Update #15 - July 2020

Hello, Patrons! 

Before I start, thank you to everyone who has continued to support me, and thank you to my newest supporters: KB, Laurel Perrine, and Hunter Emery.

Thank you all so much; it really means a lot to me to have your support! 

WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO?

A great deal of my time lately has been going into preparing for changes happening in my personal life. 

A new housemate is moving in, which means I’ve been doing a lot of decluttering and cleaning and moving things from room to room, to make sure that there’s space for them and also that the house is in good shape for the coming adjustment period. Getting used to a new household is enough of a Thing on it’s own without said household also being filthy, after all.

Here’s a quick tour of my new desk space! 

Because there’s going to be another person in the house, my portion of the rent will be decreasing. This means that in August, I’ll be cutting my hours at my PCA job. This will free up time (and more importantly, energy) that I hope to invest in my art.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN WORKING ON?

After spending June focused almost exclusively on donation commissions, I was able to start up with my daily corvid comics again in June. I felt a bit rusty at first, but I’ve gotten back into the swing of them by now!

I’ve decided to finally take the plunge and set up a website for myself! More and more I’ve found myself wishing I had one in different situations, which I feel means it’s time. After doing some research into what the websites of artists I admire look like and taking note of the elements I felt were effective, I decided to start a Squarespace trial; the Squarespace sites I’d seen looked clean, and from what I could tell, it had an easier learning curve than Wordpress or even Wix. I hope to have it finished soon.

Working on the ‘About’ section website reminded me that I haven’t submitted to anything yet this year, so during the last week of July, I drew a submission for Roller Rag Magazine, an east-coast based roller skating zine. It’s a two-page comic about learning to skate during the pandemic. 

WHAT HAVE I BEEN CONSUMING?

The Private Report on My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi

This comic is incredibly raw and frank; I consider myself not a beginner in diary comics and still I would shy away from being this open in my portrayal of my life.

Though the subject matter is hard, the comic itself read very smoothly and easily. The style is cute and unique, and the way each page is laid out is very effective.

The layout of the panels was very interesting and exciting to me. It has the regularity of a four-panel grid or strip (four panels are popular for a reason, aren’t they? they provide a good “molecular framework” for the pacing of both the singular page and the page-to-page flow) but the longer panels allow for more information; each panel can fit a max of two pieces of narration/dialog/etc plus the picture, as opposed to a square panel that (comfortably, at least) fits one piece of narration/dialog/etc and one picture.

Black + white + one accent color is a color scheme I deeply appreciate and it was used to good effect in this comic, with the accent color always used to guide the eye along and improve the overall composition.

Overall, a deeply inspiring comic on every level.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Round 2! I figured even though I wanted to restart to be sure I remembered everything, with only 14 days on my Libby hold and 10 hours to get through, I better pick up where I left off, at the start of ‘Volume 3.’

Even though it was long, it was well-paced, and full of interesting characters taking actions that naturally stemmed from their goals and personalities. It wrapped up neatly, and while I wouldn’t say I was blown away by the ending, I would say I was satisfied. I feel like I should have much more to say about it, but I feel like I was very engrossed while reading it but it didn’t linger in my mind after I’d finished.

I think I’ll want to revisit this book again at a later date; it seems like there’s a lot of information scattered throughout that would result in ‘ah! aha!’ moments on a reread.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW!

If you have any questions or stuff you've wanted to talk about to me, do leave a comment below! 

Hope you're doing well!

<3,

Dave