The March Creative Challenge: Dérangé Désir: the process

As I got deeper into the March creative challenge, I assembled all the drawing I had made that I would use for my mini comic and marveled at how bad I thought they were. I wanted to keep the feeling of the hand drawn images, even if they were rudimentary.

The first step was to render the drawings digitally. I'm sure I did this the most inefficient way possible. I simple scanned each drawing and made them into a .pdf. Then I opened the .pdf in Illustrator. Once in Illustrator I took a few different approaches, but the end result was a much cleaner version of what I had drawn. Now, if I had a digital sketch pad, I could have simply drawn them digitally to begin with.

The March Creative Challenge: Dérangé Désir, the preliminaries

It was no surprise coming off the February watercolor creative challenge that Kimberly and I would do another challenge for March. We looked at a few official challenges. Then we talked about something that both of us had started and that needed finishing. Kimberly had a illustrated book she's been working on for years. I had a mini comic idea with a few rough drawings. We decided that we would complete a story book.

I had made a few drawings that I had the notion to make into a mini comic. Years ago when I first started this project, I did what I could and waited for my tools and know-how to catch up with me. This is a dicey thing to do because this often means that a given project would not get done.

My journey has not been unique. I was a writer for years. I had made the decision to be a writer. I sought education to do. I practiced and practiced and in many ways, I'm still practicing. It was no different when I wanted to be a photographer and later a graphic designer.

When I first conceived of Dérangé Désir, it was a comic. I wanted to draw a comic about two people who decided to run away and hideout in the desert. I have no recollection of why I wanted to do this. I made a series of drawings that were not much more than doodles and then I put them into a folder and forgot about them.

What I conceived for the project was inspired by a zine series I did during my last semester at Front Range. I made 8 issues, each with eight panels. During the process, I had to follow the criteria of the assignment. I used Illustrator. So when it came to Dérangé Désir, I decided that I wanted to render my drawings digitally and manipulate them with Illustrator.

Higher Laws: Compassion Part IV

Estes Park, Colorado is one of my favorite places. On the surface this probably sounds fantastic coming from a guy like me. After all, Estes Park is one classic “taffy town.” You know those taffy towns because they have more ice cream and taffy shops than seem possible, with one of these installed every block, sometime two to a block. Estes Park is at the gates to Rocky Mountain National Park and the Stanley Hotel is there too. It's overrun by tourists all summer long and it has the proper amount of hotels, motels, resorts and the amusements to support it.

Why do I like it? Good question. I think the best part of the place is the way the light looks. It doesn't look like Colorado to me. During the day, and it doesn't matter what time of day, it looks like it's mid-morning. The light is soft, which is unlike the rest of Colorado where the light is searing and white. Remember when you were a kid drawing your house with crayons, the little peaked house with the chimney and smoke? Was the sun you drew yellow? If it was, you do not come from Colorado. Our sun is white, very white and the light it produces is also very white. The exceptions to this are during overcast days and days of wildfires. I don't know why the light is the way it is in Estes Park, it could be from the geography, who knows? But it's what I like about the place.

Higher Laws: Compassion Part III

I've been thinking about the world in which I live in a great deal lately. I think namely because I'm somewhat distressed and somewhat 'I told you so' disappointed. The latter is tough because I am not an 'I told you so' sort of person. I try not to lay blame. I'm more of a 'I didn't see it go down like that' sort of person.

This is what I mean, we are in the midst of a conservative backlash right now. Not just us, I mean, much of the world. I don't get it, I don't want to get it. Daily I see the rights of many of my fellow world citizens being taken away. I'm especially concerned about women. I'm concerned for any population or group that is, or has been marginalized. I fear for these people. I also acknowledge that I am a white, straight, educated male living in modern America. I feel very fortunate.