Have you ever tried drawing bark as well as different kinds of it? In my zine-in-progress (from Erika Rier's class), I have a tree and branches as the continuity that ties most of the pages together. To figure out how to finish them, I had to sketch ideas. So, I used the internet to find source inspiration and drew this freehand. To me, it conveys bark in a modern way. This will work well in the zine even though it will take some time to do. Speaking of bark, what is your favorite kind? Have you tried drawing it?
For the last month, I've been working through Lynda Barry's workshop-in-a-book titled "Making Comics". It is actually based on her college class in which students, from novice to skilled artists, learn to make comics. Her approach to this subject has everything to do with noticing your life and experiences within it. It also involves not being embarrassed about making child-like drawings. Starting out, students create a 'selfie' image following Ivan Brunetti's method for drawing simple characters. It's this character students use for their selfie and daily diary exercises. I've created one for my work too. While amassing one's collection of works using this character, it's fun to see how there is a sense of continuity from one image to another. That's not to say the character looks the same in each exercise. But isn't that true of us? We don't look the same every day either. We change in 'look' from one day to ...