In which our hero meets 'The Slump'

October 16, 2016

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

Self portraits

October 11, 2016

The other day I was asked to write a bio for a comics piece I did that was about to be published and, as is customary, provide an accompanying self portrait. I searched my self portrait files for an appropriate illustration (I rarely provide an actual photograph because comics) and as I've been writing autobio comics for pretty much my entire cartooning life I thought it would be easy to find something that would work. But to my dismay I couldn't find one that really represented how I was currently drawing. Also I'd just gotten a haircut and now sported a wicked fringe. So I quickly drew up a headshot of myself and sent it off.

After searching through those self portrait pictures I felt a burst of nostalgia towards all those styles that I had tried out, embodied for a while and then moved on to the next George Rex look. Like a hermit crab finding the right shell.

So I thought I'd share with you a little timeline of my cartoon selves from yesteryear leading up to just this week.

Let's start with my most recent self-portrait and a general overview of some of my hairstyles (and then jump back to the less great ones of my teen years and move chronologically).

This is my most recent self portrait. Still having trouble drawing my killer fringe.

Below is the hair guide I originally drew up for my Oh Brother graphic novel. Even though I only drew it last year I already find the illustration alien and strange compared to how I'm working now. Like reading an old diary entry.

Next up is the earliest self-portrait I could find, from circa 2005 (I would have been 14-y-o). This was taken from the one of the comics I made in high school about the music teachers, in which I would constantly play with reality and breaking the fourth wall. Note: This was the height of my Goon Show and Monty Python fandom.

Below is me from an early 2009 (I would have been 18) comic zine called 'A Week of Perfect Conversations'. It was all about the semi-realistic adventures of me and my friend Kyra (who was travelling around the world on a gap year post high school graduation). This comic was drawn coming out of my Jhonen Vasquez (Squee, Invader Zim) phase and for some reason I picked up this habit of drawing eyes coming off the side of people's heads and drawing thin lines in place of actual backgrounds. Also I apparently couldn't decide between all caps or lower case for my speech bubbles. Note: This 'joke' doesn't make much more sense when you read the rest of the comic.

The self-involved little portrait below is, unfortunately, the most whiny teenager portrait ever. I think it would be from about 2009/2010. I almost didn't include it in this post because it's a pretty embarrassing insight into my brain from when I was 18/19, but I thought it was good example of how I've been using labels and arrows and words as part of my portraits for ages. It also has this almost side note about how worried I was about my jaw reconstruction that brings me straight back to that time after I'd had my jaw partially removed (due to cancer) and before I knew that my jaw was going to grow back after the surgery (like magic). It was a weird time of relief for the most part but with just a hint of uncertainty.

These guys below were drawn about 2011 (I would've been 20). I had been dabbling in watercolours and started reading a broader range of indie comics and art books. Even though I'll never draw like this again I really like these portraits because it's when I started to really love drawing what I was wearing and when I started to buy and wear clothes that were easy to draw. It's about this time that subconsciously I knew that I was an autobio cartoonist (even if I wished I could write like Terry Pratchett).

Say Hello to 2012 (21-y-o) Rex. This was when I'd first started using the name George Rex for my comics and I haven't looked back. Previous comic nom de plumes include: Georgina Chadderton (actual name), Gee-Nah (phonetic version of nickname), and Bent Drummer Comics (foolish teen idea of a great name). This picture and the picture below it are products of my love of Brisbane artist Lauren Carney. I was (still am) infatuated by her work. Note: I still own the dress that I'm wearing in this picture.

This here (also 2012) is from my poster for my final musical recital for Uni. I studied Bachelor of Music Performance (classical percussion was my instrument) and for my final recital I, of course, illustrated my own poster and comics program (containing all the info about the pieces I played) for those who attended the performance. This is a good example of how I used to use my Uni Pin felt tips (the pens I still use). I would draw the lines once, then draw them again slightly apart so there was gap between them and then colour in the gap in between the two lines. I also would not pencil - I would just throw ink straight down on the page, baby! I can't believe the kind of stuff I could just ink straight up. I wish I could capture that again.

