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

Writing autobio comics

Hello hello!

Because I am again away from the studio this week, working hard on my book, I thought I'd share a blog post from a couple of years ago that I wrote for the SA Writers' Centre. It's all about writing auto-bio. It was originally written as a taster for a Writing Auto-bio Comics workshop I was running at the time, so just ignore all the mentions of workshops. 

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Hello there! My name is Gina; I like to watch television, drink my tea without milk and draw auto-bio comics. What do you do with yourself?

Auto-bio(graphical) comics (writing stories about yourself) are my favourite to write as I get to write from what I know and experience. When I was younger I often found talking to people hard and so I started writing comics about myself that I could share when meeting new pals. They found out a bit about me and it was a talking point. My comics can help work out my feelings or just be a laugh (I also wanted to be a stand-up comedian but found being on stage terrifying so I ended up just writing my jokes down in comic book form).

When tackling writing/drawing/creating comics for the first time, people often think of superheroes — I know I did! My first comic was about a superhero called Menu Man (he’d fight food with food). But as I got older and started reading a broader range of comics, I realised the stories I wanted to tell were about my life and thoughts I had about things I came across in the world. 

Here are some common questions I hear about writing auto-bio comics:

Of course! Just because you weren’t born a chosen one destined to duel the greatest dark wizard of all time or didn’t survive a terrible ordeal doesn’t mean that what you have to say isn’t worth listening to. Everyone thinks differently, and if you think about the world in an interesting way there is nothing stopping you writing well-thought out or funny comics.

Me too! I often worry about what people in my stories will think of how I wrote them or drew them. And tbh they are generally flattered. However, I make sure that I check with whoever I’m writing about and show them the comic first before anyone else. Give them the chance to say “I don’t like how you wrote me there”. Most of the time people will be understanding; just give them the courtesy of being the first to read it.

No sweat! One of the most critically acclaimed auto-bio comics creators, Harvey Pekar, was a writer only and teamed with a variety of artists. Just because you don’t think you can draw (although I bet you probably could) shouldn’t stop you from writing your own comics masterpiece. Comics is a super fun medium to collaborate on. Often comic books will have a writer (or maybe even two), a penciller, an inker, a colourist and sometimes even a letterer.

Don’t be! It can seem pretty scary to write about yourself but it’s not as hard as you think. I know a lot of people who worry about what other people would think of them if they wrote truly about themselves. Do you have a social media account (facebook, instagram, tumblr, twitter)? Then you are already writing auto-bio! So why not add pictures and make it a comic?

There are lots of different ways to write auto-bio comics and no ‘right way’. Here are some of my favourite practitioners of auto-bio comics:

Raina Telgemeier

Mandy Ord

Art Spiegelman

Lucy Knisley

Guy Delisle

Gemma Correll

 

These guys are all great for different reasons - the only thing they have in common is telling their own story from their own special point of view. Have a look at their work (you can see most of them online or in the library) and start having a think about what kind of stories you would turn into a comic.

Can’t wait to see you at the workshop!

Stay excellent, 

Gina xx

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And that's it for this week. I can't wait to share with you guys what I've been working on at The Burrow (that's the name of the studio apartment my residency is at. How great it that!) and have the draft of part two of my book underway. 

You've got mail!

Hey guys!

As I'm busy as a bee working on the thumbnails for part two of Oh Brother in preparation for my residency with the May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust in a couple of weeks, I've only got a quick little update for you this post. I've been working on a few more diagrams about day-to-day life growing up in the Chadderton household. This one is about the average mail we each received. 

 

JSYK the residency I'll be doing through the May Gibbs trust is called the Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship. I'll be working and living in a studio apartment in Norwood. My aim is to make as much headway as I can into the pencil draft of part two of Oh Brother. I'm hoping I can finish the whole draft of part two ready for reading by the time I finish up at the residency. While I'm there I will also be doing some networking and meeting with illustrators, publishers and children's librarians to find out about the industry side of children's literature. 

Alrighty! I best be off, still so many pages to get done before I pack. OH BOY I'M SO NERVOUS.

