Weekly 2024.02.16: The Monoculture Was Always Bogus Anyway
In this Weekly:
“The monoculture was always bogus anyway”
Graphic Short Story
Art
Reprising the thread about monoculture, Linda Holmes (NPR) has a nice reflection piece after the Super Bowl, from which the quote below comes:
The monoculture was always bogus anyway. Everybody did not watch Seinfeld. Everybody did not watch Friends. In fact, some "everybodies" pointed out that it owed an awful lot to Living Single.
We don't really need mass consumption of the same cultural work, just smart and connected consumption. And not just with television, either. There's an extraordinary novel out today called The Book of Love by Kelly Link. It's almost 700 pages long. It's fantasy, full of magic and wizards and goddesses, but it's also about high school and has a sensitive Freaks and Geeks/My So-Called Life vibe. I don't need everybody to read it. I need to be able to find people who read it, with whom I can share my extensive theories about it. Is this too much to ask?
As someone who didn’t watch Seinfeld or Friends, I feel seen, haha.
I share this quote because Holmes’s desire not for mass culture that everyone consumes the same things in, but for smaller things that are more meaningful to smaller audiences who can find each other to connect over those things is encouraging to me.
Graphic Short Story
I’m still working on character design. I spent a fair amount of time looking at other artists’ inked works and playing with my tools and medium (different brushes in Adobe Fresco and looks/rendering style).
In the images below you can see me just inking the same characters/poses in different ways.
But the other thing is that I’m still coming across more resources that seem helpful as I’m undertaking this journey, so I’m also taking time to read and watch those. Like I found another guide to making graphic novels and a webinar on character design. Very pertinent stuff.
Art
I did a little sketching while at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino (which has a stunning view over waters connected to the Sound) last weekend for a Leadership Tomorrow retreat. Did not gamble (I’m not a gambling man), but did get a little arting in. The slot machines were a fun challenge with tons of repeating shapes and lots to distill visually.
Till next week-