Friday, 3 October 2008
Well I realize that this comic is not exactly big enough and a fair amount of the text is going to be unreadable on a screen, so here’s the BIG VERSION. Yes. I need to learn how to draw detail that translates well onto a screen. Hm.
So here is my room, where I dick around work and sleep, etc. It is pretty nice. There are big ol’ windows and I’ve got all my stuff here. I think of that far corner with the computer and table and sound system and tomato picture as a little space capsule sometimes. I can spin around in place there and look outside or draw or use the laptop or mess with the amp or read or what have you. I imagine a cozy enclosed space, and that can be comforting when it’s cold out, and as winter approaches. It reminds me a bit of the spaces that Japanese manga artists work in: from pictures I’ve seen, they’re always super cramped and tiny and overflowing with pages and reference material.
That guy over on the right is Scott McCloud1, creator of Zot! and probably the world’s most prominent living comics theorist. His comic books Understanding Comics and Making Comics come highly recommended for anyone interested in the form (and for those who dismiss comics as “kid stuff” or what have you). He demonstrates comics’ efficacy in intuitively explaining complicated concepts with these books, as can also be seen in his comic for Google’s Chrome browser. (Between these titles he also wrote Reinventing Comics, which I haven’t read and from what I’ve heard, er, isn’t really worth reading.) Scott is a definitions and diagrams kind of guy, and he takes an appropriately academic approach to the comics form, and is known for occasionally overdefining and overcomplicating things. He’s also a great speaker: I had the opportunity to catch him speak in NY during his Making Comics 50-state tour, and I was very impressed by his presentation. So, um, buy his comics!
Have a good weekend!
1You probably can’t tell, but that says “Oh Hey It’s Scott McC.” above those panels.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:51
I’m not the only one who practically sleeps on the floor? Woah. (Well it’s just two mattresses on the floor but still.)
I’ve actually seen a lecture of Scott McCloud during the Summer Arts program at the state school here. (The Summer Arts programs are surprisingly good, actually.)
There is no way I’ll ever draw my room. Well maybe. Still very unlikely.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:30
Wow, that’s an incredible one. It’s crazy impressive that you go so much detail onto an index card and then managed to colour tight places like the book labels and the blanket. Crazy. How long does something like this take normally? Also, room looks pretty good. You should move your amp nearer to the bed/mat in the winter! I need to reorganize my place too, too move my couch near my heater for the winter, but I’d need a smaller desk first. I hope your dad doesn’t give you shit about moving out the bed though, your room looks much better this way.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:33
Also, it took me like 15 seconds to read the title on the left, because I tried to decipher it without looking at the comic or reading anything you wrote on it. Then I gave up and did, and felt pretty dumb.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:35
Also, I’ve been wondering if you plan to change the way that you navigate through your site. Is there a way that you could have the page load to the latest entry automatically? Also, when at the latest comic, the “next” button doesn’t work, but “latest” still does! (Just pointing it out, not sure if you were aware.)
October 5th, 2008 at 07:45
Renee: I guess not? I just lay down a blanket and sleep on that.
Alex: Rearranging was really fun, and kind of therapeutic…I felt like I was in control again afterwards…
Also, the main page always displays the most recent entry, is that what you mean?
(And I know about the weird arrow thing, it’s a quirk with this publishing platform I haven’t ironed out yet.)
October 6th, 2008 at 11:07
my parents have a weird stone-top beds at their house. It’s completely hard like a floor, and also heats up! it’s supposed to be beneficial or whatever but I just hurt more when i sleep on it.
October 6th, 2008 at 07:15
Coooool. Beds that heat up sound so good. I’ve walked on floors that use a grid of hot water pipes as a means of radiant heating, and they are so nice. A concrete floor that’s warm in the dead of winter, yuss. Sounds like it’d be a nice bed.
I was uncomfortable when I first slept on the floor, but after a few nights I adjusted quite well. It’s just a matter of weathering those first couple days of being sore and grumpy, and then you can sleep anywhere as long as you have a blanket.