Mya Meets Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud is a total freakin' genius, but he's also a nice guy. If you already know he's a genius, you can skip to the part of this post below the Amazon links and find out how I know he's also good folks.

When I saw that Scott McCloud had a new book out and was on tour promoting it, I immediately started writing a post about it (then Firefox crashed and other things happened, etc. and I didn't go back to it). I knew that I'd find an excuse to write about it sooner or later. It turns out that last night's lecture in Maine is the happy occasion.

The first thing I did when my daughter Mya told me she was interested in writing and drawing comics was get her a copy of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. It's also the first book I recommend to anyone who has a need to communicate clearly with other people, whether they're in the arts, business or any other field.

Understanding Comics is a comic book that explains how comics work, but it's more than that… it's a clear, concise look at how to tell stories, how to get ideas across and how information is processed. I'm going to stop raving now and just refer you to Amazon if you haven't read it yet. Regardless of whether you're interested in comics per se, I guarantee you'll find the book entertaining, thought provoking, educational, and eventually, well, indispensable.

Okay, a little more raving, I can't quite help it. Understanding Comics is the best book I've ever read on maing art of any kind. Now I'll stop.

 

 

So, anyway, last night Mya got to go see Scott lecture at the Maine College of Art. To be honest, I'm a wee bit jealous, even though I suggested it when I first noticed that he was going to be in her area. I'll get my chance to see him when the tour reaches Michigan. Mya enjoyed the lecture and she found the presentation by his daughters Winter and Sky interesting. We didn't get a chance to talk at great length last night, but hopefully Mya will leave a comment here with her own description of the event. It's better first-hand.

The cool thing happened after… Mya had taken along six pages of her most recent work in comics, and during the signing Scott took the time to read and critique it. She was so psyched that she called me the minute she got back. Hearing her that excited and inspired really made my day. I deeply appreciate Scott taking the time to reach out to a younger fan, especially because of what she said next:

"You were right Dad, famous people really are just people… they're not hard to talk to if you have something to talk about."

Over the summer I'd encouraged Mya to reach out to people she found interesting and interact with them as peers— after all, all of my friends really dig her. She's heard stories from me about some of the writers, bloggers, geniuses, artists and so forth I've met online and developed friendships with, but she wasn't comfortable with the idea of just approaching people she didn't know. She's 17 and a little shy sometimes.

Thing is, like myself, Mya lives in a pretty isolated rural environment where she often finds it difficult to find people who share her interests. She's lucky to have some great teachers at her school and a couple friends that she can talk to, but overall, there's not a lot of people she can have really deep talks with. So after meeting Scott and getting to talk with someone who's been a total hero of hers, that whole idea of reaching out seemed a lot more doable. It could have gone the other way, of course… if he'd been the kind of artist who doesn't do well with fans, she might have walked away totally crushed. But I think their interaction may inspire her to start making an effort to get to know some of the other people she reads and to become more interested in participating on blogs. I hope so, because I think it will make her life a lot richer in many of the same ways it's improved mine.

That's what makes the blogosphere so special… it makes it possible to connect with people in ways that really weren't as easy before. Before blogs, it really wouldn't have occurred to me to just call up an author who had written a book that paralleled what I was working on. And if I had, they might not have appreciated it much. What's changed with blogs is that the interaction between author and audience has become part of the process… There are ways that this benefits the author, and ways that it benefits the reader, but the key benefit is that I think it gives up-and-coming artists more ways to learn, grow and move forward. And that really benefits everyone.

Part of what I enjoy most about being an artist is that interaction with the audience and with other artists… I love teaching, presenting, and sharing what I know. I dig encouraging kids and adults to think creatively and to try things that might have seemed beyond their reach. I love hearing stories about other people who do the same.

Thanks Scott!

Below is the first page of the comic Mya shared with Scott. I'm still waiting to get my hands on the next five (going on six) pages. I can't wait until she starts doing all of her work in Illustrator and posting it to a blog! I'm pretty curious to see where the story is going after starting with the lyrics to Strange Fruit.