Asking the people what they want

After all, I can’t very well give the people what they want if I don’t even know what it is, can I? With that spirit in mind, I undertook a survey of my readers at the end of 2016 to better understand their comic reading (and purchasing) habits and tastes. While the answers confirmed much of what I already suspected, I was a bit surprised by some of it, too…

Rather than present the survey results as just a series of pie charts, I also want to share what I was trying to find out with the questions I asked. The first section was gauging reader knowledge of my online comic. Not surprisingly, most everyone who responded (91.3%) already knew I published a FREE weekly comic online. I was more interested in their reading habits, and was pleased to find out how many read my comic every week, and that they tend to stick around once they do:

82.6% of readers read the text blurb following my comic, too, so I’ll keep using that to plug upcoming shows and comic releases. I also like it as a way to provide context or commentary on the strip.

My next question was really a backdoor invitation to get readers to sign up for my e-mail list, follow me on Twitter, or friend Watusi’s Facebook page, just in case they weren’t aware of those options already:

2016 in the rear view mirror

It’s that time of year again, when I look back to last January at what I hoped to accomplish. And I’ve got to say that this year fared better than many past years have done, even for a year as hard as 2016. In addition to all the dire news of death and doom we’ve all heard on the national level, it wasn’t an easy year for me on a personal level: a death in the family, an emergency hospital stay, and uprooting my studio for the second time in less than a year. Getting resettled and back into a decent work habit has been a struggle for the last half of my year, but I’m still excited about what this new year has in store for me! More on that (including the compiled results of my reader survey) in future posts; right now it’s time to take one last look in the rear view mirror at my 2016 goals…

1. My main creative priority continues to be my Watusi webcomic. Aside from one little glitch (my first missed strip in over seven years), I was able to keep on track with this. I was proud of the work that went into “The Ghost Dogs of Wonder Valley”, and am excited about what’s in store next. Not bad for a project that’s been going on as long as this, I think!

2. Get print publications back into the mix of my comic output. I was pleased to finally get the first long storyline from my webcomic in print (as “Watusi and the Emerald Serpent”), and have enjoyed the book tour that accompanied it. It was liberating to just talk about one concise story, instead of the whole run of Watusi comics (and all my other projects, too)…

3. Publicize my work better. I’m still not very good about this, but I did a better job at tooting my own horn than in the past. Certainly taking my work to new audiences (besides the audience of other creators and comic convention attendees) has helped.

4. Get actively involved in the Memphis art scene. This has been the highlight of the year in some ways. The fine arts scene here has been especially welcoming and enthusiastic, and I’m excited to get even more involved with it.

5. Clear old projects off my plate so I can move forward. Even if they didn’t see print, I made headway on some of these old projects. And considering how long I’d wanted to get “Watusi and the Emerald Serpent” into print, I think that counts, too…

6. Blog posts and website updates. While I didn’t finish the “about the cast” section on the Watusi site, I stuck to my posting schedule here. Stepping back to a looser schedule while I focused on finishing up “Watusi and the Emerald Serpent” was a good thing to do, though.

I may not have accomplished everything I set out to do, but I at least touched on them in useful ways, which is more than I can say about many years! Next time, I’ll present the results from my readers survey. Some of the answers may surprise you… they certainly surprised me!!

Looking forward to 2016

For many years, it was my tradition to kick off the new year by sharing my creative aspirations in my APA-5 and Rap Sheet columns … even if I didn’t always do a stellar job at achieving them as the year rolled along (a tradition which met with a similar fate when I looked back on the results here in 2013 & 2014). Since it’s been a couple of years since I’ve last written about what I hope to accomplish, I think that’s how I’ll start off my year in blogging this year…

2014 and the art of overscheduling

2013 has come and gone, which means I should see how I did with my artistic aspirations for that year. After a less than stellar 2012, I set more modest– and fewer– goals for last year, and came out of the year with a better success rate. Not 100%, but still better…

2013: the year in PREview!

About this time last year, I detailed my artistic aspirations for the year 2012 … which means it’s time to see how I actually did with them. Not well, I’m afraid; in fact, I’m tempted to call a mulligan on the whole thing, except I don’t know that I’d do any better a second time around. Here are the sordid details:

… but I like to call it “assimilating influences”

As a cartoonist, I like to try to keep my creativity on at least a steady simmer all the time. While my weekly comic strip helps keep those fires burning, I also enjoy seeing what other artists do to keep their creative juices bubbling …

The latest book on this topic I’ve discovered is poet Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist (New York: Workman Pub. Co., 2012). At 140 heavily-illustrated pages, it’s a quick read … which is a good thing, because after finishing it you’ll still have time to put some of his energizing tips right to use! He even includes a page of “what now?” ideas to help get you started.

While some of Kleon’s advice reminded me of that presented in James Kochalka’s “Craft is the enemy” (“Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started”, “Write the book you want to read”), he offers lots of practical tips (“Use your hands”, “Keep a log book”) mixed in with inspirational and entertaining quotes from others (“We don’t know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our laptops”—John Cleese).

My favorite tip was the way that Kleon divided his work space into “analog” and “digital workstations. The analog side is for markers, scissors and other physical tool, kept free of electronic devices, “where most of my work is born.” The digital desk, containing his laptop and scanner, is used for the technical tasks needed to edit and publish his work. Which is kind of the setup I use, even if my computer desk is adjacent to my drawing table (which contains a light table, though I definitely use that as a physical tool).

If you’re in need of a dash of inspiration to energize your own creative endeavors, give Steal Like an Artist a try– you won’t regret it. What inspirational tips/tricks help you achieve your creative goals? Share below…

[Disclaimer: a different version of this review was written by me for the Lawrence Public Library’s website. Images courtesy of Austin Kleon and steallikeanartist.com]

Twelve for 2012

Back in the days when I was involved with APA-5 and the Small Press Syndicate, I would traditionally start off the new year with a column detailing my creative resolutions. While I may no longer have such direct and regular connection to my creative peer group, I do have this lovely venue to share my plans for 2012. Hopefully putting them out there for the world to see will help keep me on track in a way that I haven’t managed to do over the last couple of years. Here are twelve things I plan to accomplish in 2012: