Art is easy but good art is hard

September 23, 2024

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Art more like… no I got nothing.

Long-time readers likely know that I have had a not so secret desire for a long time to draw my own comic. I have a few ideas for things like plot, visuals and tone. I read comics as, basically, my primary pass-time when I was going through some rough times a few years ago. While I don’t read so much now, I have been left with a secret desire to make my own. I don’t mean, writing one. I mean drawing, inking and colouring one (and yes, writing as well.)

The main blocker has always been that I have almost no artistic talent, general skills for composition and colour, no idea where to start, oh, and I never actually tried. Which, as you can imagine, has been a 100% coverage, total blocker.

When I snagged my new iPad recently though, the reason I went with the 13-inc was that, somewhere, in the back of my mind, I knew I wanted actually learn to draw one day. The thing which I didn’t expect though was that I would actually give it a crack. Seriously, shocked me, but I have been drawing daily, following some guides, doing my own thing, making some experiments, doing some research. Yeah. Turns out that the part of my brain I trained to make me write every day is super patient and calm and is happy to noodle on something for hours. A superpower when learning a skill – I know! Who knew!

I started off, before I even showed anyone anything, being totally shite. Like, laughable child art. But the child was a gremlin riding a chihuahua while scribbling with a paint roller. Eventually, after far less time than I expected, I started feeling like I understood the most basic of things and began streaming my shitty drawing to my friends as something to do while we watched TV and hung out Over discord.

Now, I ‘feel’ like I have made good progress. While my art is still rubbish, I know enough about the theory to know why it’s rubbish. Which, as it turns out, has been a pretty solid step in the right direction.

I’ll never stop writing. It keeps me sane and stops my sadness kicking in. But on top of the wording, I have filled the time hole left when I actively quit habitual video game playing with drawing. It’s been great. I replaced something which I didn’t find fulfilling with something that feeds my soul. 😁

A problem with all this, for you, dear reader, is that I have a brain which is wired to share things when I make them. I literally feel a sense of release when I, well, release something, and I am able to move on without reflecting too much on the thing I shared. Because of this, I have posted a crap-load of bad art on this very site! This includes the tool I am using to learn how to make comics, a single page comic series called ‘Niceferatu.’

My sincere hope is that as I improve, and I really think I will improve (you should see the writings I made early one! Oof!) you can look one day in the future and go, wow he was shit, and now he’s less than shit, though only slightly so! And, hopefully be inspired.

When I feel like I have all the basic skills down, by dream is to create the [[Denouement notes|Denouement]] Comic series, using the first novel as my script. I am visualising a deeply 80s neon tone. Anyway, I have no intention of starting this until I feel I can do it justice, but, my first project will be a visually driven plot idea I have had in my head for a long time called ‘Orb.’ It’s about a lacklustre superhero and his pal Alan, learning to fly. I promise it really will be deeper than it sounds.

Now, I’m going to work on my writing for a little bit, then draw some stuff. Thanks for ‘rooting for me’ because I assume that’s what you are doing 💋