Reed Black Comics

I’ve had this idea for a comic spinning in my head for a very long time. Not that I need another project right now. I figured I’d post old sketches and concepts here at least.

I want to make a travelogue comic. No real plot, no stakes, just a character giving a tour of these cities built on top of ancient sleeping giants.

I’ve thought a ton about the culture, exports, and attractions of each of these cities. World building is only fun if you get to share it.

I realized this is a perfect place to dump sketches that will probably NEVER be finished. Especially the ones that I started to ink and then gave up on. 

1. Early in the 2020 quarantine times I had this brilliant idea that I was going to learn to screen-print. So I made this complicated image hoping that it would be super fun to print. My ambition was greater than my interest. I still have all the screen-printing supplies, so who knows what I’ll do in the future.

2. An unfinished Kingdom Hearts Mickey

3. I just felt like drawing Digimon.

4. The Simpsons’ living room. I had an idea for Inktober (before I learned that the guy behind the hashtag was a plagiarist and all around terrible person). I was going to draw a bunch of fictional places.

5. I’ve been wanting to draw Farscape for a long time. I still haven’t gotten there yet.

6. I found this whole group of people who make retrod midcentury modern doll houses and I thought it’d be fun to draw the rooms they made. I didn’t get far.

7. Woody and Buzz. I like the sketch, but not enough to finish.

I don’t have a lot of time for personal work right now, but I’ve been slowly figuring out 3D sculpting in my spare time.

I started with sculpting my book characters for ease of drawing from different angles. I sculpted this group model in an app called Nomad Sculpt, for the iPad. The dream is to have it 3D printed for my desk. Since I was a kids watching every Disney behind the scenes featurette I could get my hands on, I’ve wanted a maquette for my desk.

This is honestly one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me. I did it, I got a book deal.

The year 2020 has been ROUGH to say the least, but I have to take the bright spots where I can get them.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of my Agent, Alyssa Jeanette, I’m working full time on not one, but two graphic novels! 

An artist I really respect, Reimena Yee, recommended maintaining a blog. A place away from Instagram and Twitter with their strangulating algorithms. 

I realized I still had THIS blog, a time capsule of the last 10 years. A lovely collection of cringe, drawings, and bad memories. So I did the reasonable thing and nuked all the posts. No more reminders of ex-husbands, terrible opinions, or dead names.

I was in my late twenties when I started this blog, and the username was very different. I’m now in my late thirties and a very different person. I’m glad I was able to see who I had been before, and I’m glad I don’t have to keep to memories public.