Clairikine Comics

October 22, 2021

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.

A two-panel comic in black and white. In the first panel, Claire is sitting on a bench by a lake at night, looking out onto the water. The edge of the lake is paved and there is a street lantern and a tree. Claire is wearing shoulder length hair and a plaid hoodie. In the top left corner of the panel are the lyrics to a song in French that mean "I don't have much to say to you". In the second panel we see Claire sitting on the bench with their arms crossed, staring off to her left and frowning. Behind her are trees and next to her is a trash can. In the bottom left corner there are lyrics from the same song, translating to "and not much to make you laugh." The song is "J'ai demandé à la lune" by Indochine.

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 ]

Berlin PSA: Shots! Shots!

A drawing of Claire wearing a black tank top, black Converse high-tops and shorts, chin-length hair and an FFP2 mask, staring into the camera with their thumb up and their left hand on their side, showing a large band-aid on their left shoulder. A caption pointing to the band-aid says "got it on the arm I don't sleep on".

Hi folks! Your friendly local double-vaxxed Clairikine here, with a PSA that there are currently multiple vaccination offers in Berlin that do not require making an appointment on Doctolib, and are not just at the Impfzentren. Please get vaccinated if you are able, please tell folks around you where they can get their shots too, and if you can, consider offering to help with stuff that might make getting them more difficult! We can do this.

May 26, 2021

Meeting (New) People

I am happy to report that the mullet at least is now gone, though not much else has changed! (These are observations btw, not a request for dating advice.)

[ Lord Huron - When The Night Is Over ]

May 21, 2021

Friday Sketchpost: "Beten" (Praying)

For Lent earlier this year, I was asked to volunteer some artwork for a local church on the topic of prayer within the larger theme of "Barmherzigkeit" (mercy). This is what I came up with, with the idea that prayer can be opening yourself up to dialog with anyone—yourself, other persons human or divine—with a specific focus on places in Berlin where I've found this possible.

(No physical human presence here, because... well, you know.)

What do I want to say, but don't know how?

One shitty rollercoaster

Claire sits at the top of a rollercoaster. They go down, then level off, then down, then swing back up, then slowly climb, then level off, then back down, then swing back up, then level off. In the final panel she plunges back down and says "Dear God when does it stop."

If you've been on a shitty rollercoaster, this one is for you.

[ Julien Baker - Favor (live) ]

***

If you are a US citizen and/or EU citizen, please help pressure leadership to make covid-19 vaccines available to everyone, and not just to the countries rich enough to focus on themselves while the rest of the planet suffers with no end in sight. There is an EU citizens' initiative that needs 1 million signatures to demand action from the European Commission, and several US Senators are demanding action from the Biden administration as well. EU citizens can sign the initiative and US citizens can call their representatives in Congress to voice their support. None of us are safe until everyone is safe. Thank you.

If you would like to help support my comics work, you can become a patron or leave a tip!

March 16, 2021

Change of Seasons

First panel: caption says "Sometimes when the seasons change, questions like these take over my brain." Image is of Claire standing outside with an FFP2 medicinal mask and a hoodie, staring towards the sky. The sun is shining and the sunbeams include, in all caps: "Winter is over, what do you have to show for it?". Second panel: still Claire, walking in the woods. Caption says "And this time around the answer is..." and Claire says "...myself?". Caption says: "...a good answer."

I wrote this comic last month when it was suddenly 15 degrees Celsius for a couple days and since then we've gone back to subzero temps at night. I stand by it though.

[ Jars of Clay - Inland ]

If you would like to help support my comics work, you can become a patron or leave a tip!

March 12, 2021

One year later

ALT: First panel: caption says "Early March 2020". Claire is leaving a bus stop checking her phone and thinking "Okay... just gonna do the right thing and stay home for a little while. It won't last forever, and I can do this." Second panel: caption says "Early March 2021". Claire is lying on the carpet in the dark with smoke coming out of a giant hole in their chest where their heart should be. Next to her are a phone with the caption "Can't reply to 'How are you?' anymore", a laptop with the caption "escapism", a couple books, and a newspaper with the caption "don't even ask"

I started social distancing in Berlin one year ago this week. Don't really have much else to add about that right now! Except that I'm OK (in pandemic-adjusted terms) and I have a support network for when I'm not. Take care of yourselves and each other, get vaccinated when you're able, keep doing the right thing.

[ Jars of Clay — Silence (live) ]

If you would like to help support my comics work, you can become a patron or leave a tip!

February 16, 2021

Hourly Comics Day 2021

The Process

First panel: Claire sits down at her drawing table with a sheet of paper and thinks to herself: "Ookay, I've had room to reflect, time to spare, and ideas. Making comics should be pretty straightforward,." Second panel: She sits and stares at her desk. Third panel: a speech bubble floats out from her chest. It contains a battery that indicates it is at 0%. Fourth panel: Claire moves the piece of paper off her desk and says "You know what, tomorrow is another day."

That probably should have been a thought bubble in the last panel, but I'm leaving it in because it's good to vocalize stuff to yourself sometimes!

[ Kid Cudi ft. Phoebe Bridgers — Lovin' Me ]

This comic was finalized in Clip Studio Paint, using a Wacom Cintiq 16 that was acquired with funding from the German federal government's NEUSTART für Bildende Künstlerinnen und Künstler program.
If you would like to help support my comics work, you can become a patron or leave a tip!

December 8, 2020

Abandoned Places

Biking as a metaphor 🚲

***

I've moved my shop to Ko-Fi! It stocks digital and paper zines alike, as well as postcards and stickers. The cutoff for physical orders this year is December 15 and they will be processed again beginning January 4.

Also, ComicInvasion was a rousing success—thanks to everyone who stopped by and made it happen!! The virtual artist alley is still going and you can visit my table here.

[ Bob Moses - The Blame ]