Audrey Guo

A retrospective on “100 days of comics”, a project where I wrote, drew, and posted daily one-page comics for 100 days. 

Here is Day 1, compared to the redrawn version on Days 99-100:

This one is probably my favorite; “Creatures” on Days 11-13:

I started this project as a way to practice making comics, and practice I did. Along the way, I kept a list of the little things I was learning or thinking about. Here are a few:

• The contrast between panels matters more than individual drawings
• Doing a light sketch with notes to get the layout down, then inking the details directly works best for me
• Working in series, generatively, like writing…
• Straight lines for the panels is less distracting, though of course it depends on the emotion you want to convey. Ruler helps
• Try to use less shading when possible — tends to read better on the page
• Keep the lines human, authentic — don’t fix it too much/overwork it
• Going to the edges of the page…good for immersion + creating atmosphere!
• I should probably do a longer story again soon, starting from a character and seeing where it goes…I like those…
• Don’t try to do it all on one page! It’s an easier read, and an easier write, and better pacing to spread what you think will go on one page over several.
• Giving characters a really stupid naturalistic voice is fun, like putting in “like” and “um” and a bunch of cuss words and things I’d normally say
• Wish fulfillment: flying, kingdoms/royalty/power/beauty, magic, superpowers (be them real things that exist like singing or not), having your own space/planet/kingdom/fort/igloo/dissociating/escapism, bending space (physics, size, inventing stuff outta thin air, shapeshifting, limbs ultra flexible, super speed)/time (time travel, aging up or down or staying young, youth, rewinding time, pausing time)
  
• What Rebecca Sugar said, comics as a good way to learn a specific thing in the realm of storytelling

These bullets were just notes for myself, so their content varies from notes on style, to workflow, to fundamentals of comics themselves. Overall though, I think what I gained most was just the confidence to write my own stories.

Downturning emotional graphs aside...