Category: Comics & Zines

Hello everyone! After moving three times this summer, doing an internship, then starting a new job (spoiler?), I can finally present to you- my last comic about architecture school.

In case you’re new around these parts (welcome!) or want a refresher, you can read these zines in order: 2019 (first year), 2020 (second year), 2021 (third year), and 2022 (fourth year). If you’re interested in obtaining a physical copy, read my blurb at the end for more info!

Without further ado…

I knew this was coming, but after making these for the past four years, it’s weird to finally be at the last one. Whenever I finish one of these, I think of all the things I can improve on for the next year, and know that I will have that opportunity to improve. But now, it feels more final. Like as soon as I export all these pages, I am putting this five year chunk of my life in a frozen time capsule. I was never purposefully procrastinating this summer (I did get swept up in life… and the Tears of the Kingdom release), but part of me was scared to complete this, because once it’s done… it is done. But I gave myself the goal of finishing the comic by the end of September, so that it what I have managed to do, and then I gave myself a day to write all this out and reread everything.

I am planning to compile these five years of comics into a physical edition! For MoCCA fest, I handmade (folding and stapling) about ten copies, and needless to say, that was very time-consuming. I’ll be looking into printing companies and that kind of thing, so if anyone has any advice/suggestions, feel free to send them my way. I have some ideas for things I’d like to correct and improve in the physical edition while sprinkling in some ~bonus content~. I hope you’ll consider getting a physical copy once I’m able to sort everything out. Seeing things printed and holding a physical item is so satisfying. If you are interested in getting a physical copy, please consider filling out this interest form — it’s not an official preorder or anything, it’s just so I can gauge if I should start by printing 5 copies or 50 copies. I appreciate it!

Of course I can’t end this post without thanking everyone for their support and interest in my comics. When I first started I didn’t know if I would make one each year, but I’m glad I kept up with it, and it morphed into something I looked forward to— documenting both my school experiences and my art (improving? I’d like to think). While this project is over, I hope to keep making things in the future and you can always find me over on instagram (@elcapp).

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Behind the Scenes!

I also wanted to include some Behind-the-Scenes here, for those curious.

I have a hectic method of making my pages… I sketch things in my sketchbook (or post-it notes, or whatever paper I have lying around). In InDesign I arrange the panel sizes, then create each frame as a new canvas in FireAlpaca (at this point I should probably be using Photoshop? but old habits die hard). I then type out all of the words to make sure they are large enough to be legible, then get to drawing and lettering. I’m using my ~7 year old Microsoft surface computer which is touch-screen, so I have really given my right pointer finger a workout. Unfortunately the computer is having battery issues now, meaning it would crash in the middle of drawing quite often, but autosaves were a savior. Once the panel is done, I label it all nicely and pop it into InDesign. Then repeat!

I wish I could say I wrote out every single word and planned every panel before starting, but in reality I jump around based on the ideas I already have, and then fill in the gaps as I go. This year I kept track of when I completed pages (did not necessarily plan them in this order), and also the panel layouts just to make sure I had a variety.

What’s Next?

Now that this series is over and I’m not in school (I would be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about the comic potential of going to grad school, hah, but alas), I think I’m going to take a little break from the autobiographical stuff. I’ve had a fiction story floating around in my head since 2016, and I think it is time to at least try to give it some love. It’s the kind of story where I told myself I’d make it once I’m better (at writing, at art- if I were to make it a comic), but at this point I think it is my avenue to “get better”. I’ll return back to autobio things, but for now I hope you have enjoyed my series about architecture school.

Thanks for reading!