One comic work is not only the things we see in the book, on the shelve of a library, it represents much more than that. Behind the pages, and the final art, there is a whole world of decisions, of sketches, sometimes with a higher value than the one we may think the result has.

In this section, we will see the process, the creation adventure of one real book, NÓMADES, published in 2011 by Editorial Galaxia. It is formed by eight stories of women who emigrate from some places of the planet to others. And it goes further: this is the story of loneliness, of traumatic changes, of inner journeys...and of human dignity.

 

Eight women, having something in common: all of them do not feel good where they are, all except one. Why? And why women? Because in most cultures they are the weakest in rights, but the strongest in internal power.

THE STEPS TO CREATE A GRAPHIC NOVEL

DOCUMENTATION

It was essential to know real stories related to people who emigrate, who leave their countries.

For that reason, there some visits to NGOs. Particularly toECODESARROLLO GAIA, in A Coruña. Click on the image to visit their website.

 

The director told hundres of stories about emigration: that many men used to fall in deep depressions when they didn't get the aims they expected, because they feel they are betraying their families, far away. And also that most women are the emotional support for their families, and they rarely fall in pessimistic wells.

 

Then he told a story about a real couple of young people. She was pregnant. They crossed some part of the Atlantic Ocean in something similar to a boat, after crossing some interior countries, to get to the African coast. They remembered the smells: the stinking excrements, sweat, salt, and burnt fuel from the engine. All togeher. Difficult to forget.

 

Sasha's story, the woman who practises prostitution (we should't use the word "prostitute", but, in any case, "prostituted") came up in another story. After a long conversation with her (she was around 60), a hard story arose: she, a grandmother, worked on it, and her family knew it, and accepted, from far away, because there was money in between.

 

"Alma" is the story of two women who fell trapped. Their religious condition prevents them from being free, and live their desired love relation. Their hiding place is even located between two symbols of another religion: Santiago's Cathedral and the Seminary.

 

"Asunción" is a result of the conversation at the NGO: elderly people have it difficult when they emigrate. Only the open ones, the flexible minds can survive to so many changes in their lives. In this story we can see an old woman who pretends (drmatically) to be integrated.

 

Mercedes is another example of a woman who finds success in her job. This Cuban doctor has a solid formation. Bbut a racist criminal falls into her hands. She has to face racism and intolerance again.

Lupe works for a rich family, far from her country. One day she receives terrible news from home. She cannot leave the country, because she has no papers. She belongs to the house. And as the house is blue, the dresses in blue. Her feelings in such a dramatic moment are totally secondary.

 

Finally, Ghalia, a mentally disabled girl, from Gaza. A newspaper report inspired this story. They are not people who emigrate, but who would want to escape, and they can't. Hospitals in Gaza are full of mentally ill people, because they live in a closed place, with constant menaces. And sometimes medicines do not come in time, when the tunnels through which they nring them are closed for political reasons.

DESIGNING IT

After creating the stories with documentation, the graphic part of the process began. The first step was to control all the information in a limited number of pages, so as to make a global sketch of the whole book:

Then, the next thing was to work page by page, in little sketches, so as to draw only the essential lines:

 

As you can see, many notes on the margins, to change things, to remind ideas, to control the situation.

DIFUSSION

After the design, the colour, the printer, the texts for a section called "making-off". The work was released. And then it was important to make it known, and read. The promotion campaign is part of the life of a book.

RADIO INTERVIEW TO THE AUTHOR (XOSÉ TOMÁS) ON RADIOFUSIÓN ABOUT "NÓMADES". CLICK ON THE IMAXE