Awkward Queer sneak peek

Yesss, page one of two for my zine submission completed. Here's a little sneak peek:

PS: E*phi luuuuurves new tablet!  ♥ 

On a sidenote: why do I always have to do everything so last-minute? Even the stuff I love doing? Whyyyy?!??

My neighbor's not Totoro

Here's my last-minute submission to Pamo's new zine (true story! Her call for submissions came just in time for me to process that experience...)

Still not completely sure about that neighbor of mine. Last Sunday night (or rather Monday morning) at around 1:30am he called me to ask if I wanted to have breakfast together - right now...

CoE - superdoodle-y

Oh, somebody didn't quite feel like halfway accurate drawing. Sorry for the super-scribblyness. I hope I'll have a little more time for these again soon.

Yesyesyes. I'm sure I've already said it (multiple times probably) but I'll say it again: Culture Slut is one of my absolute favorite perzines. Number 25 was an intense read (due to the author having a difficult time). In this issue Amber also writes about her participating in various psychological and pharmaceutical studies which I've never done, so that made it a very interesting read for me, too. Here's the link to Fight Boredom Distro where you can get her newest zine plus lots other awesome stuff.

Zine Fest Belin 2011 and a call for submissions

OMG, lookit these awesome vegan cupcakes!

Now that I have your attention: I've been at the very first Zine Fest Berlin (already two weeks ago, actually). I was way to excited and awestruck by all the amazing people, zines, cupcakes and workshops to take many pictures, but here are some:

I also participated in a workshop about perzine writing (amongst others). We came up with some nice ideas and a whole lot of enthusiasm. Which means there will be some compilation zines, one of which I'll be editing. May I please direct you to its little (very minimalist and under construction-y) site so you may consider contributing in case the topic speaks to you?

The holy charm of ecstatic danced through nights...

I sketched this out months ago but finally got myself to add some color (which took about three minutes - goddamn laziness!).


And here comes... fanart!

Transcription/Translation:

VIRGINIA PAINE
has been enchanting me
with her comics for a while already.

...but I didn't know
until recently
that she also makes magic talismans.

*time-honored holy charm of
ecstatic danced through nights
and awesome surprise sex*

Two weeks ago, I treated myself to some goodies from fantastic Virginia Paine's shop. I've definitely got a new favorite necklace! I've been a huge fan of her diary comics for quite a while but didn't know she also crafts magicked jewelry (she makes supercute wallets and skirts, too)...

Oh, in case you're wondering what that ugly blotchy stuff (on the left) is: it's proof that (copious amounts of) india ink isn't a desirable option for Moleskine sketchbook paper.

A bra-blem

I've been busy all weekend celebrating my dad's 50^th birthday, reading a very absorbing book about sheep detectives, and drawing silly comic strips for next week, so please be contented with an older work of mine for today. It's my submission for Elizabeth J.M.W.'s bra-zine. Unfortunately, it hasn't been published yet. I suppose it's because she hasn't received enough contributions (it's a compzine). Sooo, if you feel inspired, go for it and help an ambitious zinester! Click HERE to see what she's looking for and how to contact her (don't worry, the topic is very loosely defined).

CoE - Catching up a bit...

Please excuse my neglecting this blog these days. I do feel terrible and I think I miss it more than you do, really.
My thesis project is in its final stage (the thesis itself is more or less finished, actually) and I'm wrapped in red tape and organizational stuff, busy with proofreading, finding and renting an appropriate room and a beamer, hunting for signatures, researching printing and binding options, trying to ignore the occasional nervous breakdown, having 12-hour-working days and not-getting-any-sleep nights... not exactly my idea of fun, but at least there is an end in sight. Valerian pills FTW.

Trying to catch up a bit with my doodle diary as far as time and sleep deprivation permit. Enjoy:



Oh, by the way, I was honored to find my zine Cinnamon Insanity has been reviewed by one of my favorite zinesters and zine reviewers Amber Forrester. I do hope you know her. If not, definitely check out her fabulous blog! She also runs Fight Boredom Distro where you can get her superawesome perzine Culture Slut (now at issue 22) as well as many other English and French zines.

