This has been quite the ride. Went I started this I was feeling very unsure in every sense of the word. A week prior I’d had a nasty cycling accident that had left me shaken and disturbed. All I could do was think about the accident and wondering how it would affect my life going forwards. But you have to keep going. And having just had my first successful project in years in Painting 101 I believed I could at least do this in theory. What scared me most was less the volume of the work as much as the unfamiliarity of it. I had no Idea how to split the story up into pages and then panels. With no guides or help I decided to follow my instincts and divided the process up. Starting by writing up the story, breaking it up into pages, then turning each point on the page into a panel.
As for what I’ve learned over these past few weeks. Well. Obviously panel placement and breaking narrative. But I also had to learn how to draw quickly and succinctly. Getting the minimum amount of drawing done to get the information across. I had to learn what I could convey in single drawings and what had to be told through text. Interestingly, it was mostly transitions.
I found I learned a lot about drawing expressions. Something that has been the bane of my existence. In this project there were moments where it was almost easy.
I learned that laying out panels is an almost musical exercise. Based around picking a “Rhythm” and hitting “Beats” in it.
My appreciation for people who do this monthly has sky rocketed.
I learned a fair bit about how much detail can be suggested by simple colours. How the style of the lettering and speech bubbles can help you get the tone you want.
If it matters, I’ve learned a lot about the anatomy of rabbits, and how to convey human emotions via a rabbit’s face and ways they can semi-realistically move. Maybe those skills can be passed on to drawings of other animals? And I’ve learned I really like drawing horror stuff.
I don’t know that I can say that any part of this was easy. It was a struggle all the way. Things that went well were how my work got better and faster with each week. At first I thought the lettering was going to kill me. But that actually did get easier. And some things like pages 18 and 20 came out way better than they had any right to.
All of this was challenging. I think the long stretches of constant drawing was the hardest part. That was when I was getting the least amount of work done. Though page nine with its huge volume of text almost made me despair. That was the hump part.
I’m not sure if any of this is going to translate over into my animation work. Obviously any improvements to my drawing and storytelling skills is a win. And if I am not better at drawing expressions and animals that can only make my life better. But as far as changing my outlook on making animation? Probably not. The best thing this modal has done for me is reawaken my love of drawing and give me some confidence I can improve as an artist. And that I can make the steps I need to take to do so.
It’s also reawakened my love of horror fiction. And it was a great way for me to express the trauma from my accident in narrative form. For both these things I’m very grateful.
Thanks.
John's Learning Journal 