The Only Way Out Is In
No. 30
In this issue: 95 self portraits, character design morphology, and good advice from an old friend.
This whole DoPHS thing started as an attempt to pull myself out of a decade long creative block. The idea was to be honest about the process, and to preserve as much of it as possible. It’s gone well enough that I’m starting to get the itch to work on actual stories. Not just illustrating my own inner monologue.
The problem is I don’t have a story. And I kinda forgot how to find one.
Desperate, I reached out to an author friend of mine. I explained how I was trying to write about something other than myself but was having trouble getting out of my own head. He had a lot of really great advice, but a couple things stuck out to me. The first was to look for a larger metaphor to drive the story.
He gave an example of something he was working on that uses generational trauma as a driving force. He shared a whole narrative about the grandfather fighting this dark force only to be killed by it. The mother spent her life running away from it only to see it grow in power. Finally our hero, realizing that the threat won’t just go away on it’s own, comes to terms with having to face it herself. For the record, he’s working on a kids book. It’s not about generational trauma and none of that actually happens in the book - but it’s what drives the hero’s decisions and the villain’s actions.
A story can be about a thing without being the thing.
The second was that it’s ok for it to be about you. It’s just a matter of framing. You can be that metaphorical driving force.
A story can be about you without being about you.
The point is, he gave me permission and that permission unlocked a door in my head. I took some of that inner monologue and let characters that are not me deal with it for a bit. The seeds of a story sprouted pretty much immediately.
Thanks friend. Appreciate your guidance.
Before that exchange I spent time wandering in the desert of my sketchbook hoping for inspiration to strike. It didn’t. But it is fascinating how an IRL owl spotted on a run slowly morphed into a mopey art student.
Sketchbooks are fun :)
Last week
showed us how to make a 14 page zine. Inspired, I quickly doubled up with a 28 page experiment that left me wondering if there was any limit at all. Having a giant roll of paper beside me I cut a sheet 18x32 inches and went to work with the goal of reaching 64 pages.It did not go as planned.
My desk is not nearly large enough or clutter free enough to work with paper of that size. I got confused, folded too many times, misnumbered the pages, and zagged my zigs when I should have zigged my zags. In the end it took some scotch tape and a bit of glue to piece things back together.
Left with nearly 100 pages to fill, what’s a guy who’s stuck in his own head to do but draw it 95 times?
I like #53, what’s your favorite?
The page numbers only go to 88 because I accidentally skipped a few spreads and had to use decimals. Those 4 plus the cover and end matter adds up to 95. Unless I screwed up my math. Which is very possible. But I’m like 95% sure it’s right.
Thanks to everyone who’s subscribed, shared, commented, or restacked DoPHS. Readership has more than tripled in the last month. It really does mean a lot to me.
I appreciate you.
🤣 not a problem - my ego can handle it 🤣 Looking forward to the next post!
I feel like I've been on a decade AND longer of creative dry spell. And I know why, and removing the reason hasn't helped for the past 6 years but I remain hopeful. I fell out of love for everything, my work included.