2013 brings us the year of the Muppet portraits. I went through a phase of drawing people as Muppets and using really cheap markers. Here's me looking boss with my favourite red jumper and pink & green hair. Note: you may have noticed that I occasionally wear glasses in my self portraits. That's because I need glasses for reading and if I am wearing my specs when I start drawing I generally end up just drawing them on. Sometime I add them to a portrait even if I'm not wearing them because I just like drawing pictures.

Between 2013 and 2014 I started experimenting with lots of things to do with my art, including: using blue pencils before inking, colouring my comics digitally, writing longer & longer form works and trying out one colour instead of realistic colours. I also started working my first full-time office job which was great but even great office jobs can make you sigh a little sometimes.

Later in the 2014 year I decided to start a FB page dedicated to my comics work (so I could stop bothering my pals with it in my normal feed). But I quickly started getting some really lovely feedback that encouraged me to keep working on my work. This is the thank you picture I drew for getting to 200 likes on my comics FB page. Apparently I still hadn't nailed the whole skin colour thing. Note: Plz do not look at the hands.

2015 was a pretty radical year for me and a big turning point re: my comics. These three portraits of me reading were originally drawn for an online and print magazine, Scenstr. Note: I've finally found those nice clean lines that I love so much.

I started dabbling with different pens and coloured pencils. I lasted about a month before I reverted back to my beloved Uni Pins, although I would love to get more practice in coloured pencil techniques. Note: I still regularly wear this outfit.

This is the portrait that I sent in as part of the Comic Art Workshop residency I was lucky enough to be a part of. Here we start seeing the inclusion of banners and objects around the portrait. The workshop was a huge turning point in my comics. The residency helped me to think about how to approach long-form comics and I met heaps of lovely people that I probably would've been too scared to talk to otherwise.

A lot of things change in my various portraits, two of which are my hair and my nose. I'm always dreaming up new hairstyles and cuts and colours that I think would be best for me, which means having to learn to redraw myself every time I get a haircut. My nose is probably the only thing on my face I've never been able to quite capture to my satisfaction. I have inherited my father's long pointy nose (my only consolation is it also belonged to my grandmother) which has been pointed out to me since I was v. young. It has only been in the past couple of years that I've slowly started drawing it more accurately.

2016 - this year - I am now 25 (gah). Something that I have started doing since the Comic Art Workshop is drawing full eyes instead of just dots (see most of my previous pictures from 2013-2015). This was a suggestion that I took to heart and I'm super thankful for it. I can express so much more using these super cheesy round eyes. I can look scared or think about something or roll my eyes so much more effectively.

My face shape is another thing that is constantly changing, some days it's square, some days it's round, some days it looks like a jelly bean.

My body proportions are getting heaps better too. Although who the heck can draw feet? If so - give me all the tips!

One thing that doesn't change in any of these drawings is the polite smattering of freckles that I draw on my cheeks. I've never had heaps of freckles but it's always something I've been proud of so I'll probably always draw myself with freckles.

My body will alway be a-changing. And sometimes I'm okay with that and sometimes I'm not. I find myself constantly looking in mirrors and looking at my body figuring out if I need to be changing how I draw myself or not. I sometimes struggle with my body image, like a lot of humans out there, and constantly drawing myself and associating my personal image with a 'more perfect' cartoon version can sometimes bring me down. But for the most part I love my body because it's a bloody trooper.

I think that's enough for this narcissistic post. Here's a version of me I quite like. It's not really my normal style but I think that's why I like it.

Gina out xx

OH! I didn't even get to talk about my ears! Well, basically, they change all the time too. My current favourite way to draw them is as semi-circles on the side of the head with little crosses in them to indicate the auditory canal.

In which our hero is defeated by a box of papers.

October 6, 2016

Howdy there!

Sorry I've been a little incommunicado the past few weeks -- lots of travelling, script editing and figuring out where I want to go next with the book. Not knowing if I'm picking the right path to go down and trying to find that spark of inspiration that tells my brain I'm doing the right thing.

This is just a little comic of a time about a month ago when I was feeling low. It's only recently that I've been able to sit down and actually write down some of these feelings. They are not new feelings but they are getting more acute as I grow older and could see myself as a parent.

This comic by no means covers all the feelings or thoughts or worries I have around having children or how lucky I feel about the way my parents brought me up. But that is for exploration another time.

