Girlfiend Comics Blog -- Lesbian Comic Strips

Dirty Comics show in SF!

2011-10-07T18:56:00.003-05:00

I'm totally thrilled to have a piece in this month's Dirty Comics Show at the Center for Sex and Culture! If you're going to be in San Francisco this weekend for Alternative Press Expo, you should definitely make a side trip and see all the queer and sex-positive artwork from 30+ artists. Hot!!!

A pause between the acts

2011-08-24T19:15:00.003-05:00

So...this week's page concludes the book Bits and Pieces--hope you've enjoyed reading all 99 stories over the past two and a half years. Today also marks the end of the weekly update schedule for a while. I'm taking some time off from the updates--from the demands of the internet in general--and resolving to spend more free time with friends and family. My next comics project is going to be a bit of a departure and I want to give it time and space to coalesce. In the meantime, my plan is to keep maintaining the site, and keep posting content (albeit on an unscheduled basis).

Anyway, readers, if you want to get in touch with me (or buy my book!) the "Email" and "Store" pages above are still active, and I'd love to hear from you.

Warm regards,

Michelle

No update on the 14th

2011-07-12T16:55:00.002-05:00

Hi y'all,

Just wanted to let my lovely loyal readers know that there won't be a new comic posted on Thursday the 14th. (Cause I'm hitting the beach!) The update will be posted the following Thursday, the 21st.

Thanks for reading,

Michelle

Bits and Pieces: A Girlfiend Comics Collection

2011-05-25T07:52:00.002-05:00

I'm very pleased to announce that my book, Bits and Pieces: A Girlfiend Comics Collection, is now available in the new store. (Due to some continuing issues with the printer/distributor, I will be filling orders myself for the time being.) Order your copy today!

Website overhaul

2011-04-21T07:39:00.002-05:00

Hi readers, and thanks for visiting! Some of you might have noticed a few changes to the website. Actually, there's been a lot of changes, but the biggest ones aren't visible. See, for the last couple of years I've been hosting the site off a modified (read: nerd-rigged) Blogger.com platform, with domain-name masking and a few other work-arounds. That worked pretty well, but left me vulnerable to outages and the sorta vague terms-of-service clause at Blogger. So, Sarah's been working real hard to port the Blogger template-based design into a stand-alone html/css document, and move all the content to my own hosting service. And voila! I think it looks great.

One change regular readers might like is that you can now view all the stories from the upcoming Bits and Pieces book on one big archive page, as thumbnails. So if you remember a particular story or character that you liked, you can easily revisit it even if you don't remember the title. I've also added the back catalog of Girl Trouble to the archive--it's a short-format strip that began when I was 16 or so and ended when I finished college.

Hope everyone's enjoying the updates (well, besides those of you who contacted me a couple of weeks ago over that one story.)

Cheers and queers,

Michelle

Presenting the cover

2010-12-03T13:29:00.003-06:00

So, I finished the book--actually, I finished it back in like, October, but it's taken a while to get all the layouts and formatting done. Here's the front cover! The title is Bits and Pieces: A Girlfiend Comics Collection and it's going to be a handsome 8" x 10.5" softcover of 114 pages. I'm super excited about this release, in case you couldn't tell.

I was hoping to have the book available by the end of the year, but unfortunately I ran into a couple of snags with the printer I chose and had to switch to another print company. It's nothing major, though, and Bits and Pieces will be coming to you in hopefully probably not more than a few weeks!

What's next? Well, updates will continue as usual through the spring of next year while I run through the rest of the Bits and Pieces material. Then...we'll see. There's good things coming, but I'm not sure what form they're going to take, or what the update schedule will be. I'm already hard at work on a second book that somewhat of a departure from what I usually write. For one thing, it's a graphic novel, and the draft is already clocking in around 200 pages. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to serialize it here on GirlfiendComics.com, or divide my time between the novel and another kind of update. Stay tuned!

Late!

2010-12-02T19:20:00.002-06:00

A problem with my cable company prevented me from posting my Thursday update this morning, but it's up now. Thanks for reading, y'all. (If I was "hip" and "with it" I'd be posting this from my "smart phone," but I've only just learned that Starbucks has free wi-fi.)

