Woods Wandering

It is very easy to slip into the pattern of being overtaken by anxiety and the stresses that come with it, especially in our current situation.  But it is important to remember the little, personal things that can help ease it. Woods Wandering explores the challenges of dealing with anxiety in a non-stressful manner. The story itself is about a hiker who, after snapping a few pictures, gets their camera stolen by a strange woodland creature that ends up using it to take pictures of its friends. Both the story and character designs were inspired by the comics, animation, and storybook illustrations I combed over as a kid. The simplistic, friendly characters of my comic combined with real life photographic elements in a scrapbook style layout is meant to invoke a feeling of familiarity and comfort that people often have as they look back on photographs of their favorite memories. 

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Each page was created with a mixed media approach. The photographs used for the backgrounds were taken on a hiking trail by the Santa Margarita River and the characters were inserted using a digital illustration program. I made sure to blend the illustrative and photographic elements in a way where one did not overtake the other. The characters were shaded to match the lighting of the photographic environments.  Blurs were used to indicate real movement and depth and more cartoon elements like comic tones were used to tie the characters more seamlessly into the backgrounds. 

 

The point of this comic is to ease the stress anxiety grips us with through a lighthearted, goofy story using methods and environments designed to calm us down. This comic is meant to give readers a moment to relax in a time where it may be rare or difficult to take a step back.