Showing posts with label comic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comic. Show all posts

January 23, 2024

An Indie Cartoonist's Life On The Internet

 

A black-and-white comic in four panels. In the first panel, we see Claire, wearing a hoodie and looking at their phone, with some foliage off to the side. A caption coming out of their phone with the Twitter logo says "Surprise, you put a decade of work into this platform and some dude just put his foot into it like it was a fucking anthill". Claire thinks to themself "what a novel concept". In the second panel, Claire is sitting at their drawing table wearing a plaid shirt and using their Cintiq, which is connected to a laptop sitting on the top of the table. A caption with a message icon is coming out of the laptop and says "What you do isn't actually work and no one needs you. We'll take your cool pictures though! Claire smiles weakly and says "Heh heh heh, you hear that fellas?" The "fellas" are their brain and their heart sitting on pedestals on either side of them. The brain is emitting lightning bolts and is hooked up to their left arm, and the heart is seeping blood and squirting droplets while hooked up to their right arm. The third panel shows Claire in a hoodie, lying on the couch with a Nintendo Switch controller and their phone sitting next to them. The panel is covered in captions containing a heart symbol and the word "spam", all pointing in the diryection of their phone. The fourth panel shows Claire crouching in front of their fridge with the door open and a frowning face coming out of it. Groceries are sitting on top of the fridge with a caption showing rising prices. A caption from their phone shows a message icon and the words "At last, we've wrested access to creativity from the privileged artistic class!" Claire thinks to themself "you've done what from the what now"

Wrote this sometime in the summer of 2023. Nothing new under the sun, tbh.

[ Green Day - Bobby Sox ]

April 7, 2023

Questions

A two-panel black and white comic. In the first panel, we see a lakeshore at night, dotted with bare trees and bushes, and a forest in the background. Text in the top left and bottom left corners says "You've answered many of my questions" and "even the ones I didn't want to ask." A two-panel black and white comic. In the first panel, we see a lakeshore at night, dotted with bare trees and bushes, and a forest in the background. Text in the top left and bottom left corners says "You've answered many of my questions" and "even the ones I didn't want to ask." The second panel shows a desert landscape at night, with the caption “So why won’t You answer this one?” In both panels, the "Y" in "you" is capitalized.

 

It is, once more, Good Friday.

[ Thrice - Red Sky ]

November 4, 2022

An Intro to Berlin Bike Path Typology (Berliner Comic Fenster 2022)

A black-and white comic opening with a title screen that says "An Intro to Berlin Bike Path Typology by Clairikine", with a drawing of a bike path street sign. First panel: a bike path full of puddles, with the caption "Great Lakes". Second panel: a bike path made out of two slabs of concrete with a gap between them, with the caption "Just gonna put a slab of concrete here, that'll work". Third panel: a six-lane street downtown with cars and a bus, but no bike path or cyclists. The caption says "404 bike path not found".
Fourth panel: a bike path at night with a tree next to it and bumps in the path created by the tree's roots, with the caption "Oh no. Oh no no no no no". Fifth panel: a bike path with a bus stop next to it, and the caption "Just gonna put a bus stop here". Sixth panel: Claire biking down a bike path full of ice and sludge and swearing, with the caption "Snow sludge ice nightmare". Seventh panel: a smooth and wide bike path at night, with a tree on one side and buildings in the distance, and the caption "Bliss".

I submitted this comic for this year's season of the Berliner Comic Fenster program, through which local cartoonists get to have their comics aired on Berlin's subway TV in partnership with Comic Invasion! If you were on the U-Bahn last weekend, you may have seen it aired.

You'll find more recent comics aired by myself and other artists here, including my comic "Treasure Hunt" (from 2020). You can also read my 2019 entry, "Okay", here.

September 27, 2022

A Break

 A black and white comic in three panels. In the first panel, Claire is sitting at her desk with a brain with eyes and feet standing next to her, and looks down at the brain and says "What should we be doing today, brain?" The brain answers "I need a break!" and Claire says "No." In the second panel, Claire is standing on the subway wearing a mask and a backpack and scrolling their phone. The brain is sitting on the bench next to them and says "I need a break!" Claire says "No." In the third panel, Claire is lying on their back on the couch, wide-eyed and grimacing, with the brain sitting on their chest. The brain says, loudly, "I. Need. A. Break." Claire says, "Oh."


