Here it is – the first comic! I’m glad to have it done but I already feel it could have been better. I may have to graduate from stick figures sooner as it’s kinda tough to do expressions with just dots for eyes.
I’m also curious to see if the metaphors I’m trying are intuitive or not . I’ve been fascinated by the simple metaphor ever since I read Art Spiegelman’s Maus. It’s the tale of his father, a Holocaust survivor, and Jews are drawn as mice while the Germans are cats. Simple but mindblowingly effective. If you’ve never read it, I highly, highly, highly recommend it.
I’ll be blogging more here too, both about unschooling and all the comic stuff I’ve been learning. I probably spent more time this week on figuring out how to do stuff in Adobe Illustrator and researching expressions than actually drawing. Plus drawing on the tablet is going to take some getting used to.
If you – either as an unschooler, comic enthusiast or both – I am totally open to comments, feedback & suggestions. Thanks for reading, and I hope you come back for more 
Awesome!
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Thanks! Do my metaphors work? I'm obsessed with the metaphors.
Arp, great work on the first comic. You really make simple stick drawings come to life. I can really get a sense of the expression even within the simplicity of these lines. Spiegelman is cool. Have read any of Marjane Sartapi's work. She is perhaps most famous for Persepolis. Keep up the great work. I'll pass the word.
Thanks Michael! I've still got a ways to go but I am pleased that I got something done & out there. Getting started seems to be the toughest part of anything. Marjane Satrapi is new to me, but I've already requested Persepolis from the library
This is so cool! I can't wait to pass it on. And hey, you are unschooling yourself figuring out how to do all this great comic stuff
I love the comic!
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Thanks! This is totally unschooling in action
I also keep in mind that since the main way I teach the kids is by example so it's great for the kids to see me doing something that I enjoy.
You've been busy! It looks great, and I'll enjoy following its development. As both a Spiegelman and Satrapi reader (and viewer–Persepolis has been made into a film), I have another recommendation for you, if you haven't read him already: Scott McCloud. His Understanding Comics is quite a revelation in thinking about visual storytelling.
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Scott McCloud is a *big* inspiration – he's already venerated on the About page
I read Understanding & Making Comics back-to-back a couple of years ago, finally read Reinventing Comics a couple of weeks ago, and then finished Making Comics for the 3rd time last week. I haven't looked at comics the same way since I read him.
Have you seen The Cartoonist? I had never heard of Bone but it was a really cool documentary, with a lot of commentary by McCloud. There's an 80min on-stage discussion from Ohio State with McCloud & Bone's creator Jeff Smith. I also found out that Ohio State has a cartoon library & museum, which is pretty cool.
Oh der. Didn't read the comments here before commenting on the next post. Oh well.
I bet we can find a bunch of peeps to contribute to a multi-person blog entitled 'The Gospel According to Scott McCloud.'
I love it! Very excited to see more. Can I post this to my blog, with a link to you? How would you prefer that we share it? (~cherapple on Twitter)
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Thank you! I guess sharing it however you're comfortable is fine
Heather (@swissarmywife) suggested a badge for a blog, so I'll try to work on those. But first I need to finish next week's comic – or – I should say – start on it!
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Excellent start! Very much looking forward to watching this unfold. I especially like the simple line art. You did it all as vector in Illustrator?
I’ve been obsessed with metaphors for some time as well, especially visual ones. Have you read George Lakoff’s “More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor”? It’s pretty heavy reading, but loaded with great metaphors! I also got a TON of ideas from Lakoff’s “Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate”, especially since I see the word “frame” not only in the cognitive linguistic sense that Lakoff explains, but also as a visual metaphor that can be used in comics!
I also heartily second the recommendation of Persepolis — FANTASTIC! And have already put a hold on “The Cartoonist” at our library — thanks for the suggestion.
We really have a lot in common. Our family started unschooling about four years ago, and then about a year later I read Scott McCloud’s “Making Comics” and was totally inspired to do a non-fiction comic book about unschooling! I’ve since devoured McCloud’s other books and been compiling research on the subject, coming up with visual metaphors, etc. I have a huge binder now full of hand drawings and notes. Now to just get it all organized and start producing pages!! ;o)
I’d LOVE to collaborate with you and share ideas. Send me an email or look me up on Facebook if you’re interested.
All the best on your exciting project!!
Yep – the art was just vectors in Illustrator. I think I’d like to move towards something more expressive, maybe faces like Herge’s Tintin series.
I don’t have a lot of notes – just what I’ve gotten out of McCloud
I figured I’d just wing it, otherwise I’d never get started!
Loving it! Looking forward to getting to know you through your work/enjoyment.
Thank you!