August 2024 books

I'm getting worse with these updates. My general mood for blogging has waned a bit these last couple of months. The colder, duller weather usually kicks me into a more creative gear so perhaps more posts will come between now and New Year.

My reading has been suffering recently too. I've been trying to get my comic finished so most of my free time is taken up with that. Still, I managed a few books this month.

The Walking Dead, vol. 1: Days Gone Bye

I read the whole series during lockdown and the digital reading experience at the time was a bit hampered by the screen size of my old iPad Mini, it just didn't work as well for me as a comic reading device. Now I've got a new, larger iPad, I'm once again delving into my digital archive of comics.

If you've seen the first few seasons of The Walking Dead, a lot of this will feel familiar to you. There are some changes made to the show but overall it's largely similar. I plan to continue with this re-read to get through the whole series but I'm in no rush. I'm currently hitting a rate of one volume per month (ish) so I'll be reading these well into 2026 if I continue.

Keep Going, Austin Kleon

Finishing up my run of Austin Kleon books, this is the final in the series (so far) and serves as a way to keep your motivation up when you feel the dip. I've felt a bit of a creative dip recently so this book will be one I pick up regularly, I reckon.

The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering, Nate Piekos

Nate Piekos letters some of my all-time favourite comic books and this is a must-read for anyone who makes comics and letters them digitally. While this book is very Adobe Illustrator focussed in its process descriptions, a lot of it can be translated to other apps, such as Figma. I've been tempted to make a Figma-specific companion to this book but just not sure if or when I'll find the time to do it.

Another slow month but I've not had a month where I've not ready anything so that's a plus. Since it's nearing the end of September, I'll probably post another one of these next week.