When your brain sits on you, you listen 🧠 
 

August 16, 2022

Signs of Summertime (2022 edition)

 A four-panel comic in black and white, with the title "Signs of Summertime - 2022 Edition". In the first panel, the caption is "Rise at 6:00 AM to open all the windows." We see Claire from behind in a tank top and shorts as she opens a window and says "aah." A caption says "(Except when it's still 29°C outside)". A fan blows air nearby. Second panel: the caption is "Sweating into the FFP2 mask". Claire is sitting on the subway scrolling her phone, wearing an FFP2 and sweating with a backpack and a tote bag next to them. A tweet on their phone shows the caption "Loire riverbed" over a photo of a wide riverbed with just a trickle of water zig-zagging through it. Third panel: the caption is "10 o'clock Club Mate". Claire is sitting at a desk, next to another fan, working on a laptop, drinking from a bottle and thinking "Caaaaaffffeeeiinne" Fourth panel: the caption is "Screaming brain". Claire is lying on a couch in the dark, with a cartoon brain sitting above her screaming "EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE". Claire thinks to themself, "Can't... really argue with that..."

It's hot. Not much else to add, really. Or rather, too much to add! Have a comic.

***

I am tabling in a few places the next few weeks! Find me online at Fanzineist Vienna from August 11 through September 11, and IRL at Art Horse Bazar on August 28 and Comics & The Beast on September 3 (both in Berlin).

[ Rina Sawayama - This Hell ]

 

July 19, 2022

Haircut Goals


A three-panel black and white comic titled "Haircut Goals". Claire is sitting at a table drinking beers with Morgan. In the first panel, Claire says "Yeah, I have a haircut scheduled tomorrow." Morgan raises his eyebrow slightly and says "Ooh..." In the second panel, Morgan says "Your hair is so cute right now though!" Claire says "Thanks!" In the third panel, Morgan says "You look like a singer from a 90's indie band." Claire raises an eyebrow and thinks "Well, those are the magic words."

And so the longer hair lived to fight another few weeks 🎸

Also, have you heard Morgan's stuff? You should listen to Morgan's stuff! 🎧🎹⌨️💽

 

June 28, 2022

How Autobio Cartoonists Socialize

A four-panel black and white comic. In the first panel, HX and Claire are hanging out outside at night drinking a 0% beer and a glass of Rotkäppchen, respectively. Claire says "The last hangover I had was after I drank 33cl of this." HX says "Haha, Rotkäppchen is the mind-killer." In the second panel, Claire responds with "Rotkäppchen is the little-death" and HX laughs. Claire continues: "Rotkäppchen will pass through me, and I will remain." HX laughs some more. In the third panel, HX says "That's going in a comic." Claire points at them and says "DO it. And if you don't do it in a month, I'll do it." In the fourth panel, Claire says "And if you DO do it, I'll make a comic about THIS exchange" and HX laughs some more. A caption at the bottom says "How autobio cartoonists socialize."

I did the comic first lol (my friend HX is rad, check out their stuff!)

May 24, 2022

Vessel

 

A two-page comic in black and white, captioned throughout with lines from a poem. On the first page, the first panel shows an empty hallway in a small apartment, with windows on the left, a door in the back, and a few doors and a mirror on the right. Text above says "I have learned not to trust that anything will last." The second panel shows Sondra and Lex standing in the hallway and getting ready to leave. Sondra, a short woman with long black curly hair, is wearing a nice black cardigan and a black skirt and holding a purse, and is chatting animatedly while Lex, a taller woman with short red hair, is pulling on a vest and smiling. Caption says "Not the good, not the bad." In the third panel, Lex leans over and kisses Sondra on the cheek; Sondra is delighted. Text says "learned to not get attached". The fourth panel shows Lex and Sondra standing outside, downtown, at night, near a subway, while a few people are walking by. They are both checking something on Lex' phone. Text says "I've learned not to believe those who leave will come back." The fifth panel shows them sitting on a subway next to a person with curly hair and glasses reading a newspaper; Lex is cuddling Sondra, who has her head on her shoulder and is smiling with her eyes closed, while Lex is resting her chin on her head and staring off at something off-panel. Text says "And I've heard otherwise, but those lies never track."
On the second page, the first panel shows the sign at the entrance to an outdoor cinema at night, with a movie reel projector and a deer head painted onto it. String lights are hanging off both sides of the sign. Text says "But deep inside your eyes," The text follows into panel 2, where we see Sondra and Lex standing in a line with other people, including a person with a plaid shirt and long black hair, a couple of men smiling at each other (one with short curly hair and the other bald), a woman with an undercut and curly hair and glasses sitting in a wheelchair, a woman with long black hair standing behind her and chatting with a taller woman with broad shoulders and black curly hair, and a small child with curly hair standing in front of them. Sondra is checking her phone and Lex is looking up at the lights. Text says "something turns on the light". In the third panel, Sondra and Lex are saying hi to friends of theirs they've run into: a tall woman with long blonde hair and a striped sweater; a shorter person with glasses and curly hair, holding a drink; and a small blond man with stubble and a plaid shirt. Text says "And it feels like I'm worthy, like I'll be alright". In the fourth panel, Lex and Sondra are holding hands while making their way over to an amphitheater style seating to sit down. Various people are sitting there already. Sondra is pointing to an empty spot. The fifth panel is a close-up of Lex and Sondra's handholding while sitting down. Text says "I have learned that my heart's in a shell made of glass". The final panel shows the amphitheater from behind, with everyone including Lex and Sondra and a couple of men (one wearing a cowboy hat, one wearing a plaid shirt) sitting down to watch the movie on a large screen pitched on the grass in front of a fence, with a handful of stars visible. The screen shows five wavy lines, almost like a rainbow. Text says "And - I know now - it's safe for that vessel to crack."

