So, it's been a while again. If it's any comfort I don't really have much time to update my Norwegian blogs these days. I've got so much to do, and when I'm really busy I always start wanting to do other things. So then I have to make time to do both the other things AND the things I'm supposed to do :p
Last weekend I went to that seminar for Egmont, which is probably the biggest publishing company that do comics in Norway (actually, that doesn't say much, because allthough we are rumored to be the second most comic-reading country in the world -guess who number one is- it's mostly comic strips and humor, mostly in the funny pages).
We had a course with Norways number one Donald Duck artist, Arild Midthun, who is always delightfully dedicated :D I don't agree with absolutely everything he sais, but he is remarkable, and have probably been the biggest influence on my comicing, out of the "teachers and mentors" I have had through the years.
He tought us about processes, what's important and what we shouldn't emphasize so much on (which is also a very important lesson), and he thought us about scanning. There was a lot of talk about colouring settings and things, which doesn't apply to me much, since I have no big ambitions about making comics in colour, but since I'm learning Photoshop, it was still usefull.
And then he gave us some candid inside-information about just how much controll Disney demands over absolutely every detail in the Donald Duck comics published in Norway XD
After that each of the participants had their comics thoroughly dissecated on a big screen. The people who mostly talked, ofcourse, were Alild and the editors.
Some of the critique was kind of harh, but I didn't feel hurt by any of it, actually. Allthough listening to the others I was terrified of what they would say when they got to mine.
I had brought "Skinnene Synger" (Singing Railwaytracks, ?) and a new short story I did for this months Bobla, called "Nå sees vi aldri mer" (Now we'll never meet again).
I realize I have to get less lazy with drawings. I often feel that since I make like 6-7 drawings (panels) in ONE page, each and every one of them can't be perfect, but especially with a 9-pager, why shouldn't they?
One person also told me that sometimes she didn't really know whether it was alright to laugh at my humor or not, because the rest of the content seemed so serious. I wouldn't really know what to do about that. This is the style I write, and the pieces of the story comes to me very naturally. After it's written down I choose what to cut and what to keep, ofcourse, but I don't want to make it ALL serious. They described my comics as "poetic" all the time, which makes me really really happy, but it's not what I've really tried to go for. I've just written the stories, without really categorizing. The humour is there for the people who see it (and I'm glad to see that peole who don't know me also get it), but if you don't understand when it's supposed to be funny, you can still enjoy it.
I was also told by one of the editors that the ending of Skinnene synger didn't have a strong enough point to prove why the characters acted the way they did. At first I though "Damn, he's right". I thought I'd been too into the universe of this story (talk more about it futher down) and didn't consider the reader. But thinking more about it I think he's overthinking it. The factor of the unknown (which he congratulated me on earlier in the story) challanges the reader to imagine it. Using very big words here:p
Why would people act this way just because of that poster, right?
Ok, sorry, talking a lot about a comic that I havn't translated yet.
So anyway, good advice. Some of it that I'll take, some of it that I probably won't.
It was also really nice to get to know these editors, finally! This will make it a lot easier to send them mails and stuff, and maybe harder for them to ignore us XD
I don't think they're scary anymore at all, they were really nice people!
And afterwards we went out to a pub, and got free food and drink on the companys bill :D
Got to talk alot with the other participants. I only slightly knew one of them from before, and it was surprising how much fun we had. Comicers are often quite awkward people, me included, but in a pub situation I'm not just a comicer anymore.
We were three girls, out of ten people, and only me and ONE of them made non-humours serieses. Unfortunately the two other girls were very shy. They didn't drink alcohol (not a bad thing, but you know) and they could hardly eat the food they ordered. Much less make conversation. It's too bad, 'cause I would love to have gotten to know them.
Everyone else had prepared portopholios though... All I had was some originals to Like Totally, that I'd brought in case I had time to draw :p
BUT! One of the editors was very interested in seeing the script for the stroy that I made Skinnene Synger out from, so I guess I will send it to her.
The story is about a future where musicians have gone on a strike and music has become so taboo that noone listens to it. Our main character, Kagerou, quit his band because of the "revolution", but is now completely miserable.
He discovers that a work buddy listens to music and gets really angry, but Lynx takes him to an underground live house and tries to get him back into music.
I'm kinda nervous about sending the script, first of all 'cause it's kind of a crazy story, but hey, it's fantasy right? Secondly, I've never written a script for anyone to see except myself. I don't like showing things to people before it's done. A comic just doesn't look very good when it's only in words and not in pictures, I don't write down all the descriptions and details that are gonna be in the pictures, so it's just actiona and dialogue. Kind of looks like really bad literature or fanfiction :p
But I am gonna send it! Can't miss up on this chance.
This is a doodle I did during the seminar. It's of two of the characters from another story I'm writing.
Here's another drawing form the story:
