Scrolling through the 1,739 photos that are stored on my telephone, I came across this silly three bar comic I drew for my son last year. Mind you, I cannot make straight lines and most of my circles resemble spaghetti squash and three-dimensionality doesn't stand a chance in my hands. I've always been super self-conscious about how bad I am at drawing.
But when my sister gave me Lynda Barry's Syllabus last year, I started to play around with Ivan Brunetti's style of drawing, which she introduces as a "common starting place that is like the starting place we all share: our first drawings of people made when we were little." Even I could do it! While I haven't advanced all that much, it's still fun and feels rad to draw little people doing weird things.
Another writer asked me last night what books inspired me, and I can't believe I didn't mention Syllabus. Seriously, through its pages I discovered ways to bring play back into my boring adult life, push myself, come up with cool and kooky projects to do with my little guy, and a myriad of sketches to embarrass myself with.
I'm even teaching a class this spring at the Hugo House called "Lynda Barry's 7-Minute Diary." (Hey -- sign up for my newsletter so I can send the link when all the details are settled!)
After my son and I took a big walk, I decided to draw a scene from our day. Here is my favorite frame from that comic -- the dragon of dark as he proclaims himself to be leader and me, the "serpent."
Now go draw something!!!
xo
But when my sister gave me Lynda Barry's Syllabus last year, I started to play around with Ivan Brunetti's style of drawing, which she introduces as a "common starting place that is like the starting place we all share: our first drawings of people made when we were little." Even I could do it! While I haven't advanced all that much, it's still fun and feels rad to draw little people doing weird things.
Another writer asked me last night what books inspired me, and I can't believe I didn't mention Syllabus. Seriously, through its pages I discovered ways to bring play back into my boring adult life, push myself, come up with cool and kooky projects to do with my little guy, and a myriad of sketches to embarrass myself with.
I'm even teaching a class this spring at the Hugo House called "Lynda Barry's 7-Minute Diary." (Hey -- sign up for my newsletter so I can send the link when all the details are settled!)
After my son and I took a big walk, I decided to draw a scene from our day. Here is my favorite frame from that comic -- the dragon of dark as he proclaims himself to be leader and me, the "serpent."
Now go draw something!!!
xo