This year has been a huge learning curve for me when it comes to writing and drawing comics but something I think that is less tangible and possibly more important is having the time to think about my life growing up with my brother and just stewing in the feelings that come with that. Sometimes it's so hard to think about the future and what that means for me and Rob and sometimes it's so hard to think about the past and everything that my parents and I and Rob have been through. It feels lonely and tiring. My head fills with the pain of sadness and makes me want to stop writing.

But just because it's hard does not mean it's not worthwhile. I love Rob and I always will. I love him for all his obsessions and strange habits. And I like to think that if he could, Rob would love me back for all the same reasons.

I know other people are out there just like me and just like Rob and I want them to know, I need them to know it's okay, I'm out there too.

Goals and To Do lists

September 6, 2016

Those who have met me for longer than, say, 10 minutes will know that I am a worrier. I'm also a planner and an organiser. Although these qualities can bring on little spells of anxiousness, for the most part they help me achieve my goals in a timely fashion.

I make lists of what I need to get done, what blog posts I'm going to write, and what my goals are for the future (both comics and life related). I write daily, weekly and monthly lists. And this year I have even written a general all-year plan.

I think about things I want to do before I turn 27. I think about skills I need to gain to improve my comics. I think about things I want to know about to make me a more interesting person. And then I write lists about them.

I use colours to indicate which day I complete the tasks on my weekly studio To Do lists, so I can track how much I get done in one day. All these things are great and all and even can help me to remember/put straight all the ideas and things I've got to get done. But at the moment I don't feel like I have enough things on my To Do list to justify the time I put into them.

As part of finishing off the first draft of my script (read the post about that here), I've kind of ended up in a bit of a post-project slump (unfortunately, I haven't even finished the project, just a draft of a section of it). I know I've done quite a lot of work towards my graphic novel book and there is nothing wrong with wanting a little break or breathing space from the work. Working on a personal story like Oh Brother means that some days in the studio are quite emotionally draining. The work gets me to think about a lot of things to do with my brother, both past and future, that scare me. It feels weird finishing off something big, the biggest thing I've ever done (in comics), and I feel a little lost.

So I've been taking a break while waiting for feedback from a variety of people I've asked to read my rough draft script and during this break I've been in a limbo of wanting to do more work on Oh Brother and wanting to just draw stuff for fun. In the past week I've had a huge urge to write something fictional or to start experimenting with different art mediums (coloured pencils being a favourite at the moment). But I feel guilty for wanting a break from the work, for wanting to get out of the studio and sit in cafes and sketch and think about fantasy worlds and just draw things I really like drawing (instead of having to draw my brother or me over and over again).

It's not like I don't have things to do. I have plenty of emails and a few commissions that I'm finally catching up on. But the To Do lists seem to mock me; they are filled with days sitting at a computer and my body just wants to get out there and draw and experience the world. And then the guilt comes in and I get stuck in this middle zone of not sending emails and then spending time out at cafes thinking about the emails I should be sending, not enjoying being out in the world.

At the start of the year, I had it all worked out. I put in wiggle room (just in case I couldn't do things as quickly as I thought I would). I sent the outlines to my mentors, proud as punch and determined that I would finish the whole book (final art and everything) by the end of the year. I would achieve this while working part-time and playing roller derby and seeing my friends and family occasionally. My mentor Pat's first email told me not to rush the book. That I shouldn't worry if I didn't finish it by the end of the year. And I soon realised that he was right. By March/April I had changed my overall plan to finishing the final art for part one of the book, along with the scripts for parts 2 and 3. I would be able to get that done no problem by the end of the year. And again I soon realised that no, if I still wanted to work part-time, play roller derby and ever leave the house/studio to see daylight, I would either need to cut down my goal or cut out another factor. This was when I realised that I wanted to make a go at drawing comics full-time and took 6 months Leave Without Pay from my work.

Since starting my leave from work a couple of months ago, I have hung out with Pat and worked on my written script, learnt how to thumbnail and then completely thumbnailed my script, and created a 100 page readable rough draft of part one of my comic. I felt like I was on track to complete my goals for the rest of 2016. I felt like I had made the right decision. I have loved being in the studio full-time and wish that it's what I could do for living. But then I worry that turning making comics/illustration into something that I rely on for money will take away the magic or worse I won't be able to be self-motivated enough to keep finding work. But sometimes when I think about going back to an office job I just can't imagine me doing that right now.

