Kelci, Author at Kelci D Crawford

November 14, 2014January 20, 2015

Outside of My Comfort Zone…In Sketches

Earlier this week, I updated my blog with the following warm-up sketch:

I then looked at it and went, “Man, I need to practice more variety in body shapes and types!”

That prompted me to sketch THIS:

Her name is Galileya. She’s an agent of a super secret organization that destroys planets and does other intergalactic missions. I want to write a story about her and her coworker, Agent Sinclair:

The problem is I have no story for them that has anything resembling a plot. So they’re still a work in progress.

Back to this week.

After I drew Galileya, I was like, “But man, I need to practice drawing things that aren’t people! What can I draw?”

Well, one morning my cat was on my bed, grooming herself. So I got out my sketch pad and my ink brush, and got to work:

That was tricky to do, since she kept moving on me.

I should probably just wait until she holds still, like this:

BUT EVEN THAT IS FLEETING BECAUSE CATS DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.

So I went, “Dude, I gotta practice drawing things that hold still! But I’ve drawn most of the objects around me twenty times. What’s new on Pinterest that I can use as a reference?”

I found this image:

If you took this picture, please let me know so I can give you credit!

And I went, “PERFECT! I need to practice landscapes so I don’t have crap that looks like this”:

So I took the reference image above and drew this (with some artistic license in rendering certain things):

I still want to practice landscapes and environments, though. Because

a) It would make my current comics projects even better, and

b) the projects I have in mind for the future are sci-fi/fantasy works that require a LOT of visual development and technical know-how, which I don’t have a lot of yet.

So what do you draw for practice? Let me know in the comments below! And if we keep the conversation going, I think we can find new things for us to practice drawing so we don’t get too comfortable.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

P.S. I actually drew MORE than this stuff this week, but those other sketches are exclusive to Patreon subscribers only. If you’re interested in supporting what I do, go to Patreon! There are tipping plans for as little as $1 a month.

Also, I am aware that the Patreon page is under Christian Beranek’s name. It’s our joint effort under the umbrella of Validation. Any money raised there is split evenly between the both of us so we can both keep producing the comic.

If you want to go the more direct route or support my other work, there’s also a tip jar over at Johnson & Sir‘s page.

Ok, that’s it for now! For real this time!

November 11, 2014January 20, 2015

Why I Make Diverse Comics

There’s been some… “intense discussions” online about “including” women, people of color, and other minorities in fiction.

These discussions include articles all over the internet, Twitter hashtags, and a good chunk of GamerGate.

The discussions I have witnessed seem to boil down to “We need more diverse books” vs “writing about minorities is hard and uninteresting, so let’s stick with something comfortable.”

Here’s what I have to say about it.

Saying that writing stories with minorities in them – much less as lead characters – is “hard,” shows a tremendous lack of imagination and empathy. Even, I daresay, an unwillingness to try and empathize with them.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “But I’m not a black woman/asian person/lesbian/gay man/blind person/ etc. and I don’t want to write something and risk offending them by saying something wrong.”

And that’s a fair enough concern. Everyone’s experience is different. My view on life as a poor white genderqueer person sexually attracted to dudes is very different from, say, a black lesbian woman, or a wealthy white heterosexual man, or…you get the idea.

Should that deter us from trying to understand the point of view we want to write, that is outside of our realm of experience? No.

If anything, it should encourage us.

Part of the fun and challenge of writing any character (that is not a white man) is that you can talk to people of that demographic, and learn about them. And you take what you learned and make stories with that knowledge.

Even if you don’t do the research, you’re still a step ahead of those who won’t even write these types of characters. Just the act of writing characters outside of your experience is rebellious and rewarding.

Here’s the thing: I love the comics I make. The main characters I draw include a young trans girl, a genderqueer elf policeman, and most recently, a young, black, goth punk woman.

: Her name is Charlie and I love her.

Am I any of those? No.

Do I make stories starring these characters? Yep.

I write and illustrate these stories because I want to understand my characters. Making these stories helps me explore their world, what they experience, and how they feel about their experiences, because I don’t get that easily outside of fiction.

I do my best to research as much as I can. If I get something wrong, that’s ok – I learn something new everyday. And if I get to learn about people outside of my experience, that’s awesome!

In making these stories to seek understanding, it helps me become more empathetic to others out in the real world. It helps me understand the lives of others. It makes me want to listen and learn more about them.

Writing these fictions helps me to become more human.

That’s why I love making diverse comics, and why I believe we need more diverse media.

For those of you who want to stick to writing about white dudes, that’s ok. Just be warned that

1. There are already plenty of stories about white heterosexual men, because

2. mass media tries to make characters generic enough that the audience can empathize with them immediately and have traits that are desirable. So they make their main characters white men. They figure white men are simple enough and common enough to create that the audience can insert themselves into that character. However,

3. White men become the default main character because they fit mass media formulas so well. And therefore

4. It makes women and PoC main characters hard to empathize with because they are not the default main character and don’t fit the formulas very well.

Hank Green did a really good job of discussing this in regard to Batman. You can watch that video here.

And if you still have reservations about writing or even reading stories with minority characters, please check out this awesome speech by Gene Luen Yang. He made some truly excellent points. (If the video won’t work, here’s a transcript.)

Don’t be afraid to make diverse characters and stories!

If you have any reading suggestions for books starring minority characters, leave them in comments below!

Have any questions? Still have reservations? Voice them in comments, too!

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you on Friday.

November 7, 2014January 22, 2015

Art of the Week

Thanks to Youmacon, I have been artistically inspired!

