The Devil's Churn: A Junior Visual Narrative Comic by Emma Askren (2017)

Throughout the process of creating The Devil’s Churn, I grew by learning how to master the tools of Illustrator. For example, I improved in using the pen tool, making color swatches, becoming organized in layers, and having the patience to deal with faulty servers and programs. Along the way, I encountered some struggles. In the beginning, I had trouble getting in the flow of how to efficiently get my work done while doing it the right way, such as figuring out what was in the very back of the panel, all the way to what was in the front. Some of the servers would crash and would not be able to revive any work that I had not saved yet. To fix this, I had to be efficient and use every minute I had to re-draw my comic. Some things I would change would be adding more details and texture to each panel. I would have liked to add different colors to make it more appealing to the eye and show details like the locks of hair on the girls’ heads.

I am most proud of how put together the project looks, and how my skills grew using Illustrator. For future projects, I will press save a lot more, and I will use the organization skills I used to get through this project. Organizing goes from exact measurements on an art board, to the number of panels that will fit depending on how you shape them, to knowing which layers to lock and when to create new ones. This project definitely had a positive effect on the way I view others’ art. I realized how many different ways you can illustrate a scene, and how each person had their own look to their comic. I also noticed that each person’s piece had its own little personality almost, where one would be so bright and colorful and you would instantly feel that mood, or the other way around with a different color palette.