Hi! Welcome back to The Terrible Anvil! Tom Hart and Jess Ruliffson love to talk about making comic-making EASIER, and in this episode, we’re asking “What’s the worst that could happen?”

We're talking about the fear of failure and utter collapse of our mental understanding of our own self-esteem. We're talking about large and small audiences, and envisioning the "fiery crash" of those potential failures, finding that a lot of times, they don't actually hurt. But some do, and we talk about avoiding those! Finally we talk about how communities (like SAW) provide readers and support, and that's what art is about!

Here at The Anvil, we ask the tough questions…

Thanks for being here!

Tom and Jess on What Kind of Creator are You?

In this episode, Tom had a list of archetypes he wanted to run by Jess. Are you a Pantser or a Planner? Are you a Strong Finisher? Are you a Never Edit-er? Jess shared a sketchbook project that took her 4 years or 20 minutes depending on how you look at it. And we talk about how to not feel like a failure when your routines suddenly feel boring. What kind of creator are you? Thanks for being here!

Tom and Jess talk about what we do or don’t Keep to Ourselves!

Tom and Jess about making memories and habits in your art!

Tom and Jess about making detours in your art!

Tom and Jess about making bad decisions early on, and how to get out of them…

Tom and Jess about art budgeting, and making your graphic novel without feeling bad...

Join us live on Wednesdays at 2 pm Eastern / 11 am Pacific, as Tom Hart and Jess Ruliffson talk about how to make a graphic novel, and take your questions!

Our very last episode of The Terrible Anvil (Season One) was recorded this week! With Tom and Jess together in the same room!

We tried to tie a bow around the business of comics by offering ideas on HOW TO KEEP GOING (FOREVER), AKA making your own sustainable comics practice amidst inner/outer turmoil and also remembering to wash the dishes.

A big takeaway from this episode: CELEBRATE SMALL WINS!

This week we recorded the penultimate episode of THE TERRIBLE ANVIL, this time discussing scripts, dialogue, and writing for comics!

The words we use and how they are arranged on the page can guide readers' understanding of our comics and influence how they feel about a story and its characters. But how do you pick the right words? How much is too much dialogue? How can you make sure readers understand your text the way you intend?

This week on the Terrible Anvil we talked about CRITICISM!

Criticism and rejection are inevitable parts of the creative process—so how can we make them more bearable?

This week we talked all about creative collaboration!

Comics can often be a solitary endeavor, but you'll find lots of ways to collaborate with other people—be it editors, writers, artists, colorists, copy editors, designers, publishers or co-creators!

Collaboration in any art form can be a great way to breathe new life into the creative process. They can be scary or uncomfortable if you're used to having total control over your creative projects, or this shared control might feel liberating.

Either way, there's lots to gain from working with others on a shared project, from morale boosts and accountability systems, to practical knowledge sharing and the creative alchemy of multiple minds coming together.

But how do collaborations happen? How do you make them successful? How can you maximize fun and minimize pain in the process?

There's lots of advice in this episode, but the core of it is to establish clear communication and boundaries and to have a shared goal with your collaborators.

This week on The Terrible Anvil, we talked about BACKGROUNDS!

We talked about the link between last week's topic, EXPECTATIONS and backgrounds—what we THINK backgrounds should look like, as well as what readers might expect…

This week we got rather philosophical here at the Terrible Anvil podcast!

We tackled lots of big ideas, but circled back again and again to finding joy in the hard parts of comics (and within the confines of capitalist markets).

We also discussed drawing inspiration from the world around us—zooming out can get us out of our heads and give our work room to breathe.

But our power to tell stories comes from within us too!

We go over ways to tap into our own creative energy, even when we've reached a state of burnout. Finding ways to reignite the joy of our creative process can lead us to more sustainable art practices—especially when we're working on dark, heavy topics.