivot with -100 backlash.

Like seriously.

NOBODY GIVES A FUCK.

I created pretty much only front views (the backshots though are VERY important) and I realized people don't actually give a fuck about back views, partly because I didn't care about back views.

So I didn't do them.

Therefore work load cut in half.

People need to be really judicious in what they’re actually creating and whether or not their audience ACTUALLY CARES about exactly what they're producing.

This does not count for stuff you care about but the audience doesn't. Go create that stuff.

And if you don’t care but the audience does, I would generally recommend you not do that because the product will be inferior due to you not caring.

But if you don't care, and the audience also doesn't care, what the fuck are you doing?

I've seen people spend a YEAR OR MORE on what is essentially the 1st chapter of a book when creating ONE comic. A couple years on, and a complete story is nowhere near in sight. And I mean something with substantial meat, not that "this one single 30-page issue is a complete story" type bullshit.

Now I know it seems tantalizing to do a comic anyway because the masses respond to pretty pictures more. Because generally

It goes from easist to advertise to the masses:

MOVIES/GAMES > COMICS > BOOKS

However the reverse is true of how easy it is to course correct something when you need something fixed.

BOOKS > COMICS > MOVIES/GAMES

Now the idea that you'll get everything right on the first try is literally insane. There will be multiple corrections, and when that happens, you want to be able to course correct as fast as possible and not spend bunches of time re-drawing a detailed hand or some shit.

Big teams/companies can afford to play the big boy game. You, el smallo person. Cannot.

The theoretical better course of action for H8 SPREE II would have been to just do 2D images, and then if H8 SPREE II becomes big enough and not cancelled by any payment processor on the planet (lol), hire other people to create 3D models if I still wanted to do them.

Also, if you're drawing a comic vs writing books, you'll generally write more completed books than draw completed comics in terms of speed, which equates to more chances to actually develop storytelling skills.

And this is why I think in terms of actual artistic gains, generally doing entire books (maybe with some illustrations if you want) is better than making entire comics.

This may also explain some of the West's art's failures compared to the East.

The main problem is obviously they're WOKE AS FUCK.

But another, smaller issue is possibly:

WEST > High detail/colored art > monthly schedule > less chances for people to read your story and get hooked on it.

EAST > Sometimes very low detail/ black and white art > weekly schedule > more chances for people to read your story and get hooked on it.

And it's not like the West is doing it because color and generally more detailed drawings compared to the East are doing anything special for them, they're doing it because that's what everybody else before them did.

Also something to consider is the level of your visual art if you choose to do any.

Consider getting a shittier art style.

Shittier art styles = faster product.

My 2D images for H8 SPREE II are pretty bad and nowhere near what one would consider very good technical art. Just scroll Art Station. You'll see what I mean.

But the main ideas are conveyed, so to me, it doesn't really matter that the actual drawings don't rival those of top-tier artists.

"Oh but I NEED good art."

No you don't.

YOU NEED GOOD IDEAS.

Remember Sin City? Almost every stylistic choice like the black and white pops/noir vibes are great. You know what's "technically" not? The actual simplistic drawings. Dude's not Bernie Wrightson ok? Even Frank Miller knows that. But you know what? NOBODY FUCKING CARED. IT'S FUCKING COOL.

Remember the One Punch Man webcomic? Yeah it had shitty art. Straight up. No caveat. And you know what else? NOBODY FUCKING CARED THAT IT DID. IT'S FUCKING COOL.

Yes, both of these great products only got mainstream appeal once the movie/manga/anime hit. But guess what, they were popular enough to get a movie/manga/anime adaptation in the first place WITH SHITTY DRAWINGS.

If these authors spent years trying to learn how to draw like top-tier artists in the first place (no guarantee they would even get there due to talent ceilings), these products most likely would NEVER have gotten out.

And frankly, both artists are better for it, knowing where the main strengths of their artistic potential were and not keeping every aspect of their art to some irrationally perfectionistic standard.

This is also true when you're actually making visual art.

Every panel a painting is fucking stupid.

Sometimes comics will have every panel of a mundane conversation drawn to perfection with backgrounds and shit. And I'll just ask myself WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

Look, I'm glad you get to artistically masturbate in front of everybody, and sure, it DOES look great. Hell, I might even like it more than if you didn't as a completed product.

But in terms of getting more things done,

YOU'RE WASTING TIME.

People wouldn't care if you chopped your art style in quarters, had no backgrounds, and only artistically flexed in the panels that actually mattered.

TL;DR: Do what you ACTUALLY NEED to do. Be VERY careful when you splurge on complicated processes.

Now I'm not telling you to not make sexy-looking art. By all means, if the main point of your IP is the art and not the story, or you deeply care about drawing, or you have some other cool reason why I'm wrong, do it up. I really don’t care.

But generally, if you're more interested in the story ideas (fuck prose) and not the visual artistic merits, consider NOT doing complicated art that is hard to adjust or fix once your inevitable mistakes start piling up.

Or once the copyright issues are settled legally,

JUST USE AI HAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHHAHAAHHAHHHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHHAHAAHHAHH