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 ]

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 ]

MOS #9

[ Soundtrack: Tegan and Sara - Knife Going In (live) ]

Version française

Thus concludes the first half of Master of Survival. The events in the next update date back to late April 2010, and guys, I'm going to take that as my cue to halt Master of Survival updates until May 5th.  Gasp! [*EDIT: SEE BELOW*]
The reasons for this are twofold; mainly, I have a lot on my real-life plate at the moment that requires my attention. BUT ALSO, following this page, all Master of Survival pages are not yet drawn and will therefore be BRAND NEW*! You're excited, aren't you? That's the idea.

I will still be posting stuff to the blog on occasion, and if all goes according to plan, there will be other good stuff that will start to trickle down around mid- to late May on the blog as well. Until then... Happy Easter, and see you next week!

* Except for one, but shh.

Ainsi se termine la première moitié de Master of Survival. La prochaine note traitera de la fin avril 2010, et je prends donc cette occasion pour marquer une pause dans les mises à jour de MOS jusqu'au 5 mai. [*UPDATE: VOIR CI-DESSOUS] Il y a deux raisons pour cela, la principale étant que dans la vraie vie j'ai quelque peu du pain sur la proverbiale planche. MAIS AUSSI, et à partir du post suivant, toutes les pages de Master of Survival doivent encore être dessinées, et seront donc FLAMBANT NEUVES*! Palpitant, non? Effectivement.

Je continuerai de poster sur le blog jusque là, et si tout se passe comme je veux, il y aura d'autres bonnes choses qui commenceront à apparaître autour de la deuxième quinzaine de mai. En attendant, joyeuses Pâques, et à la semaine prochaine!

* Sauf une, mais chut.

[February 27: Obviously this didn't happen, due mainly to my need to find a job, followed by picking up freelance comics and illustration work while holding down a new part-time job and freelancing in other areas. I am now working on new pages and the comic will update again beginning April 1, 2014 (no joke).
February 27, 2014: Clairement, ma pause a duré beaucoup plus longtemps, d'abord parce que j'ai dû retrouver du travail et ensuite en raison de divers boulots en BD et en illustration qui sont arrivés au moment où j'ai retrouvé du travail. Je me suis remise à dessiner de nouvelles pages et celles-ci paraîtront à partir du 1er avril 2014 (si si!)]

#mpt

You're fighting the wrong fight.

Sketchdump: But I'm not sleeping and you're not here

The next Master of Survival page is going up on Good Friday, and so, to tide you over, I will be presenting you with some excerpts of my current sketchbooks.

Oh look, it's Anaé (I love her and I do not tire of drawing her), and she's smiling, for once. Next to her is Sasha who needs a lot more work. Also he appears to be slanting.

A Watson (from my Tumblr), since Sherlock Series 3 began filming today. (I really need to start stalking following this.)

I went to Scott McCloud's lecture at the Berlin Comic Summit last week. It was awesome. I pulled out my sketchpad and drew this during the Q&A session with my brushpen.

More brushpen doodles.

[ My sister hates this song, bless her heart ]

MOS #8

[ Kaki King - Falling Day (Live on Jimmy Fallon) ]

Traduction à venir.

When I was a young'un in high school, I once had to compose an extensive sort-of essay project-thing on a theme I got to pick out along with a project buddy. (It was called "Travaux Personnels Encadrés" and it was to my French baccaulaureate what the Extended Essay is to the IB program.) As I had spent most of my previous years infatuated with the late Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, I chose to write my part of the essay on the figure of the suffering artist as embodied by Cobain (also on the roster were Baudelaire and Renaud).
Much of the project involved sitting long hours at my desk making notes on Cobain through my readings of his journals, lyrics and of Charles R. Cross' Heavier Than Heaven (amazing book), which was insanely fun (even if the subject matter was very dark). At this moment a lightbulb went on in my head that I wanted to write about artists. And so, during my internship in 2010, it so happened that I ended up being able to do that very thing, several times, in fact. This is the "what I dreamed of in high school" refers to in this comic - I was actually unaware of Mrs. King's work until well after I'd finished my Bachelor's, which is when I was more open to adopting my dad's love of instrumental guitar. She wrote some great answers to my questions - although currently I can't link you to the interview (conducted in French) because the site is partly down. And she was very gracious to sign my album cover and shake my hand.

Also, if you're into good melodies, great guitar and sweet drumming, you should definitely check out Junior. Kaki's new stuff is equally pleasing.

