Graphing the Graphic Novel Experience
Plus comics advice, a big accomplishment, and a book recommendation
Diary Comic
Here’s a graph of my experience inking my graphic novel in terms of difficulty:
I find that projects are hardest at the start and get steadily easier as I approach the 50% mark. I love that period after I’m halfway through a project where it feels like I finally have the hang of it. But then it always seems to become hard again as I approach the finish line, with a little uptick at the end.
I repeat this graph during each phase of the graphic novel: pencilling, inking and coloring. When I get overwhelmed by how hard it feels at the beginning of a phase, I remind myself that I’ve been here before, and that seems to reassure me.
Progress: I finished inking!
I’m so excited to be finished1 with inking my 240-page middle grade graphic novel! Inking is historically one of the things I struggle with most, so this feels like a huge accomplishment, especially as you can see from my above chart that reaching the end always feels really hard.
Every time I finish a chapter, I put a rock into my letter press tray to signify the accomplishment of getting a chapter done. I put 14 rocks in for the 14 chapters of my penciled art. And now 14 rocks for the same 14 chapters inked. And then I’m onto coloring—my favorite part!
Comics Advice: Don’t Forget to Look On Your Bookshelf
Throughout making this graphic novel, I’ve been struggling to draw horses. I’ve been using Google image search for reference. But with only ten pages left to ink, I remembered that I had Animals in Motion by Eeadweard Muybridge, right on my bookshelf, that has TONS of horse reference in it.
I learned the lesson that I should’ve been consulting my bookshelf instead of Google image search. Sigh. But now I know… and will not make that mistake again on a future book! And I do have a graphic novel out on submission that has many more horses in it so there may be a lot more horse drawing in my future (fingers crossed!)
Book Recommendation: Breath by James Nestor
It turns out we’ve been breathing wrong. Breath2 by James Nestor kinda blew my mind and has me way more focused than ever on my breath.
Leif Love
I’m not sure which Leif hates more: the negative temperatures or the big coat and booties we make him wear to protect him from it. But we love the little pup and don’t like seeing him so cold.
Question:
What part of the creative process do you find hardest or easiest?
I still have to go through and make some minor edits before sending to my publisher. And then incorporate whatever feedback they have.
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Love the rock wall of progress! The scale of these projects always gets me. I once built a horse track with plastic figurines to track progress across multiple long term projects - it failed gloriously but the visual metaphor was helpful. And the little figurines are still useful when I have to draw a horse - horses are hard!
Thanks for this look at your process! And for all the great advice. That graph hit close to home and very much reflected my own experience, especially as I just finished the script for a new comics project! 😁