Clairikine Comics

April 25, 2023

Clairikine + HX hit ComicInvasion 2022

A black-and-white comic titled "Clairikine + HX do Comic Invasion 2022". In the first panel, Claire is sitting at their table at Comicinvasion wearing a jeans jacket and a shirt that says "Thrice". Someone next to them says "Hi! I'm Claire" and Claire responds "Me too!" In the second panel, Claire and HX are sitting next to each other at their tables. Claire says " 'HX' table - where group projects go to die' and HX says "Ha ha ha. That's going in the autobiographical comic" In the third panel, a visitor tells Claire "I like your shirt! I really like seeing other queer folks who are into rock music." Claire thinks "Well this has made my entire day." The fourth panel has the caption "Vibing with other SPN fans". Claire is standing next to two people, one of which is wearing a shirt with the words "Carry On" against a ring of fire and above a Chevy Impala. Claire is clasping her hands and saying "OMG your shirt!!", with a caption pointing at her saying "on season 14". The fifth panel has the caption "5:30 vibes" and the text "the lights are on, but nobody's home". It shows Claire sitting at their table with eyes of two different sizes, staring into the void. The sixth panel shows Lara (wearing a "Yay Comics!" shirt), HX and Claire sitting around a table with drinks. HX says "We're doing a bit where we see who the first person to draw it is... it's Claire". Claire is looking at a blank sketchbook page with a pen in her hand. The seventh panel shows Claire drawing into the sketchbook while frowning and saying "This right here is why I never finish any of my long-form projects." Lara asks "The spontaneous stuff?" and Claire says "This spontaneous shit."

Two comics panels in black and white. In the first panel, Claire is tabling, and a visitor is pointing at their zines and asking "So tell me, which one is your favorite?" Claire responds "Oh! I love all my children equally." The second panel has the caption "5 minutes later" and shows Claire at her table, thinking "I don't care for Gob"

A four-panel comic in black and white. In the first panel, Claire and Lara are standing around a table that has been placed upside down and only has one leg left on it. Claire says "It's like the sword in the stone!" In the second panel, Lara reaches down to grab the table leg and says "For the honor..." In the third panel, she shouts "...of Grayskull!!" and is holding the table leg up in the air like She-Ra would hold her sword. In the fourth panel, Claire says "Can I put that in a comic" and Lara says "Sure!" as she walks away carrying the table leg.

ComicInvasion 2023 is nigh, so here are some comics chronicling my weekend at CIB22 in the presence of HX and friends! That's kickass festival director Lara demonstrating leadership in action in the final panels.

I have since then finished the television show Supernatural, be sure to ask for my Thoughts About The Finale at my table on May 6 & 7 at the Museum for Communication!

April 21, 2023

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

A black-and white illustration containing lyrics from My Chemical Romance's "The World Is Ugly". A full moon is shown at night next to the words "I just wanted you to know". We then see a reflection of the moon in a lake surrounded by trees, with the words "that the world is ugly". Finally, we see Claire sitting on a bare tree branch, wearing plaid, jeans and Chucks, and looking out over the lake to the moon shining above it, with the text "but you're beautiful to me".

[ My Chemical Romance - The World Is Ugly ]

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ComicInvasion is fast approaching!! See you there??

April 7, 2023

Questions

A two-panel black and white comic. In the first panel, we see a lakeshore at night, dotted with bare trees and bushes, and a forest in the background. Text in the top left and bottom left corners says "You've answered many of my questions" and "even the ones I didn't want to ask." A two-panel black and white comic. In the first panel, we see a lakeshore at night, dotted with bare trees and bushes, and a forest in the background. Text in the top left and bottom left corners says "You've answered many of my questions" and "even the ones I didn't want to ask." The second panel shows a desert landscape at night, with the caption “So why won’t You answer this one?” In both panels, the "Y" in "you" is capitalized.

It is, once more, Good Friday.