However, at one recent feedback session with two comics pals (Greg Holfeld and Robin Tatlow-Lord), they suggested that maybe I shouldn't jump right in and do finished art for the whole of part one, but rather maybe pick a section/story and just finish that as a sample and then send the publishers the full draft and the sample story with finished art. This was good advice, or at the very least something to think about. Unfortunately it meant that I couldn't just jump straight into my plan of doing the final art for part one. I needed to sit down and figure out what to do next.

And that's pretty much where I'm at. Not sure which way to go and waiting for feedback. Not sure about what I want to do in my near future. Knowing that in January I head back to a good office job and that I would be crazy (from a stability point of view) not to want to go back. But I just can't shake this feeling that I need to try to make a go of drawing comics for real. It's not just something I want to do, it's something I feel like I need to do.

So, while I wait until that moment I finally decide what I'm doing next (which I'm sure will change regularly), I will keep writing lists upon lists, trying to figure out what I need to get done today, this week, next month, in five years, until I figure it out.

I even write lists of the all the points I want to cover in my blog posts about goals and To Do lists.

Phew! Sorry for such a wordy post. I promise to have some more illustrated ones soon.

Stay classy folks,

In which our hero talks about her process

August 31, 2016

This post is all about how I got from the starting point of having the idea for a graphic novel memoir about growing up with a brother with autism to where I am now: holding my first draft manuscript of part one of Oh Brother. Here's the step-by-step process.

Step 1. Filling your belly with tasty beverages.

A good drink to start the day is important to me and my brain processing. It gives you a chance to sit and think about what you've written, a chance to ponder. Also the act of making a cup of tea (boiling the kettle, steeping the leaves) helps to get my brain in the right frame of mind.

Talking about what stories I want to tell or discussing what I'd written that day over a cuppa with a friend helped me to figure out if the story made sense or hit the right emotional tones.

Step 2. Setting up shop.

The first thing I did was pick a colour for the notebooks and sketchbooks that I would be working in. Colour is important to me and having all my notes and stories, sketches and ideas about Rob and autism in books all the same colour just makes me happy. They look so good on the shelf together.

When setting up what I was going to write, I decided to make a list of different types of stories or things I wanted to talk about in the book. Each category had a different coloured post-it:

Yellow // Happy or Funny stories

Dark Blue // Sad or Fearful stories

Lime Green // Questions I have or Questions I get asked

Red // Over-arching story themes

Purple // Stories about carers or Rob going into care

Light Blue // Misc. stories or facts about me and Rob

This was a great starting point, just getting all the stories I possibly could down and then expanding on them when I started...

Step 3. Writing 15 minutes every day.

To start off with I found it hard trying to get myself to write. I would also be put off by 'not being inspired' or expecting to write for hours at a time. But I soon realised that wasn't how I worked. I like to do things in little fragments of time and waiting to be inspired to write just meant that I was also drawing other silly nothing comics. So after a recommendation from Mentor Pat to do my important brain work in the morning, and reading someone else online talking about forcing yourself to write for 15 minutes no matter how bad you think it is , I started a new routine.

The first thing I would do after I got to the studio each morning (after making a cup of tea, obvs) was to sit down and write for 15 minutes about whatever stories I could think up about Rob. Sometimes I barely managed to scrape in the 15 minutes, really struggling to get ideas out, and sometimes I would write for up to 40 minutes.

Sometimes the ideas were terrible; sometimes awesome. Sometimes they were okay and the next day I would use my 15 minutes to re-write the passage, having had a day to think about and refine what I was trying to say.

Step 4. Drawing one illustration every day.

As well writing something every day, I drew something every day. I wanted to fill the book with diagrams that would demonstrate what it was like living with Rob and help to illustrate his cheeky personality. You can read my previous blog posts with diagrams here, here, here and here.

While writing things down helped to get the stories clear in my mind, drawing the characters and places helped to figure out how I was going to portray my brother and parents. (I've already drawn myself a bunch of times and I'm all over that).

Step 5. Writing a script. With, you know, words.

After a few weeks of writing every day I thought I should start collating the stories into a script form. I found that the stories generally fell into three broad categories: 1) Communication; 2) Obsessions; and 3) Fears. I decided that these would be good section dividers for the book and I would focus on part one, Communication.

