Engage your senses when you make comics. You are already, touching and seeing, now we want to engage the hearing, taste, and smell senses to keep your mind engaged at all levels

Since I’ve been going on so many long runs lately–sometimes 2, 4, or even 6 hours. It helps to have something to do and focus on to help pass the time. And without my iphone, I would be lost — for real. I use the navigation to find where I’ve gone down a wrong road. I use the ipod music to keep me running and jamming to the tunes. And to keep me moving at a steady pace, I’ve recently found a good free audio books app.

I highly recommend the app. Free Audio Books. It is $1.99 and you get about 40 free classic audio books. I had been wanting to read the AutoBiography of Benjamin Franklin for about 5 years now, but thanks of technology, I finally finished it. Great book. I recommend that as well.

Since our mind and hands are pretty much engaged in what we are doing, We only have a few things left to engage our senses. It is hard to eat dinner while working because the paper gets all messy or we end up with ketchup in the cracks of the keyboard. Not a good combo. But perhaps you chew some gum.

The best distraction while we work on comics is having some audio going. I have 2 approaches for working on comics. When I’m drawing or sketching ideas quickly or working on a deadline, I almost always have on some upbeat music. When I have to work quickly, fast music works best.

However, when it comes to production, layout, or technical details in the drawing–or trying to get a steady work pace going–I’ll typically listen to an audio-book. Helps me keep up-to-date on my “reading” and keeps my mind sharp and steady to focus on working at a good pace.

At the coloring house I worked at, the creative colorists always listened to rock-and-roll and the layout/production people always listened to NPR. These things have just stuck with me throughout the years.

So how do you pass the time?

RUNNING WITH COMICS LESSONS: Keep your mind sharp. Engage all your senses. Make Making Comics a full contact sport.