This was a really, REALLY produc7ve year. I worked on lots of different comics and drawing projects, most of which I found publishers for, online and in print. I want to preface this idea book by talking about my rela7onship with publishing.
Since I make editorial comics as a primary part of my illustra7on prac7ce, finding plaForms for them is important to me. Much of my work is cultural cri7cism. As a visual op/ed journalist, figuring out how to get my comics read as a part of the daily/weekly media cycle is part and parcel of my drawing and wri7ng prac7ce. That’s why there is such a significant emphasis on publishing in this thesis work.
This is the front page of my beloved blog, MACROGROAN.
There are 11 long form comics pieces, total, that make up the body of my thesis work this school year. First, I published them the internet.
September 2014 A personal essay about swearing. What does it mean to swear? Why do I do it so much? What do swears mean in rela7on to blessings?
September 2014 The 50/50 We Be Jammin’ Tee is a new fable about A beloved t-‐shirt. Based on The Velveteen Rabbit.
September 2014
September 2014 An illustrated report I made for Bal7more City Paper on the Small Press Expo, a major comics con in that takes place annually in Bethesda
September 2014
October 2014 The Exci:ng Race With Death And Decay is a short, mostly silent story about racing to consume fresh greens before they decay. Facing the grim reaper, the protagonist and he strike up a warm rela7onship.
October 2014
October 2014 In A Marilyn Manson Crea:on Myth, later re7tled Crea:on of Manson, the teenage version of the 90’s goth-‐pop star prays for the power to truly love himself and is generously rewarded.
October 2014
January 2015 Another modern fable. A teenage girl has the power to turn lies into reality, but lacks control.
September 2014
February 2015 A personal essay and cultural commentary on living with compulsive hair pulling disorder. I felt that this piece was par7cularly sa7sfying in execu7on and recep7on. A\er it was published, I received many emails and messages from individuals all over the world who suffer from tricho7llomania.
February 2015
February 2015 A social sci-‐fi piece about a talk show that is retroscripted through food.
February 2015
February 2015 An illustrated interview with the comedy writer Megan Amram.
February 2015
March 2015 The Clothes People Lying In Wait Inside Of Us, a list cartoon about iden7ty and anxiety. I polled friends and other writers to collect profiles for this piece. Then I drew them.
March 2015
Created November/December 2014 Published April 2015 A longform book review of A new novella, Women, by Chloe Caldwell.
Created November/December 2014 Published April 2015
I began the school year with the following goal: to publish a book. A collec7on of selected mid-‐length comics essays and short stories. That seemed to me at the 7me a simple, achievable goal. I knew that the professional support of outside sources (in this case, a publisher) was not guaranteed. I figured that if I couldn’t find someone willing to underwrite my project, I would self-‐publish, as I had been doing in digital form on my blog since 2008. As it turned out, I did find support to publish my work in print! It just wasn’t in the form I imagined in September. Instead of one big book, my work become several mini-‐books. My publishers are: Ray Ray Books in Brooklyn, NY (Crea:on of Manson and We Be Jammin’) Birdcage Bo/om Books, also In Brooklyn (Macrogroan 6) And Tinto Press in Denver, CO. (Lying and Cursing)
Aside from my stories and essays, I was doing other things.
I con7nued making cartoons and publishing them Some exclusively on my own blog:
Some, I published on other blogs.
(this cartoon about women’s running shoes was on Jezebel in April)
On Ink Brick, a comics poetry blog in April
I sent some cartoons to magazines This comic was in the May 2015 issue of The Pitchfork Review
And anthologies This is a page from Noone The Gender Neutral Math Dinosaur, a short I contributed to Derring Do, a NYC and NJ-‐based anthology series
This is a single-‐ page comic for a new anthology From Darling Sleeper, a comics blog at The Medium
I made posters for shows and other events
This one is for a film screening of Heavenly Creatures. It’s part of True Direc7ons, the lesbian film series I co-‐founded here in Bal7more.
This is for a screening of the film All Over Me, another from the series. It’s my favorite.
A poster for A Nashville show coming up in July.
I made album art. This is for the most recent Album by Adam Balbo, An Oakland-‐based songwriter.
I made wooden signs For the interior of Normals Books And Records here in Bal7more.
When it came 7me to install my work in the gallery, I was a liele perplexed. I had to figure out how to 7e all my comics – whose themes ranged very widely! – together into one theme. Not only that, the comics had to fit into a small gallery format. Adap7ng so much content to a physical context was a challenge. Comics essays aren’t intensely demanding, but they do ask for a bit of 7me and investment. Each one takes 8 to 12 minutes to read all the way through. How will I get people to stay put for long enough to read these things? I wondered. I ended up intstalling a set of three ipads, each loaded with a pair of essays. I also put a table in the middle of the installa7on, with my books on it. That way, people could sit and read in a contrived sort of leisure. I hoped it would work. To further sell the “stay and read” message, I named the installa7on The Sara R. Lautman Memorial Library. I thought it was funny – in a Tom Sawyer way – to build a memorial for myself. I was also interested in paying tribute formally to the end of this par7cular crea7ve cycle. I believe that saying goodbye to old artwork and wri7ng is a healthy way to move on to what comes next.
This was my wall text: The Sara R. Lautman Memorial Library is a mul7media archive of cartoons and illustrated wri7ng. At this 7me, it is the largest temporary collec7on on the East Coast devoted to the comics of Sara Lautman. Subject maeer in this work is diverse, addressing animism, mental health, language, television, queerness, and songs.
I’m going to keep making new comics. Here’s one I’m making right now for The Morning News about sitcom tropes and The Simpsons.