A Change in Publishing Frequency

the only thing that stays the same is constant change

Abstract comics are like hummingbirds, nearly impossible to photograph to appropriately capture their vibrance.

Throughout my career I’ve used the scientific method to figure out what I’m not sure of. Here’s what I did to get where I find myself today -

1 - Made an observation:

I started a Substack this year as a result of an intense holistic reformulation period that began last summer and wrapped up early this year. I decided everything I “knew to be true” had to be challenged to determine what I could still trust. A survey of how I spent my time proved puppetry was taking up too much of it, breaking up the monopoly hold it had on my career by stepping down from my Creative Director appointment of the Puppeteers of Color Social and disbanding the club was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make, but it finally freed me to naturally gravitate to the next phase in my journey.

2 - Asked a question:

What would happen if I focused my time and attention to the underdogs of my art career, comics & publishing, and see what fruit the tree would bare if I gave it the intense focus I had poured into puppetry for a decade?

3 - Formed a hypothesis:

Aggressively sticking to a weekly publication schedule will equal success, because any newsletter worth its salt pushes out new work every week without fail - right? {Well no, turns out I was very wrong, about pretty much everything (if you stick around for long enough, you’ll see this is a common theme I circle back to).}

4 - Made a prediction based on the hypothesis:

My prediction was that I was finally going to shoot my shot in the literary world. That these comics would connect me with other people who love drawing comics with a journalistic lens, leveraging their talents to help break down these big systemic problems that are overwhelming when only in print.

5 - Tested the prediction by experimenting:

While I was laying the foundation for this place with the first few diligently posted comics and stories, music snuck up from behind and jumped on the mic. The instant gratification I feel making beats is electrifying, I smile more while I make music than I ever have making any other form of art. I’m getting better at creating and reinforcing positive neural pathways by checking in with myself when I’m having a great time, noting when it happens, reading the frequency and doing more of what makes me feel genuinely tickled. Right now music is scratching all the itches in a big way, because while I love drawing comics, they require a taxing amount of time. I write more about this on my blog, which I’ve been updating more since Substack didn’t want to upload my gifs (which oddly seems to be working now O_o). My final for my Comics in Journalism class ended up being an animation, since a hand injury that’s had me in physical therapy for a few weeks now prohibited me from working on my longer, more formally journalistic comic on the recent win South Chicago celebrated when General Iron’s permit finally got denied once and for all.

Being an interdisciplinary artist can sometimes be tricky because when I have an idea to manifest an idea into tangible reality, there’s a long list of questions I run through to test drive how it should live; you can call this my artistic method:

1. Does this need to be experienced live? (theater/puppet show OR film/comic/audio project/photography/zine/painting)

2. Does the audience need to see what’s going on when it’s happening? (live/one shot or can be documented/revised)

3. How much time do I have to build and produce this? (long - months, short - weeks, micro - days)

4. Are there components that would be too expensive/complicated to live full scale? (art piece/puppet show that I can draw/build what I need or features people and the real life components)

5. What medium will this occupy? (live performance, online performance, portfolio photos, my blog, here, social media, zine, etc.)

6. How expensive is it going to be to procure the components needed? If they are really expensive, can I justify the purchase by using those tools for other projects?

7. Can I do this by myself or do I need to hire helpers or specialists? If I’m going to do this by myself, do I already know how to do it or do I have to factor in time to onboarding myself to this new thing?

8. Do I have the bandwidth to take my time or is there a deadline?

9. Is the way I’ve decided to do this pushing me to grow past my previous achievements in this space?

10. Does the actionable plan for creating an approachable output do the initial idea justice?

6 - Analyzed My Data and Drew Conclusions:

Hunting and gathering takes time. Hats off to anyone who can keep a strict posting schedule, but it only took me a few weeks to realize it’s absolutely not for me. I need time to experience life and do a bit of mulling before I’m ready to write about it - gone are the days of a 24 hour turn around. I’m not sure if age or the pandemi took that away from me, but either way my brain needs time to digest. I can’t run after I eat a big meal, why should I force myself to document a wave of understanding while I’m riding it?

7 - Shared my results, so others can make new hypotheses (and see this isn’t a linear process - so don’t feel silly if you find yourself offroading or backtracking, taking the scenic route should be celebrated!):

In order to be more respectful of the fluidity of life, I’m moving the frequency of sending FOOD over FUNCTION newsletters from weekly to whenever life allows. I write about why I’m sharing my music making journey in my most recent blog post on my website, that way you can read it at your leisure without being bombarded with emails from me.

While the utterly repulsive feeling of being known will never not be gross to me, if I can inspire just one other queer woman, one other BIPOC woman, one other artist who thinks their skills are contained by their current proficiencies, one other music lover who thinks they are destined to only admire music - not make it - to give it a shot, I will put up with the annoyance of being vulnerable and share my journey going from someone who kept mixing up MIDI in and out connections to recording my first song. Check out House of Egregious on SoundCloud or Instagram if you’re into groovin’ to doom pop synth jams. I’m not out to make great music, all I want to do is make music - making it is what’s great, and that’s enough for me.

Be well,

Allyson