"Teaching B to Read" - Published!

SAW Nonfiction Anthology

I just pre-ordered a few copies of the new anthology that includes my first printed comic! It’s called In the News, Again: A SAW Anthology. That’s the link to buy it, and I was impressed by how many contributors there are. SAW stands for the Sequential Artists Workshop, a fancy way of saying comic art.

I’ll post the first couple pages of my comic this week and the rest in weeks to come.

Making this took a LOT of time and drafts. It’s funny how I decided to start drawing because it felt easier than writing…hahaha. Little did I know.

I haven’t seen the physical book yet, but scrolling through the draft PDF we were sent, I couldn’t help feeling like my style of art looked more ‘childish.’ I want to get a better handle on shading. My favorite artists make it look so easy. I’ll keep copying and practicing and figuring out my style. But, since my comic is about reading and school, it fits the look I went for. I spent the most time on trying to make a LOT of information flow through six pages without being overly text heavy.

Let me know what you think!

That’s it for now!

Want some behind the scenes? I started with a nice piece of watercolor paper and made two pen and watercolor panels that I liked the look of, but was too overwhelmed to make the whole comic that way. For one, the text and text boxes are a fussy thing in comics. Also, I decided I liked the iPad program Procreate for the ease of manipulating layers and erasing. Finally, I need more practice drawing people.

Before I jumped into Procreate, I leaned on the Lynda Barry signature composition book style:

Here an early draft of what became the first page:

Two of Benton’s current favorite songs, “Lafayette” and “Hexie Mountains” by Orville Peck:

Love all a ya’ll
through time
& space
xo
Cassie