Weekly Art Blog 9/14-9/21/2024

In light of the things I said last week about rethinking my comic strip as a graphic novel, I made this one-page sketch to refocus myself. It was at first going to be an illustration, but as I kept thinking about the logistics of how to communicate what I wanted to, I expanded it into a comic. I’m very satisfied with how this turned out. The main character of this page, Walker, isn’t the main character of the story, but they were the ideal choice for showing off this core romantic drama that I want. I have color notes for these characters, but I think I like them better in black and white. Limiting the color palette makes it easier for me to make, besides how much I like it. I honestly want to put together some more guidelines for myself on what tones to use where, because the whole appeal is being easy on the eyes; the one thing I want to change, looking at this now, is to have fewer tones in use, so that it’s not heavy with muddling grays.

Before I made that, I drew a picture of the main character, Lea, that got me thinking more generally about what kinds of things I want to draw. I have a lot of interests and I get ideas for all sorts of things, so I’ve always thought that I’d find time to draw all those stories once I had figured out how. That may not be the case anymore. There are a lot of stories I like reading, but not all of them are stories I also want to draw. More than that, though, I had this really great feeling as I made this sketch. I was flipping through sketchbooks looking for reference, which means I also saw a bunch of older drawings and designs. You know that feeling when you see art and you glimpse some platonic ideal of what you want to do with your own art? I had that sort of feeling in my own sketchbook, and it’s great. I struggle a lot with the gap left between what I likely already know deep down and what I can actually put into words, which is a big source of my worrying about my ability and direction. In times like these, I really need to have moments where I can reaffirm what I’ve done and where I’m going. Looking back at my old art and previous comics, I’m reminded that I love the relatively flat black and white aesthetic, and I love all the character work and interactions and little feelings. That’s where I want to go with this story.

I do have some concerns about the future of this comic. So far, I’ve been thinking of what I’ve been doing as practice for eventual professional work. Honestly, I think that’s still a good goal for this comic; it’s not going to end up at what I think of as “professional level,” and in my head it’s more of a practice run for what I’ll make later. That said, if I’m going to make this into the full-length book I’m imagining, then I don’t think I can just put it on the internet for free, you know? Somehow it seemed more reasonable a thought as a comic strip, because it would be one page a week or two, and so there’s a mental space between the apparent and actual value. I wouldn’t have that distance with a book. So I need to figure out how I’m going to make it available, or more accurately how I’m going to sell it. I’ll have to, like, figure out how to do a Kickstarter or Patreon campaign. I just have no idea the economics of anything, so it all gets my nerves going. I sometimes get annoyed that I’m ambitious, because that emotion doesn’t stem from the intellectual, cognitive part of my brain. I’m just going to make the book and let future me deal with money stuff. It’s retail Christmas season, I don’t have time to worry about making and selling a comic at the same time.