Blight is a passion project I’ve had in my head for as long as I can remember.
(Above: The Great Comet of 1843, painted by astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth directly influenced the current version of Blight. It’s a beautiful painting.)
It’s had various phases and iterations since I was a teenager and I’ve mentally rewritten it 6 or 7 times, with this version coming into focus just before the pandemic. I’ve never put it to paper or attempted to draw it at length before.
Being at home over Covid gave me plenty of time to daydream. This story also got me through stressful or worrisome times, it’s a safe place to visit when I need a break and an outlet for creative thinking.
In 2022, I had a personal loss which left me with a void in my life. I decided to start writing the story down to focus my attention somewhere else. After almost a decade of not drawing, I also picked up my sketchpad and started doodling out the the corresponding scenes. And here we are.
It’s been challenging. It’s forced me to draw and write things I’m not an expert on and open my mind to try. I’ve had to get comfortable in the idea that certain parts won’t be very good (terrible even). Maybe the whole thing won’t be great and I’ll hate what I did in just a few months. It’s impossible to be a perfectionist and make progress so I have to accept its flaws to move forward with it.
My goal is to explore this story for myself and generally get better at drawing, perspective, build on ideas and practice writing.
Maybe nobody will ever read it but I’ll still keep trying and hopefully grow from this little experiment.