There are a few pieces that are still works in progress, but here is one for Mystery Skulls.

And I got to paint some of this:

I’ve also been getting back into making warm-up sketches, where I sketch something before my day starts to warm up my creative juices.

And I just finished this:

More sketches will happen soon!

Thanks for stopping in, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

November 4, 2014January 22, 2015

Cosplay and Youmacon Galore

youmacon 2014 snap shot — Here’s a snap shot of the crowd at the convention. And this is just one half of the building!

So I just came back from Youmacon and it was a blast like always! I did not go as a special guest or even as an exhibitor. I just went as an attendee, and it was very refreshing to do so, especially since I didn’t have to deal with any special guest stress like I had to at Phoenix Comicon.

renaissance center youmacon 2014 — This is the Renaissance Center, where half of the con took place. The other half was in the Cobo Center.

Anyway, I did learn a couple of things while I was there, especially from some local friends of mine that live in the Detroit area. One thing I learned is that Detroit parking is apparently free on the weekends (that would have been nice to know: it would have saved me a ton in parking fees). Still, The Renaissance Center did have a parking garage with a handy sky walk on the third floor, connecting to the convention hall. The less time I spent outside in the cold, the better.

I did manage to take a set of pictures while I was there, because the cosplayers this year were amazing! There was an especially good Korra, which I will show some pictures of now.

It actually got me thinking of getting into cosplay myself, especially since I started wearing the Jayne hat and I got some positive reception for it (I even posed for photos).

jayne hat at youmacon 2014 selfie — Standing in line. Because why not.

Which is surprising considering that the actor who played Jayne – Adam Baldwin – is kind of a professional ass (thanks, GamerGate).

Still, I got a lot of positive reception wearing the Jayne hat, probably because people can separate Jayne the character from Adam Baldwin the actor. Like I do.

selfie in jayne hat at youmacon 2014 — Another grumpy face selfie. This time for the line for the Friday Team Four Star panel.

However I did start thinking of maybe cosplaying as Jayne more often, or even just cosplaying in general. But it is a very expensive hobby.

princess tutu cosplay at youmacon 2014 — Exhibit A: Princess Tutu cosplay done by my old college roommate, Katy.

On the upside the convention itself gave me some new artistic inspiration! Hopefully you’ll see some of that in the coming weeks.

I want to get into the habit of doing warm up sketches more often, and that may include fanart… We’ll have to see how that goes.

Here are some other pictures that I took at the convention itself.

youmacon 2014 jayne hat and cosplay — I don’t think she noticed.

gaggle of assassins from assassins creed 2014 youmacon — There was an entire gaggle of assassins.

My friend Alex (on the far left) is a trooper for coming to the con with an injured leg.

Another pro tip for Youmacon: take the back walk. The con takes place in two different centers: the Renaissance Center and the Cobo Center. They’re starting the shift events into the Cobo Center more so than the other one, however you still have to walk back and forth. Try to avoid the main stretch and take the back way. It runs right alongside the river (and on the other side of the river is Canada). Take that route to get back to the Renaissance Center: you will come across a lot less aggressive homeless people that way.

youmacon 2014 detroit — Here’s a peek at the secret passage…and Canada.

Less populated, but still safe. The People Mover also runs a little ways by it.

youmacon 2014 — That’s Canada across the water. Swim for free healthcare!

Also another pro tip: it’s good to stick to a budget. That way you have money for gas on the way home. I succeeded in this endeavor, but I know people who forget this kind of stuff.

Here are some more pictures from the event.

spiderman at youmacon 2014 — Spiderman being smooth.

team four star panel at youmacon 2014 — Team Four Star panel. Sorry it’s so blurry!

Youmacon was such a blast! I had a great time while I was there.

It’s good to have one convention out of the year where you can go as an attendee. Not as a guest or an exhibitor, but just for the fun of it, to hang out with friends.

Thank you for reading and I will see you on Friday.

October 28, 2014January 22, 2015

Youmacon Fast Approacheth

So in my hurry to get ready for Youmacon and also keep afloat on commissions I’ve been asked to do, I…lost track a little with Johnson & Sir. I missed an update last week. But rest assured! It’s back to a normal update schedule now! You can read the new page here.

Here’s a preview to further entice you:

I’ve also been working really hard on my new webcomic Charlie & Clow…

And it launches tomorrow! Read it at its own website. It even comes with a surprise!

charlie and clow header image bar — This is not the surprise I’m talking about. This is just to show off a taste of what’s to come.

And in other product-launching news, Validation is now on Patreon!

In case you haven’t heard, Patreon is a voluntary subscription service where you can donate as little as $1 a month to your favorite creators. In exchange you get gratitude and really cool perks! Christian and I would really appreciate any support you can give over at Patreon (and if you’re broke, spread the word on social media! That helps, too).

In even more product-launching news, I added a new listing at my store: Avengers Assemble! In bookmark form, of course:

avengers assemble in bookmark form, available for sale — Click for fuller view.

If you’re interested in ordering a set, click here.

The rest of this week, I will be MIA, as I’ll be with my family and then immediately going off to Youmacon. I won’t be a special guest there, but I’ll be attending (probably in costume). I hope you can find me!

As such, I won’t be updating on Friday like I usually do, because I’ll be either on the road or at the con. So you’ll see another update on this blog next Tuesday!

In the meantime, I’ve got comics for you to read: Validation on Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & Sir Tuesdays, and now Charlie & Clow Wednesdays! So there you go.