Lynda Barry’s Syllabus, which excerpts her notebooks with a focus on her teaching, instructs students to draw “electric spirals.” Begin with a single point, she explains, and slowly draw a spiral around it. “If the lines touch, you die.” It’s hard to do well, and even harder if you’re impatient like me.
But if you can manage to take your time, the spiral grows bigger. If you’re lucky, your mind drifts and you start to relax. The lines don’t touch. You fill up a page.
Cometbus #50-53, Aaron Cometbus
Wolf in White Van, John Darnielle,
Atlas #3, Dylan Horrocks
The Goddess of War, Lauren Weinstein
Speedy, Warren Craghead
Syllabus, Lynda Barry