Hey y’all. I am so happy to be a part of this little community. Let’s dive into it.

Starting off with a hand-drawn comic was an excellent way to ease me into this course. I am not an artist – I prefer to doodle and make small stick figures, so I stuck with what I knew, and did that for this first assignment. It was an enjoyable experience; I am one of those oldie English majors who love print books, and pens with paper. I enjoyed the feel of creating my comic through the artistic strokes of each small box, and I love the way the stark black ink looks on paper in general, so that was an added bonus for aesthetic pleasure. I think the only drawback that I can think of for a hand-drawn comic is that when I would mess up – because it was in pen – I would have to start all over, and I was not a fan of that. I am also a perfectionist at heart, so drawing and messing up is not an option for me. I tried to just roll with it, but once I saw the imperfection, I had to start over, therefore costing me a lot of time. I would say time was also a major drawback on not only this one, but on the computer generated comic as well.

When I created my second comic, I again chose to stick with what I knew, and use simple shapes to create stick figures. This time, however, I got to experiment with color and repetitiveness in the comic with other figures, as well as myself. When you hand draw things, most of the time it is a challenge to duplicate the same item in the same way or fashion. Having the ability to copy and paste was a huge time savor, but I still had to focus on the small details, such as proportions of figures, stacking shapes, and using a consistent two or three fonts throughout the comic, to add some aesthetics to the comic. I would say that I struggled on the computer more than with a pen, however, because I am not used to any form of generating images on technology, so that was a challenge. I also wasn’t a fan of reading the comic online – again, I prefer pen and paper, so I got a different feel when I read the comic on the screen versus when I printed it off and read it. Sometimes doodles and paper can outweigh gorgeous pieces of artwork crafted on the computer, simply because of the feeling and the personalization that each piece of paper can bring to someone. I would describe it as the difference between a written note saying thank you, and an email.

As for the reading, I actually decided to do it after, just to see what I could come up with on my own, with no influence. Though McCloud made some excellent points that I definitely bookmarked, I don’t think he would have made too much of an influence on my comic, even if I read it before creating it. Just my personal opinion, however.

My comics – both hand-drawn and computer generated – are below. Feel free to look at them, and I apologize in advance if you can’t read them. My handwriting, and therefore my font, is extra tiny.