Winter is here

Whew! That's my last post before my own personal getaway to the sunny climes of Sweden for some holiday cheer and familial watching of television. While I'm there I'll be wrapping up the daily Little Tiny Adventstüren posts I've been doing (and which you can follow on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook)!

In the New Year we'll be having a big ole recap of the madness that was 2013. Until then, I advise you to get thee hence to a place that sells Glühwein and get toasted in my honor (I'm turning a year older at some point too).

I've failed thus far to actually get toasted on Glühwein myself, which may be for the best as I've been alternating between wrapping up work and sitting in front of TV shows with tea and a cold. Deliverance is nigh, though! Catch you on the flip side.

[ Linkin Park x Steve Aoki - A Light That Never Comes ]

The things that one tames

This weekend I was at a retreat with other musicians from my church, the same kind as last year's but in a different, quite remote little place in the woods (no cell reception!). Part of Sunday's Advent service was the reading of an excerpt from The Little Prince, namely the conversation between the little prince and the fox. I've read the book many times, but I still find the scene very touching.

The fox here is a nod to Foxy, the main character of the many comic strips I  drew as a kid.

[ Manic Street Preachers - You Stole The Sun From My Heart ]

Thin Ice

Doodle time! Meeting a deadline. (*fist pump*)

The Clairikine Christmas Sale is still going until December 15! My minicomics are all on sale with free stickers with each purchase. Feed me? (Heh.)

[ AFI - A Deep Slow Panic ]

S.A.D.

I'm all for snow, lights and quiet and cozy nights in with a book or a drawing table, but other than that I mostly just hate what winter does to my brain. That is why I moved to a city where the sun sets at 4PM by mid-November.

[ JD Samson & MEN - I Don't Care ]

Weekend Warmup: Well you couldn't get much closer

Pencilled my way through the weekend on a commissioned one-pager due at the end of the month. Warmed up by drawing Noémie, Anaé and a random guy. Noémie is a joy for me because she gives me license to draw a grumpy character, which I always default to out of laziness.

[ Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone ]

Grief

[ The Naked and Famous - Waltz ]

***

Hey, did you know that all my minicomics are currently on sale, and that you can even bundle them with a print or a personalized holiday season greeting card?

Did you know you can also order a personalized greeting card separately until Dec. 1 and that there are only seven of them to go around?

Did you know?????

A Clairikine Christmas Sale!

UPDATE: I am no longer taking greeting card commissions. The store sale ends December 15!

It's that time of the year again, and in the spirit of Christmas I am selling art and comics at low prices, as well as offering a limited amount of personalized greeting cards (scroll down for details)!


Clairikine Store Sale!

I have a brand-new minicomic called A Clairikine Primer which features select comics from the past two years, including "The Internet Says The Darndest Things". It is on sale for 2€ + shipping, as are the rest of the minicomics in the store.

I've also added four different packs of comics allowing the completist in each of you to get your hands on ALL MY COMICS and save hugely while doing so! They range from "Teeny Tiny Minicomics" to "All The Things, which contains all five minis PLUS a surprise comic PLUS the Hunter S. Thompson print for 10€!

All orders come with a free sticker!
Cutoff date is Dec. 15 for everywhere and Germany, bearing in mind that international orders will arrive after New Year's.

ALSO, 5€ extra with the "All The Things Pack" gets you a personalized greeting card! (UPDATE: this option is no longer available!) For more info on these and how to get one separately -- LOOK DOWN. (This neither!)


Limited Edition Personalized Season's Greetings Cards!

I am selling SEVEN* personalized greeting cards drawn in black, white and red on DIN A5-sized 250g art board, featuring a character of your choice wearing a Santa hat. Like myself and Peter Capaldi up there.

Cards are 8€ each + 0,75€ shipping, payable to the Donate button on the right. 

*Does not include cards made for orders in the store.

IMPORTANT: order cutoff dates for cards are Dec. 1 for everywhere, including Germany.
ALSO IMPORTANT: pickups are possible in Berlin until Dec. 20, as well as in Stockholm on Dec. 23 (negotiable, but not between julafton and annandag jul!).

As Malcolm Tucker might have it:

Goodbyes

It's been a year of many goodbyes (or should I say - "hello again in a considerably long time"s).

[ Tegan and Sara - Goodbye, Goodbye ]

Friday Festivities: Bridal Mix + Doodles

I was invited to Eni and Anselm's smashing good wedding in Berlin-Tegel at the beginning of September. As is my wont, I made them a small mix and illustrated the cover. They are both musicians and in fact sang during their own wedding ceremony, which is just a general proof of awesomeness (and something I'd like to one-up someday, being me).

Some doodles from the last couple weeks, including a couple people who happened to walk by my table at Zinefest.

Also, tiny update at the Noémie blog for the Franco-Germanically inclined! You can also like the project on Facebook and follow it on Twitter [FR/DE].

See you Tuesday!

[ Phia - Do You Ever? ]

FML Comic + Zinefest report!

In case you missed the announcements on various networks, my comic for Fmylife.com went live this weekend!

As a born (sort of) and raised Frenchperson, I've laughed hysterically at many of the stories on the original French site Viedemerde.fr for years and co-opted the acronym VDM for my own personal use. It was therefore a special honor to participate in making a funny for these fine people. After being asked to illustrate a story of my choosing, I perused the site for hours before picking this one, took a few hours during a weekend excursion to thumbnail it and proceeded to pencil and ink it in a total of a week (spread out over other endeavours). 

The site also features an interview in which I confess my longstanding fixation on the Portland comics scene, my preference for cats and my favorite Berlin monument to cycle around.

Trivia time: though the cigarette situation actually happened to an FML contributor, the hug with the hobo was directly inspired by one of Max Dubinsky's blog posts (collected in An Anthology of Madness). Also, the girlfriend in the comic bears a close resemblance to my friend Anne-So of Clairikine Hits Paris fame (but her husband doesn't smoke).

***

I'm pleased to report that Zinefest Berlin was a smashin' good time. I tabled next to wonderful people (see Heimat Zine and Pink Mince for more), made connections and got (among many fascinating objects) the artbook for Tinet Elmgren's comic Driftwood, which makes the WIP junkie in me just squee forever.

I've been busy with freelance comic and not-comic work of late, but I have a couple new (gut-spilling) comics in the pipeline that I drew and inked over the weekend between visitors and that you will get to see once I force them past my conscience. I'm also working on feeding my neglected twins MOS and Noémie. A cartoonist's work is never done, amirite?

[ JD Samson & Men - Making Art ]

Random Friday Sketchdump: The Return!

I know I've been  inactive on here as of late, but I assure you - I have been anything but idle these past few weeks! As life often has it, in contrast to the relatively dead summer of 2013  I've been working on several projects that came up since returning from vacation in August and it's currently very exciting times with a forecast of prolonged excitement. More to come on this here blog as details unfold!

With that said, it's at long last time for another sketchdump. Have some drawings of foxes, hands, backs of heads, birds and random individuals.

I've also begun reading The Less Then Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal and gotten completely hooked.

[ Tegan and Sara - Shudder To Think ]

[UPDATED] ANNOUNCING: Comics workshop + Zinefest Berlin!

* "So how do you do the bise, exactly?"

"Uhhhh, I have no idea... Couldn't we just shake hands instead?"

UPDATE [18/10/2013]: Due to illness (the organisers', not mine!), the book fair  and the comics workshop have both been postponed to a date which is TBA.

People of Berlin! This fall is going to be happenin', and it's going to be happenin' big.

First of all, the Info-Café Berlin-Paris is holding a comics and book fair on Saturday, October 19* at Molkenmarkt 1 (behind the Rotes Rathaus on the other side of that massive street, the yellow building with the flags).  I will be tabling there from 11 AM to 12:30PM roughly, with Cardialement #1 and #2, Master of Survival #1 and stickers, and I will be offering small postcard sketches!

During the book fair, from 1PM to 3PM, I will also be hosting my third Franco-German comics workshop. This time the topic is "Franco-German friendship from panel to panel." Participants will be paired up in bilingual teams and walked through the process of creating a comic that fits the topic, start to finish.

Signups for this free workshop are currently open - you can sign up by e-mailing cafeberlinparis@dfjw.org. Please note that the workshop will only be in French and German! This kind of workshop can be a great activity for tandem partners.

Secondly, I am insanely excited to be tabling the following weekend at Zinefest Berlin in Kreuzberg on the 26th and 27th of October!

I can only highly recommend this event as I walked in last year with 30€ of cash and walked out with 30€ worth of excellent zines and comics. In addition to the previously mentioned minicomics, stickers and commissions, I will also have a couple surprises. Come on over, say hello, and grab some cake! For there will be cake.

See you there! Clairikine out.

[ Arcade Fire - Reflektor ]

Friday Fanart: Teenage angst has paid off well

Now I'm bored and old.

[ Nirvana - Serve The Servants ]

Zugverspätung

* "The train to Westkreuz via Gesundbrunnen is subject to a delay of 18 minutes."

This situation is best experienced when you've been out three nights in a row and all you want for the rest of eternity is your bed.

*** 

Also, if you live in certain parts of Berlin or Stockholm, you may have recently seen the STICKERS I have ordered (thanks to Josh "Caffeinated Toothpaste" Bauman for his advice)! They now come free with any purchase in my store. Perfect for expressing your urban twentysomething angst!

I will also have them for sale at markets this fall/winter in Berlin - more on that soon.

Life imitates art on Södermalm (right photo courtesy of Mattias Davén, insane  mug courtesy of myself).

[ Arctic Monkeys - Snap Out of It ]

Friday Fanart: Arctic Monkeys, "AM"

High on my list of bands that can literally not do much wrong are the Arctic Monkeys, whose second album Favourite Worst Nightmare was on repeat in my room most of last winter. In heady anticipation of their new album AM, I drew some fanart for "Do I Wanna Know?" and "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?", the two singles released this summer. I also spent all my cash on a ticket to their November show at Berlin's C-Halle, of course, as you do.

1-2: Do I Wanna Know?

3-4: Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?

(Arctic Monkeys website)

Clairikine Hits Paris ... Again!

As you will recall, thanks to the OFAJ/DFJW I returned to visit Paris again last July as part of raising awareness for my music and comic project with Sarah Ehrenholz, "Noémie - round trip". My good friend and frequent benefactor Alex was kind enough to donate funds towards a journal comic about the trip. The comic itself is now available as a DRM-free PDF on Gumroad for the looooww price of 2€ (or more) - and it is also free to read in its entirety on this very post, below the cut at the bottom!

Do you want to get your hands on the original pages of a future travel comic? Then watch this space! Alternatively, you can shoot me an email at clairykin - gmail to be first in line for the next one. They are made whenever I'm going on non-vacation-related trips, in small A5 notebooks (usually these). None are currently in the works, but plans change fast! UPDATE: several trips are in the works for 2014! Stay tuned!

Enough talk, then - enjoy !

For I have returned, etc.

 

Sisterly drawing session with Jonny, view from the quay at Hammarby Sjöstad. Contagious summer plague not pictured.

I'm back! I dropped off the grid for awhile to enjoy some downtime in Stockholm, took some pics, went walking up and down the city and engaged in loosely legal activity, more of which you will be seeing soon. It was good to have a break, but also good that things are back on track, 'cause there's new art lined up in the coming weeks for your enjoyment!

First off, if any of you are following me on Twitter or Tumblr and are inclined to sharing my musical interests, I'd advise you to keep your eyes peeled next week for a little somethin' I've been working on. 

Nextly, if you've been paying attention, you'll know I've had a travel journal up my sleeve these past few weeks. More to come on Tuesday! And then I have other things lined up for this fall. Like, you know, that webcomic of mine.

Until then, I'm off to a wedding in North Berlin. Toodles!

[ Jars of Clay - Reckless Forgiver ]

Björney!

This is Björney Stinson telling you all that I am leaving for Stockholm tomorrow and will return in a week. Can't wait! I haven't been in ages.

Ha det bra!

[ Tegan and Sara - I Can't Take It ]

Comicomat!

Last Saturday the Comicomat landed at Haus Schwarzenberg's Hoffest!

The Comicomat is basically a photobooth, but with comics. For a donation of their choice, visitors can sit in front of a one-way mirror and get their picture drawn by a rotation of cartoonists; the proceeds are then split between the artists.

A blog for the Comicomat is forthcoming; in the meantime, enjoy these shots (by Alise)!

Fanart: Hovercat

"There is a cat hovering in the men’s bathroom at the radio station here.

He seems perfectly happy and healthy, but he’s floating about four feet above the ground next to the sink."

I lied just a bit about not updating, because more fan art. I recently started listening to Welcome to Night Vale (spurred on by the contagious Kate Leth, to whom I also owe my awareness of Amanda Palmer). So far it hasn't made me crawl entirely out of my skin yet, but it could get there.

Stay safe.

 [ Kelli Rudick - We Would Love Each Other ] 

Fanart: "Cry"

***

The text for this comic comes from a blog post that appeared on Spinner.com in 2008. That site now seems to be entirely gone; a copy of the original blog was posted here.

So. Tegan and Sara.

Tegan and Sara have been the soundtrack to my life ever since I came across a blurb about them in SPIN magazine the summer of 2007. Their last three records especially touched on key moments in my life. In the fall of 2007, after The Con came out, I was living in a giant house in a wealthy village near Lyon, France, and while I was looking for jobs to pay for my year off from college I found myself navigating a breakup. (It was not unlike the season of house-dwelling Tegan describes.) In 2009, Sainthood came out, and I was pining for someone I deemed was pretty close to a saint.

Even at the Astra show last June, I realized that without the new songs from Heartthrob, I would be processing a variety of things that I've experienced this year (goodbyes, disappointment, shocks) very differently. Their music is an integral part of my life, going on six years, and it meant a lot to me to see them live.

I started writing this comic in 2010 - after wanting to use the text since 2008 - but finally got around to drawing it at Easter of this year. My initial plan was to deliver the finished product to the Quins at their Berlin show via the mail bag they often have. Sadly I ran out of time, but I did leave them a package of my comics and a letter thanking them. It was a big project compared to everything I've done thus far and has taught me quite a lot. Mainly that I want to make more comics.

Which is good, because next on the dock is the return of Master of Survival! That drawing hiatus is now over, so I will be sitting down to that as soon as I can. In the meantime I am taking a couple weeks off from updating this blog. In the meantime, stay cool!

[ Tegan and Sara - The Con (live) ]

Weekend Woohoo: Clyde the Turtle

As I've mentioned before, I started watching CBS' adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Elementary, a few months ago. I happen to like it very much and made some fanart of one of the show's staples, a turtle named Clyde that Sherlock adopts midway through the season. It got a big reception on Tumblr this week (does this mean I can stay in 5-star hotels now) and I like the way it turned out, so -- obscure television references notwithstanding, please have some turtle drawings.

Also, after many months of secretive tweeting, gramming and tumbling the Secret Project is finally going live this Tuesday. Stay tuned! And have a great weekend.