ALTERNATIVE COMICS Surreal Stories

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

The new HEY APATHY! Surreal comics are basically a side project while I work of the upcoming animation. In order to keep practicing comics while otherwise involved the recent drawings have primarily been created on a small scale and in sketchbooks. The works suffer technically from time restraints and materials but do however offer an unique approach to story telling and imaginary investigations otherwise unobtainable.

On the one hand I’ve no time to develop the scripts and the sketch book paper does not lend itself to fine detail. The drawings are restricted by the size of the book and the type of paper being used. 8.5 x 11 is approximately half the size of a regular comics page. The paper also has a tendency to bleed slightly which, in combination while the scale, makes it nearly impossible to render intricate imagery. An obvious example involved drawing the eyes of the character. In the sketchbook the addition of the iris always results in a blurred mess around the pupil. Therefore the new strips don’t have any iris’. The sketchbook medium frees me from technical and conceptual concern. Even though I’m going to post these strips, it really doesn’t matter what I draw. There is often a pressure associated with creating works for exhibition, publication, commission or on expensive materials. None of these factors apply to the sketch book. In fact the finished drawings become of little importance and the imaginary scenarios take precedence. (Which is weird because none of it makes any sense).

Despite the technical restrictions the sketchbook permits an immediate, intuitive and meditative approach to the pages. Often stories that are to weird to think of, or would never have been made upon further deliberation, come to life regardless. I devised a sort of literary device. The format follows that each page functions as an entire story, like a news paper funny, while simultaneously revealing a larger narrative. This technique works as a guide for the drawing and story telling and is intended as a weekly web comic in which each instalment is self contained and continuous. I also pack a lunch and go to the park which, although technically problematic, is a very quiet and productive place for me. Once I get there I really don’t have any thing else to do but work. These elements, in combination with the oddly beneficial limitations, really allow me to attack the blank pages and dive deep into the world of the weird. see more Alternative Comics