You’ll see a comic book come to life this year
In this issue, I talk a bit about my experience sharing the full process of creating two comic books with a small audience. There’s also a brief film recommendation at the end for fans of quirky visuals, sci-fi and musicals, if you prefer to skim through everything else.
All said, let’s begin!
Intro
Hello! I’m a comic book artist and author leaning into science fiction, and I’m here to share thoughts and tidbits about the things that I try, whether they fail or succeed. You can see previous posts at blog.claudiamatosa.com or some info about my work at claudiamatosa.com.
The machine
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to balance creating work that I love and keeping an online presence without burning out. There is so much content out there these days, with and without “artificial intelligence”. For a long time, I’ve been feeling like I’m adding nothing to the mix, apart from feeding a soulless entertainment machine. An infinite-scrolling beast that chews up my motivation and leaves me wondering what I’m doing this for anyway. (I’m sorry about the pseudo-philosophical rant.)
While trying to grow my following on social platforms, I’m not spending time learning, practising and creating, which is what I really like to do. Everyone says that social media is necessary for a healthy artistic practice, and maybe it’s true, but the amount of time and management it requires these days feels very unhealthy. Especially because, while using it, I have to interact daily with content that constantly manipulates my mood.
It shouldn’t have to be like that. I want to share, but I want to do it at my own rhythm and with people who might be interested in what I have to show them.
This is why, since last year, I’ve been running an experiment with a small group.
How a comic book comes to life
Since I started working on volumes three and four of The Last Day of Rain, I have been sending updates on the process and progress of creating the books to a small list of people who pre-ordered them via Kickstarter. I call it an experiment because I didn’t feel confident enough to present my messy process to the world, and this was a good compromise.
The plan was to send something every week to a smaller group, and a monthly update to all backers of the project. Below are some of the images shared during that time. The updates varied and included world and character building, sketches and finished artwork, and also thoughts about the process.
I think the experiment worked well, and gave way to many interesting conversations throughout the year! And especially, it gave me the chance to look back and think, sometimes to celebrate, and others to reflect on what could have been done better.
And so it’s time to try this with a larger audience. As I work on the final volume and finish the graphic novel, I will use this newsletter/blog to share my process. There will be sketches, snippets of writing, character designs and others… hopefully! I’ll do my best to keep it interesting and will not flood your inbox! At most, you’ll receive an email once a month with a summary of what’s been done.
It won’t always be pretty: there are many elements involved in creating an illustrated book, and more often than not, you need a lot of structure before reaching the final result.
Either way, I hope you find some of it interesting! My inbox is always open for suggestions or complaints. 👂🏻
(Of course, if you prefer to only receive e-mails about other subjects, hit “manage my subscription” at the end of this message and untick “Work in progress”)
Recent watch: O’Dessa
I recently watched a film about a girl who sets up on a journey to save the world from an entertainment machine that consumes people’s dreams, by playing her dad’s old guitar across the country. It’s described as a rock opera, and I found it so different, quirky and interesting. It’s sci-fi. It’s dystopian. It’s steampunk of sorts. It’s been a while since I saw something this original. The visuals are saturated with colour. The story flows in a different way than usual, but I didn’t feel that as a weakness: it made me want to keep watching.
The first IMDB reviews are quite bad, but once I started reading further down, I noticed that the film eventually found its fans.
Maybe it’s not for you if you don’t like musicals and weirdness. But if you do, you might just love it.
That’s a wrap-up!
See you soon!
- Claudia
Thank you for reading! The four chapters of The Last Day of Rain are available in my online store at shop.claudiamatosa.com, as well as a few other books and art prints.
You’re also very welcome to subscribe to this blog if you like reading my ramblings (for some reason)! I don’t e-mail every post, but once in a while I send a summary of what I’ve been up to, so you can catch up:
For bits and pieces, you can also find me on the following socials: