Stop and Listen

I did a rough version of this comic for OFF LIFE'S #QuickDraw challenge a few weeks ago; I liked the suggested theme a lot. It was relevant.

***

Also, hot dang, I got some shiny new postcards! These will be sent out to readers who donate 5€ via the Traveling Tip Jar towards my upcoming trips to Lyon, London, Leeds and California (sadly I'm not going anyplace in California that starts with L, at least not on purpose). There are also sketches and even personalized avatars available! Preorders for my Lyon trip will close October 15.

[ Fink - Looking Too Closely ]

[Franco-German] Comic Workshop!

Noémie apparaît avec l'aimable autorisation de moi-même. 

Noémie erscheint mit freundlicher Genehmigung von mir selber. 

J'ai le plaisir d'annoncer que j'animerai un atelier de création de bande dessinée le jeudi 9 octobre à l'Info-Café Berlin-Paris de l'OFAJ! Les participants seront invités à réaliser une BD de 1 à 2 planches en tandem sur le thème (vaste) de l'amitié franco-allemande. L'entrée est gratuite et les inscriptions sont d'ores et déjà ouvertes à l'adresse cafeberlinparis@ofaj.org, avec "Atelier BD franco-allemand" dans le sujet.

"L'amitié franco-allemande au fil des cases" - jeudi 9 octobre, 16h30-19h 

Dans le cadre des Oktobertreffs 2014

Info-Café Berlin-Paris de l'OFAJ - Molkenmarkt 1 - Berlin-Mitte (U2 Klosterstraße, S/U Alexanderplatz ou Jannowitzbrücke).

Langues parlées: français et allemand.

Am Donnerstag, 9. Oktober leite ich erneut einen deutsch-französischen Comic-Workshop im Info-Café Berlin-Paris des DFJW! TeilnehmerInnen werden dazu eingeladen, zu zweit einen 1- bis 2-seitigen Comic zum Thema der deutsch-französischen Freundschaft zu zeichnen. Eintritt ist frei, Anmeldung erfolgt bereits unter cafeberlinparis@dfjw.org mit dem Vermerk "Deutsch-Französischer Comic-Workshop".

"Deutsch-französische Freundschaft in Comic-Form" - Donnerstag, 9. Oktober, 16.30 - 19 Uhr - im Rahmen der Oktobertreffs 2014

Info-Café Berlin-Paris des DFJW - Molkenmarkt 1 - Berlin-Mitte (U2 Klosterstraße, S/U Alexanderplatz oder Jannowitzbrücke).

Sprachen: Deutsch und Französisch.

Commitment

Yes, I have always worn glasses. And yes, that is a new haircut.

***

You can now preorder postcards and original art from my trips to France, the UK and California, all of which are happening this fall/winter! Original travel comics are also up for preorder. It all goes down right here! EDIT: I fixed the Donate button! It works now, I swear!

Also, I'm discontinuing sales of this sticker in my store on September 15. It will only be available thereafter in very limited quantities at Zinefest Berlin and Thought Bubble. Grab it while you can!

[ Beatsteaks - DNA ]

Money, Money, Money (Announcing the Traveling Tip Jar!)

As I've mentioned previously, I'm going to be tabling at Thought Bubble! Hurrah! I've never tabled at such a big event before and I am super excited to meet new people and hang with comics peeps.

As I've maybe not mentioned previously: travel and lodging for Thought Bubble is costing me LOTS of €€ -- not to mention printing new comics and swag so that I can, like, have stuff to sell there. To help cover these costs, I've set up a new thing called the Traveling Tip Jar, which is basically an ongoing version of the traveling fundraisers I've done before.

Donating to my travels can get you different levels of artsy souvenirs: anywhere from a printed or hand-drawn postcard to a personalized avatar, as well as a digital pre-order of any travel comics I'll be doing and the originals of the travel comic itself. 
In addition to Thought Bubble, I also have added two other trips I have planned: Lyon, France in October and California over the holidays! Details here or by clicking on the image above.

