Indie Kid!
Posted Under: Drawing
Evening!
Today I had a few hours to spare, so for the first time in about three forevers, I plugged my Wacom tablet in and started doodling. This is the end result, a nice little pic of a bloke wearing a jacket and skinny jeans. I feel horribly generic-thirteen-year-old-girl-with-a-deviantart-account because of what I ended up drawing, but I can’t be held responsible – I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired.
I haven’t really drawn anything lately – I used to practice for a few hours every day for ten years before music became such a pressing issue. There are a lot of people out there (David Heatley and James Kochalka to name but two) who treat music and comics as equal endeavors, and are as good at one as the other. Comics was always my first love, but music just came to bloom before comics did. Perhaps I should start drawing again. It seems a waste to stop doing something after I’ve spent so long practicing it and learning how to do it.
I dunno.
Three is the number of times I’ve attempted to start a proper full length comic book, and I’ve never really got past the first twelve pages. There’s a lot of planning involved that gets me down. Storytelling is everything.
There are a lot of technically brilliant artists out there who treat it as a hobby, as I do, but then there are a lot less technically able people who’ve released a lot of books and are very well respected. It’s finding that combination between what you do and how you do it that’s partly the key to the whole thing, but also a strong sense of being able to breathe life into what you draw. There are a lot of beautiful illustrations of people that are so close to lifelike but look almost dead (fan art is a brilliant example of this for some reason) to the point that it’s creepy. I believe the term for this is ‘Uncanny Valley’. Look it up. On the other hand, there are people (like the aforementioned Kochalka) who create these amazingly animated characters out of a few flicks of a brush. It’s a sort of magic that only comes with years and years of practice and skill.
This blog post is all over the place and not at all coherent, and I apologise for this. I’ll try to form my ideas about drawing – and in particular the world of sequential art – into another later blog post. I might do a Just Imagine later as well. Look out!
Some artists and works I strongly recommend you check out:
Daniel Clowes, in particular Ghost World
Charles Burns, in particular Black Hole, which is beautifully rendered and which I just finished reading
Chris Ware, in particular Jimmy Corrigan (which I gave PJ for Christmas – ask him how good it is)
Julie Doucet, who has this really intense, full style that always seems messy to the point of chaos, but isn’t
Seth, who is a lot more nuanced and grownup than his monosyllabic moniker would suggest.
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Reader Comments
I'm not good at drawing or music, and don't feel down about the whole generic-thirteen-year-old-girl-with-a-deviantart-account thing. Being not inspired makes you do the generic things. That's why they are generic.
I just wish I could draw something other than a stick figure xD
Also, while you were in New York did you get to see the Tim Burton exhibit by any chance?
I think you should draw more. It pleases my eyeballs. I mean, you don't have to draw big giant stacks of drawings like my math teacher's six year old (we use them as scrap paper for tests. Hehheh.) but definately don't completely stop.
That's certainly more artistic talent then I've ever shown…o_O
i've been reading black hole in my school's library, stealing away bit by bit because the book is quite large and heavy and i am a lazy fuck. it's wonderful, but it gives me this odd sense of deja vu. it reminds me of something, but i have absolutely no idea what.
keep on drawing
Here's why I keep paying attention here: You are one of my favorite teachers. What sets you apart from generic thirteen-year-old girl (and generic anything, for that matter) is that you aren't some unformed, uninformed, overcharged bundle of self-expression. You work to place yourself within, and then struggle to emerge from, a cultural community and heritage. I love that you share your roots and your influences. You're a generous learner and teacher.
I approve greatly of the fourth sentence of the second paragraph of this blog post.
just sayin'
…and thanks for the reminder on Black Holes! I'd found it in the Neon Monster last summer but never got round to returning with actual paper compensation. grrrr empty pockets
One artist and work I strongly recommend you check out
Craig Thompson – Blankets
brilliance.
I love Blankets. I didn't put it on the list because it didn't hit me as strongly as a lot of things, but maybe with a few more reads it'll work its way into my heart.
Hi. Great blog =)
The arms on your drawing is a bit short, but cool.
I've made my own comic book, called “Gøglermand” (in english conjuror-man) I've made a group for it on Facebook (Gøglermand!) But it's in danish, so I don't know if you can get anything out of it.
I like your music =]
sadly, more and more girls look like that every day. androgyny is in these days it seems.
Tom-
I really just wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much. Your music is brilliant, your writing is phenomenal, and your videos are fantastic. So, thank you. Thank you for creating these things and bringing them into public existance. Mostly, though, thank you for helping me. Last year, my life was hell. Just…so difficult to get through. I had very few friends, school was absolutely awful, and my parents and I were fighting constantly, mostly about the aforementioned awful school. Needless to say, i wasn't very happy very often. I hate fights, i hate them, i hate them, i hate them. In most cases, i end up a sad, crying, pathetic wreck, angry at myself and the world around me. Have you ever felt so terrible, in that way that you need something nice to escape to? Something comforting, or distracting, like a book, or a movie, or an album, or the internet? That's what it was like, and your music was my escape. My savior throughout the darkness that was encasing me at the time. Now, here I am, a year later, and things are looking up. They're still not fantastic, I'm still fighting with my parents, and the schoolwork isn't going splendidly, but i've got some good friends. And I've still got your music. I just got into a fight with my parents and, as expected, came out an emotional wreck, even after my dad left the room, i was still crying. So, I played Painfully Mainstream and Awkward Ballads for the Easily-Pleased. And i got better. Sorry about this stupidly long comment going on about my life, but i needed to write it, to distract myself until i was better, and to thank you. I don't think i could have made it this far without you and your music.
<3
You read Black Hole! Win! Do like even if it was kinda scary-desolate in places. XxX
This is almost completely irrelevant to the blog, but I also have a Wacom Tablet :3
It is my first love, and if any guy trys to come between me and it, I shall have to stab my tablet pen in his eye.
Sorry if that sounded remotely creepy.
I really enjoy your music and blogs, but I just thought you should know….most thirteen year old girls don't draw guys in jackets. Or even guys. Guys are a lot harder to draw, so we kind of avoid drawing them like it's the plague (I'm a thirteen-year-old-girl-with-a-deviant-account, but I can't blame you…..) Sorry for ranting, but I keep hearing that, and it isn't true. feel free to ignore this whole post.
I really enjoy your music and blogs, but I just thought you should know….most thirteen year old girls don't draw guys in jackets. Or even guys. Guys are a lot harder to draw, so we kind of avoid drawing them like it's the plague (I'm a thirteen-year-old-girl-with-a-deviant-account, but I can't blame you…..) Sorry for ranting, but I keep hearing that, and it isn't true. feel free to ignore this whole post.