ABCs of Anny’s comics

Here I distill my comics creation process into an alphabetical summary. This summary ends with U, since you are the audience of my art :)

Autobiographical: Some of my comics are based on my life.

A small percentage of ideas become comics

Batched: While they may appear off-the-cuff, my comics are drawn in batches from ideas accumulated over weeks, months, or even years.

Cabinet: I have a drawerful of filled notebooks. I write fast from learning 3 languages before I was 12. I still compulsively write and journal.

Democratic: The materials used (post-it notes + sharpies) and ideas expressed are meant for everyone. This is intentional as I believe art should be available and understandable for the masses, not only the rich.

Easy to draw and understand: Complex ideas are rarely captured with simple lines. Still I aspire to capture the most with the least, like Chinese watercolors which mostly uses black ink + water.

Fast to draw: Drawing was a childhood hobby and I still enjoy it. As an artist I’m racing against time: a batch of comics either gets created now or never.

Grand: I like to ideate in grand (large) notebooks, yes, the paper variety. Writing first drafts on paper feels faster and more decisive.

Hand-drawn: My comics have a distinctive look, so you know it’s mine and not a meme.

Inspiration: Ideas come to me easily. What’s harder is making time to draw.

JK: I see myself as the joker, the one pointing out what others are too busy to notice/too polite to say.

Me fighting nihilism, one word, drawing, and comic at a time

Laughter: We can use more of these.

Memories: I often mine memories for inspiration, at the risk of reminiscing for hours.

News: Sometimes I’m triggered, other times I notice a pattern. History might not repeat, but it often rhymes.

Old: I’m drawn to old things, discarded things, and things that don’t change, instead of the latest hype that can change within a year.

Post-it notes: Yes this office staple can contain amusing thoughts. This was inspired by Chaz Hutton’s comics.

Quiet: I need quiet and offline time to reflect, write, and draw.

Refinement: I put away filled notebooks for at least a few weeks before combing them for ideas. Most ideas improve with time and edits.

Sharpie: Is a humble pen that produces great comics, including these by Keith Knight.

My cat and my filled notebooks

Throw out: I throw out most of my old notebooks after reading them, and most of the ideas too since they don’t fit the constrained space and medium.

U: I hope you like my comics and share'em :)