Having never written a script previously (because I always draw my own work and my previous comics have been so short that I only needed to jot down a few dot points at most), I had to sort of play it by ear - I had no idea what I was doing.

But I needed to have something written down as I was heading on a two week trip to learn from my mentor Pat about his process and he was going to need a script to read, give feedback on and help me edit.

Step 6. Editing the script and learning about Pat Grant's thumbnailing process.

When I got to Wollongong to meet up with Pat all I had was twelve pages of written words and a few character illustrations. In the first couple of days Pat read, pulled apart and discussed my script.

I took a notebook along with me with a heap of questions for Pat about comics making and in particular how to do thumbnailing. He kindly obliged by responding in comic form.

Thumbnailing, for those who haven't heard of it, is the process of rough drawing the comics panels generally smaller than the size they will be printed at so you can get the general idea of what image you need in each panel, camera angles, characters, layout etc.

By the end of the first week of hanging out with Pat I had fully thumbnailed my script using Pat's method of drawing all over the printed page with lots of arrows and reference numbers. I love this method of thumbnailing. I'm never looking back!

Step 7. Drawing a first draft manuscript (or readable thumbnails).

Once I got back from visiting Pat with my new thumbnails under my belt, I was pumped and ready to start the readable thumbnails. Readable thumbnails to me means taking my script and thumbnails and turning that into comics pages, so a reader can get the general idea of what the final book will read like. It's a mock up of the final story.

I found this process very interesting and surprisingly easy. It wasn't a walk in the park but having already done preliminary thumbs it was fun working out how the individual panels worked on the page. Also knowing that this wasn't the pencils or final art meant that I didn't have any hang ups about whether it was the best thing I'd ever drawn.

I didn't let anyone give me critical feedback while I was writing the draft as I didn't want to put any doubts in my mind (battling my own double talk was enough). But the moment I finished I opened the floor to anyone who wanted to read it to give me feedback.

After a little while I realised I was having trouble with showing different emotions for the main characters in the story, so I created an emotion guide for each of the main characters. This has already been useful in this first draft so I'm sure it will continue to be in the next two chapters.

Here are all the pencils I used to draw the 100+ pages of chapter one.

Step 8. Finishing part one, bound and ready for feedback from pals.

Then, 6 weeks later, I had the very first part of my very first graphic novel. I keep all the pages in this folder to keep them safe from harm. It's also pretty exciting to hold a big folder that holds all my comics. It reminds me how much work I've put into this book so far. Also this neat folder looks exactly like something from Harriet the Spy, so that's another win.

I scanned and edited the pages ready for printing (with formatting and proofreading help from Owen). After a little mis-printing mishap at Officeworks, I now have 7 bound copies that I will send out to mentors and some family members and then await feedback.

When the feedback comes back, I will edit anything I need to and then start the final art for the chapter. Which is both awesome and scary.

Mostly awesome.

And that's it. That's how I got to this point.

Phew, that was a long post.

In which our hero sets the scene

August 30, 2016

Something I've never been good at is drawing backgrounds. I've barely started trying to apply the Eddie Campbell rule to my comics (you must show a character's feet at least once per page), let alone drawing elaborate crowd scenes or detailed mystical world building. Not because I don't want to (I can imagine in my head exactly what I want things to look like), more because I lack the technical skill to draw it.

But as I've drawn and read more comics I've realised that the panels I'm really happy with and the artists I really like have something in common: they gots backgrounds.

So going into making my first full-length graphic novel, I wanted people to get a feel of the area I grew up in and the type of people my family are; I wanted the reader to be able to fall into the world of the book; and most of all I wanted it to feel Australian.

I don't have a lot of confidence in scene setting and one of the main questions I brought to my mentor, Pat Grant, was how to help the reader feel like they are in the same world as you. Pat took me on a tour of his hood and we took turns drawing a scene from the area. It turned out like this:

We still have the final colouring to do. The little bit of colours that have been done were by Pat.

When I got home from visiting Pat, fired up with a new mission to capture my childhood neighbourhood, I walked around the main suburbs where I spent my time as a kid and a teen taking photos and feeling a touch nostalgic.