The next Master of Survival page involves Easter weekend and will therefore go up on Good Friday (March 29) as a contribution to the all-round "hey guys, it's Easter" chitter-chatter. Until then I will be posting a couple other things and trying to not break my coffee fast.

Lorsque je fus une jeunette au lycée, j'ai dû m'atteler à la divine tâche des Travaux Personnels Encadrés (en première ET en Terminale, mes petits). Comme j'avais passé une bonne partie des années précédentes à faire une fixation sur feu Kurt Cobain et Nirvana, j'ai choisi de faire ma partie sur la figure de l'artiste maudit telle que Cobain l'incarnait (ma binôme était chargée de Renaud, et Baudelaire fut des nôtres aussi.) Un bon morceau du projet consistait à passer de longues heures à mon bureau à prendre des notes sur Cobain à l'aide de ses Journaux, de ses textes de chanson et de la (génialissime) biographie "Heavier Than Heaven" de Charles R. Cross, et c'était vraiment sympa, même si le sujet était bien sombre. C'est à ce moment que s'alluma la proverbiale ampoule dans ma tête - ce que j'avais envie de faire, c'était d'écrire sur des artistes. Et donc, pendant mon stage en 2010, il s'est avéré que j'ai eu l'occasion de le faire, plusieurs fois même. C'est à cela que fait allusion "ce dont je rêvais depuis le lycée", puisque j'ai découvert la musique de Mme King bien après la fin de ma Licence, à une période où j'étais plus ouverte à la guitare instrumentale tant prisée par mon paternel. Elle a écrit de super réponses à mes questions (quoique je ne peux actuellement pas vous linker à l'article en question), et elle était très gracieuse après le concert.
Par ailleurs, si vous aimez de bonnes mélodies, de la bonne gratte et de la bonne batterie, vous feriez mieux d'écouter l'album Junior. Ses nouveaux morceaux sont également plaisants.

La prochaine page de Master of Survival traitant du weekend de Pâques, elle sera mise en ligne le vendredi 29 mars (alias le vendredi saint) pour contribuer à l'ambiance générale ce jour-là. En attendant, je posterai un ou deux trucs et tenterai de ne pas briser mon carême sans café.

Scène ouverte franco-allemande!

I was at the Théâtre au fil des nuages' Franco-German Open Mic last Thursday! They gave me one of their custom-made notebooks so I could make some brushpen sketches of the artists. I didn't manage to get everyone's names, but you can find out more about the event on their Facebook page!

J'étais à la scène ouverte franco-allemande du Théâtre au fil des nuages la semaine dernière et j'ai fait des dessins! Plus d'infos (et les noms de tous les artistes) sur leur page Facebook.

MOS #7

[ Jars of Clay - Heaven (Live) ]

English translation.

It took forever to ink that table pattern, oh my gosh.

Cell groups (or small groups) are a practice found in many evangelical churches. They're intended to allow church members to experience community in smaller, more personable units. My church happens to be huge (by German standards), so this is primordial for getting to know people that you see on a regular basis. I'll be honest and say that I'm more comfortable discussing spiritual matters in French (which I attended church and student group in until I moved here) or English (as my mother tongue), not in German, but you can't have that kind of mentality when you're living in a country for more than short term, so it's not a very good reason to not be a part of a group.

La vache, j'ai mis une éternité à encrer le motif de la table, sans déconner.

Les petits groupes (ou groupes de maison) sont une pratique commune chez les églises évangéliques. Le principe est de permettre aux membres d'une église de faire l'expérience de la communauté dans des unités plus petites et donc plus personnelles. Mon église étant en l'occurrence énorme (pour une église allemande), les petits groupes sont primordiaux pour apprendre à connaître les personnes que l'on y croise régulièrement. Pour être franche je suis plus à l'aise pour discuter d'affaires spirituelles en français (langue dans laquelle je fréquentais l'église et une asso étudiante avant de venir ici), ou bien en anglais (qui est ma langue maternelle réelle), mais pas en allemand. Par contre, si on envisage d'habiter un endroit à plus que court terme, la langue n'est pas vraiment une bonne raison pour se priver d'un petit groupe.

Weekend Warmup: Musikmachen

It's been back to the drawing board this week (huzzaaaahh), so here is yesterday's warmup drawing. This is a special character of mine, and hopefully you will be able to see much more of him in the future when a few other projects have been completed. (His feet were chopped off by the scanner.)
Also, check it out - I've been using the brush pen! It's getting a little easier.

