My hand-drawn “About Me” Comic drawn in Fall 2019 semester.

Hand-drawing a comic was not high on my list of things I was excited to do due to my poor artistic abilities, but through creating it I learned the impact a print comic has. When creating a hand-drawn comic, I was able to add any detail I wanted, and create it with the best of my ability. There is a sense of freedom in drawing a comic by hand that comes with the specialness of a blank page sitting in front of you. I feel that being able to touch the same paper the author worked on allows the reader a sense of connectivity. I feel there is a more profound impact on the reader when the physical touch is included in holding the comic.

The digital remake of my “About Me” Comic in Fall semester of 2019.

Digital comics favor those with technology skills and patience. When making my own digital comic, I realized patience is key because my technology skills are very beginner. I was unable to convey the same ideas in my digital comic due to the limited options of figures, shapes and space I was given online. The software limited the things I was able to create through using it in a free capacity instead of a subscription. Reading the digital comic lacks the authors touch in my opinion. They feel all similar to me although they are obviously very different. They feel less like a word of art and more like a project in my perspective.

As someone who was not familiar with comics hardly at all prior to this course, I have learned a great deal about comics in general, including making them myself. Creating both a digital and a hand-drawn comic demonstrated the positives and negatives about each type of comic in many aspects. Holding a comic in your hands and looking at one on a screen are vastly different experiences. These two types are very different to create and favor different skillsets.