4 Reasons I Make Comics
Blogging Every Day in November?!
Yeah, it’s pretty bananas, I know.
Even though I’ve been feeling sick lately, I’ve also been feeling a creative slump. When I sit down at the drafting table to draw, I either can’t focus or I can’t muster up the energy draw the thing that’s in front of me.
It’s not just election bullshit, either; it’s the day job scheduling me so I have to get up at 3:30 am (which no sane human being should ever be obligated to do so). It’s trying to handle KickStarter, TWO Patreons, two webcomics, and freelance gigs on top of the day job. And trying to do all of that while trying to remember to eat and sleep. And shower. Grace bless whoever invented showers.
“But,” I can hear you say, “if you have all that shit to do, why blog every day? Wouldn’t that be more work?”
Yes and no.
Yes, on the surface, it seems like more work, but to me, it’s a good way to purge whatever is up in my brain part to make room in the brain part for new ideas. I’m doing this to kick-start the creative juices.
It’s also a good way to keep track of the work I’m doing, and bringing you along for the ride so maybe you can get some ideas.
As far as comics or works-in-progress goes, that’ll all be Patreon-exclusive. So instead, I’ll be blogging about ideas, stories I’ve wanted to share, new books and comics I’m reading, and I GUESS I’ll do list posts. But if I’m going to do a list post, it’s going to be how I want to do one, not just obligatory traffic-boosting clickbait.
If that all sounds like your cup of tea (and I’ll be writing about tea, also), stay tuned and come back tomorrow! (Maybe tomorrow’s post will be about tea… Maybe. Possibly.)
Thank you for reading.
You. Are. Awesome.
On Acceptance
I was originally going to rewrite this, as it started as a journal entry, but I think I’ll just type it up as is. I will, however, add description on a key character.
Annoyance with Trump won’t get me anywhere. Anybody can be Trump. He is not unique.
The way to win is not hating them or pushing them to a corner of the internet so they can wallow in hatred for others AND themselves, like Greg.
Let’s talk about Greg: he’s my mom’s ex-boyfriend, who lived in our house for about a year. He was unemployed for nine months of that year, as he got fired for showing up drunk to work and yelling at his boss.
He was, and I gander he still is, an alcoholic.
When mom finally broke it off with Greg and got him situated in his apartment, not ONLY did he get so drunk he passed out on the couch and didn’t help her move his ten-ton furniture – but during Thanksgiving he got so drunk he went outside, fell off a retainer wall by the driveway, and passed out in 30 degree Fahrenheit weather for about 3 hours. He had to be life-flighted to the hospital, wherein he told the doctor, “I don’t have a drinking problem.”
You know, like a liar.
Greg lied a lot, not just about drinking.
Greg is also an avid Trump supporter.
Of all the people I have met in my life, Greg is the most like Donald Trump.
And here’s the thing: Greg. HATED. Himself.
He would moan about how he was such an awful person, and never did a damn thing to fix it.
The problem is the only people who can change them are themselves. You yourself can’t change them or their opinions.
Compassion and forgiveness CAN help – they are not the only cure-all, especially in situations like this, but it’s certainly more effective than relegating these people to sit in the corner, aka the dark hug-boxes for people like them on the internet.
I am reminded of the scenario illustrated in The Zen Book by Daniel Levin, about the priest and the baby. It goes like this:
A young, unwedded girl from the village gave birth to a baby. She said the father was the priest who lived in town. The girl’s parents came to the priest and demanded he care for the baby, to which he said, “Is that so?”
Disgraced by the town, the priest took the baby and raised her as his own child. Years later, the mother of the baby confessed and said the father was not the priest, but a young man who worked in the fields. The parents of the girl came to the priest to apologize and ask for the baby to be returned. And the priest said, “Is that so?”
Only the girl and the parents could change their ideas. No amount of debate the priest could give would change their mind. The only thing he could do was roll with the punches and keep moving forward.
It’s not about trying to prove yourself right in the eyes of others. What matters is that you are right with yourself. Accept the truth when others choose to ignore it.
And here’s the truth: we all have the capacity to be Greg. Or Trump. But we also have the capacity to be Martin Luther King, JR. and Mother Theresa.
It’s up to us how we want to move forward, and to do right with ourselves.
Thank you for reading.
You. Are. Awesome.
My Mantras
Being autistic, my mind will sometimes fixate on an idea. In rare cases, my mind can focus on an idea for several hours, but usually it’s only for an hour or two at a time (I realize that’s still intense, but that’s how I work).
So it’s very important to me that the ideas I DO fixate on are positive ones. Because if I allow myself to get upset about something (like Trump, or my neighbors, or the legendarily bad D&D player from my comic shop known as “Doc”), my mind will be stuck on it for three or four hours at a time and completely ruin whatever momentum I have going on outside of me.
So whenever I find I need to calm down and find something else for my mind to cling to, I think of my two mantras.
I only have two. Some people may have one, or several, but two is all I need. I often only need to say one of them, depending on what’s happening. They are…
I have had many difficulties. Most of them have never happened.
And…
One at a time.
I realize these aren’t in Sanskrit, but they’re still effective for me.
Now let me explain the first one. Continue reading “My Mantras”
I’m Back from New Mexico
I went on a small vacation to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico to visit Christian Beranek, co-creator of Validation.
Newsletter subscribers got some cool stories about what we did during the vacation. So for you, dear reader, I’m going to share some of the sketches I made during the trip.
We saw the lava rock petroglyphs on the outskirts of Albuquerque, so I made lots of sketches of those.
Then, on our way to some restaurants in Santa Fe, we stopped through Madrid and Cerillos.
And yes, that is a zebra on a roof with a guitar. Here’s a picture me drawing the thing in real life if you don’t believe me.
Christian took lots of pictures while we drove around, which turned out really nicely.
By the end of the trip, I felt rested and rejuvenated! It was great to get out of Ohio and West Virginia for a change and see the enormous, expansive desert that I missed so much.
I may have moved out of Arizona two years ago, but the deserts will always make me feel more at ease.
…I’m already planning a return trip next year.
Thank you for reading!
You. Are. Awesome.