As anyone reading this blog knows, I just recently started my first of God knows how many mini comic books. For those of you that are curious, I am actually about ready to print my very first issue at this point. The process has just been getting held up by random problems here and there, like the internet connection being messed up, or not having a driver for my scanner. One of my biggest issues has been the problem related to my newest comic.
In recent months I have been turned on to the fabulous Love and Rockets comics, and was lucky enough to receive a collection of Locas for Valentine’s Day from my sweets (thanks babe!) I was very inspired by the fact that there is a complete collection of comics portraying the everyday life of punk rock Hispanic females, and I slowly began to realize that I have never seen a punk comic devoted to the lifestyle of black females. SO, it got me thinking about starting a small comic in that style. After reading various indie comics and watching various female exploitation films, I had finally put together an idea of what I wanted to do. My aim is to draw black people in a predominantly black known city (like Oakland) doing things that are naturally mixed into black culture as well as DIY culture.
Most people don’t realize that black culture has been deeply invested in DIY culture for years out of necessity. Blacks in the south used to make moonshine in tubs, sew patches on old worn clothes, and planted their entire gardens by hand. These are customs that were taken up out of broke necessity, which is just the same when you look at Indie/Punk DIY culture. People generally do things themselves because they can’t afford it any other way. Yet and still there is a huge line drawn between us, and them in Black culture. It’s as if it’s weird vs. necessity.
Anywho, I digress. The point of my comic is to bridge a cultural gap. To portray Black women in DIY culture, and show how we are all in one way or another tied to some type of DIY culture or mindset out of necessity. And I felt I did a good job with my first mini-comic. It was about 5 pages long and it was a very difficult comic to draw. The first 3 pages entail a long walk through the rain and a series of panels that make up the act of train hopping. I have never train hopped, but I know lots of people that have and still do, and this is some SHIT to draw. But as I was saying, the comic was all done and ready to go, all except for the watercoloring of their skin tones. And then a thunderous storm cloud opened up from above and it happened. I lost the first 3 pages!!! How could this happen? Where could they be??? I was so hurt. I tore the house apart looking for them, and yet they were NOWHERE to be found. Eventually I said I’ll just re-draw them. And I did, however my new drawings were nowhere near as clean and interesting as my first drawings. But I was prepared to take that set back, at this point I just wanted my comic to be done.
So there my comics are, just sitting in my purse while I chill at home ( I always take my sketch pad everywhere I go) and then it happened again. God played a silly little joke that I’m sure just tickled him pink. I’m laying on the couch sipping on some white wine mixed with Mandarin Lime soda (hella trashy) and in walks the drunken love of my life, to accidentally knock my wine right into my purse with my EFFING COMICS!!!!!! I could have died. I was going to have to re-draw them again for the 3rd time. And just when I finished the first page about a week later, he calls me and tells me he found them in the top drawer of the living room. Just sitting there, all 3 pages, AND the cover to Barely Alive Issue #1. Ain’t that some shit? So you know when you read your copy of Issue # 1 that it nearly killed me.
Ahem! So I have recently decided that I will start making larger painted pieces that are devoted to the themes and characters in my comics. I recently did a series of these pieces with actual panels from the comic pasted within the painting itself and I really dug it. You get a feel for the comic and the character and you have an actual piece based on a fictional character itself. I will post pics as soon and I have some from the last 2 shows.
