I used to make comics. I know that because strangers would look at my work and immediately share their most excruciatingly banal experiences with me:

— that time a motorised wheelchair cut in front of them in the line at the supermarket;
— when the dentist pulled the wrong tooth and they tried to get a discount;
— eating off an apple and finding half a worm in it;

every anecdote rounded of with a triumphant “You should make a comic about that!”

Then I would take my 300 pages graphic novel out of their hands, both of us knowing full well they weren’t going to buy it, and I’d smile politely, “Yeah, sure. Someday.”

“Don’t try to cheat me out of my royalties when you publish it,” they would guffaw and walk away to grant comics creator status onto their next victim.

Nowadays I make work that feels even more truly like comics to me than that almost twenty years old graphic novel. Collage-y, abstract stuff that breaks all the rules just begging to be broken. Linear narrative is ashes settling in my trails, montage stretched thin and warping in new, interesting directions.

I teach comics techniques at a university level based in my current work. I even make an infrequent podcast talking to other avantgarde artists about their work in the same field.

Still, sometimes at night my subconscious whispers the truth in my ear: Nobody ever insists I turn their inane bullshit nonevents into comics these days, and while I am a happier, more balanced person as a result of that, I guess that means I don’t make comics any longer after all.

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Joined 11 days ago
Cake day: November 23rd, 2024
  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoLinux@programming.dev•Both KDE and GNOME to offer official distros • The Register
    4·
    4 days ago

    I tend to agree. I like being able to install whatever distro I want and add the DE of my choice, and there is a glut of different combos to choose from.

    However, are KDE and Gnome going to gradually focus on making their respective DEs work on their own branded OS, rather than any old base system? I know that’s a worst case scenario, but putting a lot of added effort into a full OS is a nontrivial investment for a desktop environment. Some mission drift might be expected.

  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoFediverse@lemmy.world•Your explanation of federation that it "works like email" will be misunderstood
    242·
    4 days ago

    Why are nerds so insistent that people understand technology?

    Because technology forms the basis of the online environments we inhabit, and gives us the tools to tell how, say, our data is stored and processed.

    If you’re going to get in the water, it’s probably a good skill to be able to swim. If you’re going to drive a car and don’t have the faintest idea how the engine works, you’ll be at the mercy of manufacturers and mechanics.

    The solution to your issue is not that everybody should conform to the lowest common denominator of technology literacy, but that the general internet user should get a fucking idea of the environment they navigate.

    Stop being nerds

    Never.

  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoOpensource@programming.dev•What's the best Matrix client?
    51·
    10 days ago

    I’ve used Matrix for a long time, both on desktop and mobile, and although I’d rather be rid of electron Element is pretty hard to beat…

    One issue I hadn’t foreseen with Element is that it only supports one account. I recently started a new one on a non-matrix.org server, and until I’ve figured out how to migrate, I use Fluffychat on mobile instead.

    Fluffy is real smooth too, but has its quirks that make me kind of long for Element again.