idea drawings
Hi Friends,
First, a few things.
I️ made a very respectful map for The New Yorker for America’s 250th. An honor and a delight to get to work on (thanks Nick Blechman). I’ve been agonizing a little over how to give you a peek - did not come up with a great solution.
You can see the rest in the magazine or online.
Also this: I️ illustrated NPR legend Scott' Simon’s book, Ulysses S. Cat. (Writing this, I️ am understanding the pun for the first time - I️ mean, that cat sort of rhymes with Grant). I️ love Scott Simon’s writing in general, and this book in particular - it’s a memoir about pets and other animals. He wonderfully had me on his Substack for an interview/conversation last week - here’s that conversation. I️ had fun.
I️ … went to Paris last week and horribly don’t have much to tell you about my trip, other than that it was a big stunt of a way to mark my 40th birthday. It was my first time flying in a while - it’s been a couple of years. I️ went to museums, which is something I’ve been dreaming -literally dreaming, quite often, quite intensely- of doing since the pandemic started. Museums are important to me, but I’m not a museum person - too horrified by crowds, and by wasting time. It’s one of those sad things, like how a liger is inexpressibly drawn to water (like a tiger) but (like a lion) can’t swim. Usually when I️ travel I️ avoid “doing stuff” and just wander and go for long wonderful runs - but this time I️ threw myself in - it felt important, a way to combat mom-brain. So I️ did the hard thing and came away with some revelations about Matisse, Picasso and the Louvre - and a bit of a sticky feeling from the soul-crushing touristy crowds and shopping streets near where I️ was staying, and the logistics of it all. I️ do feel (a) transformed - I️ do - I️ don’t feel overwhelmed anymore. And (b) so, so grateful for my kids. And dog. And parakeets. And like I️ would like to read a book on what travel is - what it’s for. It’s often so uncomfortable but so mood- and mind-altering. Like museums. My parents were here watching my kids at night and in the morning — which was a pretty astonishing gift.
OK. More links.
Here are gloriously made letterpress prints of my drawings.
Here is my Instagram, which I’m trying to wade back into like a good sport after taking an ego-beating over there for the past couple years.
I️ just finished teaching my first comics class at Barnard College and had such a good experience. It’s both scary and meaningful to teach something you never took a class in. I️ was so, so scared starting out, and feel pretty confident now. Now that I️ have a little more time, I’ll try and incorporate more comics-teaching here, so stay tuned.
Now some drawings. I️ made these to pitch a magazine. They’re not the kind of thing I’d give myself permission to make without an official reason - they weren’t, like, begging to be made - and they took more time than my usual chickenscratch drawings-no-one-asked-me-to-make. Pitching stresses me out - it’s like auditioning, but worse, because you’re not even invited to do it, you’re just knocking on someone’s door asking if they want something totally random, and if they don’t write back you twist yourself into all kinds of knots wondering if you were bothering them, if they hate you, if you should follow up, etc. I’m not cut out for it. It feels a little like “casual” dating.
Where they come from: I’ve been thinking a lot about being the sort of person who’s always lost in thought - trying to toggle back and forth between whatever I’m thinking about and whatever’s happening in front of me. Thinking about it mostly in terms of how to make comics honestly when you’re that kind of person - comics are usually so much about dialogue and action, less so about emotion and thought.
The first drawing is a self-portrait. These are on Strathmore drawing paper with my usual muji .398 gel pen and a red colored pencil. Which I️ adjusted badly in photoshop after scanning it in.