Cette semaine marqua le retour pour moi à ma table de dessin (huzzaaaahh), donc voici le dessin d'échauffement d'hier. Ceci est un de mes personnages et il est particulier; j'espère que vous pourrez voir davantage de sa personne une fois que quelques autres projets seront achevés. (Ses pieds ont été coupés par le scanneur.)
En passant, matez, j'ai sorti le brush pen Pentel! Je m'y suis faite un peu.

MOS #6

[ Le Peuple De L'Herbe - Look Up! (live) ]

Traduction en français.

At this stage of my life, I was able to communicate verbally without actually being in possession of a mouth. This is a skill I lost when I completed my internship.

MOS #5

[ Jars of Clay - Mirrors & Smoke (live) ]

English translation here. Traduction en français ici.
Danke an Tonia.

***

(Français ci-dessous) 

May I present to you ... The prehistory of Clairikine.

This is one of the very first pages I drew for Master of Survival (because I originally drew it out of order) - in fact, it's one of the very first comic pages I've ever drawn, period, unless you count those 150+ pages of comic strips that I drew between age seven and nine and that made no sense. You can tell in many ways, of course, but one of them is that I was just starting out doing autobio comics and I had almost zero filter for what I wanted to talk about.

Recently a protagonist in an autobio comic that I admire very much stated that autobio comics were the best, but they could also be the worst, and you had to be careful making them. I think that the reasons for this are very similar to the reasons why you die inside when you read your old journals from high school. I happen to have journalled compulsively for over half my life, and there's a lot of material that I don't even want to read, because I'm not 14, or 16, or 21 anymore. Putting something in a comic that's openly personal sets it in stone, in a way, in the same way that journaling does. And while I'm usually very happy to tell my stories, it's always a little annoying to see a picture of yourself when you were a few years younger/inexperienced, even if everyone else thinks it's cute.

Applied to this particular page, I took a very long time to figure out whether I wanted to post it. Relationships, or lack thereof, are a highly personal thing, and the comics I write about them now always go through an extra round of questioning before I post them. Ultimately it's a question of what is relatable vs. what is comfortable to say about yourself. This comic ended up getting the green light because relationships were one of the many questions I had about my future at the time, and it made sense to have a page that directly touched upon that. Also, though my skills have improved significantly since I drew this, I chose the keep the original artwork as an example of how they've evolved from the time of my first endeavours to make Master of Survival.


Laissez-moi vous présenter... La préhistoire de Clairikine.

Il s'agit ici d'une des toutes premières planches que j'ai dessinées pour Master of Survival (les ayant d'abord dessinées dans le désordre) - en fait, c'est même l'une des premières planches de BD que j'aie jamais dessinées de ma vie, si l'on ne compte pas les 150 et quelques strips dessinés entre mes sept et neuf ans et qui sont plutôt vides de sens. On peut noter que cette planche est plus ancienne sous plusieurs angles, bien sûr; mais l'un d'entre eux, pour moi, c'est surtout le fait que je commençais à peine à dessiner des BD autobiographiques, et j'avais quasiment zéro censure sur ce que je choisissais d'aborder.

Récemment, un des protagonistes d'une BD autobio que j'admire beaucoup a dit que la BD autobiographique, ça peut être complètement génial comme ça peut être complètement horrible, et qu'en les créant, il fallait faire gaffe. Je pense que les raisons pour cela sont très semblables aux raisons pour lesquelles on meurt intérieurement lorsqu'on relit ses journaux intimes du lycée. Pour ma part, j'écris compulsivement dans des carnets depuis plus de la moitié de ma courte vie, et il y a foison de choses dedans que je ne veux plus jamais lire, parce que je n'ai plus ni 14, ni 16, ni 21 ans. Mettre quelque chose d'ouvertement personnel dans une BD, c'est le graver dans la pierre d'une certaine façon, de la même manière que lorsqu'on l'écrit dans un journal intime. Et même si de façon générale je raconte volontiers mes histoires, c'est toujours un peu énervant de voir une photo de soi lorsque l'on avait trois ans d'âge et d'expérience en moins (même si tout le monde trouve qu'on est craquante dessus.)

