#to be absolutely clear: i read non fiction a lot in my spare time bc all of it is like poetry to me. it is Relaxing for me. anyway!! also:

[sforzesco]

I'm really curious about the process that goes on behind your art! Especially because you give so much importance to themes and it's like *chef's kiss*. It's always so well thought out and I find your references to all the snippets and readings really fascinating and very inspiring. How the heck do you organise your thoughts so well while reading ?

honestly organizing my thoughts. it takes. a while. to do it lmao

usually what happens is something like: I'll be reading a book on crassus, and the author refers to crassus as the leading domestic politician in rome while pompey was the leading military general. and this will set off bells in my head that go 'oh, roman household dynamics,' because the phrasing reminded me of a text describing the role of wives of roman politicians when their husbands were away (which I first came across in a text discussing octavia's role in her marriage with antony)

and while I'm doing all of this, I usually have a journal or sticky notes or literally any kind of scrap paper with me where I make short notes on what's interesting/what's connecting in my head/what would make an interesting subject to draw, no matter how unrelated it is, and then I'll look over everything once I've exhausted the train of thought like. man! this is borderline incomprehensible! let's make a comic about it.

then when I've done all that, I'll spend two or three days cutting down all the excess material and attempting to figure out the most direct way to convey what's going on in a scene so that someone unfamiliar with any of it might be able to follow along on vibes alone. sometimes it takes a week. sometimes I get stuck on something and I have to make a note to revisit it in a few months!