This is the first in what I intend will be a regular series of reports documenting the production progress of my debut solo comic/artist book Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics. Partly autobiographical and partly fictive it draws on selected comics related incidents and reflections from my academic career including attempts to carry the comics flag within art and design education in both teaching and research. It also contains anecdotes relating to my Doctor Comics’s alias’s adventures and to my own longstanding interest in comics studies. Following several false starts the first chapter has been written, the design roughed out and the artwork under construction. Printmaking is being employed in the generation of the graphic work including both woodblock, linocut and Japanese sosaku hanga, rubber stamps and seals. Drawing, photography, typography and handwriting will also be incorporated as image-making techniques. The intention is to make a free form comic in an artist’s book type of format.

Typographic design of title of comic(image reversed)-© 2011 Michael Hill. (Photo by Michael Hill)

Although I am finding it a much more time consuming process to make a comic than to read or review one I am enjoying the creative experience and I anticipate spending more time making and less time critiquing so I have switched the order of emphasis in my social media profile from ‘critiquing and creating’ to ‘creating and critiquing’.

Some of the stamps, chops and seals I have assembled. (Photo by Michael Hill)

The Red Cat illustration-a possible design for one of the feline characters in my comic (pencil and ink drawing-© 2010 Michael Hill)

Along with Doctor Comics there are a couple of cat characters in the story to keep him company and create something of a contrast with him. These are currently being designed. Back soon.

UPDATE: For a visual diary record and time-line overview of this project, read the BLOTTING PAPER production reports: Issue #1:  No.1   No.2   No.3   No.4   No.5   No.6   No.7   No.8   No.9   No.10   No.11   No.12   No.13