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!

Comics Market Action! [UPDATE]

(En français ci-dessous)

Hey dudes! I am thrilled to announce that as part of the OFAJ' 50-year-anniversary, I am gonna be tabling at the Info-Café Berlin-Paris' Franco-German Party flea market this Friday starting at 4PM.

For Berlin readers (and other readers!) who have wanted to buy real, solid, hard-copy comics from me, I will be debuting the BRAND SPANKING NEW LONG-AWAITED SECOND AND FINAL VOLUME OF Cardialement*, as well as THE FIRST PRINTED VOLUME OF Master of Survival**! Cardialement Vol. 1 is still in stock as well and will be present. I am also offering a limited amount of commissions (Barney Stinson fans, this is your chance).

Also present from 4 to 5 PM will be the witty and talented Sarah Ehrenholz, who, I am extremely pleased to announce - for those of you who recall the Franco-German music-and-comics project I mentioned last fall - is officially my partner in multimedial crime! She will have CDs of her sweet folksy music and we will be very happy to talk about our project, entitled "Noémie hin und zurück / Noémie aller-retour", for which we are currently setting the narrative and musical foundations. Hooray! (More info on Noémie will come soon.)

In addition to the actual flea market, there will be live music,  circus and theater performances as well as crêpes, good food and a Biergarten! It is all followed by a massive party at 8PM with Mr. Bondy, La Marche, Rolando Random & The Young Soul Rebels and Son Kapital, followed by DJ Trim. It's basically a huge Franco-German festival of awesomeness, and Franco-German stuff rocks. So make sure you grab a crêpe and a Pilsner and come say bonjour!


En français

Hé les gens! J'ai le grand plaisir de vous annoncer que dans le cadre des 50 ans de l'OFAJ, je tiendrai un stand sur le marché au puces du Bal Pop' franco-allemand de l'Info-Café Berlin-Paris ce vendredi à partir de 16h..

Pour mes lecteurs berlinois (et venus d'ailleurs!) désireux d'acheter des copies dures, vraies et véritables de mes BD, j'ai l'encore plus grand plaisir d'annoncer que je vendrai des exemplaires FLAMBANTS NEUFS ET MEGA ATTENDUS du SECOND ET DERNIER VOLUME DE Cardialement*, ainsi que LE PREMIER VOLUME IMPRIME DE Master of Survival**! Cardialement Vol. 1 est toujours en stock également, et je ferai aussi des dessins sur commande pendant le marché (fans de Barney Stinson, viendez!)

Egalement présente de 16h à 17h sera l'intelligente et talentueuse Sarah Ehrenholz, avec laquelle j'ai le très grand plaisir de collaborer sur un projet franco-allemand musique-et-BD depuis le début de l'année! Le projet s'appelle "Noémie aller-retour / Noémie hin und zurück" et nous en posons actuellement les bases scénaristiques et musicales. Nous nous ferions un plaisir d'en discuter au stand! Sarah vendra aussi sa délicieuse musique folksy. Youpi!! (Plus d'infos sur Noémie viendront prochainement.)

En même temps que le marché, il y aura de la musique live, du cirque et du théâtre ainsi que des crêpes, de la bonne bouffe et un Biergarten! SUITE A QUOI il y aura une méga-teuf à 20h avec Mr. Bondy, La Marche, Rolando Random & The Young Soul Rebels et Son Kapital, suivis par un set de DJ Trim. En gros c'est un énorme festival franco-allemand de ouf, et le franco-allemand c'est super bien. Donc n'oubliez ni votre crêpe, ni votre Pilsner, ni de passer dire Hallo!


* In English/en anglais.
** In English and in French/en anglais et en français.

[ Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away (live) ]

Hashtag white college graduate multitalented trilingual Berlin-dwelling EU citizen cartoonist problems.

(On a related note, I am totally for hire!)

[ Placebo - Passive Aggressive ]

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 ]

Dive Bro

Last week it was my brother's turn to have a birthday! He is a certified diver and works at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which basically makes him the one in the family with the unbeatable dream job. (Just you wait.) He also runs a website with video montages of his dives. He did actually go diving in Baja recently. It was an experience.

[ Manau - La Tribu de Dana ]

Sondern auf Wiedersehen

My good friend Alex left Berlin this week for new opportunities in Chicago. He got this as a parting gift and general thanks for being awesome. I am rarely sappy on the internet, but I will miss him. A lot. Who's going to discuss Matt Smith with me now?

(As an aside, that'll teach me to watch Sherlock with relative strangers.)

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.

Delayed Gratification

Hey guys,

I usually make a point of sticking to my deadlines, but the next Master of Survival update is going to go up later than the originally announced May 5 date.
There are several reasons for this:

• I have another comic project that has a firm deadline and therefore it has to take priority in my comics-making time for the coming month and a half. (You'll get to see it when it's done, of course!)
• My job situation changed in January (this was expected) and paid work is the priority for most of my week. On that topic, if you'd like to help out by commissioning some artwork from me, you can shoot me an e-mail at clairykin-at-gmail-dot-com and we can discuss possibilities.
• The next episode of Master of Survival is three pages long, and I'm using it to try out new things, which takes longer. MOS has always been my canvas for trying things in comics, and I'm interested in using this update (and future ones) as a stepping stone to leveling up.

I'm giving the next update a tentative ETA of mid-June, but it's going to have to stay flexible for the time being. Sorry for this, but it's worth the wait! Posts will still be happening, have no fear.

Hé les gens,

C'est une habitude profondément ancrée chez moi de tenir mes délais, mais le prochainMaster of Survival ne sera pas posté le 5 mai comme il était prévu initialement.
Il y a trois raisons pour cela:

• En ce moment j'ai un autre projet BD qui, lui, a un délai très strict et doit donc avoir la priorité pour les six semaines à venir. (Bien sûr vous y aurez droit une fois qu'il sera terminé!)
• Ma situation professionnelle a changé en janvier (ce qui était prévu) et gagner des sous constitue donc la priorité numéro un pendant le plus gros de ma semaine. A ce sujet, si vous souhaitez me filer un coup de pouce financier en commandant un dessin, écrivez-moi à clairykin - at - gmail - dot - com et on pourra en discuter.
• Le prochain épisode de Master of Survival fait trois planches et je m'en sers pour essayer de nouvelles choses, ce qui prend plus de temps. Le but premier d'MOS a toujours été de me servir de canevas pour tenter des nouveaux trucs, et je tiens à ce que cet épisode (et ceux qui viennent) contribue à mes musculations de dessinatrice.

Le prochain MOS est donc tentativement prévu pour mi-juin, mais il faudra que ça reste flexible. Je suis vraiment désolée, mais ça en vaudra la chandelle! En attendant des posts sont toujours prévus, vous inquiétez pas.

 [ Paramore - Last Hope ]

Instagram!

Did I mention I post pics of my process and occasional graffiti on Instagram? If you wanna, you know, follow me, you can. No pressure.

[ Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sacrilege ]

Journal Dump: Church & Doodles

Guys, tonight you get to see scans from my otherwise super-personal journal, which I mostly use for writing but also the occasional doodle and comic thumbnail. First off, sketches I did during a sermon at my church yesterday:

I've begun using church services as an opportunity to draw from life and thereby stretch my cartooning muscles. (Someone said this was like eating kale for breakfast. Erm, alright.) No churchgoer is safe. Pastors neither.

 Also, more of my own characters.

I also attended a living-room concert at a friend's house in the northern Berlin suburbs last Sunday. It was awesome. First truly warm and sunny day of the spring, so we all sat and brunched outside.

[ Depeche Mode - Perfect ]