I got myself into the studio and came up with a variety of scenes that I feel sum up the places I visited, walked past and loved. Here are the scenes that have made it into my thumbnail draft of the book so far.

I also realised that I could use these scene-setting breaks in the story to expand the main characters in the book too. I could show not only snippets of toys and bedrooms but also items that describe different people's takes on the same issue.

And Dad is a techno-lover from way back.

I also used this as a chance to try to replicate a few family photos - we have quite a few as dad got on board the digital camera train early on and we are pretty much a family of visual learners.

Now that I've set the scene, I think I'd better show off some of these thumbnails I've been working on!

I'll talk about my writing/drawing process and where I'm at with the script in the next blog post.

My time in the Gong

August 28, 2016

In June I went to Wollongong for the first time. I travelled by myself (which is very nerve-wracking for me) and managed to get safely to Thirroul (near Wollongong, NSW). I was visiting my mentor Pat Grant. For two whole weeks we would be hanging out, talking about my graphic novel and pulling apart my script. I was thrilled and terrified all at once (a fairly normal feeling for me).

I kept a comics journal of my time there, which I've included a few pages from in this blog (the pictures in blue).

We spent the first week in Pat's studio, chatting about comics and life. I felt overwhelmed and like I would never know how to answer his questions. I assumed I would sit in mute silence for the whole two weeks.

Luckily, I loosened up after the first week and we got quite of a lot script rewriting and pulling apart done.

Pat asked me lots of questions, some easy and some hard. Not just about comics but life in general too (work, kids, Owen). I think my brain is still trying to process some of them.

One of the best things I got out of the trip was the insight into how Pat pulls apart a script and turns written words and thoughts into a comics page. Having never written anything longer than about 38 pages (and that was a comic journal and doesn't really count as a planned out script), I was dubious about whether or not I could actually write something long-form. I didn't know where to start, let alone what process to take. So Pat taught me how he does his thumbnails and the first week all I did was drink turmeric lattes and draw thumbnails.

Pat's thumbnailing technique really helped me and I was hooked after translating the first couple of scenes from the rough script into rough illustrated panels. By the end of the first week I had a complete script and thumbnails to take home and draw up into a rough draft manuscript (more on that in a later post).

I had a couple of day trips to Sydney where I spent too much money on bubble tea and a new backpack. I found the most amazing book store, Kinokuniya - their comic section alone could rival some comic stores I've been to.

I also got to visit a wicked offset press printer that one of my hosts from my host family helps to run. It was pretty neat. You should look up the stuff they do.

In the second week Pat wanted to do some more drawing type skills (which I was totally keen for as I think that a few of my weak points are watercolouring and scene illustrations). So one night Pat came over to where I was staying, bearing hot soup and a bunch of watercolour paints. We each drew a colour-in page for the other and then, working with a limited palette, coloured the other person's illustrations. It was super fun and for me it's the best way to learn: have someone right there telling me what they do and explaining how I could do it too. Also physically colouring at the same time helped. I can't learn something by reading the theory. It doesn't sink into my brain until I do it with my hands.

For those who don't know, Pat is a radical someone in the Australian comics field that I've looked up to since I first read his book Blue several years ago. Having the chance to work with him on one of my projects and learn the tricks of the trade is one of those dream-come-true moments. So when Pat suggested that we do a little drawing project while I was hanging out in the Gong, I tried to hide my pure excitement.

The idea was that we would both walk around the neighbourhood together for a day and draw scenes of the area.

We would take turns in picking a place to draw and alternate who drew each panel. It was awesome. I particularly liked this as I've always wanted to be better at drawing scenery and backgrounds. In particular I've wanted to make my comics look Australian.

This walk and draw inspired me to go out and draw in the real world and not just stay at my desk trying to remember what places looked like.

On the whole, the trip was great! Which I knew it would be once I stopped being my normal Nervous Nelly self. It was pretty exciting to think that over the two weeks I'd learnt some tips on watercolours, scenery, and making things Australian. I started to think about lots of things I normally wouldn't and learnt new ways to think critically about my own work. And I wrote a third of my book and I was pretty happy with it.

Unfortunately, as often happens, I got sick on the last day and boy was that plane ride home the worst. Although, even the airport had a great message of encouragement for me.

I know I have a long way to go but it feels so much more achievable now. I have a process that I enjoy and that works and now all I have to do is do it.

