Bellybuttoned Cockroach

Apparently I forgot to post this one. I didn't make it the full 28 days of February. I only made it 11 days, but that is much better than last year.

Fun-A-Day 2013: Octopus

Fun-A-Day 2013: Wash Tub Mouse

Fun-A-Day 2013: Majka Sings

Fun-A-Day 2013: Birds and Accordions

Fun-A-Day 2013: Bee

Fun-A-Day 2013: Fish

Fun-A-Day 2013: Squirrel

Fun-A-Day 2013: The Cheese Stands Alone

Fun-A-Day 2013: Elephant

Fun-A-Day 2013: Bear

I'll  be posting these sporadically as the month goes on.  This year's project is a Russian Bestiary.

Sketches for an upcoming project

1984

Fun-A-Day 2012

This year I am not running a Fun-A-Day and I will admit that not worrying about who's participating and organizing the show is making the whole experience much less stressful. Since there will be no Fun-A-Day NC I'll be participating in the Buffalo Fun-A-Day that my friend Curtis is organizing. Last night as I was trying to figure out a theme for this year's comics, something different from strict daily diary comics, and it occurred to me that this is a leap year so there are 29 days in February, and this is my 29th year so I'm making a comic for every year of my life.
February 1983 I was about 7 months old.

What we really look like

I know you must think that myself and everyone around me are walking skeletons with massive heads and gaping eye holes but - I'm about to blow your minds - that's not actually what we look like. This is what Kirill and I really look like:

a lumberjack and a ghost.

Exploring Durham

So we didn't get to find a neat abandoned cemetery, but we did get to see parts of Durham that we probably never would have found otherwise. This is also Majka's first full bodied appearance in a comic. The real Majka is even cuter than her snowy white comic self.

This is why I shouldn't be the top of the pyramid

This was from Katie's scavenger hunt/birthday party. Apparently when you get a bunch of circus enthusiasts together acrobatics ensue - unfortunately I can't do the acrobatics so well.

Kinch and Marina Come to Visit

This is Majka's first appearance in one of my comics. I'll admit that I put the blanket on her because I still hadn't gotten the hang of drawing the lower half of a dog and so I cheated. That's how you know I'm a good artist.

High Angel Low Angel

The hardest part of my aerial education has been getting over my fear of heights. Strength hasn't been much of a problem, not that I don't need to get stronger, but it's easy to build muscle. If there's a move I'm working on but not strong enough, I just keep working and exercising until it happens. My fear of heights surprisingly didn't bother me that much when I began to learn the silks a year ago. It wasn't until I started learning drops that my pesky survival instincts - you know, the ones that tell you it's a bad idea to willingly let yourself plummet head first toward the ground from 15 ft - started to be an issue. It sometimes takes me weeks of going up into the drop and just sitting there and slowly backing myself down before I can let go. Once I finally do it, I have no trouble doing it again - it's just that first time. No matter how much I want to, and know I can - my body will not listen to my mind and allow my hands to loosen.

In any case, I've been working on the High Angel/Low Angel drop (aka crucifix drop) for about 2 months. Going up into the balance at the top every time I'm in the studio, but unable to let go. I finally let myself plummet head first to the ground and trust that the silks would catch me. In honor of this moment, I drew this comic.


This is a video of me doing an admitedly sloppy High Angel/Low Angel during a workout session. 

Fun-A-Day Comics

So I'm finally getting motivated and editing my Fun-A-Day comics. This year I decided to do one panel comics in hopes that it would take less time and I'd be more likely to complete all 28 days. Alas, it did take less time - 1 hour a night to last years 2 or 3 was definitely an improvement. However, I still didn't make it all 28 days. For most of the month I'd leave the house at 8am and return home around 9pm and there were too many nights I didn't have the energy to dedicate an hour.

I'm not good at picking reasonable daily projects. Bad Fun-A-Day organizer! I definitely don't set a good example.

In any case, drawing one panel comics was pretty interesting. It ended up being way more different from multi-panel comics than I had expected. In general, when doing diary comics I pick an interesting interaction from the day, but that doesn't work so well for 1 panel. Conversations happen over multiple moments - but I'm only capturing one. So I don't necessarily end up picking a moment that sums up the day as much as picking a single moment that can be a complete story on its own.

It was more difficult than I had expected - but a good challenge.