Autobiographical Creators - Further Research - Interviews

I wanted to do a deep dive into other autobiographical comic creators, to hear what was behind their work. I found a number of really great youtube videos, which I have watched and made notes from.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6JdRwpLABg - Kate Beaton

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYf_pwGXusw- Kate Beaton 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQLX1DMjd1w - Rachael Smith

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6vZZXL6hdA - Tillie Walden

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkIWKhYorOs - Tillie Walden (specifically Spinning)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuFET6XqaqU - Thi Bui

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DumdJBAHRs&t=2s - Katriona Chapman

Drawing Practise - Questions for your Sketchbooks - Emma Carlisle Talk

I listened to a talk by Emma Carlisle, part of my Patreon subscription, which was titled "Questions for your Sketchbook"; a super inspiring talk to question the way you see your drawing practise, and how you can focus on the areas you want to improve. Emma talks about breaking this down into specific questions, rather than saying "I want to be better", you instead focus on specifics; eg composition, on tone, on colour etc. 

You can take that question into a drawing session and really zone in on where you want to improve, so you come out of a session having thought about that it is you want to work on. It was a very "think whilst you draw" inspired talk. Emma talks about how fluid this can be, and to listen to listen to your self and your work.

I have come away from this talk thinking about my work differently, because of course I want to improve, but now I want to think about those specific areas I do want to work on, and incredibly make changes.

Link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sketchbook-for-79293039

A Crying Shame - Dummy Book

I've put together a physical dummy book to map out A Crying Shame; I love this stage of creating a comic as it's a really great way to see how the narrative and images interact. It allows me to make small changes to improve the flow of the book.

The book comes in at 12 pages; the interior will be drawn digitally using minimal colours, and finished reasonably quickly. My intention here is to print the books at home so I can re-produce it quickly and cheaply. 

 

Autobiographic Comic - Research - Further Research

Mention modern and old comparisons

Ducks - Kate Beaton

Ducks is hefty at 436 pages, its published by Drawn and Quarterly. The story spans two years in the life of Kate as she works away from home in various oil mines in Canada. It details the difficulties Beaton (and the few other women on the site) deal with daily; from misogynistic comments to sexual abuse and rape. 

It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth - Zoe Thorogood

This book is 196 pages and published by Image, it feels like quite a different book to what they usually put put, which is interesting. It's a very gritty portrayal of Thorogood's experiences with depression and anxiety. Portrayed in an abstract way which is very effective. It sometimes dips back into childhood memories, but mostly is real time counting down to an event.

Fun Home - Alison Bechdel 

Fun Home comes in at 240 pages, and is published by Jonathan Cape; it feels very in keeping with their other work. Fun Home spans a long timeline, from Alisons childhood through her college years sand beyond. Its a very personal look into family life, and doesn't always focus on one topic, rather a general look at Bechdel's life, which really helps you feel like you know her.

Riso Workshop - Research

As I am focusing more on getting my work into a physical space, I took advantage of a local print workshop, Shipley Print Studio, and signed up for a Riso Class.

I have been preparing digital work for riso print, but really wanted to see the process and be more hands on with it before sending to print.  The prints will be something I sell at markets and conventions, so ensuring they look the way I expect is important.

In the class I made a three layer image from collage/mark making. It really opened my eyes to the possibilities of riso, and being able to ask questions directly to a really experienced print maker helped incredibly too.

I went in with no idea what my print would be, so it was a lot of run just to play, and see what happened. I'm now going to make some alterations to the digital print I have made on the back of what I learnt, and will be sending them to print via a Leeds studio which I have been in touch with recently to get quotes from. 

 

Dissemination Methods - End of Year Show Branding LAU

The End of Year Show Branding was opened up to Undergraduates for the first time this year, I read the brief and had a look at past branding and at first I wasn't sure that my work quite fit what they were looking for.

However,  a fun idea popped into my head and I decided to explore it a little anyway, it involved a Yorkshire based pun "Get 'Art of Here", playing on it being the end of year show, which I then fit to a illustration of a dog running away with some art materials. I wanted to keep it sketchy and a little messy, which seemed very different to the past branding; but I wanted to use that to my advantage! 

