A couple of days ago, I posted a diary comic on Instagram featuring a brief overview of the past four months of my marathon training (as well as my motivations. ;) Tomorrow is the race, and I probably won’t feel the immensity of it all until I’m at the starting line.
May 10, 2023:
Due to a busy semester teaching, working on Finding Hope, running, relationships, and other responsibilities, my diary comics have been sporadic. But every time I go for a run, I think of ideas. Many times, I jot down notes and take reference photos, and if I still want to make the comic weeks later, then I know it’s something I should pursue.
I began working on this diary comic around 4 pm last Wednesday, and (including some breaks) finished around 10 pm. This comic is deceptively simple, but still took about five hours to make — from crafting the story, loosely drafting a script and thumbnails, inking and lettering each panel in my sketchbook, scanning the line work, adding some bits of color, and formatting each panel to post on Instagram, etc. etc. — I’m sure I can manifest a diary comic in less than an hour, but I’m not interested in rushing through a series of events from my day. I will always spend the extra time to craft a narrative that connects ideas and has some sort of story arc.
Because these comics take time, I typically draw digitally in Photoshop, omitting the process of scanning, cleaning up the line work, and formatting. Sometimes, the amount of panels necessary for a story can feel daunting, especially if I decide that the story needs a scene with a huge crowd or some other complicated imagery. So, I decided to draw this comic in pen in my sketchbook to enjoy the process of drawing and be less precious with the art (while avoiding the bottom panel near the gutter where I spilled water!)
When I assign one-page comics to students in my Graphic Novel course, I tell them to focus on the story first and simplify the art for the sake of the exercise. Later on, they can choose whether they want to spend more time cleaning up the line work, altering the compositions, and adding value and color. Why shouldn’t I do the same thing? Some stories are meant to be quick and breezy. If I were to make a whole zine of running comics (which I definitely want to do later) then I would probably focus more on craft and develop a consistent approach to the formatting and style.
I’m now officially on summer break, and even though I’ll be teaching some Continuing Studies classes in June and July, I’m going to try to make more looser diary comics in my sketchbook, ideally outside in the woods or on the beach.
Here are the pages in my sketchbook before I scanned them and added color.
Do you make diary comics? Share some thoughts about your own process in the comments.