The small project before the big project

For anyone working on what feels like (or is) a "big idea" and not knowing how to start.

For anyone working on what feels like (or is) a "big idea" and not knowing how to start.

OFTEN, a creator will make a small piece, not realizing it is about to become a bigger thing. This is great, and it's encouraged!

As an example, I'm showing two examples from Leela Corman's work.

She made this story, "Fanya Needs to Know." She was pretty sure it would be the beginning of a large graphic novel, but she really needed to just get the thing moving. So she made this piece for an anthology.

Eventually, it did become part of the larger graphic novel, Unterzakhn, but it had to be entirely redrawn (because she had grown and changed as an artist), and substantially re-written to incorporate the larger world of the book.

This is common! (I've done this at least 2 or 3 times myself, sometimes accidental, sometimes on purpose.)

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Jess Ruliffson shares her example...

Left: comic page first published in a magazine, Right: same story/similar part of that story in the final comic book/graphic novel

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The point? 

Get started. 

Make a small thing. 

It's like letting a genie out of a bottle, it will say THANK YOU when you let it out and grant you the wish of seeing more of the project. 

Hope this encourages!

Thanks for reading and sharing!