Reikha - Knee Deep in Trouble

I am a LOVER of graphic novels. Before this project, I would pick up a comic book and flip through the pages, and I knew it was a lot of work, but I didn't realize just how much until I tried to make one of my own. Now however, I am keenly aware that it's an INCREDIBLE amount of work!

This project started as an assignment for one of my advanced illustration classes. We were told to make an 8 or more page comic book by the end of the semester. It was a doable amount of work and I had been making 8 page zines for a while so I was not at all concerned about finishing it in time. So, I decided... let's make it a little longer.

52 pages longer.

Yes. I did overdo it. By a lot! And while nobody asked me to make a story that long, it became a high-speed passion project on steroids. One that needed to be completed from start to finish in less than 6 weeks. What's more, I needed to print and bind 17 copies, one of each of my classmates, professor, and one for my mom (I couldn't NOT give my mom a copy of my first comic?!).

So friends, I'm sure you're all wondering, so let me give you an overview of my little story.

My story is about a girl named Reikha who has a coffee shop crush on a policeman. She can't figure out how to get his attention so she turns to a grand life of crime. In the end, and during her biggest heist yet, she learns that he's actually a rude man with a rude personality. After giving up on trying to catch his eye, she finds love right under her nose with the owner of the coffee shop she'd gone to all along.

That's the short version of course!

It's been just under 7 months since I started this project, and as of the last little bit I've been in the process of coloring a portion of the pages. Believe me when I say that illustrating a book is FAR more effort than I ever imagined. Not to say I wouldn't do it again, but I probably wouldn't try to pull it off in 8 weeks!