BLOTTING PAPER The Comic: Production Report No.22

Art, Blotting Paper, Cats in Comics, Comics, Germania January 3, 2015

NOTE:   R E- E D I T   C U R R E N T L Y   I N  P R O G R E S S!

Here is the next report documenting production progress of the next issue and chapter of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics- Chapter 4- Beer, Chocolate and Comics. The story continues with both cats arriving in Hamburg in a shipping container on a freighter and ends with them, possibly accompanied by a newly acquired canine friend on another freighter bound for Tokyo Bay, Japan being the setting for the subsequent chapter. This scenario may of course be altered in coming weeks.

The 0909 lines document-ink stamped on paper-© 2015 Michael Hill

The 0909 lines document-ink stamped on paper-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill

I am continuing my graphic experiments with ink and paint on paper, printed, torn and drawn, and sometimes collaged, to create documents, scenes and settings as well as thought and voice balloons for the characters.

Graphic Thought Balloon, ink and paint on paper-© 2014 Michael Hill

Graphic thought balloon, ink and paint on paper-©2014 Dr. Michael Hill

Graphic Voice balloon, ink and paint on paper-© 2014 Michael Hill

Graphic voice balloon, ink and paint on paper-©2014 Dr. Michael Hill

Set design, painted paper collage-© 2014 Michael Hill

Set design, painted paper collage-©2014 Dr. Michael Hill

Ink and watercolour drawing of Hamburg-© 2007 Michael Hill

Ink and watercolour drawing on paper of room in a Hamburg hotel-©2007 Dr. Michael Hill

These were quick sketches made on my previous travels in Germany. They were kept in notebooks and forgotten till it seemed they had both relevance and resonance for this project and consequently led to my finding ways of working them into this chapter.

Ink and watercolour drawing on paper of design details in Germany-© 2007 Michael Hill

Ink and watercolour drawing on paper of design details in Germany-©2007 Dr. Michael Hill

More visual developments and an update on progress will be posted on this blog in three or four weeks time as I continue to close in on completion of the comic.

UPDATE 20 JANUARY 2015: In response to a query in the comments below I have now added examples of how I might use the abstract landscapes as backgrounds or graphic expressions:

Using abstract landscape as background-© 2014 Michael Hill

Using abstract landscape as background-©2014 Dr. Michael Hill

Using abstract landscape as thought balloon-© 2014 Michael Hill

Using abstract landscape as thought balloon-©2014 Dr. Michael Hill

More visual developments and an update on progress will be posted on this blog around the end of the month as I near completion of the comic.

by

Creator and former Director of the Master of Animation course at the University of Technology, Sydney, Dr. Michael Hill has a Master's degree in animation and a PhD in comics studies, prompting his introduction on ABC Radio as “Doctor Comics”. A member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Comic Art, and former member of the Comics Grid Journal of Comics Scholarship and the Advisory Committee of the Q-Collection Comic Book Preservation Project, he has delivered public lectures on Comics, Anime and Manga and held academic directorships in Interdisciplinary Studies, Animation, Design and Visual Communication. Having donated his collection of research materials on Australian alternative comics to the National Library of Australia he is now active in the artistic domain, writing, drawing and printmaking, creating art postcards and prints and his own graphic novel Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions of Doctor Comics.

Comments 7

  1. Kay Rodriques says on January 19, 2015

    The abstract backgrounds are interesting. What ended up on them? In other words, what did the final comics look like?
    P.S. Where did you get that art bag and what brand is it? I need a small sturdy one like that that will also ward off water/dew on the grass in the outdoor locations I frequent for drawing onsite. Thanks!

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    • Doctor Comics says on January 19, 2015

      I’m still actually working through this. Some I have simply used as backgrounds and others I have cut into shapes as thought balloons. I shall scan a couple examples tomorrow and post them here.

      As to that bag. It is a nameless brand. I was lucky enough to find it at a second-hand store in the country. It was in bad condition so I had a boot-maker stitch it up and sew in a few replacement strips and fix up the fasteners and handle. It is quite sturdy and I have coated it with beeswax to make it waterproof.

      Thanks for your interest.

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      • Kay Rodriques says on January 20, 2015

        I love your work. Will keep a look out for the background posts. I do the same thing. The funeral paintings were all from cutouts of a background I created.
        About the bag — you did great with that find.

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        • Doctor Comics says on January 20, 2015

          Thank you. Good to hear that you are using a similar strategy. I have added two test images at the bottom of the post(above)-one using an abstract landscape as a background, the other using an abstract landscape as a thought balloon, just to give you an idea of what I’m doing.

          And that bag, it was my day.

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          • Kay Rodriques says on February 11, 2015

            Hi! I have a question — you can email the answer if you prefer to: kayrodriques@yahoo.com
            The question is about your postcards that were in sale in a gallery show. Were they originals or prints? How did you price them and did you sell them matted? I’m making some for sale at a “meet the artist event”. Some originals, some prints. All signed. But I don’t know what a good price is!! Help?
            Tx so much.

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          • Doctor Comics says on February 12, 2015

            Thank you for your interest and question Kay. The postcards were original prints, 6 x 4 inches in size on card and sold un-matted in cellophane bags. The bagging protected them from handling and enabled customers to see both sides of the card. I didn’t attach them to mattes as I wanted to underline their utilitarian aspect namely that they could be written on and mailed through the postal service. But collectors could arrange to have them matted and framed themselves if they so desired. Alternatively they could be presented as gifts in their shiny plastic bagging. If you take a look at Production Report No.29: https://doctorcomics.com/2013/11/01/blotting-paper-the-comic-production-report-no-29/ you can see a photo of some of the cards in their bags on display in the gallery. The cards were priced at $A5 which, in retrospect, was a bit undervalued considering they were originals and some mass printed art cards cost $A2.50 or more. I love this format of making prints on cards although I am gradually coming across to the idea of keeping the originals and making digital copied prints from these.

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