Quant à cette planche, j'ai mis très longtemps à décider si je voulais la poster ou non. Les relations (ou bien le manque de relation) sont pour moi une chose hautement personnelle, et les BD que j'écris à leur sujet aujourd'hui passent par une ronde supplémentaire d'interrogations avant d'être mises en ligne. Au final, il s'agit d'un conflit entre faire du bien au lecteur et me mettre moi-même mal à l'aise. J'ai fini par donner le feu vert à cette planche pour la simple raison qu'à cette époque, les relations amoureuses figuraient parmi mes nombreuses interrogations sur l'avenir, et c'était plutôt logique du coup qu'il y ait une planche qui traite directement de la question. En ce qui concerne le style de dessin, qui s'est nettement amélioré depuis, j'ai choisi de conserver la planche originelle en guise d'indicateur de mon évolution depuis le commencement de ce premier projet.

MOS #4

It's not a fluke, guys - I originally wrote this comic in French. The translation is here!

I still attend this church three years later. The fact they were playing The Whitest Boy Alive before the service did play into my decision.

Trois ans plus tard, je fréquente toujours cette église. Le fait qu'ils passent du Whitest Boy Alive a contribué à ma décision.

[ The Whitest Boy Alive - Keep A Secret ]

***

I'm back from France! It was loads of fun and way too short.

I'd like to thank everyone again who donated to the fundraiser; the postcards should arrive within the week. The PDF of the travel comic will be sent out by the beginning of March. Merci encore!!

Je suis de retour de France! C'était super sympa et beaucoup trop court.

J'aimerais encore remercier tous ceux qui ont contribué financièrement au voyage; les cartes postales devraient arriver dans le courant de la semaine. Le PDF du carnet de voyage sera envoyé d'ici début mars. Thanks again!!

MOS #3

[ Martin Moennich - Looking For The Last (live) ]

***

I'm goin' to Paris tonight!! If the powers of 3G are with me, you can follow me on Twitter, Flickr and/or Instagram (expect pictures of signs). Be back Tuesday for a new page!

Je pars pour Paris ce soir!! Si la 3G daigne me faire preuve de bonté, vous pourrez me suivre sur Twitter, Flickr et/ou Instagram (a priori pour voir de la signalétique). Revenez mardi pour une nouvelle page!

Paris Trip Fundraiser! [UPDATED]

UPDATE: Orders are now closed! Thank you to everyone who donated for being awesome!

We interrupt our current programming to bring you... Football (soccer, ahem).

I'm going to Paris next week to see the France - Germany game! I'm using the opportunity (graciously offered to me) to spend a few days in my home country, both in Paris and in a small town north of the capital. And to offset some of the costs, I am offering YOU the opportunity to own a piece of this adventure!

I've made it a habit on my previous travels to keep a travel comic. There will be a travel comic for this trip, and it will be drawn and inked in this little guy:

If you donate 35€ to my PayPal account (see the sidebar), you get this notebook. It will contain the travel diary, a little note to say thank you, and I will ship it anywhere that's not a secluded cabin in Chile. If I happen to know you, it can even be personalized!

Also, the first five people to donate 3€ will get a custom handmade postcard from me, mailed from France to anywhere in the world.

Anyone who donates 5€ will get a PDF of the travel comic diary (estimated delivery date: no later than March 1, 2013).

If you enjoy my comics, this is a great opportunity to show your support. The offer runs until Monday, February 4 at 9 AM (GMT+1)!

MOS #2

[ La Roux - Bulletproof (live) ]

Traduction ici.

MOS #1

Traduction en français ici.

***

Master of Survival begins, you guys! I hope you will enjoy it.

FYI, each page has a song that goes with it. This page's song is Indochine's "Pink Water", which has been added to the Master of Survival playlist.

Comics will update on a weekly basis, beginning... this Tuesday! See y'all soon.

Et c'est ainsi que commence Master of Survival! J'espère que vous allez aimer.

Pour info, à chaque page correspond une chanson. Pour celle-ci, c'est "Pink Water" d'Indochine, qui ouvre la playlist de Master of Survival.

Il y aura une nouvelle page chaque semaine, à partir de ... ce mardi! A très bientôt.

***

P.S. I still have that Fievel. J'ai toujours ce Fievel.

Introducing: Master of Survival

(En Français ci-dessous)

Guys, guys: not that it feels like it in any way, but this Sunday -- January 27th, 2013 -- I will have been living in Berlin for three years.