Lex and Sondra return! I drew this for Comic Invasion Berlin's Queer Movie Night, featuring a queer comics exhibit and a screening of the documentary No Straight Lines.
 
Thanks to everyone who came by and made this a very special evening — and also to everyone at the main festival who stopped by my table, asked me what I was fangirling, bought zines and generally made my first IRL Comic Invasion since 2019 a resounding success! Special thanks go to Ash and Henna aka HX for being such awesome tabling buddies.
 
My new zines collecting autobio comics from 2016 to 2022 are now all available for purchase in my store!
 

April 12, 2022

Monsters

 

A black-and-white comic in four panels. First panel: Claire is sitting on the couch, playing a video game and saying "FINALLY killed all those monsters, onwards we go... tum te dum tum..." Second panel: Claire raises an eyebrow and says "what..." while dust appears to rise from the screen. Third panel: Claire stares with an increasingly concerned look at the TV, from which more dust is rising, and says "... oh no. Oh no no no no no" Fourth panel: A text bubble coming from the screen says "Surprise! All the monsters you killed are back and everything is still a nightmare." Claire grips the controller and yells angrily at the screen: "Dammit, I play this game to ESCAPE"

Resurrect this, Blood Moon.

***

Ami·es basé·es à l'étranger et ailleurs, je ne vais pas pondre un long argumentaire dessus — le 24 avril on reste pas chez nous et on va voter Macron contre la fasciste. Si vous avez des difficultés pour voter sur place à l'étranger, n'hésitez pas à me contacter.


[ Placebo - Happy Birthday in the Sky ]

 

If you would like to support my comics work, you can become a patron or leave a tip!    

March 29, 2022

Investment

 

A black and white comic in three panels. First panel: Claire sitting on a couch next to a small plush dinosaur, typing into a laptop on her lap. Caption says "Paying for in-store pickup: 10€". Second panel: Claire standing in front of a regional train stopped at the station, under a sign that says "BER Terminal 1-2". Caption says: "Round-trip ticket to Brandenburg: 3,60€" Third panel: Claire is happily hugging a giant IKEA plush shark and a little heart is showing next to their head. The shark is saying "too tight, too tight". Caption says "Having a giant shark to hug: priceless".
 

At the time I purchased this Blåhaj there were 6 left in stock for all of Berlin + suburbs. IKEA Schönefeld: far away but worth it.

 

A montage of two photos. The first one shows a road sign next to the highway in rural Brandenburg at sunset. The second one shows an empty set of S-Bahn seats and the reflection in the window at night shows Claire with the shark, taking a selfie.

[ Foo Fighters - All My Life ]

 

If you would like to support my comics work, you can become a patron or leave a tip

March 22, 2022

Behold


First panel: Claire walking through the woods at night in winter and looking up, with text at the top thats says "I could tell you about all the hours I spent wandering around in the dark" Second panel: view from behind of Claire sitting on a wooden bench in front of a lake at night. Text on the top left and bottom right says "but those are for me to behold," "not you."

Thus concludes this particular series of nature walks! I have enjoyed them.

[ Thrice - The Artist in the Ambulance ]

 

If you would like to support my comics work, you can become a patron or leave a tip

March 1, 2022

Boxes

First panel: Claire is walking through the woods in the winter at night, frowning, their hands in the pockets of their hoodie, staring at the ground. Text in the top left corner says:"I've thought a lot about the things I wanted to say to you, now that it's likely I won't see you again. / Second panel: Claire stands at the top of a hill and stares down to the road, where there is a stop sign. Text in the road says: "I really liked you." / Third panel: Claire is sliding down a path on the hill towards the road, steadying themself with their arms stretched out. Text in the top left and bottom right corner says: "I rarely say it. But I think you could guess."
First panel: a wide angle view of a desert, with mountains in the distance. Claire stands by the road at the bus stop while a bus arrives, now in a white T-shirt wearing the hoodie around her waist. The bus looks like the ones that circulate on Seattle public transit. Text in the top left says: "The few times my unspoken prayer was answered, it never turned out the way I wanted it to." Second panel: Claire, puts on a KN95 mask and climbs into the bus. Third panel: sitting by the window with their mask on, Claire stares out the window at the desert, curious. Fourth panel: another wide-angle view of the desert, from above. The bus is taking off into the distance, towards more mountains, these ones covered in pine trees.
First panel: a close-up of Claire staring off to the other side now and frowning, with pine trees visible outside the window to their right. Text in a box says "I used to want to say I was sorry." Second panel: we see the bus from the front, coming up the road in the dark woods. Text in a box above the bus and on the road in front of the bus says "Sorry for wanting you" and "Sorry for wasting your time". Third panel: view from far above as the bus winds up the pine-tree-covered mountain. Text in a box on the bottom right says: "Sorry for not fitting into the boxes that I thought would make me whole".
First panel: Another view of the bus from the front arrives onto flat ground. The woods are completely dark. Second panel: the bus is now parked on the left side of the panel next to the trees, with a couple passengers standing around outside. Claire, on the right side of the panel, is walking away into the woods, wearing their hoodie again and holding their mask in their hand. A text box between Claire and the bus says: "But I don't want to try to fit into those boxes anymore." Third panel: Claire is walking through the woods at night, clutching her right arm with her left hand, looking up with an anxious, frowning, questioning expression on her face. Fourth panel: we see Claire from behind as she has arrived at the edge of the woods and is now looking out onto a beach, with the sun rising in the distance.
In a series of three panels, Claire looks back behind her towards the woods with her arms folded across her chest and frowning, then back out towards the beach with wider and curious eyes, and then looks at the beach some more in the other direction with a knowing smile on her face, raising one eyebrow. In a series of two panels, we see Claire from the waist down with her hands in her pockets as she stands at the top of a staircase, then as she takes a step forward. In the final panel, we see a wide angle shot of the beach that Claire is now standing on, with a staircase to the left leading back up to the woods on the top of the hill, a large mountain in the background, and a small boat tethered to a wooden walkway to the right of the panel. Claire has their hands in their pockets still and is staring down the beach. Text in the sky says: "I don't want to say I'm sorry anymore". Text on the bottom of the page says "July 2020 - November 2021".






This comic has been bouncing around in my brain for the last couple of years! Now it is here. Hope you like it.

 [ Thrice - The Color of The Sky ]

***

If you're looking for places to donate to help in Ukraine, Libereco is a Swiss-German NGO that has created a joint humanitarian fund with their local partner organisation Vostok SOS. They also have a list of ways that you can help, including directly where you live. Even things that can feel small are essential.

Other organizations doing work on the ground that you can donate to are:

  • Respond Crisis Translation (link is to a mutual aid fund to support translation and interpretation for refugees in Afghanistan, Haiti and Ukraine)
  • Each One Teach One (a community-based organization in Berlin working to promote the interests of Black, African and Afro-diasporic people in Germany and  Europe, currently coordinating accommodation and relief for BIPOC fleeing Ukraine)
  • LSVD Berlin-Brandenburg MILES program (offering psychosocial & legal support for LGBTIQ* refugees in Berlin and Brandenburg)
  • moabit hilft (coordinating and distributing material donations)

In general, please also mind what you are reading, what you are sharing, what you are putting on people's feeds, and verify where it is coming from. In times like these it is easy to act impulsively, and this can be used for harm; if you are in a safe place, allow yourself to take a step back to ask yourself what is helpful to those who are not.

 

August 25, 2020

August Sleeping Patterns

 

Fortunately it's now autumn in Berlin.
 

