Comic: The Holy Spirit as a Dove
A bird artist’s perspective
A few weeks ago, I chatted with Eric Clayton over at the Jesuit Media Lab. He asked me, “What dove species do you think best represents the Holy Spirit?” His question sparked my curiosity and over the next couple of weeks, the idea for drawing a comic about the topic took root in my heart.
As the comic shows, I began my exploration by asking my husband what he thought. Our conversation is reproduced more or less verbatim. But the more I considered it, I felt that a dove of Israel was more appropriate. After consulting eBird to narrow down the species list, I chose the Namaqua Dove. Part of my intention with the story was to contrast the original impulse to look for a showy bird with an experience of the Holy Spirit as gentle, quiet, and less obvious.
I drew the comic in pencil and after scanning it, I imported it to Procreate and did a value study and a color comp.
These steps helped me to feel more confident as I went into coloring the panels using Lisa Glanz’s Nitty Gritty Brush Box.
The final comic along with my essay was published on the Jesuit Media Lab website and is used here with their permission.