Dear arrogant anonymous,

At least, I finally found out the real purpose of these milk glass thingies which some misled people believe to be for energy efficiency and temperature control. Actually, I think they just prevent people throwing themselves out of the window or, alternatively, their computers.

To end with something really positive:
Two of my zines have been reviewed by Elizabeth J. M. W. in Photocopy Press #2 which happens to be the most amazing review zine ever! And I'm not saying this because mine are featured! Her philosophy is that she only reviews zines that she enjoyed (which I do think makes sense, and I'm definitely tempted to get several of them!) and she includes excerpts (with permission of the authors) which give you a great first impression of the respective zine that helps you decide if it's for you. Issue two is 32 pages (half-size) and it's a special international issue, featuring not only awesome reviews, excerpts and some art, but also interviews with zine makers all around the world (I've been interviewed too!)! I can only highly recommend this if you're into zines! ♥

Miss♥information

For all of you who haven't heard about Miss♥information yet: that's the name of the zine I made for the 24 Hour Zine Thing 2010. Black and white copies of it are available at my etsy shop.

For all of you who do already know it - and (hopefully) like it - I've got good news! I finally managed what I wanted to do for so long: make it available online - in full color! Enjoy!

Miss*information

In case you like it so much that you want to ban it onto paper and flick through it as a real life zine, you can download a high resolution print version here (it already has the pages arranged in a way so that you only have to print it double-sided and fold it in half).

The Sketchbook Project 2011

Anybody (not) heard of The Sketchbook Project?
Well, I'm participating too! Just couldn't resist. The thought of the book going on tour like a little rockstar, other people (people who don't even know me!) flicking through it... It's gonna be in a library! A real library!
And it were exactly these same thoughts that suddenly turned into fears when I found my sketchbook in the mailbox and it was time to actually draw in it. OMG! Other people are gonna see this! Scary!

So, I wimped out and left the first page empty... for now.


I'm quite happy with the second spread though. Trying to forget that it's not really my own secret sketchbook and just having fun with colored pencil (definitely one of my 784 favorite media!). Because that's what my assigned theme is supposed to be, anyway:

It will be fun, I swear.

It's just a pity that the pages are really crappy paper. Absolutely see-through crappy. Thus, I didn't draw on the backside of the first spread. Still need to figure out what to do with the in-between pages since I don't really want to leave them blank. Maybe glue in stuff. Any other participants reading this here? Did everybody else rebind their sketchbooks?

(I'm aware of the fact that the rules permit people to rebind the book with whatever paper they like, but I don't know how to do that and I probably would be too lazy to do it even if I knew.)

Oh, by the way, b/w copies of my 24 hour zine Miss♥information are available now here in my etsy shop, in case anybody's interested!


The original is in full color and it broke my heart to find out that color copies would make it way too expensive for a zine. Therefore, I plan to make the color version available as a pdf or something. I just need to figure out how...

Nondominant 24h zine

I like this one which is quite ironic because:
a) due to a very distinct tendency towards perfectionism and self-criticism, I hardly ever like what I draw and
b) I did this with my (very very nondominant) left hand with which I can't even write halfway legible.

I drew these two after my rather long "artistic break". I thought it would be easier to start with something drawn with my left hand to take the pressure off and overcome that fear of "Oh no, I need to produce something good!".
(It worked!)


Also, I completed my 24 hour zine! (Very typically, in the night of 31st of July... Why must I even procrastinate the things that I actually enjoy doing?!)
It will be available in my etsy shop soon. In the meantime, a sneak preview of the cover (plus the back side).


Of course, I'm always happy to swap my zines, if anyone is interested! (Just mail/message me or leave a comment!)

Cinnamon insanity and killerprincess uniform.

