Meta Duck

Today, I want to share a comic about interacting with comics.

But first, let me link to a comic I made that appeared in The Nib's most recent issue - it's about fashion and childhood. You'll find it on this page (scroll down). Originally, that little four panel comic started out three years ago as a much longer story with multiple parts - I'm still wondering if maybe one day I'll revisit that!

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine asked me if I could contribute a comic to a magazine project he was working on for his degree in Publishing. He said I'd basically have free reign, but perhaps it could be a bit meta, about how comics in magazines work? I was keen to give it a go - I'd like to think that in the last few years of teaching myself to make comics I've picked up a few ideas here and there.

I also re-read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics for this occasion. If you are a visual artist (or a consumer of visual art and interested in how the sausage is made) I cannot recommend it enough. And don't be put off by it being about comics - most of the concepts discussed in it are applicable to all forms of media. I first read it five years ago, in the Art School's library when I was doing research for an essay I was writing, and it blew my mind! It kind of blew my mind again this time around, so after I'd picked all the pieces of my mind back up and reassembled it, I set out to write my own meta comic.

It was intended to be read as a full page in a magazine, but I hope it translates okay as single panels.

Thanks for reading (/swimming with me),

L x