July 28, 2020

Some Other Place: Fighter





Lex returns! You might remember her from short stories of mine here, here and here; you can find other stories set in that universe here. 
I wrote this short comic as a poem many moons ago (remember pre-2020? I sure don't) and turned it into an exercise in drawing fiction again (I say "fiction", but of course Lex basically looks like me minus glasses, plus facial piercings and an undercut). I hope you like it!

***
Stay safe out there and take care of each other! The curve in Berlin has been flattened since I last wrote, but the virus is not gone -- and in fact there is an uptick in cases in Germany at the time of posting. Please remember that indoor gatherings have been shown to be a major vector of transmission, keep social distancing even when you're outdoors, and wear a mask (including over your nose!)

If you're in Germany, in light of the most recent terrible decisions made by what passes for the ministry of the interior at the moment, I recommend picking up a copy of the very good collection of essays Eure Heimat ist unser Albtraum, and reading up about police brutality and the widespread practice of racial profiling in this country. I also suggest following and supporting the work of Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland e.V., on this and many other issues affecting Black lives in Germany.

December 10, 2019

Enough



Hi there! Been awhile. I hope everyone is having as low-stress a month of December as is feasible (haha).

Should you wish to acquire stickers or zines from me in time for the holidays, my store is accepting orders (and everything is on sale!) through this Friday!

If you like what I make and want to help me make more of it, you can also support me with a pledge on Patreon or a donation on Ko-Fi!

More comics coming in 2020 - until then,  guten Rutsch!

May 22, 2019

Time for Coffee


***

ComicInvasionBerlin 2019 was a blast! Thanks to everyone who came out, everyone who bought comics, everyone who tabled and everyone who volunteered. You made it happen and it was so cool to behold.

Speaking of cool things to do on a weekend, European Parliament elections are taking place from today (in some countries, including the UK) through this Sunday (including France and Germany)! Go vote! Vote vote vote vote vote.

April 16, 2019

Okay

 



I drew this comic for the Berliner Comic-Fenster program, which airs comics by Berlin cartoonists on TV screens in the local subway! You may have seen it when it aired for a couple days last month, but just in case you didn't, here it is!

Speaking of Berlin and comics, ComicInvasionBerlin is nigh and I will be tabling at the Museum für Kommunikation on May 11 and 12! I am working on putting together a zine of my Inktober 2018 entries and will have that for sale along with copies of Master of Survival, my collection of short fictional stories For The Ones That We Love, and my collection of illustrations from Inktober 2017. Plus Glücklich in Berlin stickers and Something About The Woods postcards! Come say hello and ask me what I'm fangirling that day :D



February 1, 2019

What Was 2018 Like?


2018 was A Lot! Here's to 2019 also being A Lot, with possibly less weeping at concerts (although that's usually a sign of a good concert for me, so).

Per my tradition, I've posted a list of my favorite entertainment from 2018, over on my Patreon (it's a public post!)

And in lieu of my traditional blog post accompaniment song, it is nigh impossible for me to list all of the music I enjoyed in 2018, but here are 3 tracks from 2018 that I identified with:
Death Cab for Cutie, "Gold Rush"
Mike Shinoda, "Running From My Shadow"
Alex G, "Rhyme Reason"

If you like this comic, you can help me make more through Patreon!

November 5, 2018

Memories



I've had this comic rolling around in my head since late 2016, and the premise seems to confirm itself every year. The concert mentioned here was Placebo's 20th anniversary tour stop in Hamburg - but as things would have it, I got to visit Texas last week and see Mike Shinoda live, which were two of the best decisions I've made in 2018.

***
Some housekeeping: I've updated my Patreon to replace the longstanding postcard reward with the digital sketchbook reward - a monthly PDF of everything I've drawn, now at the $15/month tier instead of $20, including journal comics that are also available on their own at the $2/month tier. If you would like to support my work, consider making a pledge this month!

Also, tomorrow is election day in the US! If you are a US voter, please make a plan to vote, and go vote. You can do this! We can do this.

[ Thrice - Hold Up A Light ]

July 10, 2018

Body

 


Earlier this year I was asked to contribute a story to a zine about bodies, and this is what I came up with! The zine is not currently for sale, but I will keep you posted.

Meanwhile in Berlin, ComicInvasionBerlin 2018 is already over*, it's Fußball season, and I'm working on stuff and gearing up for the fall while also drinking Ricard and yelling at widescreen televisions. * Thanks to everyone who came by my table! :D


[ Ria Mae - I'm On Fire ]

If you like what I do, you can support me on Patreon!