I wanted it to be a clear nod to the illustration arm of the university, as well as the comics side (which is why I choose to use a speech bubble). I added more shadows of the dog figure into the back to represent collaborative working, as well as making the overall piece more interesting and textured.  I used a colour pallet that was based on LAU branding and its complimenting colours, in soft tones. I think the overall concept works on many levels, and I had a lot of fun creating it.

I put together a slide presentation showing my thoughts and examples of posters, social posts and email inserts, which you can see below:

This is the first time I have worked to a brief, and have really enjoyed combining my own styles into parameters dictated by the 'client'. Although this isn't quite the area I see my illustration work going, it's always a good idea to be open minded and to practise in new areas. It's made me more open to the idea of working freelance, especially when it's something that fits my interests and style! I'll keep my eyes open for more opportunities like this.

A Crying Shame - A short Autobiographical Comic

 Alongside my bigger project, A Walk to A Waterfall, I wanted to create smaller pieces. One of which is names A Crying Shame, a short autobiographical piece about overcoming shame and embarressment at displaying outwards emotion.

You can read the script here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zaVFozA6vXl8OtjEd3tIjGPS7aIbRw52_QBcoBlJlEU/edit

I have begun mapping out the panels which you can see below, along with a completed illustration of one of the final pages, which will be a double page spread full of my crying face and reasons that I have cried 

Dissemination Methods - Pitch Pack Research

I did some further research into putting together a Pitch Pack, or something to send to a potential publisher that covers everything they might nee dot make a decision on whether my work is something they want to pursue. Whilst currently my ultimate goal isn't to be published (rather self-publish) I think this will be a really important exercise I learning how to sell my own work in a concise manner.

Pitch Perfect - How to make the most of pitching to a publisher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT4f1lwawDE

The key points from the above video were to be concise, understand what it is you are pitching and be sure of it; whilst working on a basic idea is fun for publishers, they often don't have the time so knowing your story outline is important! Try and stand out, embed images into the email itself and keep the clicks a publisher needs to do to a minimum. Its worth chasing up after a week or so, but leave it at that if you don't hear back. It's important to research the publisher and the kind of work they publish first too, if the work is irrelevant it's going to look worse on you in the long run, as its wasting publishers time. Check out their website to see if they accept pitches, especially if you don't have an agent. 

A Walk to a Waterfall - Cover Research and Thumbnails

As part of my pitch pack for A Walk to a Waterfall I wanted to create a full cover art for it. First I did a little research into other small press and self-published comic covers that have a similar overall feel and aesthetic to my own, and then mocked up some ideas influenced by my findings.

The Peeping Tom - Luke Healy

(https://lukehealy.info/thepeepingtom)

Black ink only, printed on pink, the coloured window image is actually stuck onto the physical book. Title is BOLD with the creators name small underneath. The overall look is professional and clean.

Quiet Thoughts - Karen Shannguan - Avery Hill Publishing 

(https://averyhillpublishing.bigcartel.com/product/quiet-thoughts-by-karen-shangguan)

Really simple design in sketchy pencil on an off-white background. Title looks handwritten with matching author name and publisher. I love the simplicity and overall look of this, feels quite dreamy.

She Would Feel The Same - Emma Hunsinger - ShortBox

https://www.shortbox.co.uk/product/she-would-feel-the-same-by-emma-hunsinger

Minimal colours and a sketchy style, including hand-written looking title and name. The figure is the main character, on a plain background. The overall feel is quite chaotic, and the hand shadow is intriguing. 

My Thumbnails

I liked the simplicity of many of these, minimal colours so wanted to stick with black and pinks. I'm undecided if I want a figure on the cover, or just the landscape so I've done a few variations of this:

Dissemination Methods - Zine Libraries - Research

As zines are traditionally a DIY medium the creators are completely in charge of what they put in, there is no real commercial need to please and for that reason a large number of zines cover topics relating to subcultures, the lesser represented and niche topics. They cover subjects you might not see often in mainstream publishing such as Queer stories, disability representation and discussions on mental and physical health

Zine Libraries are a great resource to explore, discover and enjoy zines, and for the above mentioned reason I think it would be a great place for me to submit my work. So as part of my dissemination I've begun to research zine libraries; I want to find those that are local, and further afield and learn more about what they do, why they do it, and, if submissions are open, send in my own work to be part of the collection. 

