Issue 7: Printing my first mini-comic
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Coco's Catchall. I appreciate you being here to read about and be a part of my creative journey. Let's dive in!
My first mini-comic
Frog Comics, by Coco! It may not be perfect, but I am proud of my very first printed mini-comic and how it came together. I have been so inspired by print-related events and conversations in my life lately that I could not help myself: I finally tried my hand at making a comic all by myself with the supplies I have at home.
The supplies turned out to be my art pens, a highlighter, and this cool zine template that works very well for a six-page zine on a normal 8.5 x 11 sheet of printer paper. My first step was to draw the comic, and to do so in a way that used only black and white and not too many subtle grays or shading so that the photocopier could use fewer gradients.
Once I had the comic drawn on a sheet of paper, I made the copies on my everyday home printer, and kept the original as flat as possible. I folded the first couple of copies poorly, but once I got the hang of it, I printed a clean set of ten and they were shiny and fresh. There it was in hand, my very first printed comic made by me!
The wonder and awe that inspired me to do this became fear of the power I now have once I saw the comics in my hands. "Oh, no!" I thought. "Now I know I can do this, and there's no excuse not to!" Which is a true statement of course, so expect some more mini-comics by Coco to appear in the future.
I am excited to sell these unique, one-of-a-kind, limited run mini-comics for $10 apiece so if you would like a copy please let me know. Just six left as of this email!
Pages 1 and 2
Pages 3 and 4
...And of course if you want to read the last two pages, you will have to get one of the remaining six copies left! Please email me or you can Venmo me $10 directly @cocos-cash to get your very own copy + an exclusive Santa frog sticker to boot.
Something I love right now
One of my absolute favorite Alfred Hitchcock suspense films is Rope (1948) with Jimmy Stewart. The premise is that two young men murder their former college acquaintance and hide the body in a chest that sits openly in their living room during a dinner party. The film brings the audience to a bizarre and morbid place from the start of the film and Jimmy Stewart is no less than brilliant in it.
It's an artful examination of the privilege of the two young white Harvard men who commit the murder, which feels as relevant today as it may have in 1948. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. I have rewatched it twice recently and it is always worth it!
My world
I have been enjoying my distractions in poetry submissions, artwork, illustration, sticker making, and the creation of comics. But my real desire and passion is, as we all know by now, novel writing. I have been too distracted this month by other things, and it's already December 12th! HEAVENS TO BETSY! (had to)
Point is, I'm going to do some heads-down novel writing work for the foreseeable future and let the creative "chips" of the last few weeks fall where they may. I have had a couple of brief phone calls with recruiters about tech jobs, but nothing that is enough to lure me away from the dedication of the novel manuscript I want to finish this month. So that is what's on my mind at the moment.
I think I promised some personal Poley printing history recently, so that is the next newsletter... I've even drafted it to focus myself!
Much love to everyone reading, and thank you so much as always for being here on this journey with me.
Coco