I’m now three levels deep in terms of stopping one comics project so another can take priority. I put Satin and Tat aside to make a comic about protest. I’ve now put the comic on protest aside because Draw The Line‘s publication date is this Tuesday, and there’s a ton of both promotion and admin to do.
Talking of promotion! Here’s how to buy it.
At least all these time-consuming and fiddly tasks should ease off a bit once the book’s launched. That said, because of supply chain issues we’re actually having a second official publication day for the UK/Europe in March, and that gives me the opportunity to arrange some sort of launch party and hopefully some appearances at comics festivals, etc, all of which will keep me busy.
Our publisher, Street Noise Books, has invited me to take over their Instagram on launch day, so despite lying here in my PJs, laid down with a cold, I’ve been preparing a bunch of images and graphics for that (I’d written pre-preparing, but… that’s already what preparing means, isn’t it). It’s not the most innovative takeover you’ll ever see but it is, at least, done. And of course, what better moment to decide to try your hand at a completely new form of expression – in this case, basic animation – than when you’re working to a tight deadline like this?
I also quickly dashed off a new self-portrait.
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Given my limited energy levels, I’ll keep this week’s update brief, but here are a few recent sources of inspiration/enthusiasm-feeding:
- A small new gallery has opened up a short walk from my house, and they were showing the 2018 documentary Vivienne Westwood film. Because of my interest in punk clothes, fashion and history, and because I wanted to case out the gallery for vague future plans, I thought I’d go, and I was glad I did. It’s a great film, with lots to ponder on about women and how they age, and how they are expected to age. Quite apart from that, you can look at a load of lovely clothes, and hold your breath as Westwood wobbles off on a pushbike into London traffic. Apparently she hated this movie (and you can kind of see why).
- From the comfort of my own home, I watched the Mothers of the Revolution, about the women of Greenham Common. It was good and I learned a lot and I’m really glad the accounts of women who were there were recorded for posterity – but it still wasn’t the documentary I think I would have made (and also seems to have been created largely by men).
- All day today it’s been the LD Comics festival – I’ve still got it playing in the background, as they’re soon to announce the winner of their prize. I haven’t entered this year but it’s always worth paying attention to, and a lot of the comics in the longlist look interesting; what a shame we can’t go and read them all like you can when they run the day in person. The main inspiration here seems to be hearing from lots of people how long it took them to finish their projects and how it was worth carrying on.
- Also, it needs restating that LDComics is an amazing, inclusive community that is doing SO MUCH for comics.
- Another thing someone mentioned in chat was how useful they found it to have a small cadre of close comics friends, which is something I’ve definietly found invaluable. This person has a more structured format than we do, though: her group meets up to actually read each others’ work in progress regularly, and discuss it. I’d almost like to do that, if I was sure I had picked the right people to be giving feedback.
Myfanwy Tristram 