I’ve crested a wave with the digital release of the first issue of my graphic novel series Hobo City, and there is a momentous rest. After a wave the vantage allows the endless expanse to come into view, until the next wave comes. The waves are made up of the environmental factors of existence on whatever timeline you like, and you can deal with them in different ways, you can swim, surf, tumble backwards in the churning undertow getting grit blasted and salt water punched into your sinuses, or you build a craft to sustain your voyage. But this is all just a baroque metaphor for getting the business end of this whole art endeavor sorted.
As it happens, the art of sorting is just as tricky as the art of turning the intangible locked within the imagination into concrete value in a medium. An organized infrastructure for passion to turn into profession is managed with an inventive use of resources. Without an exhaustive team of specialists or limitless access to industrial services, it can be a slow process with various dips and turns. I have to be doing my core work consistently, where I remain curious of what I am researching and building and exploring, yet the need arises to switch modes of curiosity to technical practicum, sustainability, business, et al.
Throughout the more mundane work the drive to express builds below the surface. One meaning of expression, as in expressing the wounds of the plagued, can be applied back on the broader meaning of the word, so that in expression the artist is healing by clarifying something of overwhelming complexity, harrowing and real, into a simplified digestible form, where it can endure and continue to harrow. Butter into ghee. Vicariously, perhaps empathically, across space and time through the frozen medium, others can immerse themselves in these thoughtful allegories, drawing out their own comparisons.
I am glad to be able to swing my focus back to bringing the scenes I have written to life in comic page form after these past few months where I’ve mostly been drawing from anatomy books and building out the shoppe, finally having finished the first issue for the digital release. There is so much more to write and draw, I will be working on speed. I am considering releasing the new comics page by page through Patreon and sharing more about how each one comes together.
I deeply appreciate all who help my life in any way getting me to the point of making a finished product. By the way if you’ve read this blog post and are interested in reading Hobo City Vol. 1.1 here is a three dollar off coupon to the virtual comic! Apply TROVAGE3 at checkout.