Sometimes I feel regret for not having done something sooner…
And this will be common sense to some, but for me I need to remind myself, that sometimes the stars need to align just right for you to get a thing done that you’ve been meaning to do, and I think that’s okay. Maybe it was meant to be done later, you know?
Maybe you needed to have all the pent up energy for it to just happen one day, like a sort of mini explosion.
The TV production company that my cousin worked for asked me to do them a storyboard for a TV show.
For anyone thinking of doing this, here’s what I did, and what I’d change for next time.
I’ve recently completed the graphic essay ‘From Stigma Power to Black Power’ in collaboration with Sociology Professor Imogen Tyler, so I thought I’d make a note of the process for anyone else who’d like to give making a graphic essay a try.
Illustrating an essay is different from creating a comic from fiction, because it doesn’t always have characters or settings in the same way. There were chunks that didn’t lend itself as naturally to visual storytelling, so I had to be more abstract at times.
I can break down my interpretation method into 3 types: Quotations, Explanations & Story.
This is for small zine or comic anthologies for poets, writers, artists, activists, because that’s what I have experience with.
If you’re just thinking of making one, well, this is a great way to see what’s involved.
This is a time-saving system I use when putting together a zine anthology.
I have a long to do list, but when there’s so much there just glaring at you from the page, it can be difficult to start, or even know where to start.
I came up with a method called the ABC Productivity Hack, which helps me to stop procrastinating and just get stuff done.
Just made this into a Skillshare class, so I’m posting my notes on it here for people to make use of.
When I feel intimated by an artists work, wondering how oh how can I ever be that skilled, something I like to do at the moment is to find their earliest work online.
I scroll right to the bottom of the Instagram page, the tumblr archive, the first video on their youtube channel.
When I get to where they started I check out the date, and more often than not, they’ve been doing what they do for a loooong time.
Long enough to get good at what they do.
Long enough for people to start catching on.
Long enough to be as successful as they seem.
It’s good to remind myself that I took a different journey in life, so of course they’re where they’re at.
There’s a good Chinese proverb that I use when I feel annoyed at myself for not starting sooner:
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago,
The second best time is now.