Scene Report: Basement Studio
It’s convention season again for the first time since 2019, and I’m missing the scene this year! My littlest kids are only just now fully vaccinated (the third shot has to be 70 days after the first, it’s a long lag!), but even if my whole family had been fully vaccinated & boosted back when applications were open to exhibit at shows, I still would’ve bowed out this year. I miss exhibiting, I miss the energy I get from talking to attendees and the inspiration I get from talking to other artists, I miss my friends I only see quarterly at hotel convention floors & libraries across the continent, but without new work to show, I know it wouldn’t feel good to be back.
So: my own 2022 scene report! NW Chicago, yellow house, basement studio. Giant thermos of coffee is 3/4 finished. Right hand ring finger nail is inky from dipping a nib pen into the inkwell. Not drawing daily diary comics as consistently as I used to because a) morning swimming has blissfully eaten up that first-things-first time slot, and b) I’m drawing pages, so dailies aren’t as big a temptation for itchy fingers. Wearing a fleece jacket but not yet a hat & scarf & Snuggie blanket—the unheated basement is chilly but not yet frigid. Curtains put up so the neighbor’s dogs don’t watch me and bark down into the basement when I move around. The script is close to done but I can’t figure out how to work through a sticky story problem, so instead of angrily pacing or doing another load of laundry while I think, I’m penciling pages and inking the first chapter. I’m remembering how much better I think through drawing—remembering I’m a cartoonist, not a novelist, for a reason. This change of gears is working. Feeling optimistic and excited about this book coming together.
Happy autumn, beloveds.