rockingweevil: How do you, yourself, expand on story ideas? How do you expand your writing? I think I suffer from short sentence syndrome. In my mind my ideas are mighty Oaks, and roaring rivers. My sentences on the other hand are sticks, and drops of water.
@raggedymind basil remember at poetry night when i said there was a meme you once showed me that practically killed me it was so funny but i couldn’t remember what it was??
There was a meme going around twitter a few weeks ago, hashtag anyone can improve at drawing. People were posting old art in comparison to their most recent work, showing how anyone can improve at drawing if you put in lots of hours to develop your skills. I happily participated, because I love drawing improvement memes, they are so fun! However, I think posting an ancient 10+ year old drawing beside a shiny new one can be kind of …. I don’t know, a little misleading? Like all us artists went away to our cabin in the woods, drew like heck for 10 years and then emerged as fully formed professional artists. The meme didn’t show off the years of development and struggle, the awkward teenage years of learning to become a pro cartoonist.
Anyway, since I’m always up for spewing my awful, embarrassing old artwork on the internet (ugh, why am I like this), I wanted to do just that: the 10 pages above are about 13 years of skill development. I don’t believe art skill develops in a straight line. Like, you don’t start out at 0 and work your way directly to 100. Some years I felt like my skills were going backwards, and other years I feel like they shot forward, and I wasn’t sure why. Check the dates on the images above. There is one year’s difference between the page from Brain Camp and the page from Friends with Boys, but the artwork from Friends with Boys is so much better. Why? Because I discovered new art tools that totally changed my approach to drawing. So some years you get lucky like that. But most years you don’t, and it’s just about challenging yourself in tiny increments, trying desperately to learn.
Be in art for the long haul! This is 13 years of work. I improved very, very slowly. Some people are pro-quality cartoonists by the time they’re 23, but I wasn’t that person. I just kept going, inching forward. Anyone can improve at drawing, but some of us improve slower than others. So don’t get discouraged, just keep going. :)
(Colours on The Last of Us by Rachelle Rosenberg, colours on The Nameless City by Jordie Bellaire.)
Anonymous: I always wish for bigger representation of LGBT couples in the media. However, when I see a lesbian couple in a medium primarily aimed at male or a male audience asking fo a lesbian couple, I feel a certain distrust. I think this is because I have known many men who are interested in lesbian couples, but they showed disgust when there was talk of a couple of men. Do not misunderstand me, it's great that more representation of lesbian couples, but I can not help feeling distrust.
I think there are plenty of examples of both. Some of the early Gen13 stuff with Rainmaker was pretty goofy and sometimes gross, but then you have Batwoman. There’s both.
But absolutely, a lot of writers are FAR more comfortable adding lesbian characters or bi- female characters than they will ever be adding gay guys. And it’s probably for the exact reasons you suspect.
I am always happy when we take steps forward, but I want to be sure they actually ARE steps forward and not just a new kind of pandering.
This is usually my first thought whenever a lesbian couple is introduced in a mainstream comic and even some indie comics. It feels like lesbians greatly outnumber gay men in comics.
Who’s Your Daddy is a highly amusing asymmetric multiplayer parenthood simulator that follows the daily routine of a loving, if bumbling, father as he tries to keep his son safe from harm.
One player controls the baby and attempts to put itself in harms way, and the other player takes on the role of the father, trying to save his son from certain death. A darkly humorous and very silly multiplayer parenting experience.
Hi, I'm Tim Lai! I'm a cartoonist living in Ontario, Canada. I like drawing cute and colourful things. This blog is a hub where you can find all of my Tumblr, DeviantArt, Flickr, Blogspot, and other posts in one place.
About My Work
I write and draw Lemon Inc., a comic about a seven-year-old who wants to be a business tycoon when he grows up. Until then, he runs a lemonade stand. You can read it at www.lemon-inc.com.
I have done some professional web and graphic design work, including designing the website for the webcomic, Just Joel. I'm also a member of the webcomic collective, Ink Bomb Comics.
December 15, 2015 15:37
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rockingweevil: How do you, yourself, expand on story ideas? How do you expand your writing? I think I suffer from short sentence syndrome. In my mind my ideas are mighty Oaks, and roaring rivers. My sentences on the other hand are sticks, and drops of water.