I've had it in my mind to work on long form comics for a while now, but getting to a stage when I'm ready to actually produce anything has been a long process.
Making a comic of any great length realistically represents a commitment of years and this is a truly daunting prospect, balancing the need to make a living with the urge to create something worthwhile and beautiful. I have reached the age of 30 without yet having managed to do either terribly well, safe in the knowledge that I probably could do it if I set my mind to it. The problem is that it's far easier to acknowledge your own potential than it is to try and actually fulfill it.
A case in point: about 18 months ago I had got to a point where I felt like my work was actually starting to catch up with my thinking, where I had, to my mind, achieved a level of complexity and finish that meant I could look at the pages I'd been working on without wanting to abandon them or tear them up and start again, and could even admire some of the decisions I'd made. With this in mind I spent weeks working on a 4 page strip and submitted it to the Observer's Graphic Short Story Competition where it got absolutely nowhere. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but for me it was the last straw of an all-round dreadful year and I stopped working for a while to re-evaluate and feel sorry for myself. I may, on reflection, have over-reacted.
So anyway, I'm writing this as I wait for the bleed-proof white to dry on the first completed page of the Prison, which itself will hopefully be one of eight episodes that will make up the finished- and as yet untitled- work (based loosely on Hogarth's A Rake's Progress, one of the very first printed, sequential visual narratives.) at some point in the distant future.
It's an ambitious project that draws on many disparate ideas and influences, but one I've tried to make as achievable as possible by making the chapters work individually. I've also decided to serialise this chapter online as I go, as often as possible in order to create a deadline for each page. Wish me luck...
