Feedback from Mattruss

November 22, 2011

Time to change a few things around here.

Being completely open I’ve got to admit that my recent endeavours in connecting with the web community have, shall we say not been wildly successful. I’ve never been much of an attention hog and I’ve always been at my happiest in a niche middle ground, but with the exception of a few kind-hearted regulars – thankyou! – as a webcomic, feedback and readership on my graphic has been more than a little underwhelming.

To make a useless analogy: It feels like I’m at one of those ‘friend of a friend‘ parties, where there’s only one person you know and everyone else is so firmly locked into their cliques you’d need a crowbar to pry them free. Time passes and you slide to the back of the room, drink at a half consumed event horizon, eyes glazed over, sending inane texts to people who’ve turned off their phones…

It all boils down to one thing: what am I doing wrong?

Not at the parties I mean, but with this whole webcomic thing. Back in Summer Paul Gravett placed huge importance upon becoming involved with relevant communities as a part of the context behind my work. Having tried this on my own terms for three months it’s time to accept that my current strategies simply aren’t working.

I contacted Matt Hemsworth on recommendation of my tutor since besides being a former student of my own Hull School of Art and Design he’s someone with a much keener understanding of illustration and comics, with a great deal more direct experience of promoting his work over the internet and elsewhere for that matter. E-mailing him over the weekend I honestly expected little more than a paragraph of advice on my comic, blog and methods but he was back to me within hours with a whole page of feedback and suggestions – so first and foremost hats off to Matt for being so awesome!

There was plenty of food for thought in what he wrote but to keep things reasonably succinct I’ll summarise the most important points he made along with my planned response:

– Lettering:

This will likely be the first thing I tackle as it affects pretty much all of my graphic. While fine with my art itself he thought that my speech bubble text detracted from the overall quality, being oversized and inconsistent. Looking at it with fresh eyes I see what he means so an overhaul of the font itself and edit of all existing pages is imminent. It might be worth having it done professionally at some point to get the best results, but with so much currently in flux it would be something I’d leave for nearer completion of a collected volume.    

– ComicPress:

Excluding my uploads to ComicFury and The Duck the way I’ve archived pages under the ‘Read it!’ menu of my blog is haphazard at best. While reasonably accessible it doesn’t make for easy reading in sequence and gives an unprofessional impression. Matt’s recommendation of ComicPress as an alternative place to upload and archive in conjunction with my blog definitely sounds like a good idea as it makes for a much more inviting reading experience. In relation to this it may also be worth forking out for a proper domain name at some point too.

– Printing:

A matter I’ve only given fleeting thought to as a distant prospect. Besides pointing me in the direction of one of Hull’s more reasonably priced printers, he suggested I start printing promotional material as soon as possible to drum up interest, even a preview booklet or small poster might be worthwhile.

– Promotion:

Leading on from the last point another strong recommendation made was to get a table at a convention. Again, even if its only a teaser item or something given away for free it can only help draw interest. He had a high opinion of the Leeds Thought Bubble Festival in particular which I’ve just missed but would do well to plan ahead for next year.

– Updates:

A pretty obvious point which I ignored at my peril; it’s worth setting a specific day(s) for updates in order to build up a buzz of interest and ensure people know when more will appear. Even if I can’t make weekly uploads every time, keeping them on a fixed day no matter what would almost certainly be for the better in terms of consistency.

Lots to think about and lots to get on with then!

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Posted by Ozy

Symposium Reflection

November 10, 2011

As part of a symposium yesterday my MA group presented our projects alongside Harrogate students; the focus being on present creative endeavours and the overall direction of our work. Besides getting insight into other people’s projects – all of which are shaping up nicely – this also presented a convenient opportunity for me to gather my own ideas together and consider development of the project as a whole.

Being honest I didn’t step up to the stage with huge confidence. I’m no orator and attempting to memorize my planned talk in the form of a recording only made me acutely aware of how annoying my own voice is. Fortunately such doubts were disproven as the audience response was overwhelmingly positive. I got a lot of useful suggestions for future research material and some interesting input on the development of my style in particular.

There was also a lot of talk about the development of comics in the digital age, sparked by my mention of posting on webcomic sites.  Frankly I haven’t given it much thought, but a few of the questions made me consider what internet reading might mean for the medium and what sorts of innovations could be on the horizon; we already have webcomics made for phones and handheld computers after all, so how long before these novelties take hold and become important industries in their own right? Much like the human-machine symbiosis my graphic explores, comics and the web are forming a new and intriguing symbiosis of their own. It feels like a project in itself as I’ve been focusing on what is predominantly intended as a print work in most regards, though it’s still something worth thinking about not just while I’m on the course but beyond it aswell.

