About

… me

I’m Arp, unschooling dad & partner to a lovely & inspiring woman.  We have 3 amazing kids.  I impersonated Elvis once.  This is my first comic.

Well – maybe second, if we count the ‘Nightmare on Sesame Street’ drawings I did in high school.  Or the ‘Toilet Shark’ series (don’t ask).  I started drawing since I before I can remember and the first thing I really wanted to be was an author.  I fell in love with comic books as a kid, rediscovered them in my teens and even wrote a Big Paper about them in high school.  That was 1990.  Then I stopped drawing and forgot all about comics for 19 years.

… my influences

… the comic

I just have the urge to create something that other unschoolers/life-learners/autodidacts/etc can relate to.  Vignettes of common experiences or what unschooling is like in action.  It won’t be in the form of long storylines but mostly single strips and a few longer ones, like Peanuts.

The art will involve stick figures because the strip will never get going otherwise.  I do expect the art to change & evolve over time and maybe someday move on from stick figures to more traditional cartoons.  I’ll just go with what feels right.

… my tools

It’s all digital – Adobe Illustrator & a Wacom Graphire 3 tablet.  Or at least that’s the plan, but those can change.  I recently got access to a scanner so I might try sketching with pencil & paper first, but adding the step of scanning turns me off.  I’d rather do it all in one program.

… and the point of the whole damn thing

I just want to do it.  Something compels me to create this.  I hope it moves you :-)

6 Responses

  1. moonflowerdragon says:
    May 16, 2010 at 9:50 am

    Hi Arp,

    thanks for the comment at my post and the heads up about your comic… how did you come upon my post? what a wonderful coincidence that yours will be about unschooling – its what my sons do.

    I'm so thrilled to be able to read a comic from its first issue. Good luck with it.
    My recent post A webcomic I read: Freefall

  2. arphaus says:
    May 16, 2010 at 3:56 pm

    I follow you on Twitter, and thus found your post this morning. I'm hoping you and other unschoolers like the comic – I really want something that we can relate to. I'm sure it'll be uneven at first and improve as time goes on.

    It's also like a training ground for 3-4 other comics I have gestating.

  3. moonflowerdragon says:
    May 16, 2010 at 10:06 am

    Hi Arp,
    That's so cool, I'm always so surprised when people find my twitter or blog. I also enjoyed Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, have you read his others?
    I remember reading Peanuts & Archie, oh and a variety of Harvey and Disney comics as a child before taking to Garfield and then when a little older adored Pini's Elfquest. My sons are both avid Garfield fans. Shortiye also likes Hagar, Swamp and Wizard of Id.
    I'm curious what you'll do with unschooling in a comic, I think I've seen a homeschooling one somewhere.
    My recent post A webcomic I read: Freefall

    • arphaus says:
      May 16, 2010 at 4:26 pm

      Yep – I started with Understanding Comics, then Making Comics, which I subsequently bought (and just finished re-reading). I just read Reinventing Comics a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking of starting a new blog called 'The Gospel According to Scott McCloud' :-P Cheekiness aside, I am indebted to him for opening my eyes to the possibilities, especially writing about things that we know about and are meaningful to us.

      To start, Unschoold will be vignettes, without recurring characters. I want to capture the situations & feelings that we share when out & about in mainstream society. Maybe I'll have recurring characters & a storyline some day, but it's a bit much for me to handle right now :-)

  4. moonflowerdragon says:
    May 16, 2010 at 11:32 am

    Hi Arp,

    Vignettes, that makes me think of the cartoon artist whose work is popular for breastfeeders… Neil Matterson. His breastfeeding vignettes were absolutely spot on captures of a diversity of funny moments, trivialities, realities, absurdities and beauties of breastfeeding. I’m not sure if Is He Biting Again is still in print, and a darn shame if not.

    Some, and not his best, appear at http://obnurse35yrs.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/more...
    and http://obnurse35yrs.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/brea...
    My recent post A webcomic I read: Freefall

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