I think right now the dominant trend I’ve noticed in creative work, especially mainstream fiction/comics/etc, is artists creating from a place hyperdefensive social paranoia (see: preempting any ‘problematic reads’ by addressing directly in story or in the commentary around) beyond storytelling styles or grim/hopeful tones, that sort of anxiety in the creative process manifests in a really unappealing way in art. it brings down stories to the level of fable, flattening difficult subjects n themes and maybe unintentionally condescending to the reader

thinking abt some other space westerns I like on this day, a day of such egregious horror against one of the classics lol my fav is OUTLAW STAR, which is stunning both as an anime and manga! there's magic-infused bullets, space races, starship grappling & ancient space treasure! another classic, TRIGUN! also excellent in anime and manga form, both with different takes on a comedian protagonist. desert planet-bound, deadly sibling rivalry bounty hunter galore. lots of actions and humor but spans a wide range of emotion and the animation and art is sick

Chatting with a very new writer and i tried to boil down a basic rule of thumb for storytelling, which is you always have to have 2 out of 3 to have a well-rounded: style, movement, insight. style: how you write, the granular word-by-word arrangment and also what you end up focusing on subject-wise. it's your flavor, which can be static or dynamic.

insight: this could also be 'originality' or 'depth'. can be intellectual, emtional, visceral or conceptual.

*wakes up* I think narrative ‘structures’ are thought of both too literally by writers and are weighted with an almost sacred level of importance in the Western world when structure is actually both not that complicated or essential to writing 🤔 Maybe you outline, plan & force it into a ‘structure’ but i don’t know how necessary it is, if at all. It certainly doesn’t guarantee a GOOD story. It can be useful when you want to telegraph whats going to happen to an implied reader who shares your same idea of story structure

the term 'representation' and ownvoices is the most empty it's ever been 💀 "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." If an industry subsidizes a political movement, then it literally has no meaning lol these companies are still maintaining the status quo Honestly wondering if these terms are doing more harm than good most of the time. Representation: yay, more fictional marginalized identities in media....but still written by white people/ppl not of those identities and still adhering to the usual traditional western story tropes

whenever I see editors asking for people to post their portfolios and hundreds of artists replying it always makes me think of like a 1920s dock worker waiting to get chosen by the foreman lol sigh I think editors should make an effort to seek out talent through the COPIOUS means we've given them (@COCdatabase? #drawingwhileblack?) and not just lazily rely on desperate and usually new-to-industry artists to constantly be haunting the timeline for opportunities

I never heard of this before but it looks fun lol American josei! lmao amazing dedication

Since we’re staring down another year of possible isolation, I wanted to make an effort to bring together my fellow cartoonists, artists and writers! So i’ll be hosting a virtual Comics Studio on Zoom!

You can drop in/out from 5PM-10PM PST every other Friday starting March 5th! What can you expect?

A place to chat, talk craft and industry and a chill virtual space to co-work with your fellows creatives. You can share what you’re working on or just lurk. I also have plans to host short craft talks, interviews with special guests and panels!