MOS #12

[ Soundtrack: Laura Imbruglia - Wouldn't Be Surprised (Live) ]

Version française.

Spoiler alert: I didn't move out. To this day, I still feel a low-level wave of panic whenever someone in the building starts drilling. I visualize most sounds when I hear them (kind of like imagining a landscape), so the kind of noise depicted here pretty much beats the will to live out of me. 

***

In current news: I'm going to Stockholm in less than a month to see my sister's graduation ceremony and bid a temporary farewell as my family will be moving base to California for a year. It costs a lot to visit Sweden and as a result I'm offering art to help cover the costs. Check it out here!

If you want to help but don't want to clutter your office with personalized art (why??), you can click the Flattr button on this page or pledge a monthly donation via Patreon.

Pickup Line

The real question is: is it a pickup line-in or line-out? *ba-dum-kshh*


***

COMIC INVASION BERLIN was a huge success!

u look so tired/happy

Thanks to everyone who came out, said hi, bought comics and contributed to my bike fund by buying postcard sketches! Thanks also to my excellent table neighbors and friends for letting me take bathroom/beer/burger/oxygen breaks (note to self: hire a table buddy!).

In case you missed it, the lovely folks at FluxFM had me and festival organiser Marc Seestaedt over recently to chat about Comic Invasion, as well as about the Berlin comics scene and our personal projects. You can listen to me draw a blank on how to say "I don't know if people can tell I'm not German", in German, on the recording here. (There's also a gorgeous shot of the neighborhood around the FluxFM offices as seen from their roof. And of me pulling a face.)

Hot on those heels, I'm pleased to announce that I will be tabling at Thought Bubble Sequential Arts Festival in Leeds this year! There will most definitely be some kind of fundraiser to help pay for travel and lodging, as well as details on where I'll be at, closer to the festival date in November. I'm super-excited and will try to make a UK jaunt of it!

And speaking of fundraisers, I'm traveling to Stockholm from June 4-11, so, y'know... Watch this space! 

[ Jars of Clay - After The Fight ]

M.O.S. #11

[ Soundtrack: Fever Ray - Now's The Only Time I Know ]

Version française.

***

Things that have changed since I wrote and drew this episode:

• The amount of people in this comic that still live in Berlin (par for the course, really)
• I can barely remember liking the guy in question
• I'm not deathly afraid of shading nor spotting blacks
• My lettering looks less like it was tracked onto the page by a bunch of crickets on acid

Things that have not changed since I wrote and drew this episode:

• I still go to this church
• I still don't know how to read German men
• I still ride that S-Bahn
• I still feel both rootless and at home in Berlin

On a side note: the title of this episode is another nod to Ariel Schrag's High School Comic Chronicles, the third volume of which is called Potential and was a big influence in coming up with Master of Survival. (The other volumes are referenced here and here).

Socializing

[ Against Me! - Stop! ]

***

I spruced up my store page a bit and added some original art on my Etsy! Have a look (also there's a shiny button on the sidebar you can click)!

How I Met Your Municipales

I don't know what hit me harder last week... Valls being made Prime Minister, or the How I Met Your Mother finale.

Seriously though, it was a one-two punch of WTF.

[ Mickey 3D - Matador ]

MOS #10

[Soundtrack: Marvin - "Closer" (Live at Intersoup)]

Version française.

Here's my dad at the Tacheles in April 2010:

***

So, DUDES -- after a long-a** hiatus, Master of Survival is back!!

There are about six episodes left to go, plus some bonus comics. How fast the comic updates depends greatly on you. It goes like this: via my Patreon page, you can pledge to donate one dollar or more per episode of Master of Survival (or filler comic between updates). The higher the pledges are, the more I can afford to focus on updating.

Patrons get charged every month depending on how many new comics I've posted (expect no more than 4 and no less than 3), and have access to weekly-ish, exclusive blog posts about whatever I'm working on.

A note on the habitual translation of the episodes: nearly all forthcoming episodes are written in English, and will be translated into French when time permits. Any episode written in French will be posted in English and French simultaneously.

That's enough on my end, I hope you enjoy the second instalment of this comic and I look forward to giving you more new pages!

Verknallt

I don't get it, it just keeps happening.

***

I've added a reward tier to my Patreon page! Patrons who pledge $2 or more per comic now get all five of my comic PDFs for free as a thank-you. If you can't be bothered to clog your hard drive, you can also pledge to donate as low as $1 per comic to help keep them going.

I also keep a sort of progress log on Patreon with process shots and updates. If you're into that kind of thing and you've always wanted to throw small amounts of money at me, it's a pretty sweet deal!

