How's This for a Cover?

Ramping Up This Project Again

Vicki Johnson, drawing by
nephew Jeff Anderson

Since my last entry (March 2013) my wife was put on hospice (April), lingered for months (till August), I did vigil during her final week, and she passed away Sept. 1, 2013. My anguish need not concern this blog other than to say the grief and absurdity and senselessness of her death is beyond belief. To honor her memory, eight months after her passing, I once again ramp up my efforts to complete this graphic novel, Ecclesiastes U. Vicki would want that.

To review, the purpose of this blog is threefold: to help me think, to hold me accountable, and to document both my process and my progress.

Another hoped for by-product, to understand the creative process. Even if the finished project is a flop aesthetically, financially, philosophically, or theologically, it is still a massive undertaking and being the student of creativity that I am, I hope to discover while writing and drawing this book the keys to creativity, the obstacles to writer's/artist's block, and the mental disciplines necessary for finishing a project of this magnitude.

For example, I know that some artists love working in chaos. Not me. I require clear psychic decks, tidy categories, neat piles, tools within easy reach, and reference materials at my finger tips.

On an even deeper level, before returning to this project I needed to ransack 40 years of journals, files, memoirs, drawings, sketchbooks, invention journals, and itemize all my undone projects, started but unfinished manuscripts, rough drafts of plays, poems, songs, sculptures, half done drawings, posters, wheels, businesses, memoirs, letters, handouts, and games.

It took several weeks but doing so was liberating. As David Allen says in Getting Things Done, you can't know how much to take on until you know how much you've taken on. My Catalog of Creativity lists over 125 projects I'd like to complete before I die. After pondering that list for a week I sifted out the probably-nevers, maybe-nevers, someday-maybes, and must-do priorities. Ecclesiastes U is a must-do priority (for reasons I may describe here some day).

I've also un-boxed piles and piles of EU rough drafts, am sifting through them, and arranging them into manageable drafts. Not sure if this is how others work but discrete piles help me visualize the whole project and how all the parts fit together.

In other news, I'm back to work 3/4 time, adjusting to living alone, and am eager to dedicate my mind to this task as therapy.

Last year I completed about 35 pages (I've lost track; haven't checked yet) which represents the graphic novelization of Ecclesiastes chapters 1 and 2. I got the brainstorm to get that book into print ASAP as the first of 6 projected titles. There are twelve chapters in Ecclesiastes so this will make the finished project manageable.


I've long forgotten what all the buttons on GIMP software do, how to add gradations, scanning sizes, and a thousand other little details. I hope the relearning curve will not be too steep.

While working on EU I'll continue to blog on my other sites and collect data for the other works in progress I've got going (this is a habit I can't break).


Two months after my wife's funeral I moved my mom to Florida and took a leisurely one month train ride home, stopping in famous museums as I went. I describe that trip here. It was visual overload the whole time for this befuddled griever, so you'll have to forgive me when I tell you I did not take photos of the Art Speigleman exhibit at the Jewish Museum. (Maybe they wouldn't allow photos, I don't remember).

When I try to describe what it was like standing in front of every original page of Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel MAUS words fail me. But I'll try. I was stunned, giddy, speechless, awed. My mouth went dry and my palms got sweaty. Saying it was a spiritual experience sounds cheezy. But there was something going on in my fertile cerebrum that was ineffible, noetic, and transcendent. Speigelman's creative output was? Was? Was? Inspirational! I returned home determined to follow in his footsteps.

There are other developments in the evolution of this therapist turning graphic essayist, novelist, cartoonist. But they'll have to wait. This blog post is already way too long.

Page 26

Page 25

Page 24

Page 23

If I were to create a chart on which one could measure the increase of completed pages, we'd note that with page 23 a milestone has been reached: the end of chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes. The work ahead is still unfathomable yet when I see how far I've come in a month (1/12th of the journey complete) I'm encouraged.

Page 22

Page 21

This page took about three hours to draw....so I can now average the time it'll take me to finish this whole thing. Ages!

Page 20

Pages 18 and 19

I once visited the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in Orlando Florida and saw a life size roadster someone had built out of match sticks. I remember thinking, "Odd hobby." This graphic novel project makes me think somebody will say of it, "Odd." What propelled the maker of that matchstick car? Fame? Riches? Distraction from a boring life? Visions of glory?

What propels me? I'm making art out of profound philosophical questions. If on lookers say, "odd," so be it.