Here is a selection of a few of the libraries I researched: 

Salford Zine Library

About: Salford Zine Library is a unique archive of self published materials. There are currently around 4500 zines in the collection, all of which have been donated by zine makers and collectors

Website: salfordzinelibrary.co.uk 

Where: Clifford Whitworth Library, Salford University.

Accepting submissions: Yes!

If yes, submission process: All info here - salfordzinelibrary.co.uk/submissions/

Would my work make sense here: Yes! 

 

Glasgow Zine Library 

About: Glasgow Zine Library is a community archive and zine library based in Govanhill, Glasgow, established in 2018. It has a growing international collection of over 1000 zines

Website: www.glasgowzinelibrary.com

Where: 636 Cathcart Rd, Glasgow

Accepting submissions: Yes! 

If yes, submission process: Info here - glasgowzinelibrary.com/zine-collection

Would my work make sense here: YES!

 

My intention is to send in my Birthday Flowers zine, and create something new which is more auto-biographical and longer.

Dissemination Methods - Riso Print Research

I wanted to explore making prints of some of my work, to sell alongside my eventual comics work; at fairs, conventions and maybe online.

I want to do this via some traditional printing methods, firstly riso, which is a technique I have not used before but love the look of. Before starting, I wanted to do some research into the riso method to make the most of the process! 

Footprint, a local Leeds Riso printing co-op, says: 

"Riso printing works along the same basic principles as screen printing, although digitized and automated.  The computer (or scanner unit on top) describes the image to the risograph in binary code, telling it to create millions of tiny holes into a thin filmy sheet, called a ‘master’.  The master is then wrapped around the drum.  When the drum spins, the ink is forced out through these little holes, transferring the image onto the paper as it passes by. Different coloured inks are printed in layers.  The paper is fed through the one-colour machine (pictured) once for each colour and for each side"

 

Out of the Blueprint says:

"The darkness of your greyscale artwork will roughly correspond to the intensity of the ink in print. Any artwork that’s black on screen will print using the full saturation of the ink, and any pale grey artwork will come out as a pale tone. Prints often come out lighter than you’d expect, so if in doubt, go darker! "

Below is an example they give of the various colours and opacities:

Fig from https://outoftheblueprint.org/files/

Tips I've picked up:

• The inks are semi transparent, so can be layered! using the multiply cool on photoshop/procreate is a good way to see how the work will look printed
• Full pages of ink are a bad idea, and can cause printing problems
• If printing text, don't overlay it, as the misregistered way riso printers work will make it hard to read.

Hourly Comics Day - Comics, Experience and Critique

 

On the day of Hourly Comic Day my dog was sick meaning I didn't have much sleep the night before, and as a result didn't finish the day on the day itself. I did make a start (the above two pieces), which I shared online as they were completed. For the rest of the day I made notes so I could revisit and complete the day later on.

My new technique for digital drawing really lent its hand to this challenge; it allowed me to draw quickly and with minimal colours, but still keeping the texture and style that I like in my traditional work. 

The fun thing about Hourly Comic Day, and seeing other peoples contributions is how different people interpret it, I wanted to be as authentic as possible, including a stream of consciousness, but still think about composition and interest in the frame.

I'll work on the rest of the panels in the coming days and will post online in one batch.

Dissemination Methods - Attending Comic and Zine Events

Through my work at Thought Bubble, the Yorkshire Comic Art Festival, I've been lucky enough to see most sides of events; from planning a large event with 450+ exhibitors, attended small and medium events as a visitor, and worked behind the table for a comic retailer at various conventions too.  A big part of instilling myself within the independent comics scene will be by exhibiting at one of those events.

South London Comic and Zine Fair (SLCZF) has just opened its applications for its 2023 event, which will be held on July 16, and I'm going to use this opportunity to apply.

To apply you need to send in:

•  3 images representing my work - I am going to put together some mock ups of the kind of things that I will have to see, including 'A Walk to a Waterfall', some zines and prints. 
• A Website link - Perfect timing as I've created one already.
• Short Description of my work - A good opportunity to summarise my work, which will work well for when I start to put together a pitch pack.

I'll work on the above to ensure I hit the March 3 deadline.