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