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Starting a webtoon (or manga!) and trying to get focused or have structure can be incredibly challenging ESPECIALLY if you’re neuro-spicy like me and have Autism and ADHD which for me personally it’s difficult for me to start and completing my webtoon comic projects.
You’re not alone in this. Many webtoon artists, including myself, struggle with ADHD. But here are some tips to help you start your webtoon.
First things first: Feel free to let go of the “just sit down and draw” advice. Because you’ve probably tried that a million times, and it usually ends with a pile of half finished comic drafts and a healthy dose of frustration. Instead, let’s embrace the ADHD superpower of flexibility and make this process work for how our brain works.
Step 1: Story Sprints!
Remember when we have lots of ideas but struggle to stay focused for a long time? That’s where story sprints come in. You can divide your story into small parts, like mini-episodes or scene outlines, and then set a timer for 5-25 minutes.
This technique is really helpful, similar to the Pomodoro Technique. Even a little time spent regularly can add up to a lot of progress, so there’s no need to do long sprints. Just work with the focus you have, whether it’s one minute or more. With this method, you’ll create small story masterpieces. By doing a few sprints each day, you’ll soon have a finished webtoon.
How to Start a Webtoon Step-by-Step Guide
If you want to make a webtoon but you don’t know where to start, my webtoon for beginners ebook is perfect for you. I will show you what tools and software I use and beginner friendly tips on how to market your webtoon online.
Step 2: Sketching Storyboards/Thumbnails:
Now, let’s translate that script into a comic. To help combat the struggle with perfectionism that a lot of us with ADHD struggle with try to remind yourself that finished is better than perfect because our goal is to start and complete our comic! Thumbnail panels, stick figure characters, whatever gets those visuals out of your head and onto the page.
If you are struggling with how to draft your comic or just want to learn more about those camera shots and how of comic artist thumbnail their script then I definitely recommend checking out these books:
Grab your favorite traditional tools (yes, pen-and-paper is perfectly fine to use to make a webtoon if you don’t want to draw your webtoon digitally, lots of published comic artist do that, myself included~), and let your imagination run wild with quick, messy sketches using the camera shot method that many comic creators use.
Step 3: Embrace the Imperfecting Edit
Ah, the dreaded edit stage. Where ADHD whispers sweet nothings in your ear like, “This panel sucks, you should just quit now.” But hey, guess what? Every single successful artist also struggles with this as well (gasp!)
So remember you’re not any less of an artist if you are struggling, the struggle just means this is something you care about but to help try to remind yourself that our goals isn’t to let the fear of “messing up” paralyze us but that our goal is to progress until we’ve reached our in goal of having a finished comic.
Bonus Tip for Traditional Art Lovers: Scan your rough sketches into your computer (even your phone camera can work!) and you can use art apps to play with panel layout, speech bubbles, and basic effects. This keeps your precious originals safe while letting you experiment digitally if you feel like it.
Your art is good enough, your story is good enough, you are good enough, finished over perfect and a little small thing to remember also perfect can also mean complete so if you are seeking to be perfect try to keep that in mind, it will be perfect once you complete it.