Three years ago, I came here with my suitcase, my backpack, my laptop and my Fievel, with an internship waiting for me, and a Master's thesis around the corner just waiting to be written. I was a young soon-to-be graduate from grad school, I was expected to make a living once I'd finished, and I had moved around way too much in the past couple years for my liking; so when I arrived I was sort of a mass of uprootedness, potential and a little bit of fear. To sum it up, I was in transition. I've come a long way since then, which frequently astounds me. Anyway.

To celebrate this third "Berlinniversary", I'm launching something very special this Sunday: an autobio comic that recounts my first semester in Berlin. This is otherwise known as the project that I've been tweeting about off and on for the past two years. And this project has a name: Master of Survival.

Master of Survival began three years ago as a way for me to keep track of what I was experiencing -- but also as a project that would force me to make comics. I would make notes in my journal of different things that "marked" this new period of life, adapting to yet another new life in yet another new city. I was heavily influenced by two grand autobio comics: Between Gears (by Natalie Nourigat) and Likewise (by Ariel Schrag). The notes I made were basically the scripts for standalone comic pages, which, after graduation in October '10,  I slowly proceeded to draw.

Though the pages were mostly written by early 2011, it's taken me over two years to get Master of Survival halfway done - mostly due to working day jobs and spending a lot of my comic time updating my blog. Now that I've reached a good rythm, I've decided it is time for this comic to make its appearance. I look forward to telling this story, and I hope you will enjoy it!

Trilingual disclaimer: since this is how my binational transplant brain works, each page was written either in French or English, or even in German, depending on my mindset (i.e., I totally did none of this on purpose). Each comic written primarily in French will be translated into English, and vice versa, and the German pages will be translated into both. Also, there are small German parts in some of the comics that will be "subtitled" in the comic itself.

Art disclaimer: As the first twelve pages were drawn between spring of 2010 (!) and last August, the art will look slightly different compared to my recent comics. Also, I will keep drawing and uploading new pages as I go along, so there will be a shift of sorts, I'm guessing.

That's enough on my end. See you Sunday!! Bis bald.

Chers amis, ça fait bizarre de le dire, mais ce dimanche - le 27 janvier 2013 - cela fera trois ans que je vis à Berlin.

Il y a trois ans, je suis venue avec ma valise, mon sac à dos, mon portable et mon Fievel, avec un stage qui m'attendait et tout au bout, un mémoire de Master. J'étais une jeune (future) diplômée bac+5, censée gagner sa vie après ses études, et qui avait beaucoup trop bougé à son goût au fil des deux dernières années, et quand je suis arrivée j'étais un peu une grosse boule de déracinement, de potentiel, et un peu de peur aussi. Pour résumer, j'étais en transition. J'ai fait beaucoup de chemin depuis, ce qui me surprend régulièrement.

Pour fêter ce troisième "Berlinniversaire", ce dimanche, je lance quelque chose de très spécial: une BD autobiographique qui relate mon premier semestre à Berlin. On y reconnaîtra peut-être le projet au sujet duquel je tweete à l'occasion depuis deux ans. Et ce projet a un nom: Master of Survival (spéciale casse-dédi.)

Master of Survival a pris forme il y a trois ans, à la fois pour garder une trace de mon expérience, mais aussi pour me forcer à réaliser un projet BD concret. J'ai pris des notes dans mon carnet sur les différentes choses qui ont marqué cette nouvelle période de ma vie, celle où je devais m'adapter à une nouvelle vie (parmi d'autres) dans une nouvelle ville (encore une). J'étais également très influencée par les BD autobiographiques de Natalie Nourigat (Between Gears) et d'Ariel Schrag (Likewise). Résultat, ces notes dans mon cahier ont pris la forme de petits scénarios pour des BD courtes d'une page, que je me suis mise à dessiner après l'obtention de mon double Master, en octobre 2010.

Quasiment chaque page de Master of Survival a été écrite entre début 2010 et début 2011, mais il m'a fallu un peu plus de deux ans pour en dessiner la moitié - travail et développement du blog obligent. Maintenant que je tiens un bon rythme, j'ai décidé qu'il est temps pour cette BD de faire son apparition en ligne. J'ai hâte de raconter cette histoire, et j'espère que vous allez aimer!

