Haiku Comic Adventures
My first poetry comic plus an invitation to make one of your own
I was asked by Grant Snider of Incidental Comics to contribute a haiku comic for his newsletter as part of November Being Comic Poetry Month. Grant created a beautiful book called Poetry Comics and I appreciate how he uses the comics medium in clever and surprising ways.
I tend to be afraid of trying new things, which is undoubtedly the perfectionist in me who wants to be exceptional at everything. So in order to trick myself into trying something new, I’ll make a promise to do something that I know will push me out of my comfort zone (like making a haiku comic).
I was nervous at first, but once I made the haiku comic, I felt empowered to also try something else new—a more realistic color palette than I normally use:
Trying new things reminds me that they aren’t as scary as I’d originally thought which then snowballs into trying more new things which always energizes me creatively. And I appreciate the nudges from fellow creators that get me there.
Let me know in the comments: What’s a new technique or experience you recently tried that excited you?
Join me making a haiku comic of your own
I enjoyed making haiku comics so much that that’s what we’ll be doing in this month’s K’s Kettle, a cozy hour of comic-making on Tuesday, November 18 at 2 pm CST. I’ll lead us through 40 minutes making haiku comics of our own on Zoom. You’re welcome to share your comic at the end, or just hang out. This session is only for paid subscribers who can sign up here.
No experience necessary—just bring yourself and something to draw with. It’s a low-pressure space to experiment, play, and connect. Link in this post.
Replays
Teaching The Great Gatsby
I spoke on Sunday with Amy Goldman, teacher and founder of “Teaching The Great Gatsby” Facebook group. I adapted Gatsby into a graphic novel so it’s fun to hear how teachers use Gatsby in the classroom. You can watch the talk here.
Time Travelers & Tuck Everlasting
I also had a fascinating conversation with author Kendall Kulper about our recent books, Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel (me) and A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow (her), both set in the 1890s and involving people messing around with time. If you’re interested in the research and process behind historical fiction for both written and visual storytelling, this one’s for you! Watch here.
Leif love
Take care and keep creating!
-Katharine
When I started doing commentaries for NPR, I felt that they would work better on the website if I did animations for them. So I suggested that to my producer, who said "Yeah, that would be great!" Only problem: I had never done an animation before. But there was an "animation assist" slider on Procreate, so I flop-sweated my way through my first ever animation, with no clue how to do it. Sometimes it's fun to set the goal before you have the skills to reach it. And fwiw, here's the first one I did. It took two days! But got better after that. https://www.kunc.org/arts-life/2023-07-28/colorado-watches-proudly-as-our-stars-shine-at-the-womens-world-cup
Thanks for sharing. It's beautiful.
I've written haiku but never put images to them.
Will have to think about that.
As I'm writing this it's past midnight, so my new art experience was now yesterday (I fell asleep early and woke up...). So, yesterday I tried out my new mini art travel kit I made where you use an old tin as a paint palette to clip to your paper and use water brushes to paint on location. (The key is using big magnetic clips to attach the tin to whatever pad/book/board on which you're painting). I'll post result on my own Substack this weekend but I'll give this tip now: it does take awhile to figure out how to manipulate the water brushes so the paint isn't too watery. So have some paper towels and/or cloths with you and wear something with pockets so you can easily reach while holding your art and supplies all at the same time. I only had the one day to go out and thought about my apron but couldn't find it so I grabbed a sweater with pockets. It got too hot in the sun so I tied it around my waist and stuffed the paper towels there at my waist...it might've looked odd but it worked!
Keep Creating Everyone!