Tuesday Fanart: John-Allison Weiss, "Wait For Me"

 

Not waiting for anyone specific, just deemed these lyrics to be a vibe when I drew this.

[ John-Allison Weiss - Wait For Me ]

Friday Fanart: "The World Is Ugly" (My Chemical Romance)

 

 

 

[ My Chemical Romance - The World Is Ugly ]

 

 

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ComicInvasion is fast approaching!! See you there??

 

Friday Fanart: Still Jealous (Tegan and Sara)

 

[ Tegan and Sara - I Can't Take It (Tegan's version) ]

[ Tegan and Sara - So Jealous (Tegan's version) ]
 

A year ago Still Jealous was released, a re-recording of Tegan and Sara's classic So Jealous album where each recorded their own own version of the other's songs. I of course made some fanart for it because these songs still resonated with me like nothing else does, 15+ years after I heard them for the first time. Also this week I believe there was an international holiday, something to do with hearts?

 

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I'm thrilled to be part of the 24 Stunden Comic Tag am Wannsee exhibit at Berlin's neurotitan galerie from February 18 to March 11! I will be exhibiting original pages from my comic written and penciled during the 2019 edition, and selling the brand-new zine of that comic!! If you're in Berlin, there's a chance I'll see you at the vernissage, Saturday, February 18 from 18:00! I must say I am psyched to be exhibiting in a place like this! Aah! Do drop by!

Tuesday Fanart: My Chemical Romance, "The Foundations of Decay"

 🎶 Let it flood, let it flood, let it wash away 🎶

 

Before this song came out I was familiar with a grand total of three MCR songs, a number which has exponentially increased since then. My neighbors are thrilled.

(I pulled these lyrics from Genius.com, they may or may not be accurate.) Now that the song has been extensively toured and transcribed, I've updated the lyrics accordingly!

[ My Chemical Romance - The Foundations of Decay ]

(Good) Friday Fanart: Stare At The Sun (Thrice)

A good Karfreitag to all who...celebrate?

[ Thrice - Stare At The Sun ]

 

Fanart Friday: Sad Comics 2021

Earlier this year a series of bad things and personal upheavals happened. I drew various short comics to process some of them and will be updating this post with them for the next few weeks on Fridays.

Content warning: some of these touch on stuff like death, grief, depression and religious trauma, so please be mindful if that is something you aren't up to reading right now.

Translation: "I don't have a lot to say to you, and not a lot to make you laugh."

[ Indochine - J'ai demandé à la lune ]

 

Friday Fanart: Finch

Against all expectations, one of my favorite bands, Finch, reformed last year and put out a new record this week called Back To Oblivion. I sketched this after listening to this teaser.

You can listen to the album here and order it here.

[ Finch -  Further From The Few ]

The Clairikine Hits Stockholm Art Drive!

Photo: Tommie Hansen - CC BY 2.0

The dates: June 4 - 11, 2014

The plan: visiting Stockholm for my sister's graduation. Hitting up fave haunts. Fangirling X-Men: Days of Future Past. Grabbing a starköl. People moving! Things changing! What!
The goods: I've got some very limited personalized postcards (sketches or poetry!) and I'm opening up six commission slots, four of which are The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or X-Men themed. See below!
I am also going to give it a shot with a Google Hangout to talk about Berlin, Stockholm, comics and my cat for 45 minutes. I promise I'm good company.
Slots are reserved by clicking the donate button at the end of the post and specifying in the note to the seller what slot you want. I will then e-mail you to confirm the slot reservation.
Delivery dates are estimated. All prices include shipping to Europe; please add 3€ for shipping outside of Europe.

Celebrate the past ten years of Stockholm rootedness and help fund the madness!

**ORDERS ARE CLOSED! Thanks to everyone who donated! **

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 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)

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 ]

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"

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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) ]

[UPDATED] Commission Slot Openings!

I currently have 3 commission slots open on a first-come, first-serve basis! EDIT: Commissions close August 1!

Prices:

• A5 / 5.8"x8.5" black and white (max. one character): 20€/$26 USD + shipping
• A4 / 8.3"x11.7" black and white (max. two characters): 40€/$52 USD + shipping

Everything is done on German 250g Zeichenkarton (aka the thick stuff).

You can make any requests you want (within reason) by shooting me an e-mail at clairykin at gmail youknowtherest. Requests can also include fandom characters (comprehensive, non-exclusive list here). Or even my own characters Noémie, Anaé, Sasha and Félix.

If you need inspiration, you can also check out my Behance portfolio or my Tumblr art tag (or this very blog!).

Let's art.

Weekend Warmup: Companions' Tiff

Elementary fanart! I started watching the show this week and have not been disappointed, so of course I drew my new favorite pairing as a warmup today. I'm especially pleased with the way Joan draws out the humanity in Holmes' character, which is not an easy thing to do. I won't compare it to Sherlock, since the two shows are really not part of the same universe at all. I highly encourage giving it a try if you haven't already.

I'm still working on the secret project I have mentioned before. Once it is finished, I will be getting back to work on updating Master of Survival, I promise. In the meantime, I am going to put up an additional comic I have also been working on and which I also think will be of interest. Sorry I've been inconsistent these past few weeks, and that Master of Survival has been on a longer hiatus than expected!

Weekend Warmup: Dr. Torres

Two drawing habits I can highly recommend: doing warm-up drawings before you do anything else, and drawing while watching Grey's Anatomy (or some other form of televised entertainment that you find both engaging and of high quality). It follows, therefore, that I drew this sketch of Callie "BAMF" Torres today.

[ The Music - Into The Night ]

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 ]

Being Awesome

I've been battling second winter with binge-watching sessions of How I Met Your Mother (currently in the middle of season 4). I guess I have a thing for lanky blond dudes in nice shirts? I started out favoring Ted but now Barney Stinson steals the show for me, especially since season 4. Though his morals are (to quote my own mother) "questionable", Barney has that advantage of being very consistent in his goals and personality, which I tend to find more impressive than Ted Moseby's recurrent "This is what I want but I will go through several more-than-iffy compromises while convincing myself that I'm actually getting it." Possibly this explains why I often go for the bad guy in a given production.

[ Taproot - Poem ]

Friday Sketchpost: Christmas fanart

These are drawings I made for my lovely housemates, because for almost three years, they have never protested my endless listening to Tegan and Sara, and because we like the same TV shows. Well, almost...

Have a good weekend! See you ... Next year.

Friday Fanart: Vote Saxon!

In keeping with this week's comic, here is some fanart I did of the Master/Harold Saxon, as seen in the Doctor Who Season 3 finale. I sort of went nuts when he appeared. 

Initially I tried sketching him with a serious, deadly look on his face, but then I realized that the Master as played by John Simm really is more of a cartoon character, and so I drew these two accordingly.

  

(Cue the insidious trust me pose.)
I have the growing suspicion that my drawing style lends itself more to brushes than to regular art pens, but I feel really clumsy with a brush pen (Faith Erin Hicks describes it as "inking with mittens"). In the long run I'd like to teach myself to use a real brush.


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I'm off to Stockholm for the holidays! Dear, dear Stockholm, aka my moody zero-perspective lover. I can be followed on Twitter and Instagram during my stay should you want to get in on the experience of mellandagarna (the actual Swedish name for "the days between" Christmas and New Year's). Which in my case will mostly involve coffee, cafés and TV shows.

Comics will still be updating during this time! Also, I will be announcing something when I get back, so stay tuned.

Ha det så bra, y'all, and vote Saxon.