Random stuff

Free workshop, new hair, a sunflower, and a shout-out to several artists. And a poll.

Free workshop

Hi all! Just a word that I’ll be doing a free online workshop for Graphic Medicine this Sunday, at 1PM ET (7PM Amsterdam time). The topic will be: drawing timelines.

It’s open to all, artists and non-artists alike. If you’d like to join, contact MK Czerwiec and she’ll send you the Zoom-link. I’m looking forward to Drawing Together!

New hairstyle

Some of you may have noticed in the photos of the Tina Festival, as well as my last comic, that I made a slight change to my hair. Pretty big actually, since I cut off almost all of it, but it’s hardly noticeable since I kept my mane, which I now try to braid:

Any autobiographical comic artist will understand such a change can never be undertaken lightly. You’re not just altering your look, but that of your comic character as well. Here’s how I practiced drawing myself with the new hair:

Drawing hands, by David Rickert

Since we’re on the topic of drawing body parts, let me share this useful Substack by David Rickert, in which he delves into the Drawing Of Hands (every artist’s bane, as well as bicycles, feet and cars):

I’ve started employing some of his tricks, such as the bundling of fingers. Did you notice?

Resilience sunflower

Comic artists not only draw, some garden! I love to follow Erika Moen and Daniele Corsetto for instance, tending to their yards in faraway Portland. I have a big garden now (at my mom’s house) and my brother has been planting all kinds of things there, including this sunflower, which I though we’d lost when it was attacked by snails - look how they almost ate it! But it somehow repaired itself (with some sort of woody bandage) and kept growing. And now it blooms! I feel strangely proud and comforted.

Music to draw by

Cartoonist Wayno® , of Bizarro fame, kindly posted a wonderful playlist he compiled years ago, with funny and upbeat “oldies” that I love. You can find it in this post:

Music, Music, Music

What I draw when I procrastinate

Josh Lieb Can’t Draw but he posts wonderful cartoon ideas every weekday! When I feel like drawing but not working, I pick one and he always heaps on the praise, which is really bolstering. Recently he came up with such a wacky one (no. 880) that I persuaded my husband Yiri to draw it as well - here are our two versions:

Poll

Now that you made it all the way here, I have a question for you!

You must be a fan, so I assume you wouldn’t mind seeing more of my work. I’m thinking about starting a second Substack, in which I’ll publish one of my educational graphic novels in its entirety. They have been out of print for a while, but they are still fun and I’m pretty proud of them.

Which one would you like to read? The one on Philosophy, on Science, or on World Domination perhaps…? (the latter was never published in English, so I’m leaning to that one) (but don’t let that influence you)

A reader

This was the highlight of my week: 6-year old Saar learning to read… with my comic book Kip en Kat!

(Thanks to Esther for the video)