Short stories

making and reading them

Even with the newsletter, I’m constantly thinking on ways to deliver it in an interesting visual way. It’s one thing to talk about my process, about the daily routine at the studio and about the ideas Bá and I are constantly discussing and trying to find ways to turn into stories. But it’s important to notice – and I guess I’m doing this here, mostly to myself – that we’re always chasing images.

All of that to justify the following image:

I could have just typed this message in here, right? Talk about what I was doing when I got this message, what Bá and I were talking about when I heard the ping – or probably the buzz, since my phone is always on silent buzzing mode –, but instead I thought about how much more interest it is to take a screenshot of the message received, and how much more curious I hope to make the reader if I cover some of the messages to keep certain details secret.

By the same token, I could have just replied to the message typing, but once more I went for a more visual approach and sent the following strip:

So, it appears Bá and I are doing a short story besides the big story we’re already working on together. We’re sending the layout/script later on today, and, unlike the big story, it’s the kind of story we hope to blast away on the pages like the wind, working in a way we rarely do but saw in this the perfect place for it.

It should be fun.

Isn’t drawing always fun?

Not really.

Sometimes you’re tired, physically and mentally, it’s late and you want to go home, but you have to push on and keep working, drawing a little more because you’re late on your deadline. You erase and redraw panels and poses more times than you’d like, as if you’re forgetting how to draw each time you do it.

Drawing is your life. It’s the window to the stories you want to tell.

Still…

Sometimes…

Drawing is your job.

And it’s like every other job, where you can get tired and then it’s not easy, or fun, or enjoyable.

That’s one of the reasons why I draw on my sketchbook, or why I answer messages with little drawings, or why we take on short story gigs while working on the big projects: I’m pushing different creative buttons, creating different artistic challenges to keep myself engaged in the work, interested in the craft, invested in the story. Working on a new short story is a way to remind us that comics can be lighter, faster, and as fun to make as it is to read.

Trying out the digital drawing tools on the iPad while still doing most of the work on paper with brush and ink is another way to keep the working routine interesting, and this past week I made a one page story about a bar here in São Paulo which closed its doors because of the pandemic but now is resurfacing from the ashes.

I went to the soft open of the bar with my wife and some friends. It was the first time since the pandemic started that I took my mask off at a restaurant, had something to eat, had something to drink, talked and laughed and shared. The first time I relaxed in the company of other people in a public place.

Last words

We agreed to write a blurb for a new comic book coming out. We also agreed to write the preface to a French edition of another book. On both accounts, I feel like I’m gaining as much with the discovery of these amazing stories as I’m offering with my words about it. As much as I try to keep reminding myself that drawing and writing comics is fun, it’s also good when I remember that reading comics is also fun, and engaging and inspiring.

What’s the last good comic you read? What have you been reading that keeps you wondering what happens next.

What have you been doing that has been fuelling your dreams and reminding you you’re alive, interesting and interested?

Be safe. Be kind. Be curious
Pa-ZOW!

Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
September 13th, 2021