Gx

I'm all Thumbs

Hello!

I thought I would give you guys a little update on where I'm at with the book. It's been a while since I finished the draft of part one (of three) and wrote the massive post about the process of making the draft (you can read that post here). In the time since then I've not done as much work as I would have liked but I have been trying to plug away a little bit at a time. 

Writing for me is the hardest bit. Once I get started it's okay but it's the getting started that's hard. I have to sit down and force myself to write for minimum of 15 minutes, which may not sound like a lot but it it feels like an achievable goal, and after the first 5 minutes of constantly reminding myself not to check my phone and just sit and write I usually get on a roll and write for longer than my personal minimum of 15 minutes. 

What's even going on with my left arm....

What's even going on with my left arm....

I'd set myself the goal to finish the written script for at least part two and part three by the end of January if I could (I couldn't, part three is still buffering) and then finish the thumbnails by the end of February. This would mean that I could go into my artist residency with the May Gibbs trust in March (more about that later) with a full script to work from when I start drawing up the pencils.

But I found that I was getting bogged down by staring at a computer screen trying to write up a visual script with just using words, so even though I wasn't super happy with what I had (I thought I might have missed a few stories and included stories that I shouldn't have in part two), I printed out what I'd written and started to re-read a whole (terribly spelt) script. 

I wanted to get stuck into the thumbnailing because I remember how good it made me feel when I thumbnailed part one. But I struggled to get on board the thumbnailing train and then I remembered I'd missed a step that my pal and mentor Pat Grant went through with me last time. The post-it note stage!

The point of the post-it-ing is to write down the main mini-stories in this chapter and see where they fit in with each other. I also added in scene setting stuff so I can see where there will be story breaks for the reader so they are not too overwhelmed with info. Because colours are king I colour coordinated the post-its. Scenes are in blue and stories are in orange.

I like the post-it method because it helps me to visualise the collection of short stories as one big story (something I struggle with a bit). The post-its help me sort out the general flow and structure of the piece, getting me ready to thumbnail part two. Well, mostly ready: I still don't know quite how to end this section. It leads into the heavier section of the book and I'm not sure what tone I want to end this part on.  

Post-it notes mostly done, it was time for the main act: Thumbnails!

I can't explain just how exciting it is to grab a red marker and sit and look at what you've written and scribble over the top of it. Figuring out what works, what doesn't and what you entirely forgot to put in. That's when you end up with a whole page of big thumbnails (see below) of a very important scene you could've sworn you'd written. 

This thumbnail panel below could literally be my Mum and me at anytime in our lives with pretty much anything. 

This happens literally once a week. 

This happens literally once a week. 

Something I really enjoy about thumbnailing is that because it's quick and small, everything is the essence of the characters and I find it hilarious seeing what my mind has decided is the essence of me, my parents and my brother. 

NO.

NO.

I'm doing okay with the thumbnails but do need to pull my socks up and get them done ASAP as my residency starts in a couple of weeks. I was trying to do a scene a day but I think I'm going to step up my game and aim for two-three a day to make sure I get everything ready. 

So that's where I am at with the script at the moment. I'm pretty excited to be working on something with a visual element again. I find just writing words can feel like I"m not doing very much and it's hard for me to connect with the work. 

Can't wait to start the pencils and share those with you!

Gxx

Fun Discoveries

Hello hello!

So the other day I found out that the app I've been using has been recording all of the drawings I've been doing and then making time-lapse videos. I They look pretty cool. I keep watching them back to see how I draw and which bits I do first. It's pretty mesmerising to watch and I can't believe that it's all stuff I did. 

So I thought I'd share e a few of my favourite videos with you of some things I've been working on.

Here is my most recent badge design.

A page from my Quit My Job comic. 

Illustration commission for the a board game. 

My most recent tiny letter. 

Some fan art from last weeks blog post about podcasts. 

It's been super fun working on the iPad and learning new skills. I think once I have more of a grasp of what I'm doing with the Procreate app I'll try and write a tips and tricks post. But I've got a lot more learning to do before that happens!

Hope your week is looking peachy and your weekend keen.

