30 Slice-Of-Life Comics Inspired By My Own Experiences

Throughout the day, I fill up the notes app on my phone with thoughts, songs I've listened to, poems, and phrases from others. I also take many screenshots, and pictures of what I read/watch. Some of these things will be untouched for days, months, years or may never ever see the light of day. Every now and then, when I am struggling for ideas, I will scroll through everything on my phone to see if anything I stored catches my attention. Once I pull an idea out of the hat, I begin doing thumbnail sketches. I do all of my thumbnail drawings and comics in a Moleskine sketchbook. One funny thing is I always lose my rulers so I use random objects to measure out my panels.

The current strip I am working on is measured out using a Wiglett Pokemon card. Before, when I did my comics using thick 2mm 4B leads, it would take me hours to draw out a single panel because the lead was too dark to erase without smudging everywhere. In the past year, I have switched to using a mechanical pencil to avoid this headache.

All my comic strips are traditionally hand-painted using watercolors after I ink my panels with a micron pen. It takes a lot more time than doing it digitally but the results are much more rewarding to me. I also like to physically hold each panel, so I think that's cool too.

My artistic style has developed the more I draw and the more I consume movies/shows, art, books, comics, and cartoons. I would say at this point in my art journey my tastes and my artistic style have been rapidly changing. This is apparent with how quickly the quality of the strips has improved. I think this is because this strip has allowed me to draw so much more than I previously had done. It's important to draw a lot and digest a lot of whatever art there is out there in the world. 

Growing up in a low-income household, my parents brought me to libraries where I read a lot of comics and manga. I read a lot of "Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson and I honestly think that changed my brain chemistry as a kid. Other titles like "Peanuts" by Charles Schulz, "Haikyuu!!" by Haruichi Furudate, "Yotsuba&!' by Kiyohiko Azuma, and Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" were comics that were instrumental in my development. My art is also heavily influenced by the music I listen to. I don't create playlists so I will shuffle between Teezo Touchdown, Daniel Johnston, Hank Williams, or even Kero Kero Bonito. As somebody who paints, I look into artists like Edward Hopper, Francisco Goya, and George Bellows. There are so many more things that influence my work but I will leave it to you to see if you can pick out any influences that you may find in my work. That is one of my favorite things to do to other artists too.

With my comics, I wish for my readers to understand that everybody is living such complex lives and many times it can be hard for us to empathize with the thoughts, actions, and feelings of others. I also hope this comic inspires people to follow their own passions, whether it's painting, sports, or making music. There will be many obstacles when following your dreams, but please continue working on them. The world needs your voice and other amazing things that you can share with humanity. Another thing I want readers to take away from "Diary of Red Panda" is gaining a new perspective. Seeing life from many different angles is imperative to understanding other humans and forming meaningful connections with your community.

There is so much more I want to do with "Diary of Red Panda". In the future, I plan on going more into what it means to be a Red Panda. This is supposed to parallel the lives of many other indigenous groups in the world and the difficulties that these groups face. I also will be getting into topics that deal with wealth disparity. I have been slowly fleshing out my characters so they can fit into certain stories I want to tell. There are also going to be lighter stories I would like to develop, like Red Panda becoming a volleyball coach, but that may take some time to build up. In the meantime, y'all will just have to sit and wait for these topics and themes to surface.