Hi everyone and welcome to the second Adopted the Comic Newsletter, September 2010.

We can not believe that 10 months down the line that Adopted the Comic is still here alive and kicking =D. We have put it down to all the encouragement and feedback (good and bad) that we have received from all corners of the adoption community. I know we say this over and over, we really want to thank you all again for your continued support for the comic so far from the website, emails & the Facebook Like Page.

It has been a busy summer for us at Adopted the Comic. Bert is working on the planning for the Intercountry Adoption Summit (Sept. 2010) while having adopted from Vietnam in May. I have been working hard on my freelance work and been helping on the committee for the CAAWR adoptee reunion in Hong Kong (Sept. 2010). On top of that we have been passionately working on 3 comic commissions (more details below). Like always, life is getting in the way of comic making =P.

We don’t often bring out newsletters, but we hope you enjoyed this one =). Click the link to view Newsletter #1 which was way back in Jan 2010 =P.

Adopted the Comic gets Subbed

Here at Adopted the Comic we realise that we have a limitation on who we can reach. That limitation is mainly been on access to none-english speaking viewers. On the sidebar you may now notice a Google Translate option. We also have added typed “Transcripts” for each comic which we hope will make the comic more open to translation and accessible in general. We know that Google translation is not perfect but we hope it’s a good start =).

If you do speak another language and would like to translate any of the comics a bit more accurately then Google translate, please feel free to contact us.

See how it works with the screen shoots below.

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Adopted the Comic Gets Some Acting Lessons

I was lucky enough to meet Linda Goldstein Knowlton randomly at an adoption event (CACH) in the UK in 2006. She was filming a documentary about Chinese adoptees for her documentary called The Sisterhood.

Linda asked us here at Adopted the Comic to do 3 commissions with the themes of language, demographics/categories and luck to be part of the documentary. We are very excited and have been working hard for the past few months on them. They will be available on the website once the documentary is aired, but we do hope you get a chance to see it on the screen first =D. The documentary is now in its finial stages and expected in 2011, so watch this space. Linda wrote:

“My daughter’s name is Ruby. She is five. When my husband and I adopted her from China in 2006  we had no idea what lay ahead. In an instant, we became a family. I began to think about Ruby’s future and started to wonder how her coming-of-age would differ from mine. THE SISTERHOOD tells intimate stories of what it is like to come-of-age as a trans-racial adoptee in today’s America, as examined through the POV of some of the 79,562 adopted girls from China.

The reason we wanted to commission the comics for the documentary is because because they use HUMOR…and so brilliantly.  As Jessica said to me when we first met – she hoped that my film wouldn’t be all unicorns and rainbows in regards to examining the topic of adoption…but also not all dark and tormented.  With the addition of the comics, it will help me achieve that balance in the film.”

If your organisation, event, group etc are looking for a custom comic you can find details on the Publication & Commissions pages.

Behind the Scenes of Adopted the Comic

We thought it would be nice to let you have a sneak peek into our process from idea to completion. Me and Bert still have not meet in person (yet) and this whole process is purely done through emails.

Bert’s Writing Process

When I think about my role in all of this, I feel a bit inadequate compared to what Jess has to go through. Make no mistake, Jess is really the heart and soul in this venture. She has to interpret my work and put images to it and then subject what she creates to my feedback, sometimes capturing things in ways I don’t intend or don’t even see. It’s much easier to change words than images. She has my admiration in how difficult this process can be.

For my writing process, my inspiration comes from three places – myself and my experiences as an adoptee and adoptive parent, the experiences of other adoptees and adoptive families, and stand-up comedy. I like to laugh and while laughing I reflect on how they made me laugh (no, I don’t have any favourites per se, but I like comedians and comediennes who find humour in everyday life). I then see if I can find parallels in my life or in others’ lives around adoption on something similar.

My inspirations come in fits and spurts. I don’t sit and write or meditate heavily on the subject matter. Often inspiration comes after I’ve watched some comedy (which is random too and not on any routine) or when I’m talking with my wife and family or when I realize I’ve done something embarrassing or even when I’m struggling with my own adoption status. I write it down and send it off.

When I write it down, I will write out the panels I envision and the words to be said. I’ll look at it and see if it’s funny to me, maybe bounce it off of my wife and get her feedback, then send it off to Jess. Because my inspiration comes in fits and spurts,  I will often send 5-7 ideas to Jess at a time. She reads over them, gives me feedback and I tell her if she is on the right track or not with what I intended.

I believe we have a very collaborative process. There are probably more times we disagree and there are many ideas that are too cynical, dark, insulting, or inappropriate. But in there somewhere is a nugget or two that makes it out. Once Jess and I agree on the concept, she sends me early sketches, I give her my feedback. If good, she colours and voilà, we have a comic!

In this endeavour, I think I have it easy and Jess has all the hard work. I get to write about things I love from my own experience in a way that makes me and others laugh. That’s healing for me, and hopefully, for all of you as well.

Jess’ Art Process

I have to admit, it sometimes seems like a mammoth task to live up to Bert’s writings and still bring my own flavour while keeping the spirit of the theme/idea behind the comic. I was asked once how i came up with drawings for the comic. I didn’t answer the question so well last time, but since then i have been thinking about it.

The first step is to interpret what Bert has written. I start to think about my view of the adoption issue we are commenting on. I then think about where Bert himself might be coming from (which i sometimes don’t get totally right =P). I have been lucky enough to meet, talk and connect with many from the adoption world from all walks of life so i often think about what others have said about the same issue. The next step is to get my acting hat on. I often have to act out each panel and put myself into shoes of the charters which is how i work out the expressions and postures, and can often be found posing in my webcam pulling funny faces =P. The next step is to think about the clothing, age, sex and race of each character. And finally i need to think of the context through backgrounds or props if Bert has not already mentioned it.

Me and Bert talked early on about recurring characters. At the moment we feel new charters for each strip is working for us since each story has such a varied context. While recurring characters may speed up the drawing process, i agree it works better as it is at the moment, plus it’s more fun to draw something new every time =). Many comics tend to do black & white drawings which allow them to get out more comics. I think i shot myself in the foot by starting out with coloured comics, but just like the recurring characters, we both think colour looks better =)

For the first time I am showing  my artistic process for the comic using our the latest comic #24 Busy. You can look at each stage below and read a bit more detail each stage in the image description.

I sometimes upload a few sketches and unseen drawings on the Sketches Page. I also occasionally  post thoughts as i am drawing on Twitter.