Thursday 23 February 2012

A Petite Monologue on Daily Drawing


How do' folks... Heres a page from me sketchbook, just to prove I have been drawing!

Haven't posted in a wee while, 'pologies! been keeping busy I guess, check doodle daydream for my daily strip if'n ye feel the need for regular comics. 

And after that shameless plug, but on the same note... I was thinking today about my daily strip, at almost one year (its 315th issue was posted this noon) its probably the biggest solid body of work I've produced, of course that pales next to the 15 years of Kochalka's brilliant American Elf but still, significant for me...

Basically having looked at the strips I noticed that of late (the last hundred issues or so) they've become pretty much straight autobiography, with the barest hint of fantasy/ absurdity.... Now this was never the intention, not that its a bad thing, just that looking back one can see (especially in issues 1-say 60?) that more then just the drawing style has changed. 

Originally conceived as a means of venting absurdities and a platform for a darker (dare I say it... Shrigley-esque) humor, it's mutated into very much a literal, heart on sleeve look into my persona and petite existence. hmm. One reason I suspect is that they're currently being drawn on the day to be posted immediately; whereas when I began the strip, I had no immediate access to a scanner, and was having to draw about a weeks worth in advance to scan in order to post them daily. I'd sit down and draw following a chain of thought to ink... recalling a weeks worth of events is difficult, so an autobiographical strip was ruled out. Technical difficulties. Ahem. 

Scanning no longer an issue... I now draw to post within half an hour, mostly in the morning before leaving the house... inspiration in the morning is all "yawn sigh". But auto bio doesnt require "inspiration in the regular sense o' the word... really it just requires a stubborn tenacity to actually draw the darn thing every day...

wow. sorry for chewing your ear off (interesting phrase... doesn't really work for text.. but...) I do have a few other things to say, but t'is all self indulgent waffle anyhoo...

Been listening to a lot of the Talking Heads of late. care to join me?


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the autobiographical element! And it means the comics are really 'daily', which is nice, because it makes one hope that even the dullest or tiredest or most ordinary day could bring forth a kernal of beauty or laughter or thought... real life is not always as fascinating as what humans are capable of inventing, but it has the unique feature of being real.

Nervousinacape said...

Glad you like the autobiography, you put it well "Kernal of beauty laughter or thought"... C'est magnifique!

Now I just need to find a way to do all three in one strip and my work'll be done!