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def in Japan: a comic diary

Two more pages, seven and eight. Maybe two left. This is a good use of time.

In writing with print in mind, I've been able to keep things with odd numbered pages in mind, so the large panel on the way to the crematorium on page six ends the two page spread, giving a good beat before the page flip. Page seven starts on a fresh beat. Unfortunately, page eight doesn't end on a very good beat, as page nine will continue from the end of eight. These are the things that need to be kept in mind when pacing comics, but there's really nothing that could be done in terms of the length of content.



 
I really like this funeral cartoon .... easy on the eye and very informative.
You may well be working on this, but it would make an excellent book if you could put together in one volume, various aspects of life in Japan in this manner.

Two of my favourite Japanese films involve funerals:

Osoushiki
Os?shiki (1984) - IMDb

and Okuribito
Departures (2008) - IMDb

I love the black humour in both.
 
Thanks a lot. I don't know what the future holds. I basically started up drawing a year and a half ago with the comics at the start of this thread, and slowly I'm developing my chops. I think it's just at a solid level now, and hope to get better in the next year. As long as I keep steady at it.

For the time being, I'm working on little books of 30-40 pages. A proper book would be out of my range at the moment. But if such strips amass naturally over time, I would like to shop them around. I would love to have this piece properly printed somewhere, I think it's of publishable quality.
 
More studies.


Some guy saw me drawing a vending machine and did a triple take, trying to see why it was interesting.
 
Complete! A nice, quick story done in two weeks. Very happy about that.



 
Dotanbatan said:
Very poignant ending.
Click to expand...

I appreciate that. I felt that last page was wrapped up a little too soon, but I couldn't justify an 11th page. My thought processes are so simple, I have a hard time processing the notion that I wrote something poignant.
 
nahadef said:
I appreciate that. I felt that last page was wrapped up a little too soon, but I couldn't justify an 11th page. My thought processes are so simple, I have a hard time processing the notion that I wrote something poignant.
Click to expand...

LOL.

The most poignant expressions usually are quite simple ... because they come straight from the heart!
 
nahadef said:
Click to expand...
I ran into this kid on the subway today. I saw him, thought it was him, then thought it wasn't. Then he walked near me so that he could 'bump into' me, and we started talking.

His school was terrible, and I requested not to work there again, and I only remembered two kids names in that whole year (600 students, and they stretched me pretty thin, my brain was broke). I was happy to see him, and call him by name. I had thought he was on the verge of special ed, and if so, so what? He's a genuinely nice kid. So many kids here (and around the world) are rotten and too cool for school by age 14, I was delighted to have a little chat with him.

Man, this comic is less than two years old, but it feels like a world away.

Did this tonight. Nothing Japanese. Just an interesting vibe.

 
nahadef said:
Click to expand...

This is actually very interesting. Have you ever considered creating a series of comics which focus on the things that shouldn't be done, maybe for people who might be interested in going to Japan, or people who would simply like to know about culture? This is the sort of thing that I can't really see myself messing up in practice, but I'm pretty happy to know not to do it now.

People who are interested in Japan DO tend to flock around information about what they should never do in Japan, so it might also be a way to get more exposure. Just a thought. Great comics, as always!
 

It's a great idea to get published, but it would be a lot of work that I'm not whole heartedly excited about, and the profits would be small. Who knows in the future though.

I just set my first work up for digital distribution. I will be putting up a collection of the best diary strips, but I haven't organised them yet.

If you want to support/own a high quality pdf of my stuff from the last six months, it's available through Paypal here:
Square #11: Life PDF



I won't be paying rent with it, but it's nice to have it available for easy sale.
 
Ishikari Beach, north (?) of Sapporo.



Japanese breakfasts, for a kids lesson. I love having a day job where I can draw.



The park near my house, the setting for my next long comic.
 
Hard at work; it's a work in progress, so I haven't had any native speakers check the Japanese here. I will before it's printed.















 
Some more new work. The connection to Japan is specious. There were very Japanese calligraphic strokes used....

Toronto


Strokes
 
Doodling the neighbourhood. Should be more of these.

 
Congratulations.
 
Thanks!
 
Thanks! It's really been a good year for this sort of thing. I put a lot of work in in 2013, and it's paying off now. I may not be satisfying every reader, but why would you want to?
 
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