2024 Comic Project
March Review | Weeks 9-12
Another month gone by, which means I'm officially one-quarter of the way through the project!
Over the past couple months, I've been joining up with a group of artists once a week while working on my comic, using the time to keep me motivated and on-track. Over all, I've received two very frequent questions:
Who are my main comic influences?
What is the story about?
Honestly, I don't have a set answer for either one! I understand where the latter question comes from; I kind of thought I'd have a better idea of that by this point. But I remind myself, the whole concept of the project is to not know. While I've decided to make it one continuous story, I do think of each week as it's own separate comic (even when the narrative and characters has been so consistent like they have been for March). I do worry I've built up so much exposition that I don't know how to pay off. But I must go back to my original point - trust the process, and just make what comes to me.
The first question was more surprising, mostly that I couldn't think of anything to tell people when they asked! The truth is, I'm inspired by much more than just comics. Lately I've been watching a bit of Moonminvalley, because I find Tove Jansson so inspiring, and her characters feel so sincere in a way I've rarely found in other media. I always fall back to Over the Garden Wall as well, both for it's gorgeous animation, and the way you can get a bit more out of it with each re-watch.
I don't think this comic will measure up in any way to those pieces of media, nor do I think it needs to. But with that question, I accidentally found a great way to help ground such a nebulous and undefined concept, by trying to see how my influences do shine through in the writing and drawing.
Whelp. That's all for this month! I'll return once again on Monday with another page. Catch you then!
