I drew this comic back in September of 2024, the month I did yet another career shift to the role I currently work in. I was proud of myself for making this leap. The great thing about a new job is the optimism of the unknown, most of the time I hate unknowns, but with this new role I was feeling excited and the anticipation of kicking ass was high.
This is also my first comic where the entire theme is about doing something really positive (except my very first one I guess). Up until the fall of 2024, I almost always used my work to express and process the sadness, pain and self doubt I often felt. I was feeling excited and positive and decided it was time to have that represented in a comic. I also loved the idea of doing a sequel to the previous comic.
As my dog is the opposite of the demon, I thought ‘what better character to dispose of my self beating gloves’, and very quickly came up with the panels showing her running to a canyon, tossing the gloves and running back. That is the composition the whole strip is based around. I love the second to last panel, of her running home, the most. The dog is a not so subtle metaphor for my energy at the time. The punchline of needing to simply go out and play with her, instead of all the other ‘self care cliches’, really felt right.
Oh sure, it’s not the funniest or most unexpected outcome, but I did enjoy drawing it immensely. It’s what I needed at the time.
One of the things I’m finding a bit tough is writing these blog posts months after the drawing is done. It’s way harder to express in words the motivation and feeling I had back then. I don’t think this is a bad thing because it’s really nice to look back at my work, especially of earlier comics like “The Pit” and “The Feels”, and know that those times don’t last forever. I love that the old “time heals all wounds” adage is true. Even though it was so hard and I thought I’d be stuck in some dark place forever, and dreaded trying to get out, I was actually able to move past the difficult times.
This has motivated me to write the blog in conjunction with the drawing. Maybe even mostly before I do the drawing, like a sort of journal entry in the ideas book I keep all of my drafts in. I have enjoyed the writing process almost as much as the drawing and that really surprised me. I think writing about the ideas and the feelings will be better if I do it at the same time as the drawing or layout stage of the comic. We’ll see how that goes…
Finally, I know not all my comics moving forward are going to be positive, but I have seen a change in the tone since last fall and that is largely due to this career change and my overall energy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some difficult times and still do with the new job, especially around the holidays last year. But overall I feel like my life (especially since January/February of this year) has taken a turn for the more positive. The gloves that came off in September are definitely stored at the bottom of that canyon more often than not. And though I know there are more tough times ahead (that’s just life) I also know there is joy, excitement and much time to play with the dog in store.
The Graphical Bear 