Last year was a big learning curve for me and my comics. Not only did I delve into the world of long-form comic making but I also worked with mentors for the first time. I've never before worked with someone who was there to help me figure out what on earth I was doing (with the story and with my life as a comics creator).
I was super lucky to have two mentors that I worked with throughout 2016: Pat Grant and Mandy Ord. I arranged to have a shared sketchbook with each of them, where I would write something , a thought or question or worry, and then post it out to them. They would respond by adding their magic and then post it back to me.
And I thought that you guys might want to have a peek at some of the pages from the books! Pat's book revolved a lot around the mechanics behind writing and planning the book out. I found this was a great way to keep track of everything Pat was telling me about story structure and writing techniques. Which, as I've not studied any type of writing, was all pretty new to me.
Working with Pat was really interesting. It took a little while for me to stop being so darned nervous I could barely talk but once I got over that, working with Pat was great. I felt like I could discuss my problems and it really helps to have another pair of eyes to read through your story and discuss it with you. Particularly a pair of eyes that has done what you are trying to do and knows all the feels you are feeling. If you want to read more about what I learnt from Pat, head here to my previous blog post about hanging out with him in his home town of Wollongong.
Next week I'll talk about and share a few pages from my sketchbook with Mandy Ord.
I'm almost at the end of my Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship residency at the May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust, which has been great and filled with lots of learning and making. But I also can't wait to be home with my boy (and my bed!) and getting back in my own studio. Hope you guys are having a lovely week!
Gx
Following on from my last post about how the design of the characters in my graphic novel, Oh Brother, have changed over the 7-ish years I’ve been working on the book, this post is about my absolute favourite thing: drawing emotions!