In 2020, I decided to make my own comic.
I'd been tossing the idea around for years. And I do mean years. But even though I had the illustration experience to justify a fledgling attempt, I was (and am) teaching illustration and design, and I had been thoroughly distracted by building a program at my university.
There was also a problem with my comic hopes --I knew that I was still inexperienced enough drawing comics that the look would be changing as a went. Page 100 was going to be a lot nicer looking than page 1. And that notion chafed like wool socks.
I had been told by people wiser and more experienced than myself that I'd simply have to accept this fact, or never do a project at all. In January of 2020, for whatever reason, the motivation outpaced the fears and I leapt forward despite having essentially no plan. Two years later, I've generated over 200 full color pages and though I'm still at the beginning of this grand project of comicking --I've learned a lot along the way.
After publishing as a webcomic and the first volume as a hardcover book, I've accumulated by brute force a host of lessons on writing, drawing, and publishing that would've been great to know at the beginning. I've decided to start sharing what I've learned, and engaging with the other thing I love --theory-- through posts and videos exploring the how and why behind comics.
So I started a Youtube channel.
And once a month I'm going to post a new video about the process of comicking. I'll cover every stage I've been forced to struggle through, from idea creation, writing, visual development (like concept art and character design) to the actual drawing itself. Layout, pencils, inks, color. I'll talk about everything I've learned about distribution, printing, publishing online (including building my own website with some help from friends) and using other platforms like Webtoon and social media. I'll also talk about marketing and crowfunding, because I've lumbered my way through those as well.
So join in. The first big video covering idea creation (choosing the idea for your comic) is coming in June.
Here's a link to Theseus, my current project. You can read it for free.
JH