📝This archived post is originally from my old comics focused Wordpress blog from 2011-2019. That site was a space to publicly commit to learning the art and craft of cartooning and self-publishing. These posts are full of a naive enthusiasm that though at times embarrassing, I'm proud of. I hope you find them useful in some way.❤️

made for a friend. thought I’d share.

tumblr_ms7y1ndrpG1rc4waeo1_500 Here’s your first lesson. This should take an hour. 1) comics are hard

2) comics are love

3) comics are life

Make four square boxes. However big you want. I typically make mine 2” by 2”

Put your audio player on shuffle.

Write a lyric in pencil that catches your interest in the first box. One sentence long max. Single words are OK.

Press next.

Repeat in 2nd box.

Press next.

repeat in 3rd box.

Press next. repeat in last box.

Now make a 10 by 10 grid of 1/2” by 1/2” boxes and doodle out 100 things.  One drawing in each box. 30 seconds on each box max. If you think telephone, draw how you represent the idea of “telephone”. Fill up all those boxes. Don’t stop drawing! If you’re lucky you can get to a point where you no longer think in words.(props to Ivan Brunetti)

Now go back to your 4 boxes with lyrics. What could you draw in each box to connect these seemingly unconnected lyrics? How will you write these words? Will they be captions? Will some character say them? It’s up to you, buckaroo.

This is the puzzle. This is where your wits come in. This is the AGGROCRAG. It is my belief that if you make the goal of your comics the communication of clever, interesting ideas, you can make comics with _any level of drawing ability. If you do them for long enough and think about them long and hard enough each time, they’ll get good._