If you want to read more about my travels in The Gong you can buy physical copies of my journal comic at my Etsy store here.

That's it for this post but in the next couple of posts I'll pull apart how I've been working this past month on my first draft manuscript. Eeep!

Hair Guide

August 16, 2016

Howdy guys!

As I've been writing up my first draft of the manuscript (now finished and I'll be posting a few stories from that soon, eep!) I've realised that the book is a collection of shorter stories I want to tell that jump all over the place and don't stick to a chronological timeline. So instead of having to write "when I was 16..." or "In 2001..." at the start of the each story, I thought I'd make a guide or key for the readers. Here's one I prepared before I settled on my drawing style for the book (I now draw eyes with pupils, my face slightly rounder and a bigger nose):

My hair styles have always been something that I enjoyed playing around with as I never had my ears pierced, wore much jewellery or ever really wanted to get tattoos to define my style. I always took great care to think of what hair style would look best for me next and I've never settled on anything for much longer than a year. The biggest downside to this is, being an autobio cartoonist, I always have to learn to re-draw myself when ever I get a new 'do.

Here are some of the highs and lows of my hair's career:

In my 20s I finally bleached and dyed my hair a variety of rainbow colours and it was awesome (I was terrified for a long time that if I bleached my hair it would drop out or never grow back the same natural colour (I've always liked my dark brown hair). After the first bleaching I promptly got over this fear and went on a colouring rampage.

Rob on the other hand has pretty much had three haircuts in his life.

1. Short but not shaven. His hair is super fine and soft. I always liked this cut.

2. Short and shaven all over. As Rob got older he started to hate getting his hair cut (and was bigger and could complain about it). So shaving all over was the easiest thing to do. This remained his standard haircut for pretty much a decade.

3. Then along came the combo. Shaven all over EXCEPT for the fringe which was kept slightly longer so he could play with it.

And even though he didn't like a hairdresser cutting his hair, he loved cutting his own hair and would hunt out any pair of scissors he could. Of course he would do this sneakily and we wouldn't know until he came out of his room with an uneven fringe or a bald patch at the back of his head.

Mum and Dad are also guilty of a variety of awesome haircuts (my Mum even had a Tank Girl haircut at one point - unfortunately there are no photos of this).

By the time I came into their life, though, their hair styles remained fairly similar. Both short.

Although Dad did use to have a killer moustache.

So for the book, they have mostly been drawn in this look. (Although in later stories Mum has glasses and Dad is moustaches-less).

What do you guys reckon? Would a hair guide be a useful thing for the story? Do you think it would work?

Hope you have a lovely weekend planned and I can't wait to share my new, finished, first draft manuscript with you guys. (That's coming up in a post soon!)

In which our hero loses her folder (and then finds it again)

August 9, 2016

Howdy!

Sorry I've been away for last little while - classic when it rains it pours scenario. But I'm almost done on my manuscript (yay!) and I'll be showing you guys some snippets from it soon, promise.

Until then have this short autobio comic peace offering.

I thought I'd try out using coloured pencils to colour this comic // it's something I've always wanted to do but just haven't, until now! Still got a way to go but keen to work on it some more for sure.

Let's get emotional

July 20, 2016

For the last couple of weeks I've been thumbnailing the manuscript for chapter one of Oh Brother. My goal has been to thumbnail a scene everyday, which could be as short as a page or as long as 10 pages. It's been great having a daily goal to meet and I really feel like I've been on top of the project.

As I've been drawing panels and nutting out scenes, I realised that there are lot emotions in the book and I was struggling a little bit to figure out exactly which facial expression was the best to show what the characters were feeling. So I thought I'd make myself emotion guides for each of the main characters (me, my brother and my parents).

These have been super handy. Even if I don't use one of the emotions I've already drawn, it can spark an idea in my mind about what expression I really want to show.

I'm not happy with all of the faces and obvs I didn't really mix it up to much with the angles (and when I did, I didn't nail it) but it was good to draw each of the characters a few more times. I'm now feeling a little more confident with their looks and feel like I've hammered out a few more facial details that were bugging me.

That's it for now - I need to get back to the (literal) drawing board and get going with these thumbnails if I want to reach my goal of finishing them by the end of the month.

Gxx