Diary Comics from Life

7/31/24 Green Lake and Maple Leaf

My initial diary comics self-challenge last spring was to get myself to sketch more from memory and imagination. After the month was over, I did a few more comics pages like that, but eventually I petered out. It’s just so much easier, less time-consuming and almost always more satisfying to draw from observation. It’s really difficult to maintain my motivation unless I’m sketching from life, which I can almost always find a way to do. When I simply can’t get out for a sketch from life, I use a photo as a last resort, but that’s a rare day.

7/8/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Instead of continuing to push myself to do something I don’t find satisfying, I’m content to visually document my day on location. The page spread I made on July 31 (top of post) is a good example: Each vignette made from life, and the collective spread a story about how my day went.

7/11/24 U Village and South Lake Union

The result is no different from other attempts I’ve made (initially in 2020 after seeing a prompt from USk Japan and continued later as my scribble journal), but the difference in process is significant: I carry around my pocket-size Uglybook wherever I go. The larger sizes I tried in the past meant that I used the books only at home, and inevitably toward the end of the day when I was tired and out of time. That did push me to use my imagination and memory more, but it often felt like a chore more than a pleasure – which is why the habit wouldn’t stick. My current format is always fun because it’s what I do so naturally.

7/26/24 Seattle Fish Guys, Central District

The comics format is also good practice for working on page composition and design – making the disparate images look like they belong together. It’s not the same as challenging myself to work from my own head, but it’s satisfying as a practice that I have wanted for a long time. It’s finally sticking.