Note sur la traduction: en raison du fonctionnement de mon cerveau d'expatriée binationale, j'ai écrit ces pages en français ou en anglais, ou même en allemand, en fonction de mon humeur (en gros, c'est complètement aléatoire). Chaque page écrite en français sera traduite en anglais, et vice versa, et les pages écrites en allemand seront traduites dans les deux langues. Il y a aussi des fragments de texte écrits en allemand qui feront l'objet de "sous-titres".

Note sur le style: les douze premières pages ayant été dessinées entre le printemps 2010 et août dernier, leur aspect sera plus ou moins différent de celui de mes BD récentes. Je dessinerai et posterai la suite au fur et à mesure, donc le style changera de nouveau, j'imagine.

Voilà de mon côté. A dimanche!! Bis bald.

22/01/13

[ Tegan and Sara - Shock To Your System ]

Je tiens à m'excuser auprès de mon lectorat français, mais "IT Guy" n'est juste pas traduisible, ou c'est moi qui ai les neurones en compote.

I'm tweeting for Germany this week! Come and join the fun.

[ Tegan and Sara - Now I'm All Messed Up ]

Deduce THIS

I've been proverbially under the weather (I believe I said something about "2013" and "kicking butt"?), so here is a Sherlock comic I drew last spring. I dedicate it to the new fans who have recently discovered it and justifiably gone looney tunes. (Pot, kettle, black, yep.)

Je récupère d'une sale grippe bien méchante (je crois me souvenir avoir dit que 2013 allait déchirer), alors spéciale casse-dédi pour les nouveaux fans de Sherlock avec un strip dessiné au printemps dernier.

[ Click it, you know you want to ]

Internets

"Je ne te traite pas de s***pe, je dis juste que les femmes qui critiquent [une certaine idée chrétienne de la modestie vestimentaire] font preuve d'immoralité."

"J'aurais juste voulu que mon groupe préféré se contente de faire de la musique sans en gagner beaucoup d'argent."

"Cette loi sur le mariage pour tous est toxique. La preuve, c'est que le débat est en train de pousser de jeunes homos au suicide."

"Je vois que t'es anglais et que tu tiens un blog en vivant à Kreuzberg, t'as pas honte? - POUR L'AMOUR DU CIEL MAIS FERMEZ-LA TOUS"

[ Placebo - Bionic ]

Random Friday Sketchpost: While It's Raining

For today's post, here is a warm-up drawing I did in a café yesterday.

January, you've never let me down: rain on hand until the end of next week. Ha!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Pour aujourd'hui, un dessin d'échauffement réalisé hier dans un café.

Janvier, tu ne me décevras jamais: de la pluie prévue jusqu'à la fin de la semaine prochaine. Yes!

Bon weekend à tous!

[ The Used - On My Own ]

2012 Round-Up

Sonic bonus: 2012: A Clairikine Odyssey - My year in music
(including my personal anthem for 2012)

***

It's a new year! And, as every year, that warrants a written recap of the past year's entertainment, so pull up a chair, brew some coffee and ... let's begin.

TV and Film

Sherlock
My sister Laura has developed a knack for getting me interested in things. And it all began with the BBC's remaking of Sherlock, the second season of which began airing January 1st. Was it the unbelievable writing? The brilliant acting? The incredible photography? No, my dear bromantic pre-Hobbit sidekicks, it was all of it, and it served to remind me of my undying love and affection for storytelling. (I also love handsome actors with brains, but that's another story). Season 3 is such a very long way off.

Doctor Who
I had no idea that I could get this obsessed with a TV show steeped in sci-fi: I am not prone to spontaneously watching remakes of campy space travel, ever. Though my reaction to the first episodes, concordantly, was lukewarm, the series turned out to be thrilling, moving and funny enough to pay back a 60€ investment in the box set several times over. And then John Simm appeared in the Season 3 finale, and I basically lost it. (At the time of writing, I still have all of the Eleven seasons to go.) I wrote a comic about this personal odyssey here.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Apart from the fact that discussing the need for three movies is probably one of the biggest First World Problems in history, I found that Peter Jackson's first prequel was worth every 3D penny of that 13€ movie ticket. I've done a comic review for it here.

Additional mentions: The Avengers for additional geekery; The Dark Knight Rises for putting the "kick-ass" back in "villain".


Music

Finch - Say Hello To Sunshine (2005)
Finch made one of my favorite albums as a high schooler, the slickly produced post-hardcore (or something) What It Is To Burn. I didn't care much for their second (and final) album until I came across it on Simfy in early 2012; I then proceeded to use "A Piece of Mind" as a cleansing agent during a particularly stressful time. Still works a charm, probably alienates my housemates.