Oh well, I haven't been a very good girl in terms of keeping up with this blog and stuff. I can't even say I've been busy drawing and making art or at least writing my thesis. I've got no idea where that month went, honestly, it's depressing.

Oh, but I did participate in a t-shirt screen printing workshop (part of the Four Elements Convention 2010) about two weeks ago. The first afternoon was dedicated to drawing the design and on the second we printed our tees. Although, for some weird reason, only two (including me) of the ten people came on the second day (I think they may have missed the shuttle car to the atelier because they were mostly the sort of people who come three hours too late). My design does not satisfy me 100%, though. I expected that there would be some kind of guidance or "teaching" for designing a t-shirt, but it was simply, "OK guys, you've got three hours to draw something that you want on your shirt. Here are some pens!". It was fun anyway, but had I known this before, I would have thought about it at home in advance. However, it's not too bad for a spontaneous thing. I'm just being my usual perfectionist self who would have liked to make the most of the rare opportunity to screen print. To cut a long story short, here's the result (The tee is even made of organic cotton and fair trade! Check out Zerum. They are a small Austrian label and led the workshop. They really rock!):


Also, I finished the first issue of my perzine Cinnamon Insanity, which I mentioned in my last post. Already approximately two weeks ago, actually. I've made 20 copies and then the typical insecurities crept in and I started wondering what to do with them because I didn't dare to show this to anyone. Ridiculous. So here it is, I've been brave and put some on my etsy shop where you can find out more.





Unfortunately, my lunch break is over. And because I'm a responsible, reasonable girl (since, err, yesterday) I'll go back to working now, after finishing my tea, which will most probably be cold by now (which is preferable anyway at these temperatures).

Zines, SciFi and Supernachmittag

I'm not dead (yet), don't worry. I just haven't really drawn a lot lately (that'd be fit for upload that is) because I spent almost all of my free time working on my first perzine.


I wanted it to be done until July, to have my mind free for the 24 Hour Zine Thing (which I highly recommend you participate in, too!). And YEAH! Ultimate Pwnage! It's basically done. I just need to scan everything and go to the copyshop for printing and cutting and stapling. It mainly consists of lots of silly illustrations (because it's me), cut+paste stuff (because it's a zine) and many, many pages of writing about my personal life and thoughts (which is why it's called a perzine). Here's an exclusive tiny sneak peek of some of the pages for my beloved blog readers:


Other than that, I haven't done much, apart from working very little on my thesis, freaking out about not having done much for my thesis, trying to update my webcomic relatively regularly, screwing up my sleeping-waking rhythm by spending my nights playing Bluff and the Battle Star Galactica board game with friends until after sunrise and wasting whole days staying in my PJs watching far too many BSG episodes at a time while consuming ridiculous amounts of iced coffee and hot chocolate.
In an attempt to be a bit more social (and leave the flat to prevent slowly going mad within these 12m²), I joined my sister and her friend at the Grrrls Night Out event last Saturday. It was a bit pricy, but Supernachmittag, one of the live acts that played, would have been worth the money just on their own (I wish they had played a little longer)! I didn't like the last act so much. They were making noise, and maybe, objectively, it was really cool, really artsy and really underground but it didn't make me want to dance at all, so for me, it was absolutely useless. There were hardly any people left anyway, my sister and her friend had left to have a drink elsewhere with others and I ended up feeling bored and a bit alone (and not being brave or drunk enough to chat up/join random strangers) so I left, too. On my way home I met a totally drunk guy who started talking to me about the football match. I'm usually something between frightened, annoyed and totally pissed off by drunk guys joining me without asking, but this one was kind of funny and the random and absurd conversation with him kept my mind free from brainfuck and depressing emotions (which for no apparent reason seemed to be stalking me that day/night) which I appreciated a lot.

Here's the only video by Supernachmittag I found. I swear, they totally rock (they do even more so live, if you get the chance)! Enjoy: