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 tertiary 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 of my comic has been written, the design roughed out and the artwork under construction. Printmaking is being employed in the generation of some of the graphic work including both woodblock, linocut and Japanese sosaku hanga, along with rubber stamps and seals. Drawing, photography, typography, collage and handwriting are also being utilised as image-making techniques. The intention is to construct a free form comic in an artist’s book style format.

Typographic design of title of comic (image reversed)-© 2011 Dr. Michael Hill. (Photo-© 2011 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)

Although I am finding it a much more time consuming process to make a comic than to read, study, review one, I love the enjoyment and excitement of the creative experience and anticipate spending more time making and less time critiquing comics in the future. Don’t tell the Dean of the Faculty! Consequently, 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 collected and assembled for the project including name postcards that I intend using as business cards. (Photo-© 2011 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)

My Red Cat illustration is a possible design for one of the feline characters in the comic (colour pencil and ink drawing-© 2010 Dr. Michael Hill)

Along with Doctor Comics role there are a couple of feline characters in the story who keep him company and share in reading his comics collection. These are comics reading cats, and together create something of a contrast with him. These are currently being designed.