Hey Hive!
We're back again with another Art Attack! If you're new to the series, this is where I share my paintings and the process behind them. A behind-the-scenes look at my artwork, if you will. This is not to say that I'm very good at art, or that I'm a professional in any way. In fact this is the opposite, and serves as a reminder to how I first started.
So in the last post, I finished up writing about a self-imposed challenge I did back in August 2019, where I would draw a character, or a few characters a day, until my page was full. And the result was this compilation!
It was a really fun and interesting challenge that I'd recommend to anyone doing art!
But anyway, this week I wanted to share a different style I tried - comic book covers!
In September 2019, I started reading this book called, "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson, and it was really insightful. I came across the book while browsing my local bookstore, and the title really caught my eye (since you know, you don't typically find curse words on book covers). The blurb on the back really sold it for me and intrigued me, so I decided to give it a try.
Source: bookspot
It had been a pretty long time since I read books (other than textbooks), and I'm not really one for self-help books, and even though this book is technically in the self-help genre, it is unlike your typical self-help book. It's more of a reaction to the self-help industry and what Manson saw as a culture of mindless positivity that isn't practical or helpful for most people. He uses many of his own personal experiences to illustrate how life's struggles often give it more meaning, which, he argues, is a better approach than constantly trying to be happy.
And the thing I really like about this book is Manson's writing style. Not only is it very contrarian to to the general self-help industry, his blunt honesty and use of profanity is also entertaining and enlightening. He also doesn't care about using correct grammar or proper sentence structure. At first I wasn't used to it, since my instinct is to correct any language mistakes (thanks to my high school English teacher), but reading this book made it feel like he was talking to me directly; like we were just having a chat over a coffee or something. It felt real, and honest.
Anyway, in Chapter 2 of the book, he creates this character called Disappointment Panda.
I thought this character was genius, and I wanted to draw a comic about him, but decided on a comic book cover first, since anyone who didn't read the book would be confused and think he was really mean.
I don't have a picture of my sketch unfortunately, but this was what I came up with, after outlining:
For the panda himself, I copied a picture I found off of Google. I initially intended to have him do a superhero pose of sorts, but later in the chapter Manson writes about having margaritas with Disappointment Panda, and him carrying a briefcase and wearing a sombrero. So I decided on this pose instead.
The font type was a little tricky. I wanted that classic comic book style font, but I had a lot of trouble fitting all the letters in (as you can probably tell). If anyone is interested, I copied the fonts from this website. "The Misadventures of" is in a font called Astro City, and the "Disappointment Panda" is in a font called Sun. Now I know why comic book heroes have shorter names. 😅
After that, I decided to give him a little more colour.
I was using a different type of sketchbook; one that isn't very good for paints since the surface is quite smooth and water-absorbent. So I had to use markers for this piece. Which I think is quite fitting for a comic book cover anyway.
But that's pretty much all for this piece. Sorry this post is shorter than usual, but I didn't have many pictures for this piece, and last week was a pretty long one anyways.
If you're interested in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck*, I highly recommend it! It made me rethink some things about my life, and I think I'm better for it now. It's quite eye-opening, and might teach you a few things you can do to make you feel better about your own life!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
