salute yer shorts

everything that isn't Anathema.
6/16: 3 new
new pieces added to the top; the ones on bottom are old.

goodness knows: read comics!

A two-page comic drawn to introduce some comics recommendations, and starring Luce
and Mickey of Goodness Knows (my minicomic). I'd been hearing, recently, that some
of my female friends were having trouble finding good comics to read . . . or were simply
very uncomfortable going into comic shops (which are often agressively boys-club territory,
I guess . . . I'm lucky to have one that isn't). My solution? Clearly these women need
friendly guides to set them on the path to happy comics readership. A bit on the nose, but
this was still fun to draw.

June 2007

hat trouble

The Greek god Hermes has a spot of bother with his hat.

A silly bit of fluff, inspired by a comment by the lovely Orli Nativ.

February 2007

superstar

I'm trying to teach myself to doodle sequentially more often; hence this random little strip
with no title. I was dancing around my kitchen, singing along to Jesus Christ Superstar--a
rock opera I've adored since childhood--when I realized how very strange it must look. Here,
Suki witnesses Dinah doing the same thing. (Both are characters from Anathema.) Mostly
I just wanted to draw someone dancing.

January 2007

gaby's dream

While paying a visit to the folks at CCS during October 2006, I became possessed with
the urge to draw something sequential. I had Anathema on the brain, but my notes weren't
ready for actually beginning the new version, so I did this little strip instead. It's slightly
nonsensical, though the figures in the background could be said to represent misleading
religious concepts. The real point, though, was me making fun of one of the staples of
my overwrought teenaged angst, as it used to surface in my artwork.

October 2006

college retrospective

I graduated from Smith College with a B.A. in English on May 21, 2006. I decided to
commemorate the event with one last "Turtle" strip, which I taped to my cap (and which
somehow survived the subsequent rain). The nine panels depict, as follows: homework
(reading h.d.'s "Eurydice"), class, Glee Club, social life (my sophomore-year girlfriend,
and the Red Sox making the playoffs), study abroad (in London), my summer internship (at
CCS), doing finals all night long, post-finals exhaustion, and finally, graduation. It was an
eventful four years.
May 2006

getting it off my chest

My two-page comic submission for the new Friends of Lulu anthology, "The Girl's Guide
to Guys' Stuff, " which is due out sometime in early 2007. It's about a stereotypical male
obsessession which I, well, share--though I have reservations about its expression in
mainstream comics. This comic is no longer available here. The book is coming out later
this summer, and you should check it out: FoL is an organization well-worth supporting, and
the other contributors are all immensely talented.

January 2006

how do you like them apples?

Based on a true story of my New Year's Eve, 2005-2006. Apples to Apples is a game that
my friends play a lot. Basically, someone selects an adjective card, and the rest of the group
have to pick definitions for it. These can either be realistic, ridiculously inappropriate . . .
or geared to the first person's psychology. Apparently my friends think they have me all
figured out, but I am not afraid of babies. As long as they belong to other people, anyway.
My friends are evil.

January 2006

roundabout

When I interned at the Center for Cartoon Studies during summer 2005, we ran a week-
long comics workshop for folks 16 & up. One of the last assignments was to draw a
roundabout comic. Each person was given a first and last line; the next person was then
given the previous person's last line as his or her first, and so on. This page was my contribution,
having been given "the blindfold came off, and I was in Moscow," and "she needed to cut her
fingernails." The Canadian TV joke is a little obscure (Paul Gross starred in and eventually
took over due South; John Woo created Once A Thief. Both shows feature many cracked-out
themes.) I wish you could read the whole roundabout; it's full of fantastic work.
summer 2005

battle of the century

Another CCS workshop assignment, this one assigned by the incredible James Kochalka
(creator of American Elf, and other works). The assignment was to draw a fight of some
kind between two "superhero" characters (a very loosely interpreted term), using a
character of our own invention and one created by a classmate. "Mala Forma" has the
power to change the size of peoples' physical features and extremities: here she shrinks
"STUMP"'s arms, and then his mouth . . . but can't stop him from being "wicked good at
eating everything." I had to scan the printed copy, because the original is huge, so it's blurry.
summer 2005

hello, my name is

The very first assignment we were given at the CCS workshop: a six-panel biographical
comic, collected into a mini-anthology. We had very little time in which to draw them,
and I'm a rather slow and meticulous artist, so this came out very messy and
disproportionate (with even messier lettering). I'm fond of it, however, and it's very true:
it's ALL my mother's fault. So, I gave her the original as a belated Mother's Day gift.

summer 2005

the beauty of the rain

"The Beauty of the Rain" is a song on Dar Williams' fifth album (of the same title).
I turned it into a short comic for my friend Sae, based on her ongoing story Amulets
of Infinity. I was experimenting with shading at the time, using grey markers instead
of Photoshop or just black ink; the watercolor-like effect seems to me to suit the
piece.

spring 2005

turtle (@smith)

This was a short-lived comic strip that I published in my college's student paper, the
Sophian, during the first semester of my first year. It was semi-autobiographical, but
I became bored with it pretty quickly. Also, because of the deadlines, I had to try and
simplify my style to death, and it's a bit ugly. Having to come up with a weekly
punchline about (student) life just doesn't seem to be my thing. I can do strips
occasionally, but it's clear that I'm not headed for the funny pages.

fall 2002

disturbed butterflies

Well, here's one from the vault (and so poorly scanned! but I can't find the original).
I sent this comic strip around with my college applications. It certainly doesn't look
like much, but it was enough to pique the interest of several schools, which was
helpful. (The character and title are from a short-lived teen comic strip series I did
in high school.)

late 2001