Making of Roller Girl Graphic Novel
Making of Roller Girl Graphic Novel
Making of Roller Girl Graphic Novel
Thats me on the
bottom right, in the
gymnastics leotard.
I am trying to put on
a brave face, despite
my staggering loss
in the gold medal
round.
ROLLER GIRL started in much the same way- from my
love of roller derby. I first learned about the sport in 2008,
and I watched a home team bout of the Gotham Girls, New
Yorks roller derby league. I was hooked, and I knew I wanted
to play. I started taking skating lessons and practiced,
practiced, practiced.
I moved to Portland,
Oregon in 2009,
ite Burn
Astrid
Zoey, Rachel...
and other
characters
ar i
S
Yog Nabi
a
ock T e s s
s h
Ro a r
bu i l d i n g. Nicoles house
r t m e n t a creepy stalke. Yes, I felt a bit like
Astrids apa r taking pictur
strangers hou es of
ses.
Civilization!
74
Off to the publisher again! This time my editor and art director
looked for ways to improve the writing and the drawing, and
made sure both worked together to tell the story correctly.
I find it really helpful to have someone look over my work
and make sure it makes sense- when I work on something for
a long time, its easy to lose perspective. The criticism my
editor gives me is all about making the story better.
Once the sketches and the manuscript are approved its time
for the next phase: final art! This phase is much different
for me. When Im writing and brainstorming, I do lots of
walking, thinking, and... napping. It helps, really! When its
time for final art, it is time to just sit down and work, work,
work. I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks while I
draw to keep me company. Here are some of the tools I used
to create the artwork in ROLLER GIRL:
P e n ci l s
I used blue Col-Erase pencils for
the first sketches- I like how they
didnt smudge like normal lead N ute l l a
pencils (although I used those, too). Nourishment for the
mind, body, and soul.
I made the drawings larger than the size of the book, but still
in proportion to the page. That way, when they shrunk down,
the black line work would be nice and saturated. I drew the
borders around the panels, but not the speech bubbles- I
would add those later digitally.
Junior derby teams are popping up all over the world. There
are junior teams in Sweden, Japan, Australia, Canada, the
UK, to name a few... as well as all across the United States.
The following pages hightlight a few junior skaters from
around the world.
Photo credit: Steven L. Price
Positions (pivot,
blocker, jammer): PBJ.
Roller derby isnt just blocking
or just jamming so I want to have
experience at everything. My
favourite is jamming though.
How did you get involved in roller derby?
My mom tried it out and was hooked. I was too young to join
the junior league so my mom was the only derby girl in our
house until I was old enough. Now we both play. One day we
hope that we can play together.
Positions (pivot,
blocker, jammer):
Blocker & Jammer
COMICS
Raising a Reader!
From the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a resource
for parents & educators about the learning benefit of
comics.
http://cbldf.org/resources/raising-a-reader/
Roller Derby
WFTDA
The Womens Flat Track Derby Association
Kind of like the NBA for roller derby.
www.wftda.com
My website
http://www.victoriajamieson.com
Skate on,
Victoria Jamieson
(aka Winnie the Pow)