Draw mode: ON

I complete my last course for grad school just prior to Thanksgiving, and now it's time to draw again!

At first I started work on penciling a short vignette, the second of three about my experiences working at a sandwich shop when I first moved to Saint Louis. Monica inked the last few stories I've drawn (which was a great experience, as I had to try to get my pencils as finished as possible), but she's not available to ink this latest. That's fine, as I am hired to pencil, ink, color, and letter a shortie for an Image Comics creator-owned property (and wow I needed the warm-up).

After pencils, I didn't get much inking in before I had to turn to the Image ditty. But there, pencils complete, now back to inks for my own project to prep for inks for Image!

Image one, my drafting table. Yes, I am still drawing on paper. Once I am finished my thesis, I will likely convert to iPad and Procreate. For now, my bandwidth for learning something new is limited.

Images two and three, selfies for photo reference. I used to call upon whatever friend I was sitting with, "hold your hand like this," or moving their arm in the right position for me to quick sketch. Not much hanging out in coffee houses with friends since Covid hit, but now there's no need to torment them.
 

CLAMANTIS (and, grad school, apparently)

I was asked to create the cover to the Spring/Summer 2021 issue of Clamantis, the Dartmouth MALS peer review journal. I didn't have much time to do so, but I was honored, and truly value the peer review process. These are the thumbnail sketches.

I've not touched on this much, but I have been attending graduate school part-time since Summer 2019. It was a bit of a scramble start, as I was trying to wrap up final art chores on Liebestrasse by the end of that summer.

I went through the summer ethics workshops and the symposium, but was terrified to enter a classroom that fall after so long! I jumped right in though, taking two of the (for me) most difficult requirements right off. 

My first three terms were in-person, then COVID hit just was Winter 2020 term was ending, and my next five courses were remote. My Summer 2021 term was a bit messed up as well, as the study abroad workshop was cancelled last minute. I just completed my last course, Fall 2021.

From here, I will fingers crossed sign up for the Summer 2022 study abroad workshop. That, and my thesis, are all that's left. I'm nearly done my "research" phase of the thesis and by January will be in the "writing" phase. 

My goal was to have three pieces published in the peer-review journal; I've now had four pieces (plus the cover) published, and will keep submitting until I am finished my thesis. That should be two more issues. 

The program in creative writing has been transformational, and just what I needed to balance the efforts I've made to improve my draftsmanship.

Wizards, Knights, Dragons

 

I don't recall the exact timing, but by the time we were in Cardiff, I was in short story mode for what was published as On the Romance Road. While there, I drew several pages of "Every Journey Begins with the First Step" which I had scripted a few weeks prior.

And, a few days prior, at Thought Bubble, Timothy Winchester had agreed to draft a script for the collection. I find him hilarious, so I was a little surprised when he came up with his wizard story. Since In the spirit of new challenges, I embraced it!

The first drawing was done in Cardiff, as was the dragon sketch, before Timothy sent me the script. The other two are in preparation to draw the story. Though I finished in 2017, the pages kept getting pushed to the bottom of Matt's coloring pile as (1) I kept sending him more projects and (2) the pages were really challenging to color... very dense art for me.

But you can read the finished story on comiXology!

 

 

(un) Designed

If I believe the evidence of my sketchbook, I assume Greg and I were continuing our brainstorm. Here are drawings of the three fellows involved in a love square with the gal from a few posts ago. I think we both liked the concept, but it just never stuck.

 

Draft scripts

 Here's the start of "Every Journey..." published in On the Romance Road on comiXology. Sketches, thumbnails of the first page, and a lot of the script is there. Yes, when I write for myself, this is usually what the script looks like! Or used to, before I entered grad school and had to start adhering to some standards. Admittedly, it's much easier to edit from a Word doc or Final Draft than it is this mess!

(Abandoned) Projects

This brings me to the third reason I was distracted: new projects that were abandoned.

At the time, Greg and I were busy, busy, busy brainstorming pitch ideas. In 2015, we'd finally finished "RE-INFINITY" and we'd also collaborated on a ghost story, putting them out there as Poison Press Presents #s 1 and 3. The first of two ideas stemmed from drawing I made (and posted, apparently, according to the note on the sketch) in 2009. It was a love triangle story.

 

The second idea we were brainstorming was rather dear to my heart. Let's long story short it and say seven teenagers find themselves embroiled in some mysterious goings-on. 

Though neither project made it to the stage of pilot mini comics, both were great exercises in us collaborating... paving the way for the short stories "Star Players" and "Liebestraße." The latter, of course, we developed as a graphic novel for ComiXology as Liebestrasse.