  [ Bloc Party - Kreuzberg ]

Talking

***

Hey-o, did you know that if you want to support this blog directly, you can now do so on Patreon? You can pledge $1 or more per comic that I post, and as a reward you get access to exclusive updates from the drawing board. Even a $1 pledge goes a long way and I would super super appreciate it.

There's also a date for the next Master of Survival update somewhere on there that I've otherwise been super-quiet about :V

Also, I'm curating the I AM EUROPE Twitter account this week - check it out!

[ Alkaline Trio - Mercy Me ]

National Hug Day

We often listen to Flux FM at my part-time job. You should too, as it is probably the best alternative radio station ever.

[ Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover) ] ]

Hanging Loose: Kidneys

Two impossible girls go 'round the outside, 'round the outside, 'round the outside

***

 STICKERS!!!

There are currently stickers in my store! And until Feb. 1, they only cost 1.99€ + shipping! Great for decorating your laptop with an expression of young urban cartoonist angst. Grab'em while they're physically manifest!

[ Death Cab For Cutie - Title and Registration ] 

2013 Recap

And thus (pretty much) concludes the madness that was 2013!

I forgot to mention this, which happened while I was in Paris the second time:

(That's the current French Prime Minister and we were in the backyard of Matignon, FYI.)

In 2014, on the personal art front, I plan on continuing drawing Master of Survival and writing Noémie, aller-retour/hin und zurück. I will also be traveling a lot for various things, which will lead to new travel journals, postcards and more exclusive art goodies to get your hands on! More will be announced in the next couple of months as travel plans unfold, so keep your eagle eyes open.

Also, as is my wont, I've compiled a small recap of the year in entertainment, visible below this cut. May 2014 bring new obsessions and hefty doses of doodling, the latter to rejoice over, the former to your possible dismay.

[ #3 Song of the Year  
#2 Song of the Year
#1 Song of the Year ]

Hanging Loose: Mellandagsrea

*Mellandagsrea is a sale that happens between Christmas and New Year's (the "days in the middle").

[ Theophilus London feat. Sara Quin - Why Even Try ]

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 ]

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 ]

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 !

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) ]

Small talk

I'm back from Paris! It was epic, we got to meet a bunch of people on Saturday, I sold many comics and sketches, Sarah busked all over town, and I got to shake hands with the Prime Minister on Friday and attend Mark Gatiss' Masterclass at Comic-Con on Sunday. I'm pretty much on the verge of passing out now. Thanks to everyone who ordered a postcard!

[ Alain Souchon - Les regrets ]

Announcing the "Clairikine Hits Paris" Digital Download!

Hot on the heels of debuting Cardialement Vol. 2 and Master of Survival #1* last Friday comes the Digital Download of Clairikine Hits Paris, my first fundraiser travel comic!

This 17-page-long comic details my 5-day stay in Paris and Noyon, France last February. The France-Germany game   at the Stade de France gets its own 2-page recap, and elsewhere I tell of planes, métros, beers, politics, friends and (adoptive missionary-kid extended) family. The suggested donation is 3€, but if you want to pay more, you can! (If you want to pay less, you also can!) The link to the download is here.

As a side note, the notebook I drew this comic in was also sold as part of the fundraiser to help offset my traveling costs. I plan to do more such fundraisers in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled if you want a piece of it :D

Here is a picture of me seeing the comic on an iPad for the first time (courtesy of benefactor and iPad owner Alex Koppel):

Woohoo woohoo woohoo ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh

* P.S. I am currently working on making the Cardialement and Master of Survival minicomics available to order online very soon. Stay tuned!

Schwestas don't shake hands

It was my sister's birthday this month! She is an up-and-coming super-talented artist and by the time she graduates college she will have trailed all our butts in the dust.

I have a theory (oftentimes proved correct) that were it not for our considerable age gap, we could probably pass as twins. That being said, we do have our differences: most notably, she has a Swedish-style love of consensus and likes to give temperance at the dinner table whenever I make an absolute statement with my Latin-raised gesturing hands. Also, she doesn't know what it's like to be a teenager with dial-up and without Tumblr. Worlds apart, I tell you. Worlds apart.

Weekend Wistfulness: Sam Tyler

Recycling a Tumblr post for your weekend entertainment pleasure. Spring seems to have finally arrived in Berlin - and by spring I mean that it's not cold enough to snow anymore and one can walk around the neighborhood with just a jacket, even if you still run the risk of getting drenched by Sudden Rain. It's this time of year that inevitably reminds me why I love this city, and I'm looking forward to taking a whole lot more walks.

In the meantime, have a drawing of Sam Tyler, aka Life On Mars' moody, fairly holier-than-thou protagonist. If you haven't seen Life On Mars, it's some of the best television ever made. My Dad can vouch for this.

[ Travis - The Humpty Dumpty Love Song ]