I draw pictures. I imagine storylines. I imagine a narrative, a comic, a screenplay… There is nothing quite as on target as the prose I
Category: Graphic Novel
Shared views of graphic novels in progress
One must not be too romantic about madness…
Feeling burned out today from my bread and butter work, I decided to ignore my entire to-do list this evening, decided to not to catch
Visual notes: Patient No. 6, Psychiatric Diagnosis, 1959
As part of my research for a current project into mental health treatment in BC 1940’s to 60’s, I came across vintage psychiatric videos recently.
Nature moves through carcasses…
Illustrating decomposition by allowing the newsprint to deteriorate over several years and for the dead bird to slowly be encompassed by embroidered roots and the
Relaunch and new look: my online graphic novel “Molly, a True Crime Analysis, the third draft”
Molly- a true crime analysis is my experimental graphic novel, originally workshopped online in weekly instalments between January 15, 2017 and January 13, 2018.
It’s not that I don’t know what to do.
Regarding my passion project Molly- a true crime analysis: 2003-2016 was all about researching, drawing, accumulating, writing, collecting. 2017 was all about creating an online weekly
Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 9- Torpet
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
Tuesday November 6, 1947
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 6, 1947 MOLLY, A GRAPHIC NOVEL– my now 15+ years passion project– continues at the drawing board and at the writing desk and
Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 7- Grad and the Party
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short: Steven
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
Come back to me.
Come back to me, Molly. It’s been a strange time- hiding you from the world in order to explore new ways of telling your story.
Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 5- They don’t know what it is.
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Today’s instalment:
Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Instalment 1: Introduction
Subject to change Instalment 2 August 12, 2018 © Katarina Thorsen 2018
When public goes private, do I lose you?
When public goes private, do I lose you? I am so used to sharing my creative process openly– and now I find myself in a
Molly- a new phase
Molly- a true crime analysis Currently in a new development phase and therefore the online graphic novel is now set to private. Thanks for your
New comic: Come Into Me, Issue 1
Creative process for me is not about the end product. It is about the entire process. But that doesn’t mean I don’t celebrate end products!
The New Year’s Drawing Marathon
On January 15, 2017, I launched the first chapter of the third draft of my experimental graphic novel: Molly- a true crime analysis. Birds have
30 strange chapters completed.
I am workshopping my true crime graphic novel online. 30 strange chapters completed. I am working on the 31st today. Then 15 to go. I am
#SKiP 2017 was amazing!
Recall: I had the pleasure of presenting and facilitating at the SKETCHING IN PRACTICE 2017 SYMPOSIUM on June 23 and 24! It felt so great
See you at #SKiP 2017 June 23-24! @sketchapractice
I’m so excited and honored to be hosting two sessions at SKETCHING IN PRACTICE (SKiP) 2017 June 23-24, 2017 at SFU’s Goldcorp Centre! SKETCHING IN
Celebrating 95 pages with a vulnerability hangover…
I am workshopping my graphic novel through a weekly online serial. So far… we have been witnessed a crime: Looked at the original headlines: I’ve
Boundary by Emily Cowan
Wow. Emily Cowan, comic book artist, has just completed an extraordinary book: What a beautiful journey it has been to dive into Paige’s teenage life. My cheeks
For I need to SPEAK FREELY. Without restraint…
So, I’ve been doing a lot of chatting in the past few days about my passion project: Molly- a true crime analysis: I’ve been chatting,
My weekly serial format serves as a means to workshop the graphic novel…
My Molly site mollygraphicnovel.com launches with Part 1A on Sunday. The work is presented in an experimental form. I will simply allow the creative process
MOLLY, my true crime online graphic novel serial, launches in 1 month!
Look for Part 1A on January 15, 2017 MOLLY- A TRUE CRIME ANALYSIS at mollygraphicnovel.com An analysis in 5-acts. … to dissolve the very boundaries
Molly- a true crime analysis, a visual serial goes online January 15!
How do you escape from a convincing story? After enough repetitions, the facts come to serve the story and not the other way around. –
Around 3 am… I felt a tap on my shoulder.
Around 3 am yesterday morning (November 19) I woke up because I felt a tap on my shoulder. More like a double jab. On my
I am a star, glimpsed through a sideways glance.
Working notes, Molly, a True Crime Analysis
Digging deeper, the secrets become aviatic.
Working on Molly, and I remain fascinated that I find it easier to dig deeper into the story by using the image of birds. Somehow,
“I recall a childhood dream…” with visual storytelling.
Toying with creative process. Thumbnail sketches and experimenting with storyboarding the PREFACE (preamble) portion of Molly, a true crime analysis: RECALL:
I am obsessing about Molly’s wandering soul.
