I used to make comics. I know that because strangers would look at my work and immediately share their most excruciatingly banal experiences with me:

— that time a motorised wheelchair cut in front of them in the line at the supermarket;
— when the dentist pulled the wrong tooth and they tried to get a discount;
— eating off an apple and finding half a worm in it;

every anecdote rounded of with a triumphant “You should make a comic about that!”

Then I would take my 300 pages graphic novel out of their hands, both of us knowing full well they weren’t going to buy it, and I’d smile politely, “Yeah, sure. Someday.”

“Don’t try to cheat me out of my royalties when you publish it,” they would guffaw and walk away to grant comics creator status onto their next victim.

Nowadays I make work that feels even more truly like comics to me than that almost twenty years old graphic novel. Collage-y, abstract stuff that breaks all the rules just begging to be broken. Linear narrative is ashes settling in my trails, montage stretched thin and warping in new, interesting directions.

I teach comics techniques at a university level based in my current work. I even make an infrequent podcast talking to other avantgarde artists about their work in the same field.

Still, sometimes at night my subconscious whispers the truth in my ear: Nobody ever insists I turn their inane bullshit nonevents into comics these days, and while I am a happier, more balanced person as a result of that, I guess that means I don’t make comics any longer after all.

  • 1 Post
  • 91 Comments
Joined 3 months ago
Cake day: November 23rd, 2024
  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoFediverse@lemmy.ml•IFTAS is in a Funding Crisis
    51·
    1 day ago

    There is probably no doubt that this at least in part has to do with the current political climate in the US, and I think there is a potential here to grow a US-centric org and try to establish instead a network of national organisations coordinating their efforts internationally.

    This might — on a longer timescale than “by April we can’t pay our bills” — make for a broader field of potential funding from national, regional, and other grants applicable to local organisations. Certainly, the EU would be amenable to funding an organisation like IFTAS.

    On another level this decentralisation would not only chime well with the nature of the fediverse (indeed, the internet), but also add a diversity of international perspectives to the IFTAS’ efforts.

    This might also dispel the notion in some quarters that the internet is somehow a thing for North Americans to govern. From a European point of view — and certainly in my personal bubble, as a Scandinavian who does a lot if not most of my online communication in English — there has probably never been as much distrust in US decision making as now, and it might become IFTAS and other organisations to recognise that.

    Once again, none of the above would solve IFTAS’ immediate finances, but if the org struggles through the lack of funding somehow, it might benefit from the broader perspectives.

  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoLinux@programming.dev•Arch is the most newbie friendly distro, apparently
    4·
    2 days ago

    TL;DR — after poor experiences with Mint and other Debian-based distros (on cheap laptops with fringe hardware), the writer had learned enough about the ins and outs of Linux that an Arch install was a piece of cake. They then conclude that Arch isn’t as deep techie as its reputation.

    Personally, I’ve gone from years of Debian to EndeavourOS, and although it’s a more “user friendly” version of Arch I have to agree with their point. They just omit the benefit of the learning curve that comes with late hours trying to get your off-brand touchpad (or whatever) to work with a more conservative/stable distro and its selection of drivers.