Gxx

Just quit your day job

I've had a couple of weeks in the studio now and I'm slowly settling into the idea of supporting myself with my art. It still feels pretty scary when I think too much about being able to pay the rent. But I don't want that to be what I think. I want to think about the comics I can create and the improvements I can make on my drawing skills and the story-writing skills I can learn by having the time to write more. 

So I'd better get going and make me some comics. 

Gx

A day in the studio

Hello hello!

This week we take a sneak peek at my studio. The studio is this magical place for both the artist and anyone looking in at the artist. It reflects how they work, what they love, and what they aspire to do and create. For me a tidy organised study is the only way to go - I try to clean it up at the end of each day before I head home but while I'm there it's a total bomb site. 

For years I thought that spending time creating work was like filling a sketchbook; if you were a real artist you worked hard from 9-5, got a tonne of work done and then knocked off for a G&T with your other artist buddies talking about philosophical things and all the rad projects you're working on. 

I soon realised that this was rarely the case. Those dream studio days do happen but they are few and far between. 

I have many plans to organise my days. Plans so that I'll work really hard on big projects, writing work, commissions, planning lessons (all the brain work) in the morning, and then go and visit libraries and museums in the afternoon, reading and learning about new things. Or watching films or sitting in the sun and drawing people and plants and buildings I see. 

Of course these plans are admirable but have not yet come to fruition. Paid work comes first and I don't want to 'put off' finishing Oh Brother but I've been finding it so hard to sit down and write it. Often when I do, I get emotional, remembering the stories. Or I start worrying about whether what I'm writing will be good enough; will this actually help anyone? I know these are thoughts I must dispel from my mind if I am to get anywhere with the next two parts and hey, some days are diamonds and I get quite a bit done. 

And I do worry about my work ethic. Am I creating enough work? Am I creating quality work? Am I focused enough? Am I posting enough online? I worry that maybe I just don't have what it takes to work in a studio full-time. Maybe I can't hack the ebb and flow of the creative process and I won't be able to push through those slump periods. The line between work and play is blurred when you are creating because you can't tell your brain to stop thinking about your project (at least I can't).

Having a separate space to work does help. Walking somewhere and sitting down to work. Going home and now you can relax. Although I find it hard to not do something. I feel guilty if I don't just finish off that drawing or send that email but also my body is telling me to relax. All work and no play makes Gina a dull cartoonist. I should listen to my body more. 

I'm constantly questioning my abilities to create the art I want to create, which hopefully will translate into improving and honing my skills rather than turning me off from creating my work all together. I want to create work I'm happy with but I also never want to stop learning and getting better. 

Stay Excellent Pals,

xx

The draft

This week I'm giving you guys a look at some of the stories from part one of Oh Brother (draft version) that I finished a couple of months ago. I've picked three short stories that I think stand alone okay for you to have a little look at. These stories are currently somewhere between detailed thumbnails and loose pencils (I haven't really decided what to call it other than Not Final Art). 

Story one. From near the start of part one we have How to Explain Rob. This is fairly self-explanatory. Before this story we have a few examples of what it's like to live with Rob. This is the first time in the book that you see Rob and Gina interacting with other kids. 

Story Two. The Diagnosis. As it sounds, this story is about my parents finding out about Rob's diagnosis. Rob was two when he was diagnosed with autism (I would have been four). We also jump forward in time to see my reaction to their story of Rob's initial diagnosis.

And story three. As part one is called Communication, most of the stories and anecdotes are about my and my family's attempts at communicating with Rob. In The Mist I talk about the more ethereal feelings around having a brother with autism. 

Those are the three samples I thought would work well displaced from their home in the book. I hope I picked the right ones.

If you want to read more of the draft and live in Adelaide, you can! I'll be putting on an end-of-year Oh Brother wrap-up show, exhibiting some of the diagrammatic illustrations I've done during the year, the sketchbooks with notes and illustrations, and the full comics manuscript draft for people to read and flick through. I've also put together a mini-comic sampler of some of my favourite Rob comics and background material. For more info about the event, click here.

Write you next week. 

Gxx