Memoir: How to Visually Depict Terror

As I continue work on my graphic memoir (trigger warning:  it includes a scene in which I find a dead body), I'm thinking about how I can use different visual styles, maybe even different art tools, to depict the disintegration of my normal mental state into terror as I realized I was in a life-threatening situation.

That got me thinking about how much I've learned about how trauma is processed preverbally and wondering if I could recreate the finding of the dead body scene with no words at all. 

Anyhow, I had out the pens and paints, so I decided to draw it all again (for what, the 200th time??).  I did not relook at anything I've drawn before, but of course, I remember much of what I've already drawn.  So some of these images might look familiar if you've read this blog much before.

Anyhow this was just for fun, messing around to see what I could learn by doing it.  There's nothing better than playing with art supplies and seeing what other parts of your brain they might open up!

Dogs, the Woods, Mid Century Modern, and Me

I had some fun combining my drawing interests of the last few weeks into a little sketch of me and the dogs who star in my graphic memoir, but in mid century modern style.

I've been scribbling a lot lately with depicting myself and my dogs in the woods, since we are there during so much of my graphic memoir.

And over Thanksgiving I spent some time playing with another on-going interest, my love of mid-century modern style cartoons.  Is there anything better than Gerald McBoing Boing?  NO!!

Anyhow, I spent some more time looking at mid century modern illustrations of people and dogs, and  of wooded areas and then, inspired by those,  did a little sketch on my iPad pro of myself and my dogs.  Highly stylized of course.

One piece of inspiration I found on the web:

My own take on it:

This would be an example of me learning by "stealing like an artist."  Copying, making it my own, learning and learning how to do it.

And I also practiced rough textures, half tones, and offsetting the layers of line, color, and shade to get what seems to be elements of that mid century modern look.

What I love most about this little sketch is the dogs.  I think they are terrific.  I might do more with my dogs and cats in this style.

And I wish I were that tall and skinny.  Whoo!  

More on Walking in the Woods When Frightened

My graphic memoir in progress focuses on something very scary that happened to me while I was walking my dogs in the woods one morning.

So I've been experimenting a lot of the last year or so with how the woods look to me normally, versus how they looked when I was terrified.

The classic example of this, in my mind, is the scene from Disney's Snow White when she flees the murderer through the forest.

I didn't experience the trees, the woods, as my enemy in this way.  I experienced them more as the container of evil.

Anyhow, I don't know how I'm ultimately going to depict this, but I thought I'd share a sketch or two in the next few weeks of me working these ideas out.

Ways of Drawing Walks in the Woods...and Terror

In the graphic memoir I'm working on, I have to draw myself and my dogs walking (or running, or standing frozen in shock) in the woods.  A lot.

So I've been looking at other comics artists who have drawn people moving through the woods, and copying them, learning from them.

I've already posted some of the work I did learning how to draw "Watterson trees" from Calvin and Hobbes strips.

Here's a sketch I did inspired by Jeff Lemire's work in Roughneck.  A wonderful book, by the way.  Full of astonishing visual complexity.

It's that interesting perspective, that sense of conveying a vast space but a narrow focus that I really admire and want to use.  The sort of tunnel vision of the terrified...

Loving Early Snowfalls

Inspired by an exercise provided by Jill Badonsky during a workshop at SketchKon 2018 (more on that in upcoming posts!), I drew this little comic.

Love this season of early snows!

This is a great way to make a journal entry of a delightful moment in the day.

Inspired by Lemire's Roughneck

Lately I've been looking at how other comics artists draw people moving through the woods, especially from the perspective of the sky.  My brain can't generate that on its own, and it's an image I want to be able to convey in my memoir.

Inspired by how Jeff Lemire does it in his recent (and wonderful) graphic novel Roughneck, I drew this quick sketch.  Obviously I imported myself and my dogs into the tree perspectives.

This is helping me understand how the perspective guide in Procreate can help me too.

Perspective is a mystery to me, still....

Some Fall Trees

I have the tremendous good fortune of living in the woods.

And I really like to draw trees.

Here a few pages from the beginning of last fall, as we entered winter.  As I look around now at these same trees, they are just getting ready to bud.

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: The Final Post

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

I hope you've enjoyed the past 112 days of watercolor meditations on words or phrases from this text.

Next week, I'll be resuming my "usual" blog activity, of exploring the variety of art I'm practicing.

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 111 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 110 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 109 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 108 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 107 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 106 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 105 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 104 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 103 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 102 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 101 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures

"The Daily Office" in Pictures: Number 100 of 111

This post is part of a project in which I painted one watercolor for each page of "The Daily Office" section in the Book of Common Prayer.  You can find the complete explanation of the project here.

art journals, attention, authenticity, color, composition, creativity, landscape, lectio, nature, painting, spirituality, trees, watercolor, BCP Project,

#BCP
#Episcopal
#DailyOfficeInPictures