One of my favorite parts of making zines and sending them out is that, not only is there this direct connection between myself and the person I'm mailing the package to, but, also, I get to put together elaborate, junky objects replete with collages and quick (sometimes not so quick) drawings and try to "design" them in a way that's pleasing (to me):
I get to indulge a bit in drawing for drawing's sake in a way that I rarely do otherwise:
Each mailer becomes a crappy assemblage that has no justification other than as a conveyance for the mini:
Lots of times these spur of the moment drawings will give me visual ideas for comics I'm working on or free me up so that I can be more spontaneous.
For a long time I wouldn't let myself document the packages because I felt like I was cheating on the ephemerality of the medium, but I saw one I'd sent to ol' Dylan W. on the wall at the offices of Sparkplug Comics, and I wished I hadn't been so rigid. I go back and forth these days. I've sent out tons of these, but I've only documented these few. And I mainly use my shitty cell phone camera to take the pictures so they're imperfect records:
It became so much easier when I found the self-service machines at post office - the postal workers always gave me weird looks having to deal with my garbage!
Next post: pics of packages people have sent to me!
9 comments:
I love getting packages from you. I'm far too lazy to make pretty mail.
Thanks! Sometimes I wish I were lazier about it! Hope the most recent one found you in one piece!
I like these packages as well. And Warren Craghead's postcards and post-its too (following a similar tack).
Some years ago I started slipping little drawings and notes into library books as I returned them. Hopefully they'd be found by whoever checks the book out next.
I guess that's not the same kind of thing, exactly...
Both the package and I are in one piece.
I really like the pictures of these. I'll make sure to order something from you soon. I was really happy when I ordered some stuff of Blaise and got an unexpected drawing on the envelope
this post is sweet
john p. are you reading this??
i too enjoy breathing on packages and receiving mail which has been breathed upon
this is a central, visceral component of the 'comics' world that is under-talked.
god bless our mail carriers
does this post count as a 'web comic'
if so, is it 'self-loathing' while being also generally 'happy' in tone?
just tryin' to parse why i dig reading this post.
my word verification is 'moups'
self-loathing because it is talking about tactile stuff
yeah....huh
"i too enjoy breathing on packages and receiving mail which has been breathed upon"
this post was super about drawing, how a casual medium like 'postal decoration' can spur one on, jag one out of one's routine, which may be cloistered, which may involve clogged nibs.
but i like this notion of most any action being considered 'drawing'......which seems foreign to the comics world, with so many assembly line systems brewing and driving cartoonists. so what about breathing as drawing too? in this light, the postal carriers are part of the drawing experience, as is the mailbox.
blaise would call this whole 'drawing process' the 'performance' of the package, with each postal pass and stop effecting the 'narrative' of said package. which is true. but somehow it's more gratifying to think of it all as 'drawing' for me. huh.
Post a Comment