[ Thrice - Red Sky ]

March 21, 2023

Status Report

A four-panel comic in black and white, entitled "2022 Year In Review". The first panel has the caption "smiling wider" and shows Claire as seen in a Zoom call, drawing at their desk and smiling into the camera. The second panel has the caption "crying more" and shows Claire walking down Kaiserdamm street in Berlin wearing a hoodie, jeans jacket and jeans and Chucks, listening to music on her phone and crying. In the third panel, with the caption "laughing deeper", Claire is sitting on the U-Bahn, looking at something on her phone and laughing loudly ("Huh-HA-HA-HA") while someone sitting next to her looks at them. In the fourth panel, with the caption "and crying more", we see Claire sitting on the couch at home, clutching a stuffed IKEA shark, and sobbing.

Yeah girl, access those emotions stored in the body!! Wait, what do you mean they're a package deal 🥲

[ John-Allison Weiss - Different Now ]

If you'd like to support my comics, you can become a patron or leave a tip!

February 17, 2023

Friday Fanart: Still Jealous (Tegan and Sara)

a black and white cartoon of Claire lying on a bed in the dark, wearing pajamas, looking up at the ceiling, arms folded under her chest. Next to her on the bed is a heart. Placed all around the bed are lyrics from Tegan and Sara's "I Can't Take It": "I can't take it, I can't take it, I can't take it, I can't take it, I can whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, I can whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa"

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

A black-and-white ink drawing of Claire, a white person with messy chin-length hair, wearing a plaid T-shirt, skinny jeans and Chucks, as they are seen from the side standing up, expresssionless, holding a classically shaped heart in one hand. The handwritten captions are lyrics from Tegan and Sara's "So Jealous": "Do you see my problem if I never explain it?"

[ 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!

February 7, 2023

Hourly Comics Day 2023

00:00 Awake with fox plushie. 00:30 asleep with fox plushie. 7:00 Snooze my phone saying to wake up wake up wake up wake up. 8:00 up, shower listening to Tegan and Sara singing "I should start working on myself again". 8:30 breakfast with toast, lachs and a rapid test for work. Listening to news radio was a mistake.

An Intro to Berlin Bike Path Typology (Berliner Comic Fenster 2022)

A black-and white comic opening with a title screen that says "An Intro to Berlin Bike Path Typology by Clairikine", with a drawing of a bike path street sign. First panel: a bike path full of puddles, with the caption "Great Lakes". Second panel: a bike path made out of two slabs of concrete with a gap between them, with the caption "Just gonna put a slab of concrete here, that'll work". Third panel: a six-lane street downtown with cars and a bus, but no bike path or cyclists. The caption says "404 bike path not found".

Fourth panel: a bike path at night with a tree next to it and bumps in the path created by the tree's roots, with the caption "Oh no. Oh no no no no no". Fifth panel: a bike path with a bus stop next to it, and the caption "Just gonna put a bus stop here". Sixth panel: Claire biking down a bike path full of ice and sludge and swearing, with the caption "Snow sludge ice nightmare". Seventh panel: a smooth and wide bike path at night, with a tree on one side and buildings in the distance, and the caption "Bliss".

I submitted this comic for this year's season of the Berliner Comic Fenster program, through which local cartoonists get to have their comics aired on Berlin's subway TV in partnership with Comic Invasion! If you were on the U-Bahn last weekend, you may have seen it aired.

You'll find more recent comics aired by myself and other artists here, including my comic "Treasure Hunt" (from 2020). You can also read my 2019 entry, "Okay", here.

Also: submissions are currently open for next year! Deadline is November 7.

[ Tegan and Sara - Pretty Shitty Time ]

September 27, 2022

A Break

When your brain sits on you, you listen 🧠

[ My Chemical Romance - I'm Not Okay (I Promise) ]

August 16, 2022

Signs of Summertime (2022 edition)

It's hot. Not much else to add, really. Or rather, too much to add! Have a comic.

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I am tabling in a few places the next few weeks! Find me online at Fanzineist Vienna from August 11 through September 11, and IRL at Art Horse Bazar on August 28 and Comics & The Beast on September 3 (both in Berlin).

[ Rina Sawayama - This Hell ]