I fell out of the habit of creating daily comics for a bit, but I’m back. Below I’ll share some thoughts on what helped me get back into it, but let’s show the comics first!
I need to remind myself over and over again WHY I’m doing this: it’s exercise. It’s not meant to have something to share, it’s for me. This takes the pressure off and gives me space to mess around and be curious.
I would really like to be able to draw without sketching first, so that’s what I did. (I’m cheating, because I draw digitally so I can erase my lines, but I try to do this as little as I can.) Instead of erasing, I draw a thicker line where I really want it to go. It gives a rougher result and I like it.
I also don’t allow myself coffee until I’ve finished my daily comic. HA! This really helps to not overthink what I’m going to draw about. Just grab whatever thing happened, don’t worry if it’s lame, who knows what will happen once I start writing and drawing. I’ve surprised myself more than once by turning it into something reasonably funny. And if not, I just toss it on the pile of mediocre comics - it’s fine, I still had my exercise.
Here’s a bonus comic. This week it’s Sinterklaas in the Netherlands. It’s like Santa, but we do gifts in the evening of December 5 and every gift has a poem.
I hope you enjoyed these comics!
With love,
Thanks for talking about your strategies for doing daily comics! I repeatedly resolve to prioritize it over everything else - just draw something first thing in the morning - and that works until life happens. Argh. Taking a small sketchbook with me wherever I go has helped some, though I still feel very self-conscious sketching in public places.
I've struggled of late to get to drawing - I might just play with a daily drawing, no sketch, no obligation to share, thanks for the inspiration! xo