Also, you can really help out by subscribing to my Patreon! 

Patreon is a great tool for helping me focus on my own projects, and any pledge is insanely welcome. Patrons get access to exclusive updates on whatever I'm working on - thumbnails, line art, bits of scripts, the works - plus digital and/or printed minis according to the tier they pledge at.

Also, if we hit $75 in pledges per comic, I will be able to spend considerably more time on personal projects, and will release a brand-new digital autobio mini called Chronicling The Madness* to celebrate! 

And finally, this store page will help you out with any comic-purchasing needs. If you're after original art, I have some originals currently on sale on Etsy until October 3. All of my digital comics are also now available as free-or-pay-what-you-want on Gumroad. 

Every little bit helps immensely in making sure I can do what I love and give you comics you enjoy. Thank you for your attention! 

* Wouldn't you like to know.

MOS #13

[ Soundtrack: Tegan and Sara - On Directing (live) ]

English version here.

(Bon, entre nous, le CM que je saccage dans ce post était l'un de mes cours préférés de Master 2. Merci à Nad d'avoir fourni le support!)*

Redoing an exam "for the first time in my life" was clearly a blow to my academic pride, as 2010 comic-writing me will tell you. Thank goodness I lived to tell the tale and be embarrassed at drawing my own script. 

Also, I just remembered that I drew my very first travel comic during this trip! You can see it in its bilingual French/English glory here.

***

I am closing in on the end of this story!! There are just three episodes to go. I want to have Master of Survival #2 finished and ready to print in time for Zinefest Berlin and Thought Bubble, where I will be Nov. 8 and Nov. 15-16 respectively. To that end, keep your eyes peeled for a special announcement later this week!

* The class mentioned here was actually one of my favorites in my thesis year. Thanks Nad for sending me the material which I then proceeded to make light of! 

Support this comic on Patreon!

Prayers

I'm back! I took the past month off from updating here so I could focus more on other projects. Please have what I like to refer to as one of my "Christian blogger moments".

If you like Christian blogger moments, why then, I invite you to step right over to the blogs of these fine folks which I have been reading of late: Preston Yancey, Hilary Yancey, Bethany Suckrow, Emily Maynard and Allison Vesterfelt.

Coming up next: a new Master of Survival page and a big announcement. Stay tuned!

[ Finch - New Kid ]

Friday Sketchpost: re:publica 14, Day 3

And that's all from me, folks! Until next year...

"at re:publica 14 part 2" comic + links to most of the depicted speakers here.

Part 1 of the recap comic here.

More sketches here.

[ U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!) (live) ]

at re:publica 14 - part 2

And that was my experience of re:publica 14! Thanks again to the people who made it possible - you know who you are.

People appearing in this comic (among others): Kate Miltner, Frau Dingens, Jan Mölleken, schwarzblond, Dedalus Root, Eva Horn.

Part 1 of the comic.
Sketchposts #1 and #2 (forthcoming).

[ Darren Hayes - Don't Give Up ]

Friday Sketchpost: re:publica 14, Day 2

Long time, no sketch dump! In keeping with this week's comic, here are some of the sketches I did during my first day at Berlin's re:publica in May (which was Day 2 of the conference). Few places are as great for drawing from life as an event full of people and speakers. Enjoy! (I apologize for not translating the German due to time constraints.)

"at re:publica 14" recap comic + links to most of the depicted speakers here.

Part 2 of the recap comic and more sketches next week.

[ The Acid - Creeper ]

at re:publica 14

To be continued...

Readers! Back in May I was given the opportunity by a generous fan to attend two days of this year's re:publica conference, which by and large is my favorite conference to attend in Berlin. As a way of giving back and documenting my time there, I drew this comic, as well as a bunch of sketches that I will be posting too.

Day 2 (which was Day 3 of the conference) will follow next week!

