Mentor Pals // Part Two // Mandy Ord

Last week I showed excerpts from my sketchbook with Pat Grant, so this week I thought I'd show some of the work I did with Mandy Ord. 

This sketchbook delved more into my feelings about life and comics as well as more interaction between us. I would ask questions and Mandy would answer with illustration. What I found interesting was that my drawing style changed when thinking about what I would write/draw to Mandy. It would suddenly get more inky, I would favour using a brush pen to a fine liner, and I would include more blacks and textures. 

It was nice playing around with style and responding to someone else's work. 

Mandy Sketchbook 12.jpg

Working with Mandy was great. It was very different from Pat as they are different people. Mandy was always good to talk to about life and Rob. She would phrase interesting questions that got me to think about the stories in the book a different way. Mandy also runs workshops regularly and is a fan of finding and creating new drawing exercises. When I visited her we were able to run through a few new exercises I hadn't yet done (but now love). I feel like I should always make more time for drawing exercises. 

When working with both Mandy and Pat we did a lot of walking and talking (and walking Mandy's dog Lucy, which was super great because, dogs), which I found really useful to just talk out my thoughts and worries. I get really nervous when I sit still and have to answer questions, but there is something about walking and talking that relaxes me. Maybe because my brain focuses on not tripping over my own feet (a common occurrence if you're me) and that relaxes me enough to talk about my work and answer harder questions. Maybe because I'm a fidgeter - I need to keep my body moving if I want my brain to keep active. 

Anyway enough blathering from me for now. See you next week for more fun blog adventures. 

Gxx

 

Mentor Pals // Part One // Pat Grant

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

In which our hero meets 'The Slump'

You may have noticed that in the past few posts I've been writing about going through a bit of a flat patch or, if you want to go all '50s horror movie on the idea, 'The Slump!'

So with The Slump hanging over my head -- or more specifically in my head -- I thought it was time to get my thoughts out onto paper. I grabbed a book I've been using to keep track of thoughts and things to talk about with my mentor Pat and started writing what I'd been feeling. BUT THEN I COULDN'T STOP. It just kept coming out. Because this was originally just going to be something that I would send to Pat and not share online, I didn't pencil anything or even plan what I was going to write. Sometimes I think I managed to pull it off and then some pages maybe not so much. Anyway, here it is, in all its glory. 

Halfway through writing these thoughts I kinda wanted to stop. I wasn't really sure where they were going and not knowing when the comic would finish made me start feeling flat. But I pushed through with a few pitstops to breathe and think about what I was writing and once I'd finished (despite it not being the best thing I've ever drawn or written) I was so glad to have done it. 

Even though I would say the process of making something is maybe sometimes more important than the final product, it sure feels good to hold a finished thing in your hands. Even if the very next day you think it's terrible. 

Hope you guys are doing well. Can't wait to write you again real soon!

Gxx

In which our hero meets her mentor for the the first time

So when I went over to Melbourne for the Festival of the Photocopier, I also got to squeeze in a visit to Mandy Ord, who is one of mentors for Oh Brother.  As you can tell from the above picture, I was super nervous. 

I met her briefly at the Festival of the Photocopier. I was super nervous and don't remember what I said at all. I was overwhelmed by the hugh amount of people at the FoTP Zine Fair (over 150 stalls). There were so many people that I couldn't focus and it felt like nothing I said had any substance. She gave me a copy of her new comic 'Trains'. Well, actually, she traded it with one of my journal comics. I think I got the better deal tbh but I love trading comics. I feel like a trading card kid (I always wanted to be one but ended up just keeping all the cards because I like the pictures).

Luckily the day after the zine fair, Mandy was free for more chats. So I hopped on a train with my copy of Trains in hand ready for round two where hopefully I'll have more interesting things to say.  It was strange reading Trains (which is about Mandy trips down various Melbourne Train lines, summed up in a neat four panels) as I was travelling on the line that is commonly mentioned in the book. I think it was meta but I'm not quite sure. 

Once I was at Mandy's place, I slowly calmed down and stopped sweating like crazy (I sweat a lot when I'm hot, grumpy, embarrassed, tired, nervous, living). It helped that she had an adorable dog. I've been craving a puppy to dog but apartment living / not being able to give the dog the love time it needs is problem. Until I can have my own, I guess I will just be one of those people that hangs out at dog parks, without a dog of their own.

ANYWAY - we started to talk about comics and Mandy showed me around her studio, telling about her way of working and how it's change and people she's been inspired by.  It was great! I'm so excited that she is going to be my mentor. We will be sending each other post surprises, including a shared sketchbook. I'll draw something in the book and then post it to Mandy, then she will add her entry and post it back to me and so on and so forth. 

Nothing beats face to face time with someone, as much as I love letters/letter writing, and I hope that I can catch up with her soon when I have a script or some thumbnails to work through with her.

This is a super text heavy blog, so I might leave it there for now. 

Have an excellent week.

xx