I wrote a bunch of stuff while making Photo Swap comic for Masto, but then I purged that...then decided to bring it back here! The comics category is hilariously underused here after my blog post purge.
Brainstorming
- A conversation/scene plays in my head (I don't hear sounds or see pictures—it's moreso "I intellectually/vaguely know what could happen/be said")
- I write a word vomit conversation flow based on no.1 and cringe at myself 🤣.
- I put some squiggle lines between dialogue lines to denote possible page flip/separation (I usually batch 5-8 dialogue lines/actions per page)
Thumbnailing and sketching
- Draw thumbnails to see what fits and where, edit things out, cringe at myself more👌
- Transfer text to digital format and delete/move things around according to thumbnails.
- Another pass at seeing "what fits."
- Draw in stuff per thumbnails, adjusting along the way.
- Also editing/moving text around drawings!
- Fidelity is EXTREMELY variable...if subtle emotion is required, might be more detailed?!
- Still cringing.
Refining
- Drawing in the borders. I don't think too hard about this part, just C.R.A.P principles and and eye towards how panels look across spreads, pages, and from afar.
- Refine drawings so there's enough clarity to ink over (some people can skip this but whenever I try to I fail badly hahaha).
- Adjust for likeness and place rough speech bubble/sfx.
- Ink by following the pencils, roughly.
- Fill in black areas for shadows.
- Usually where I catch tangents.
- Groan and tone.
- Redraw bubbles and nudge them around.
- Catch more tangents.
Export web DPI
Look at screentones and cry
That's a moiré ✨
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Stuck in the Middle
A story that has been percolating since 2021...
I'm very overdue on writing this story/script (and most comics in my life, sorry HWA), but I made some decent progress in the past while. It's a good sign when you get really into your own cheesy/heartful stories. Snickering or tearing up as you come up with ideas. Leaning into the tropiest trope or unsmart idea that only you think is hilarious/genius. The process inspired me to make a bingo card for my own comic tropes. This story will probably hit every bingo square.
Makes me excited to get to thumbnailing, but I still have much to figure out/plot. Need to work longitudinally and within a page count! I already have cover ideas 🤪.
It was nice to get excited about making again, especially after all the genAI yuck. Also helps to be writing in a lovely spot.
Physio update
I had my second physio appointment. this time I had dry needling done on my neck/upper shoulder to relieve tension. The physio assured me it was very safe, highly backed by evidence/science, based on knowledge of muscle anatomy, and no risks. They said it would instantly create 30% improvement and will last forever! Wow sounds like a pipe dream, but OK...I went along with it, and after I got home I looked the procedure up and...well...HAHA...
What is done is done. I'm alive. I suppose it's hard to have evidence or measure something as personal/ephemeral as pain and muscle tension. I am a bit sore but OK otherwise. Getting stabbed by many tiny needles will do that to you. Physio was once again impressed at how well I was tolerating it (aka no visible reaction) for a first-timer. Or maybe just because I wear a face mask and my features are less readable. Sometimes I wonder if I've been tolerating some sort of discomfort/pain my whole life and haven't realized it. I don't actually think of myself as having high pain tolerance...I'm afraid of being hurt!!! A different person was wrapping up their appointment ahead of me (same physio) and I could hear them whining/groaning in pain.
My original arm pain is getting better, and the physio said that it should hopefully gone by the weekend??? We shall see.
I was given 2 more exercises. One of them is like making a "snow angel" but against the wall (elbows/back/hands have to be touching the wall) and with elbows bent. Then you move your bent arms above your head and downwards towards your body. Doing this 20x every cycle made me realize how WEAK my shoulder blade muscles are. UGH! The other revelation from this exercise was (1) finding a large enough blank wall to do this is a privilege and (2) my wall paint has a lot of tiny lumps that scrape my skin when I move my arms around, and I don't like it!! First world problems.
Unrelated to physio, I'm also trying out VPN + Tor combo to see whether the internet is still tolerable to use, or if it breaks. So far a lot of sites block or break. Very good very good.
Today's music post: I listened to a lot of Ninja Tune growing up. Bonobo is one of the artists, and the Black Sands album is over 10 years old.
TCAF was last weekend, so as a result, I left my goblin cave and got to hangout with creative friends all weekend.
I only went to a few tables on the 2nd floor, as I was trying to limit myself (I have to move in 3 months and am trying to not accumulate more heavy books). Welllllllll I still spent a lot and got a lot. Was also gifted/treated a lot 😭. There are soooo manyyyyyyyyyy greatttttt comic and zine artists out there. More than I have money and time to support. My strategy in recent years is to keep supporting the ones that I have some connection with, which sometimes expands....despite how un-networky I am. I can socialize just fine (I don't have as much anxiety about it as I used to), it's really whether you can get me to put on real clothing and leave the house hahahaha.
The real point of this post is to share some goodies with y'all, so maybe you'll want to support these creators in turn 🥰.
Friday
I got to hang out with Mimmy for dinner at Koyoi! We talked a lot about life shifts and opinions about work. Mimmy was the professional interpreter for the Japanese guest this year, Jun Mayuzuki. If you're ever in need of professional Japanese/English translation and/or interpretation, get in touch with Mimmy 😍.