Page 17

This page marks the end of day two in the classroom. I've divided Ecclesiastes into discreet sections defined by paragraphs of text, each representing one day. I shudder to think there are 48 days to go. My motive for drawing this graphic novel is to deal honestly with despair and existential dread in the Hebrew scripture. My motive for blogging about this experience is to study the ebb and flow of enthusiasm for this project. I'm notorious for not finishing projects. Reflecting on the creative process will, I hope, give insight into ADD, boredom, faith, optimism, grief, subjectivity, and delusion. Investing hours and hours (years!) in a project that may never gain popularity is a huge gamble. Two things egg me on: the pleasurable distraction it affords while my wife's health deteriorates; the buzz I get when I think this project may be of interest to readers other than myself. Fantasy plays a crucial role in creativity as does the approach/avoidance syndrome when facing trauma. It's art therapy.

Page 16

This page (like all full pages) is comprised of two half pages. It took me 3 hours to finish. I whittled 15 minutes off of my time. Poor Karenoia's earring isn't colored in, there's a patch of white next to Tan Fran's head, and the shading looks like it was applied by vandals. Yet I press on.

Page 15

I boot up my computer at 8:20 and printed the page of text to pencil.

Pencil layout and characters: 25 min.
Inking pencil drawings with pen: 30 min.
Scan and touch up lines digitally: 65 min.
Inking, shading, applying gradients digitally: 75 min.

Grand total: 3.25 hours.

This statistic is troubling on several counts.

1. My facility with digital software can be improved only minimally. I've now got the basics down and have reached my speed limit.
2. Any increase in speed will surely result in decrease in quality. Note the white ear on guy with white beard in panel four. To correct that would've been too time consuming so I left it. Somehow, once I apply gradients I can't go back and touch up things. The picture gets locked. I haven't the energy to research how to correct it.
3. At the rate of three hours per page I'm looking (at least) at 750 hours ahead of me. Daunting? Yes. Can I sustain enthusiasm, energy, and focus for that many hours? Seems nigh impossible today (I'm fighting a headache and cold).

Furthermore, Dr. Q appears twice in every page (jabbering the text of Ecclesiastes). This means I'll be drawing him 500 times. Waves of self doubt wash over me at this point. I'm a big fan of mocking bad movies (MST3K comes to mind). But now I regret ever laughing at substandard movies because 16 months ago I embarked on a journey of creating my own substandard work of art. I can hear the hoard of jeering mockers crashing the gates even now.

Me thinks it's time for a break.

Page 14

I did it. I drew three pages (six half pages) in one day. Granted, it was a long day and the quality is nothing to brag about. But this gives some indication of how long it'll be before this graphic novel is finished. If I can do three pages tomorrow (Sunday) I predict I'll finish this draft (# 9) by Christmas. That doesn't necessarily mean the book will be done. I still need to tweak draft 9--coordinate colors, shading, backgrounds, props, and any other gaffs which draft 9 currently contains--and turn it into draft 10, the finished product. Let's hope all these talking heads don't bore readers to death. I find them interesting, but that guarantees nothing. Like the alien son told his dad, "They're better than a chemistry set!" Mix 'n match and watch the sparks fly.

Page 13

Page 12

Page 11

Shaded background! We nailed it (with the help of my graphic designer daughter Olivia). In my excitement I failed to notice the gradient is pale blue like day one....and it makes it look like the class is outside. I just don't have the oomph on this round of rough drafts to add building interiors (walls, windows, light switches, posters, molding, etc). But to get this feature working (finally!) is a big boon to my enthusiasm.

Page 10

Page 9

More Musings and work space photos

Here's where the un-magic happens. I gave our kitchen table away, am using three old tables and file cabinet on wheels, and loving the new floor on which I can roll around in an office chair (not pictured).

As you can tell from previous posts I'm not working on the shading technique. There are only so many learning curves a guy can tackle. The beauty of digital painting, after hacking away at 450 or so pages I will have hopefully gotten into the groove of file management, inking, scanning, tidying dialog, etc and will have the leisure to retrace my steps and tweak the shading (while studying Richmond, et al). As you may have noticed, I've accidentally switched Megan's clothing color. I'm not too concerned since that'll be one of a hundred adjustments to make. Now, it's get the dang thing digitized with semi complete characters, dialog, etc. This truly is multitasking at it's task-iest.