Lessons Learned from Creating The Hidden People Comic Journey
- icecomics1
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Creating a comic is an exciting but a demanding adventure.
Working on The Hidden People (Huldufólk in Iceland) taught me many lessons about collaboration, time management, artistic growth, and promotion.
This post shares the key insights I gained throughout the process, which can help other artists and creators navigate their own comic projects.
Working with a Writer and an Editor
One of the biggest challenges was collaborating closely with a writer and an editor. While having a team improves the story and polish, it also means your art faces constant scrutiny. Every panel, character design, and background detail is examined and critiqued.
At times, this feels overwhelming because you feel like you're starting over, and discarding all the hard work you made.
The key was learning to separate criticism of the work from criticism of myself and to learn to let go of the work you already made.
The writer and editor pushed me to improve, which raised the comic’s quality.
For example: they pointed out inconsistencies in character expressions and suggested changes to make scenes clearer.
Feedback like these helps us artists to grow, even if it was tough to hear at first.
If you plan to work with others, expect your art to be challenged. Stay open to feedback and use it to refine your skills.
Remember that the goal is to make a quality comic!
Sacrificing Your Free Time to Meet Deadlines
Publishing a comic on a schedule requires sacrifices.
I had to give up many evenings and weekends with friends and family to
finish pages on time.
For me , balancing my time proved to be quite difficult.
So as you start your own comic journey, be mindful of the importance of discipline and planning, it can help you in the long run.
one trick was to break my work into smaller and manageable tasks i could do to help me avoid last-minute stress.
If you want to publish regularly, prepare to adjust your free time.
The satisfaction of releasing a new graphic novel though makes it worthwhile.
Pushing Yourself to Improve Without Overdoing It
As I progressed, I wanted to improve my art style and skills.
But I learned that pushing too hard can create inconsistency.
If your pages suddenly look very different from earlier ones, readers might find it jarring. don't get me wrong, improvement is essential, but you need to keep your comic’s visual identity clear.
Small, steady changes work better than drastic shifts.
Experimenting with Art Tools Early
When you start a comic, make sure to invest time in exploring methods and art tools and what feels comfortable to you.
Choosing the right tools and software before you start your comic is essential, because that is what you might be stuck with for the remainder of the project for consistency's sake.
In my case with this graphic novel, i ended up using a drawing program called Procreate and was stuck with that for two years.
Sharing ''Work in Progress posts'' and Creating Content
Sharing behind the scenes content turned out to be a great way to build interest before the comic launched.
I tried to be aggressive with posting sketches, character designs, and short videos of my drawing process.
As a result it attracted readers that would have otherwise not seen the comic as it hit the stores lol!
I try to view social media as a free promotion tool, though i never use to many of the platforms and only try to stick to two or three (in my case it was tikok, instagram and facebook) which helps me be consistent in my posting.
Finally , when the comic was ready, some followers were eager to read it because they had seen the effort i put into it behind the scenes.
If you want to grow an audience, share your journey openly.
i still believe that people enjoy seeing how a comic or a drawing comes to existence, especially with the rise of AI, and i personally feel that seeing ''behind the scenes'' content to be really engaging and genuine.
When i look back at the time it took creating The Hidden People (Huldufólk), i am filled with a deep sense of pride and new knowledge that i can take with me into the next project.
And if you are thinking about starting your comic, or maybe your very first one (i mean, i would think so, if you've read this far haha!). I do recommend it!
It not only helps you learn how to create comics, it also pushes you to be better with each one you create.
There is nothing else like seeing your dream realized and hold a printed version, or, if you have published it in any other way (online pdfs, webtoons, etc.) is always such an amazing feeling.
I hope you learned something by reading about my journey and good luck on yours. And, by all means, if you found this helpful....maybe send me a copy? ;)
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