To redraw or not to redraw

When you do a daily comic, you have to resign yourself to sometimes letting imperfections slide. There just isn't enough time to fix the little things. Did I color the wrong ear black on Frida? Is Bud too tall or short? Sometimes I gotta let 'em through. Usually these mishaps are minor and no one but me even notices.

And then we have this week, where two strips are not cooperating. One (Thursday's) is completely but wildly imperfect. Looking back, I have three packed panels that need more space to properly draw the action and one panel that doesn't need to exist. It should have either been a three-panel strip or double-sized. Plus, I screwed up the timing of everything because I chose to take a visual shortcut and forgot how the comic was supposed to flow. It still works, but it doesn't pop at all like it should. It won't be too painful if I run it, but the perfectionist/artist in me cries.

Odds are, I won't redraw. That's because SATURDAY'S strip is already on its second attempt - and it might need a third. It's the ever-frightening group shot, with eight characters standing around. That's a lot of personal space and dialog to juggle, and I'm choking this time. If this strip keeps taking up my time, then I can't go back and fix Thursday. Heck, there's also Copper Road, which I was supposed to be drawing NOW. Can't fall behind on that. Ugh. See what I mean about dailies? I take a nap and suddenly I'm behind! If I take the time to go back and fix Thursday, then Sunday's strip gets pushed back. And I slack HARD on Sundays as it is!

I am excited for this next story, though! Tomorrow's strip makes me smile! The story plays out like it should, forming one long arc while breaking into nicely digestible week-long bites. Well, that's the plan. I haven't fully scripted it. In fact, I haven't scripted the last three/four weeks of it, which is very unusual for me. But I have faith in myself! Just not in Thursday.