Moving away from the positives though, I think a small reality check is in order here. One thing the presentation specifically made me face up to was what I can reasonably expect to achieve within my last year of the MA. Initially, I made optimistic estimates of 100 pages while writing a streamlined, but not exactly short script. I need to (and almost certainly will) become faster with my pencil work, inking and colour, but short of a miraculous jump in skill it’s extremely unlikely I’ll hit my planned page count.

I absolutely loathe compromise, but it is a fact of life and this is no different. I’m left with two options; to continue and deliver a portion of the graphic as a sort of statement of intent for how my practice will continue following the MA or to rewrite, replan and create something more humble and feasible to complete within the allotted time. I realise that the latter is in many ways the sensible option but I’m honestly not sure it’s something I can bring myself to do. Rather than using this graphic as a project for the MA, it seems fairer to say I used the MA as a launchpad for my graphic – a situation where I could really push myself, allocating the time, resources and care to do something I might otherwise have been unable to.

I spent my media degree making short films, while in my spare time my hobby comics never  amounted to much either. Perhaps the largest motivation behind me taking on this MA was the idea this wouldn’t be another 10 minute/page case of playing it safe, that I would go all out and take a genuine risk. Put bluntly, I’d rather continue this graphic under my own power to see it done right than mercilessly chop up narrative, art and ambition itself for the sake of a deadline.

To be clear this isn’t at all intended to suggest I’m casting off the MA; I will still deliver a print version of my work as planned, though it is more likely to be an issue/act/third of the narrative than the finished article. This is also not intended to suggest I won’t be doing all I can to achieve as much as possible this year, ultimately it just means I’ll be prepared if/when I fall short and still be able to deliver a competent final piece of some kind – something I have the tutor’s support on, so this shouldn’t be a leap into the jaws of failure.

Now with all this in mind, time to sit down and get drawing again…

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Posted by Ozy

Settling in (again)

October 13, 2011

I’ve had a few minor hiccups in the past week or two of the new academic year, but today made me feel more acclimatized to college life once again.

For starters, having a catch up tutorial allowed me to get the okay on my Summer work while also serving as a inadvertent recap on the course of the project over the last few months. The criticisms were mostly ones I saw coming too, with notable issues being my unfortunate moments of sketchy anatomy and the urgent need to produce pages faster. All being well, these problems should be  addressed through a return to life drawing and additional studio sessions respectively.

On that note: I have a new and improved studio space! I’ve got a bigger wall this time meaning more room for concept art/useless decoration and as far as initial impressions go the natives are pretty friendly. Last year I was usually in college for a couple of days each week but in line with the need for increased self-discipline I’m going to try and set studio time aside for four to five days at a time now. A focused working environment should help iron out some of my flakier drawing habits and frankly it’s an improvement over being cooped up at home for days on end.

Here’s to a refreshed start!

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Posted by Ozy

Design Strategies and Practice: Revenge of the Module!

October 5, 2011

Official re-enrolment aside, today effectively marked the start of the second (and final) year of my MA. It also served as an introduction to our new module, the fearsome Design Strategies and Practice!

Sorry… it’s really not that bad, the deadlines are pretty close and there’s a symposium next month but thankfully the goals aren’t too horrifying. While we will be assessed on our studio practice before the end of the year it’s been made clear that they’re not after a finalised work and given that I already started drawing pages over summer I’ve got a decent head start.

Still, it’s probably best I don’t get too comfortable; I’m used to explaining my project to those already largely familiar with the details, however the symposium will consist of students from Harrogate who will know nothing about what I’m doing and require a complete rundown on all the key points – in under 20 minutes no less. Additionally, lately my rate of production for comic pages has been inconsistent to put it kindly. I doubt I’ll be managing daily updates any time soon but it would be nice to get at least one out every week.

I’ll probably get a better idea of where my worst weaknesses are once I get feedback on the last module, in the meantime I swear I’ll have page 10 out before the weekend… probably….

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Posted by Ozy

Practice in Context: Finished!

September 26, 2011

Having handed in the requisite essay today along with my research and planning folders, this essentially marks a conclusion to the MA’s Practice in Context module – finished!

Ahem. Anyway; I’m feeling pretty positive about what I submitted, but I won’t brag or complain just yet lest it comes back to haunt me in the feedback… What I will say is that this leaves me freed up to start drawing pages again and update my blog more regularly. According the course handbook the next module will be Design Strategies and Practice so it’s about time I made a real push with the latter. More soon :)

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Posted by Ozy

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