Recently, I got rejected by Shortbox Comics Fair (again). To be fair, this was warranted, my dedication to art and comic-making often came in random spurts and there were thousands who had applied. But the outcome isn’t the important part, what stuck with me was that it had led me to actually sit down and try my hand at making comics for the first time in four years.1
I’ve always loved comics. They embraced the nonlinearity of thought, the connections that teased between truth and vagueness, a fluid space where things could make sense if you looked at it sideways. Oftentimes thoughts and feelings can’t be expressed in two dimensions, maybe they can’t even in three or four or five. Even when I think I have something figured out, there was another truth in my subconsciousness that had been there, nestled between the folds, coloring my actions. But I like trying to capture it, even imperfectly, because the gaps between action and thought are still beautiful too.
I think a degree of this also has to do with my feeling of perception. Writing has always been slightly scary, because I’m never sure if I’m presenting myself how I want to be, and always worry about my words being interpreted the wrong way2. But with comics it doesn’t matter, there was never a correct interpretation, and it’s unclear what part of myself is in the panels anyways. In a way, the abstraction from the author is freeing, I never wanted it to be about me anyways, whatever meaning that was there, I meant it for you.3
notes
Comic recs! I love this comic by mabel ye, formyth’s comic work is also wonderful, look back and goodbye eri by tatsuki fujimoto were also good oneshots
I could also never forget koko be good the first book that got me into comics
Initially I debated writing something this month. I didn’t know what to do, because none of my thoughts that had floated through my mind the last few weeks could manifest into a 3 minute essay of a couple of vague anecdotes and satisfying ending. But I wanted to keep this monthly habit, at least until the end of the year, so here we are.
I hope everyone is hanging in there as we approach the end of the year ⋆。‧₊
A common theme is that I find it hard to sit down and focus to do things even if I like them in theory. But then when I actually get in the flow I really do like them. I’m not sure what part in the beginning is creating a hurdle.
This also sometimes goes for speaking as well, like did my words come out right
To be fair my writing has also gotten 10x more obtuse so maybe I just said this to be artistic, but essentially I think the best part of making art is when whoever perceives it feels less alone because they’ve experienced something similar too. Or maybe they learn something new or inspired or something. I mean that’s some of the reasons why I appreciate art at least.