People featured in this comic (among others): Jars of Clay, The Acid, Teresa Bücker, Johnny Häusler, Anne Wizorek, Kübra Gümüşay, Silan Bekjarov, Lars Müllenhaupt, Paletas Berlin, Farmer McGlitter, Ulrich Schnauss.

[ Ulrich Schnauss - I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance ]

Woods

Oh hey! I've been working on a big thing that's gonna go up the next couple of weeks. This here is a thing I drew a couple months ago that originally featured a very popular poem with a very heavily guarded copyright.

Working hard this month on an application for another thing, as well as on various freelance gigs. I'm planning to get the next Master of Survival online before the month is out. There aren't that many left...

See you next week!

[ Amanda Palmer - Dear Old House ]

"Both"

This week's post is actually a kindly authorized repost of a piece currently featured on the blog of Heimat Zine, who were my lovely table neighbors at last year's Zinefest Berlin. It was drawn in response to a prompt on the theme of secrecy. More info on this piece can be found over here!

More comics coming soon. In the meantime, I do occasional updates on my goings-on via my Patreon feed, which can be accessed by throwing a mere $1 at me whenever I post a new comic. I get to buy more Oreos, you get to see which episode of Orange Is The New Black I'm on, everyone wins.

[ Linkin Park - Irisdescent ]

Übergangsweise

[ Finch - Bury Me (demo) ]

Proposals

I was going to post this last week, then I got sidetracked by current events.

The wedding was all kinds of awesome! Now my friends, they are married. Crazy! And there was chicken for breakfast on Sunday. What a world!

I'm off to Stockholm tomorrow! See you when I get back.

[ Cooper - This Year ]

MOS #12

[ Soundtrack: Laura Imbruglia - Wouldn't Be Surprised (Live) ]

Version française.

Spoiler alert: I didn't move out. To this day, I still feel a low-level wave of panic whenever someone in the building starts drilling. I visualize most sounds when I hear them (kind of like imagining a landscape), so the kind of noise depicted here pretty much beats the will to live out of me. 

***

In current news: I'm going to Stockholm in less than a month to see my sister's graduation ceremony and bid a temporary farewell as my family will be moving base to California for a year. It costs a lot to visit Sweden and as a result I'm offering art to help cover the costs. Check it out here!

If you want to help but don't want to clutter your office with personalized art (why??), you can click the Flattr button on this page or pledge a monthly donation via Patreon.

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! **

Pickup Line

The real question is: is it a pickup line-in or line-out? *ba-dum-kshh*


***

COMIC INVASION BERLIN was a huge success!

u look so tired/happy

Thanks to everyone who came out, said hi, bought comics and contributed to my bike fund by buying postcard sketches! Thanks also to my excellent table neighbors and friends for letting me take bathroom/beer/burger/oxygen breaks (note to self: hire a table buddy!).

In case you missed it, the lovely folks at FluxFM had me and festival organiser Marc Seestaedt over recently to chat about Comic Invasion, as well as about the Berlin comics scene and our personal projects. You can listen to me draw a blank on how to say "I don't know if people can tell I'm not German", in German, on the recording here. (There's also a gorgeous shot of the neighborhood around the FluxFM offices as seen from their roof. And of me pulling a face.)

Hot on those heels, I'm pleased to announce that I will be tabling at Thought Bubble Sequential Arts Festival in Leeds this year! There will most definitely be some kind of fundraiser to help pay for travel and lodging, as well as details on where I'll be at, closer to the festival date in November. I'm super-excited and will try to make a UK jaunt of it!

And speaking of fundraisers, I'm traveling to Stockholm from June 4-11, so, y'know... Watch this space! 

[ Jars of Clay - After The Fight ]

M.O.S. #11

[ Soundtrack: Fever Ray - Now's The Only Time I Know ]

Version française.

