DCML Digest Issue 34

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Tue Sep 16 15:03:36 CEST 2003


From: YMH at aol.com
>>>>If I may ask a question, then:
Why *do* you draw?

There were no names in this question, but it seems to be addressed to me in
response to my saying that I hate drawing since it's tedious and I never
learned how to do it in the proper smooth & efficient manner necessary to
make it look nice and earn better (in that it's faster) pay.
I draw because I am a self-taught "creator of comics", as opposed to a
"cartoonist" or "artist" which I would be if I had studied the normal way
people approach this stuff. To me, creating a comic is all one process --
writing and drawing it are not separated in my mind, and in fact, the most
important central portion of the process wherein I create the
storyboard-script (essentially a mock-up of the entire comic story) is an
absolute combination of both writing and drawing which could not be done if
I was only a writer or only an artist. At this point I am writing (the
pacing, the dialogue, etc.) as well as drawing (designing the panel lay-out,
camera-angles, lighting effects, poses, expressions, action, etc.). For me,
it's all one process, like walking with both legs. I like to create comic
stories. So, even though one portion of the process is not to my liking, it
still would never occur to me to NOT perform that portion of the process. If
I only did one half of the work and left the other half to some other person
altogether, that would not be creating comics to me. If I didn't want to
walk with my right leg, I wouldn't be walking, I'd be hopping.
I don't know how to explain it. You're asking this of someone who didn't
decide to become a writer or artist or even writer/artist when he was 20 or
10 or even 5, as with someone who studies the various aspects of what they
consider different jobs in the process of making comics. I wanted to create
comic stories since my earliest memory... so my concept of the process is an
abstract thought formed perhaps when I was in the crib drooling on my big
sister's comics.
I'll "create comics" my way as long as I can. If time or physical ability
someday force me to do only the writing (or only the drawing, which seems
less likely), I guess I could do it... but I wouldn't take much pride in
it... and I think I might lose interest in the product. I believe I'd sooner
just quit and start selling my comic book collection and have some REAL
money!



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