Linkin Park - Living Things (and A Thousand Suns)
Though they were another mainstay of my teenage years - and I am convinced that deep down inside I am still 17 - I became frustrated with Linkin Park after Minutes to Midnight, where they seemed to have crawled down the melodic pop hole for ever. (Nothing wrong with melodic pop, except that other people can do it too.) I didn't pay attention to 2010's A Thousand Suns as a result, and when they put out Living Things in May I only cottoned on after the "Burn It Down" single appeared on German television during the European soccer championship (what?). It took tweets from a couple people and some repeated listens on Simfy to rekindle my interest.
When I explained to friend blogger James  that my favorite parts on Living Things were the themes in "Castle of Glass" and "Roads Untraveled", he suggested I give A Thousand Suns a listen, which was one of the best things I've done all year. On the whole it's just a very good concept album with a healthy dose of aggro and some shining moments of songwriting; but it also convinced me of the importance of fighting for your own creative ideas, no matter what the external circumstances might be.

Muse - The 2d Law
The same summer my sister introduced me to Doctor Who, we watched Muse perform their new song "Survival" onstage during the Olympics Closing Ceremony. It was put forth that Matthew Bellamy is actually a rock-and-roll version of the Tenth Doctor, which as a theory comes even more to life when you listen to the shenanigans present on The 2d Law. I am of the unshifting opinion that Muse sort of just sit down and put out awesome albums and make it look completely effortless. Not only does The 2d Law prove this with its bursts of melodic and arrangement awesomeness, it makes it okay that the closing "instrumentals" and bassist Chris Wolstenholme's songs are pretty much tacked onto the end of the album. I cannot fathom how many times I've played this record or danced to the Panic Station riff in my bedroom - perfect "get out of bed, face the world and kick heinie" music.

Tegan and Sara - "Closer" & "I'm Not Your Hero"
Friends and family are no strangers to the fact that Tegan and Sara are one of my favorite artists. I've been a fan since I came across a blurb in the August 2007 issue of SPIN Magazine; ever since their album The Con, they have consistently been reference points for me in the areas of creativity and artistic partnership (despite my mixed feelings about their 2009 album Sainthood).

When they came out with their new synth-driven single "Closer" this fall, my initial reaction was: "Ohhh, they've gone and applied those dancefloor extracurriculars, good for them!" My second reaction was, "Um... Are they ever going to make The Con again?" But the reason I had been hooked on The Con (and So Jealous) in the first place was the inspiration Tegan and Sara provided: raw lyrics, well-developed arrangements and catchy tunes that seemed to reach into my own tiny 20-year-old heart and put words to the exact things I was feeling at the time (mostly emo-ing on a complicated relationship). And though "Closer" was a grower, it was the YouTube release of "I'm Not Your Hero" that sealed the deal. Four years on, they had done it again: put words and melodies on the growth that I associate with the past several years of my life. Still no idea how they manage it.

Books

Natalie Nourigat, Between Gears
Natalie is one of the cartoonists I found myself following during my final years of university; while I was off in Nantes and Berlin finishing my Master's degree, she took it upon herself to chronicle her senior year of college in a diary comic form, an exercise which she was very good at. When the paperback collection came out in February I was amongst the first in line to order. It's been an incessant source of inspiration to me throughout the year and I can only recommend it most highly.

Additional mentions: Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games (I downed the latter two books in three days and cried during the movie); Stieg Larsson's Millennium (see above, and also here.)


Bloggers

Lauren and Max Andrew Dubinsky
I'm usually loath to use Christian jargon on the internet, but I see Lauren and Max Dubinsky as a testimony of God's grace. Perhaps the most obvious proof of this is that they met on Twitter, but the ways they each apply their gifts as creatives and writers are equally powerful reflections of the God I intend to serve, myself. Lauren is a self-described "tech and arts girl" who founded the Good Women Project, aiming to encourage young girls and women; Max is a writer with a collection of short stories,  a unique narrative experience and an associated novella under his belt. They deserve your attention (and Max' stories deserve a read).


And that's all for 2012. In 2013 I plan to see more Benedict Cumberbatch, play Tegan and Sara's new record until the CD falls apart, get my hands on a brand-new stack of comic books and watch every single TV show this guy has ever played in. Catch you on the flipside!