Can I Keep a Comic Diary?


So when my classmates from high school learn that I got a children's book published, they assume that I illustrated it. 

This is because I was the one who couldn't stop drawing in class, as Miss Valdivia, my stenography teacher will attest. Don't get me wrong - I don't think I'm an art for art's sake artist. And I'm not a fine illustrator with all the years of training and art understanding. What I used to draw were comics - just more storytelling, but with drawings! 

But I put my love of comics on hold a long time ago, when I decided to try to make a living. I do sneaky comics now and then, but only for myself. I just don't think I draw enough to be good. I do a lot of wistful comic reading of the blogs of friends who are compulsive comic makers like Sarah McIntyre and Amanda Lillywhite.

Well, some illustrator friends recently told me off. If you want to draw, just do it, said my friend Bridget. So from last Thursday, I've started a class on Drawing the Graphic Novel with Emily Haworth-Booth at the Princes Drawing School in Shoreditch (thanks for the recommendation, Bridget!). 

Attending my first class was so liberating. The main thing I took away was: just draw and stop worrying about getting it wrong. Just DRAW! It is so liberating ... but can I keep it up?

So I think I'm going to have a go at keeping a comic diary. Here's my entry from yesterday, about waking up with a sore ankle. I'll tell you what: it didn't take me very long ... and it made me very happy. And drawing makes my brain think about my writing in a different way. Hey, this might be a good thing.