I am obsessing about Molly‘s wandering soul. I have written before that Molly somehow chose me to tell her story. Eve Lazarus refers to it
“I put myself back in the narrative…” and ugh- LOG JAM. #innercritic #onwriting
On the gross creative process, the ugliness, the inner critic, the log jams, the writing… Log jam. Log jam. After feedback FEEDBACK from multiple sources
Rejection letter from publisher? Despair? No- liberation.
I have been awaiting word from a significant publisher who has been considering my passion project- Molly, a true crime analysis. The book is not finished.
That is a step on which… #creativeprocess
I was working on my Molly project today— contemplating a slightly new format, to reconstruct the prologue. The idea came out of the first weekly mini writer’s retreat that I
It is important now for me to honor this call for retreat. #creativeprocess
I sense it is time to really retreat in between work schedules and ensure cave time to focus on my passion project: Molly, a true
The objects are the context from which I draw clues.
What happens when a case is very old, when much of its physical evidence is deteriorated or destroyed, and its main players long deceased? How
Special sale: Dead Bird Collection- embroidered drawings
I am a BIG BIG fan of symbology, imagery and metaphor. I feed on it like some kind of voracious vampire. As I was
The importance of the vintage photograph as creative resource.
There is no end to the inspiration I get from looking at vintage photographs- through immersion comes awakened imagination. The central characters in my
Death is not the end of the story, but just the beginning.
I am deep into the creative process this morning. This current drawing is being prepped for embroidery re Molly, a True Crime Analysis as I simultaneously
The boarding pass lies within the double helix…
I had a bit of a silly dream last night. I write, silly because, unlike the dream, I usually get to the airport three hours
The timeless/spaceless mid zone of creative process and chatting with the dead…
There is a beautiful part of my creative process that I cherish- the part that allows me to dialogue with my parents as if they
Embroidered drawings and forensic taphonomy
My passion project, Molly- a true crime analysis, centres around a 63 year old Vancouver cold case. On January 15, 1953, the skeletal remains of
MOLLY TERESA O’DWYER APRIL 25, 1924
Molly Teresa O’Dwyer (April 25, 1924 Costel, Ireland- November 6, 1947; suicide, age 23 in Vancouver, BC, Canada (Mountainview Cemetery, Vancouver) — My passion project,
The Sparrow’s Feet.
I was gifted some delicate Sparrow feet from my friend, Hannah. — They immediately inspired a portrait of my main character, Molly: “How does one
Creative mind mapping example: developing characters
A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. It harnesses the full range
The 5 W’s. #Molly #GraphicNovel #Process
Working on Molly. Keep at it. Revise manuscript. Organize the collected research. Walk around the lagoon. Think think think. Massage the timeline. Spend hours in the
Ok, Molly, I’ll eat a shit sandwich for you.
I had a very anxious week last week. It was a crawl to the finish line. It was a mix of grief, self-doubt, money stuff,
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain… Birds, metaphors, graphic novel, experiments
— Central to my graphic novel is the intensity of anxiety and severe depression while drowning in circumstance, highlighted through the metaphor of birds. —
A marker for Molly
I do not take my work on Molly lightly. I respect that her story is a tragic one. I respect that Molly somehow chose me
it should be a nightmare, but somehow, it isn’t. Instead, I am filled with curiosity…
I am a bit lost these days. Spinning in place the last few weeks. I know the spinning comes from diving into the past for a
Stick to the facts in the text, avoid assumptions, yet draw conclusions.
In my current project, Molly, I use mainly primary sources and secondary sources such as news articles, as well as well-vetted research in order to
When grief is like a wave crashing on shore…
I attended an event last night at the Vancouver Public Library. I am so glad I went alone, for not only could I soak in
1940’s kitchen. The importance of historical context cont.)
Recall the importance of historical context for my graphic novel research in my post yesterday: LINK. As the story is mainly set in the 1940’s, I
The importance of historical context in an investigative story
What happens when a case is very old, when much of its physical evidence is deteriorated or destroyed, and its main players long deceased?
“What do we know?” Drawing conclusions from the facts. #graphicnovel
My graphic novel is more of an illustrated thesis rather than pure graphic novel. My words are based in fact. The drawings are where I can take
“Write the f*!king book.” The importance of mentors in creative projects.
I am all about creative process. I am not worried about that. I have creative process down to a science. No worries. It’s a habit
Autopsy and the somewhat autobiographical nature of my graphic novel
I have been on a bit of blog-haitus of late. Just experienced an amazing pull back into the past as a dear friend spent 9
Limited edition hand-embroidered print sale #graphicnovel
— I am making available 10 hand-embroidered prints entitled Who is it that can tell me who I am? featuring an original image from my graphic
“Crime Scene” creative process #graphicnovel
— “CRIME SCENE” Testing chapter heading visuals for: Molly, my graphic novel. Creating on nickels and dimes. “… even if I had to
