Comics - Is it ever too late to start liking them?

 I've never been one to really care that much about comics. I like stories and I like to draw, but that never really did anything to help make comics more appealing to me. I just don't think in comic strip form. Or at least I thought I didn't until I cam across some comics in one of those digital comic platforms. I don't know if it was the layout, which seemed to flow better because you're only seeing one frame at a time as you scroll through the episode or if the stories are more appealing to me or what. But I have come to really enjoy a handful, and look forward to each new episode that is released. 

Because of this newfound appreciation and enjoyment regarding comics, I've been thinking off and on over the last year or two about making one of my own. Ambitious right? Especially with my current completion rate on stories that are just words, never mind adding in a visual element. But I'm nothing if not willing to leap into yet another area of focus and see what strikes my fancy. That said, writing will always be my favorite. But sometimes it's nice to draw a bit, too. 

While this all sounds like it's moving in the right direction I do have a few very clear obstacles in my way. Can you guess what those might be? Well, let me help you out. I have been struggling with a story that will translate well to a visual medium without losing a lot of the deeper elements I try to have in my stories, be it inner struggle, complex plots that constantly need revisiting to make sure I foreshadow enough early that the outcome isn't expected but is also believable, etc. Not the easiest thing to do since I can take a simple plot and make it ridiculous in mere moments. *High Five Me* As for the second big obstacle, well, I suck at drawing people. Or I suck at drawing them quickly and in a way that would be easily replicated in multiple frames over multiple episodes, etc. That is actually a bigger issue for me than the story. I have story ideas all the time, nearly all are half-baked whims, but stories. And some of them might even be good ideas for a comic. Drawing said comic, however, is another story altogether. 

So, what do I do to address both those issues? Well, as I said, I like coming up with stories, and I think I've actually thought of one that could be a good fit. (More to come on that later.) So now I really need to learn to draw some cartoon type people because those super realistic ones with the dramatic shading, etc. just aren't going to work for me. I will lose interest and patience before I get to the 5th frame, never mind a while episode. To help foster learning and overall growth and my aversion to people drawing, I've started watching some basic animation youtube videos and ordered some books on tricks for doing a comic and for drawing characters, to include expressions. People are hard, their faces are super hard, and their hands are about impossible. So I'm not even going to think about hands until I have to. Expect to see a lot of chest up shots in my comic and the characters carrying stuff, hiding their hands in their pockets, etc. in wider shots. Let's just go ahead and deal with my hand drawing aversion like tv shows deal with pregnant stars. Ignore the elephant in the room and hide what you don't want shown!

So, with my drawing knowledge and skill to hopefully expand in the coming days, I need to get to outlining that new story idea. How's this for a premise? Hollywood hunks have no shortage of women throwing themselves at them, wanting to date them, wanting to marry them, wanting to bed them, or anywhere else along the gauntlet. I'm sure a lot of folks thing that would be the dream, have the women come to them. No need to go and look for one yourself, they're everywhere! But I think while it might be flattering, it would also really suck. How do you know if they like you for you or for one of your roles? What if they just want fame through you? What if they're in it for the money? The list is endless. And I for one, don't envy them for all their fortune and fame (this goes for women, too, and no, it doesn't matter what gender you like, that feeling of never being able to trust because of your fame is universally sucky, but for the purposes of my story, I am talking about a famous hetero guy). What would said super hunk do if among his countless messages of adoration he received a very calm, cool, and logical letter asking if he'd like to be the sperm donor for a single woman looking to enter motherhood on her own. She'd explain her reasons for choosing him as a donor and she would end with her intention for the child to not have contact, so he wouldn't be responsible for any financial compensation regarding the child. What would be the plus side for him in this arrangement? He would know that his genes and legacy lived on free of the public eye and without any burden to himself. Needless to say, this is not a proposal he's gotten before and he's curious about the woman who would send it. There are so many questions and storylines that could be developed from that beginning and depending on my art skill and my ability to stick with this one, I could go with the one where he immediately dismisses the letter because it's clearly a hoax, or go down the proverbial rabbit hole and see where the story goes. Fun times ahead!