Saturday
I did my TCAF rounds quickly in the morning, then had Egg Club and Juicy Dumpling for lunch with Namu, and dropped in to the Leather and sewing supply depot to find things for Namu's crafting. I met up with Kat and Kendra over dinner at Planta, and we had lots of good discussions about self-indulgent tropes, Haikyu, our zine collaborators of the past, and more. Always nice to chat with creatives who are unabashedly indulgent and OK with making niche stuff.
Sunday
I had a dumpling and watercolour painting party/brunch with Schen, PowersWithin, Namu, and BT. We painted apples since those were the only fruits at my place. Some of us added Ao/Pukyu from Yona of the Dawn hehehe (top=me, bottom=namu).
Afterwards it was dinner with POMEmag crew and Josh at Kintaro, followed by bubble tea at The Alley. CC was eager to talk about Yakuza and that's exactly what we did. Big thanks to CC/Josh who went to impromtu Yakuza-fueled karaoke with me at Bar Plus, complete with lively and passionate backup vocals, Saejima-style 🤣. This was the first time I karaoked in a few years...I could tell my vocal cords weren't prepared. I promptly disinfected my phone afterwards 😷.
Hanging out with all the lovely creators really makes me want to make comics/zines again!!! The TCAF digital marketplace is open until May 7, 2023. Glad that I was able to have a memorable time (one last time?).
4☆Real reactions
Thanks for the support for the book! I'm laughing at everyone calling Jesse an old man when I am much older than him 🤣 I must be a great great grand parent. I think some people didn't think the book would have some real feels/talk stories, but that's why it's called 4☆Real 😎!
Heads up
- I began compiling a list of what I've read/played/listened/watched, since sometimes people ask me for reccs and I don't remember; though this list mainly covers the past few years. I should probably move it to a spreadsheet and embed it later, but I have to see if that works for cryptpad/kirby.
- Bandcamp Friday is on May 5!
Spring is here, and I can tell largely because there are way more bugs in the house 😢. In usual Toronto-fashion (or is this happening everywhere), we had a day of 25C+ and then a few days later it was below freezing. The tree outside is flowering, offering a pleasant view even in sporadic torrential rainfall.
Still talking about 4⭐Town
I received my 4⭐Town 4⭐Real author copies! It's rated T for teens (age 13+). I hope everyone can appreciate KAIfee's artwork, Erika's lettering, and Fawn's editor powers. The book design is credited to Viz Media, so I can't name anyone accurately, but it borrows a lot of design language and visual elements from the movie and Mei's notebook. Shoutout to the social media person at Viz Media for their spicy replies to people who can't handle the existence of this book.
Additional thanks to Disney and Pixar folks who provided comments along the way: (Bill, Behnoosh), and a sensitivity reader. I'm not sure how, but it felt like we were all on the same wavelength despite never speaking directly. Also thanks to Domee + team for trusting us with this project—I appreciate you all very much! Everything felt like it went strangely smoothly, though I was admittedly not present for the hardest parts (e.g., KAIfee spending alllllll the months drawing, inking, toning, etc. and all the final editing, lettering, pre-press work, marketing, launch activities). If you like KAIfee's art, please support her original work as well!
More thanks to fellow Canadians who to help inform some of the storymaking—Keith, Ryan, Jerry, IttyBeatty! Thanks to my fountain pens and TN/Midori paper, which made the initial word-vomit-script-writing process all the more pleasant and compact.
It does take a village to make a comic—however, in this case, I throw the credit and plaudits to KAIfee, whose artwork turned my story into an actual comic. Sometimes my name credit comes first as the "story" person and the KAIfee's name is secondary/less visible. If you ever write/talk about this book, please remember to highlight KAIfee too!
I created an unofficial freetalk to go with it, since there is no official freetalk in the book. A dirchansky-project just doesn't feel complete without some unfiltered rambly freetalk! If you're interested in seeing that, @me on mastodon or email me I can hook you up ⭐. Though this post has sorta become a freetalk in of itself. Wait, this entire blog is freetalk 🤣👌.
I hope more Canadian boys read this and expand their experience/meaning of what friendship can look like
-A Canadian man
Public lending right program
Because of the book, I am going to apply for Public Lending Right Program for the first time. I ended up reading more about which countries have such a program. Most of my own reading in the past few years have been possible because of public libraries, so it is nice to know that (sometimes) creators can still be compensated for borrows!
On the opposite spectrum of group collaboration...
I'm wrapping up a non-comics-related project (NDA forever), which has been a thorn in my side. It's frustrating when a team of people tell you they're done their part and have reviewed their own work thoroughly, but then you go and look at it yourself and find hundreds of obvious problems. I do my best to try to help set people up for success, but it is very demoralizing when it feels like your collaborators don't care as much or try as hard as you do.
Future collaboration
It would be fun to do more collabs or zines with people who have mutual interests, but there seems to be so much drama in online-zine projects these days. Do you like Yona of the Dawn (especially Ao/Pukyu)? Haikyuu (I'M ON VOL 39/45)? Yakuza/Judgement? Glasses? Niche/funny/weird animals? OCs? Want to make chill (but with real deadline) lofi lo-drama zine? Unofficial 4⭐Town doujin 🤣...?
New-ish things since the last freetalk
Today's music post: New Edition's Can You Stand the Rain. Can't remember if I posted this already hehehe.
