COMIC: Letters From Space Camp (Day 2, page 2) (Patreon)

Letters From Space Camp is my memoir about going through a mental hospital program and for my pitch to publishers I am revising the Day Two chapter, which covers my second day in the mental hospital program. This is my third draft, you can read the first draft and second draft to see how it's changed (and it has changed).

🔙 Catch up on the previous page, page 1 🔙

Ok, BIG transition from page 1 to page 2.

After talking about it with Matt, I felt the story would be stronger if I fully rendered the backgrounds and other characters, while drawing myself and the other hospital out-patients as simplified stick figures. So, I drew page 1 in my typical way- sleek, crisp black lines and cartoon-y character design. You can only see Cartoon Erika's face on page 1, but the plan was to draw the rest of my body as a stick figure, which would contrast against Matt's fully-drawn cartoony design.

But, the first page just wasn't sitting right with me.

It was too clean, too clinical, for a story about being a fucking mess.

After talking about it with Matt, I came away with the realization that I needed to draw Cartoon Erika  as a sketchy stick figure and I needed to switch from using a crisp inking line to a soft pencil line for everything just to make the world more... inviting? I dunno. A place the reader feels comfortable resting (their eyes) in.

The sketchiness on the Erika character shows how unraveled I was, how undone and falling apart. I also made the decision to color myself the same blue as the background to show how flattened I was emotionally and mentally. I basically disappear into my surroundings, I'm lost.

I'm very happy with this change of art direction, but it does mean I have to go back to page 1 and implement these style revisions 😒

Also,

welcome to my home.