***

Things that have changed since I wrote and drew this episode:

• The amount of people in this comic that still live in Berlin (par for the course, really)
• I can barely remember liking the guy in question
• I'm not deathly afraid of shading nor spotting blacks
• My lettering looks less like it was tracked onto the page by a bunch of crickets on acid

Things that have not changed since I wrote and drew this episode:

• I still go to this church
• I still don't know how to read German men
• I still ride that S-Bahn
• I still feel both rootless and at home in Berlin

On a side note: the title of this episode is another nod to Ariel Schrag's High School Comic Chronicles, the third volume of which is called Potential and was a big influence in coming up with Master of Survival. (The other volumes are referenced here and here).

Comic Invasion Berlin!

I'm tabling at Comic Invasion Berlin next weekend, y'all! It will be my first actual comic arts festival and I am totally excited. Come see me at table 25a from 12:00 until the hour I keel over! I will have my minis, stickers, some original art and will be doing sketches too.

That's my bird up there dodging UFO laser fire, by the way.

Socializing

[ Against Me! - Stop! ]

***

I spruced up my store page a bit and added some original art on my Etsy! Have a look (also there's a shiny button on the sidebar you can click)!

How I Met Your Municipales

I don't know what hit me harder last week... Valls being made Prime Minister, or the How I Met Your Mother finale.

Seriously though, it was a one-two punch of WTF.

[ Mickey 3D - Matador ]

MOS #10

[Soundtrack: Marvin - "Closer" (Live at Intersoup)]

Version française.

Here's my dad at the Tacheles in April 2010:

***

So, DUDES -- after a long-a** hiatus, Master of Survival is back!!

There are about six episodes left to go, plus some bonus comics. How fast the comic updates depends greatly on you. It goes like this: via my Patreon page, you can pledge to donate one dollar or more per episode of Master of Survival (or filler comic between updates). The higher the pledges are, the more I can afford to focus on updating.

Patrons get charged every month depending on how many new comics I've posted (expect no more than 4 and no less than 3), and have access to weekly-ish, exclusive blog posts about whatever I'm working on.

A note on the habitual translation of the episodes: nearly all forthcoming episodes are written in English, and will be translated into French when time permits. Any episode written in French will be posted in English and French simultaneously.

That's enough on my end, I hope you enjoy the second instalment of this comic and I look forward to giving you more new pages!

Verknallt

I don't get it, it just keeps happening.

***

I've added a reward tier to my Patreon page! Patrons who pledge $2 or more per comic now get all five of my comic PDFs for free as a thank-you. If you can't be bothered to clog your hard drive, you can also pledge to donate as low as $1 per comic to help keep them going.

I also keep a sort of progress log on Patreon with process shots and updates. If you're into that kind of thing and you've always wanted to throw small amounts of money at me, it's a pretty sweet deal!

  [ Bloc Party - Kreuzberg ]

Talking

***

Hey-o, did you know that if you want to support this blog directly, you can now do so on Patreon? You can pledge $1 or more per comic that I post, and as a reward you get access to exclusive updates from the drawing board. Even a $1 pledge goes a long way and I would super super appreciate it.

There's also a date for the next Master of Survival update somewhere on there that I've otherwise been super-quiet about :V

Also, I'm curating the I AM EUROPE Twitter account this week - check it out!

[ Alkaline Trio - Mercy Me ]

Before/After

Spoiler alert: anywhere upwards of three people is too many.

***

You now have an opportunity to support my comics with monthly microdonations on Patreon! By pledging$1 or more per comic that I post in a month*, you get exclusive access to behind the scenes material AND the warm fuzzy feeling of supporting someone doing stuff that you like. I mean, I hope that I'm doing stuff that you like. Am I?

*That would be comics posted on Tuesdays, like this one -- not sketch dumps, announcements or fanart. Although if you like those you can just up your pledge a bit! Also, whether or not anyone pledges anything I will still be posting comics. The only difference is that with enough financial support I can update more regularly than I currently am!

[ Alkaline Trio - Time To Waste ]