Starting comic project.

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PingTiao
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Starting comic project.

Post by PingTiao »

Well, I made my first mini comic the other day, it was for a public speaking presentation about making comics. Anyhow I started thinking about stuff after that very rewarding experience...makin the comic, not the speech.

Anyhow, I got the idea to do a comic about the perilous world of being a child in this "Great Country" of ours. Child abuse in all its forms (that I can identify) will be covered. The beatings, neglect (from parents and society), the foster/group home system, lack of rights and political power, school, mass media manipulation, and all the bad stuff I can think of.

I have experienced these things and more in my past, and they pissed me off then, and it pisses me off more to know this is still happening all over the country, probably getting worse I'm guessin from all the school shootings and stuff.

My question is, with this sort of sensitive subject, where do I draw a line at expressing my own opinions in style and word choice? I want to do this from my 15 yr old point of view from that time. I was a pissed punker kid who hated all the crap people were doing to me. Do I go with that brutal honesty, my foul mouth, extreme teenaged opinions, and art appropriate enough to go along, or do I try to make this thing accessible to as many people as possible by cleaning up some of that stuff and focusing more on my points? I do want to reach a wide audience with this book, children going through stuff, adults doing it to them, the the silent observer who does nothing to stop the crap, etc. I know I can blend the two approaches, but it becomes a blend, a muddy version of two different approaches.

My question seems one of accessibility or expression. Clarity or truth?
Commercial product or art? Just wanna hear some thoughts on this delimma so many artists will have. I lean towards the more extreme, brutally honest approach, it's what I would have done if I made the comic when I was going through the stuff, I wanna be more true to what I would have wanted to create at the time. Seems unfair in a way to the people I think would want to see this, to water things down with my opinions formed from my "mature" perspective.

Class over, im gettin kicked out.

Be back tomorrow.

PingTiao
eveil
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Post by eveil »

If you?re asking for direction, I would say, choose the road that fits your boots. I don?t see why you can?t try one way a little, and if it doesn?t turn out to suit you, turn around and try again on another way. You seem to have a good eye on the pros and cons of your options.

I get the impression that you have ideas to express. If that?s the case, I would say ?audience be damned,? and express myself. If I were hoping to draw in an audience, perhaps for pay or the need for attention to a particular matter, I would take some time to study those who are already doing that, see how they do it, what?s working, what?s not.
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PingTiao
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Post by PingTiao »

yeah I generally am inclined to do what i wanna do. Sorry if my info was a bit vague, dont wanna go into alot of that cuz of the whole plagairism thing online.... yknow, im just gonna do it the way I feel it and hope the message gets to people rather than being overlooked because of the rough edges, like my attitude. Yur right, altho audience is an important thing in most comics, I also agree with the idea if the creator likes it, then someone else may.

I put some more thought into this last night and decided to go with the hardcore version rather than the Disney version because, while Disney may get it's movies out to the masses, there is no substance (anymore) and the points of the movies are lost amongst all the song and dance, much like puppet shows in sunday school. And all the messages are dumbed down and redundant anyway.

Occasionally someone with a hard point comes along, and hits us hard with that point (or lack of), like Daniel Clowes, Picasso, Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Tool, and anyone else you can think of along these lines. While many do not become as popular as they would have had they been kiss assers (these are some big names in the extreme category, most come off pretty nutty, like Alex Jones.), they still got their message out there and connected with some of people who could care about what was said. I just want to hear one story of someone who was helped by my work. Morons who would burn my books be damned.

thanks for thinking eveil.

Ping
ragtag
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Post by ragtag »

I'm glad to hera you're going for the hardcore, honest version. Personally I would much rather read that than any kind of cleaned up Disney version. The themes and story you're talking about sound very interesting, so be sure to keep us posted on your progress and any eventual publishing date. I'd love to read it. :)

If you haven't seen it, you might want to grab a copy of Pixote. Excellent movie (Oscar for best foreign film when it came out) that touches on many of the same themes you mention. Most of the roles are played by kids from the slums in Sao Paulo.

Cheers,

Ragnar
InkAddict
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Post by InkAddict »

I might be breaking into open doors, here, but I'm convinced truth and clarity shouldn't be opposed to eachother.

In Scott McCloud's view the basic elements of "high comicing" are FORM and CONTENT: When you create what is considered ART, either you have a message about the medium*, or have a message to pass through the medium**.

*(As the impressionists had a message about the depiction of colour and the "reality" and truthfulness of paint in general)

**(Warhol's "factory art", while decadent in itself, mainly provoked the consumer society America had become (or tried to, at least) )

Now in both cases this message is the central focus!

But while it may suit some artists/writers/authors/creators/… to produce coherent but hermetic works, understood by none but scholared critics, I feel the best art explains "itself" (not necessarily through the easy "Disney" way, but it should contain its own keys, not only its own locks)

A marvellous example in comics still remains "V for Vendetta", by Alan Moore.

Most people I have introduced this comic to have called it the ugliest comic they have ever seen.

While it is extremely relevant today (Human Rights vs. Terrorism, good vs. evil, chaos vs. order, Law vs. Justice,…) it can ONLY convey its impact through these "ugly drawings". They are as much part of the message/TRUTH as they are part of the telling of the message/CLARITY.
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DOOM2099
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Re: Starting comic project.

Post by DOOM2099 »

PingTiao wrote: The beatings, neglect (from parents and society), the foster/group home system, lack of rights and political power, school, mass media manipulation, and all the bad stuff I can think of.
Man, when I think of the craziness that goes on right here in the good ol US of A, it makes me wanna put my Punisher costume on and kill everybody. By Punisher costume, I mean a black t-shirt and a slingshot.

But there are a great many causes to rally for, animal abuse (GrrRRR), prison rape gangs, the list is endless.

I would rather see money pumped into these types of injustices rather than the War on Drugs. What I mean is, we need to focus on the here and now, this stuff is right on out front doorstep. Where are the protests? Where are the marches? Let's march for diversity in the workplace. YAYYYYYYY!!! We are making a difference for all the worthless people ''of color'' who were incapable of getting or keeping a job before, but are now in charge of the whole show. WTFG!
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