A.L. KAPLAN | Comics & Design

Hey hey! I'm super excited to be working with Kinetic Collectibles. If you've been waiting to pick up original artwork from me, you're in luck! There are pages from POISON IVY #13, MAW, CIRCUIT BREAKER and more ✨

Original Art Drop & Store Debut 12/6

👇👇👇

alkcomics.bigcartel.com

If you had to design Jules a logo/symbol, what would it be?

(I want to make a DIY patch of a Circuit Breaker logo for my jacket, I'm not sure what to use as his symbol)

Sorry if it's weird that I'm asking, just thought that I should try. My apologies if you don't have any specific idea.

Anyway I hope you'll have a lovely day!

Ohhh that's a fun one!

Honestly I'd love to see what someone else would come up with!

He's got lightning bolts on his jacket, yes, as a nod to The Flash and his trans masculinity (a la top surgery scars). But they're also red and curved to be reminiscent of the Basque cross, and sequin appliques to give rodeo glam Westernwear / stage costume. Maybe digging into any of that inspiration will lead to fun idea?

Also, for this sticker/V-day illo, the frame is part his tassels and part sage brush like the Nevada state flag. Maybe there's something there?

Is there a chance we would see a cameo of him in this year's pride annual? How is the development of that going. What's the process of picking stories for this?

Even if you don't know about any near comic appearances that's also fine, just thought that I should try asking either way.

I'm also transmasc, and Jules is really meaningful for me and he's at my top favourites comic characters ever. So I just wanted to tell you thanks for creating Jules, and keep making comics🫶

On the subject of that. Will you ever turn Full Spectrum Therapy into a printed comic? I would be interested in buying it, if so.

Ohhh man, thank you, that's so sweet and I'm glad you love him as much as I do. I would looove to tell you about a new Jules story in the works but alas I don't have any news to share yet. Fingers crossed for this year's Pride, at least...

I DO have good news about Full-Spectrum Therapy, though!

For the first time since 2019, it's back in print! All ten issues collected in two volumes, with an exclusive new holofoil obi (while supplies last).

Find 'em at ECCC, and online in my shop after 👽✨

I just wish I could've ordered it with the zine but I got there too late.

Please forgive me if it's a silly question

Heya!

Ooh, good question. So far, I'm just selling the original artwork, books, and a few riso prints of Storm. Hadn't thought to do more prints, but I'll see if I can get it working with the shop

Glad you like the Angel one...that was very fun

We're pitching a queer deep sea horror graphic novel. I hope an editor bites, I can't wait to draw this.

We're pitching a queer deep sea horror graphic novel. I hope an editor bites, I can't wait to draw this.

Thank you! That's kind to say and I'm glad you dig my stuff. Making things is hard! I'll pass along what has helped me, but:

Caveat #1: I don't know you or your writing goals so any advice I offer will necessarily be either general or specific to what works for me.

Caveat #2: Comics writing and comics drawing are, to me, the same process. Drawing is the final step in the writing process. I do not conceive of the steps separately, so I cannot speak to making comics without drawing them (others can). All of this advice is given with the idea that "writing comics" means one person doing the entirety of the artistic task.

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Above all, you've got to enjoy the process and have fun with it. As the creator, the project is yours only when you are making it. Once it's out in the world, it takes on its own life in the minds of readers. It's out of your hands. That's the magic of creation. Learn how you enjoy to create and exist within your project to find validation from the creative process itself. Don't expect or require validation to come once the project is out of your hands.

So: make comics for the sake of making comics. Even if only a few friends read them; even if you don't share them at all.

Narrative structure varies incredibly across time and culture--and even within a time and a culture. Naked Lunch and Star Wars share very little structure in common despite both being science fiction created by white American men in the 20th Century. What type of story are you trying to tell? That will greatly guide your approach to writing. Whole artistic movements are based around the idea of automatic writing, writing from the id, or writing without conforming to traditional structure or notions of character, or continuity, etc. Others conform strictly to established structures and can be taught and learned through existing structures (books, classes, workshops, etc.).

So: figure out what sort of writing you want to do, and study that type of writing across media to learn theory and practice for how it's created.

Not all writing has to be commercial writing. Not all commercial writing is the same. But because generally writing commercially requires many people involved at many steps, it requires you to front-load the structure of a project. For example: editors will need a summary of your story (beginning, middle, end) to sell it to the publisher.All that has to be thought of up front instead of as you go along.

This is a wholly different step from actually writing a project, but one that is helpful to develop even if you aren't aiming for commercial publication. It's like learning to do thumbnail sketches before drawing a finished piece: learn to problem solve composition quickly at a basic shape level, and you'll spend less time fiddling around rendering final touches wondering why the piece isn't coming together.

My mom writes for fun, and showed me Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method. I'd recommend reading that article (it's not long). His method is first writing your story in one sentence, then expanding that one sentence into one paragraph, then that paragraph into one page. Essentially, you're starting with the constituent parts of a commercial pitch (logline, summary, outline, etc.). You're front-loading all the hard work of constructing your plot and character arcs. Like creating a road map for your story: once you know your final destination and the important stops along the way, the rest of the details can be aligned to or arranged within that structure.

You may still be writing exploratively. Learning what you like, how to build tension, what a story means to you, etc. Keep at it. Exploration is essential to finding your voice. But if you're frustrated with where writing intuitively has gotten you, try that method of writing intentionally. It may be hard, but it can be another tool to use. If anything, it'll at least be some helpful mental calisthenics.

Some process shots of inks from the covers of BYTCHCRAFT issues 1, 3, and 4. The base inks were done with a g-nib, with textures added with a fude pen (top two images) and blacks filled with a brushpen.

WYND: The Power of the Blood #5 is out today! Here's an incentive variant cover I did.