2010-09-27T07:37:00.003-05:00

Not much time for blahgging lately, but with good reason--I've been keeping really busy with all kinds of stuff. I started a new job three months ago, and that's going well. I finished the book (yay!) and am now embroiled in the tedious process of editing it for publication, and also laying plans for a second book. Also, I'm getting a lot more weekends off from work now, so I'm getting to spend lots of time with Sarah--here's us celebtrating our anniversary in Galveston a couple of weeks ago.

Article in The Pink Elephant

2010-08-11T20:09:00.008-05:00

Girlfiend Comics was recently profiled in an online lesbian magazine, The Pink Elephant. Check it out here. (Illustration is the one I did for the article.)

Catchin' up

2010-06-24T09:25:00.005-05:00

So, it's been pretty great being unemployed these last couple of months. I've been able to do a lot of things that I'm usually to busy to enjoy: hang out with college buddies, cook fresh meals for Sarah, play Age of Empires III, even do some scrapbooking. I'm really, really blessed and happy. But all good things must come to an end, and I've accepted a job and am ready to start in a couple of weeks. It's better hours than I'm used to, and better money--I think it's going to be great, actually.

But I know what y'all really want to know about--the comic. The book is coming along, though I may have fallen behind by a few weeks. It's so close and yet so far. I only have around 15 pen-and-ink pages to complete, but those 15 pages are taking forever. It's been mostly play and no work, for a change.

I've been making all my updates, though! Here's some commentary:

Sweet Sue and Myrtle: So far, this is the only story in the series with a male narrator. I really like how it turned out. I have a great desire to expand the boundaries of the Girlfiend Comics world so it includes more fantasy elements, instead of just dykes talking to each other in coffee shops.

Art Fair Antics: Inspired by the annual art festival in Richardson, Texas, where I used to go every year. I never bought anything, but the people-watching is just out of this world. This year, we made bingo cards to check off all the weirdos and pretendoids. Also inspired by brilliantly terrible art in the movie Art School Confidential.

The Third Wheel: Just some dykes talking in a coffee shop, but I like it anyway. Especially the character designs--you're going to be seeing bald girl again for sure. If I'm hanging out in the bar drawing and someone asks to see my work, this is the page I pull out a photocopy of. Because it's cute and snappy and doesn't have any nudity.

City Gal, Country Gal: It's hard to keep a relationship together when you have drives that are completely opposite. (It also doesn't help when one of you is a total selfish bitch.) One day I will learn how to draw animals.

What Went Wrong (In Four Words): This page was inspired by that special moment in a new relationship when you're called upon to distill your complex and messy former breakups down to a sentence or two. Or even four words. I like the wino in panel seven.

The Skirt: Who doesn't have a lucky piece of clothing that makes them feel irresistible and in charge, no matter what? Grey pencil skirts are universally flattering, but in this case, they're just might be more to it than that. Knowing Blogger, the sexy sheep in panel nine will probably get my blog disappeared for bestiality.

Pictures from Alaska trip

2010-06-03T10:11:00.003-05:00

Here's a few pictures from me and Sarah's Alaskan cruise. We had a fabulous time and saw so much, but I'll try to keep it short and sweet. (If you use Flickr, you can view the set here.)

We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard downtown. This is the view out the window.

We took a riverboat cruise in Portland (Thanks for the wedding gift, Ben!) and saw these neat houseboats lining the river.

The captain let Sarah steer the boat under a bridge--man, was that scary!

While in the harbor, we got great views of the Seattle skyline and Puget Sound.

Sarah in the lobby of the cruise ship, looking so handsome for the first formal dress night at sea.

Oh yeah. Michi dressed up, too.

Sarah lookin' a little less classy at the Past Guest Reception party onboard. Free cocktails, anyone?

Michi's serene expression comes from eating the most delicious smoked Salmon in Skagway, Alaska.

Sarah with one of the fancy ladies at the historic Red Onion Saloon in Skagway.

Snow-capped mountains at White Pass Summit, Skagway.

We couldn't resist playing in 20-ft snowdrifts!

A day of scenic cruising in Tracy Arm Fjord. We saw whales, porpoises, grizzly bears, eagles--but none of those slippery seals.

Money shot of Mendenhall glacier in Juneau.

For my birthday, Sarah took me on the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour, aka the Deadliest Catch Tour. I can't believe I got to see a real live king crab!

Eagles nesting in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Michi trying to look pretty--it's hard with all that gorgeous scenery around!

Back in Seattle, chilis at Pike Place Market make me homesick for Texas.

Blogger hiccup

2010-06-03T10:02:00.003-05:00

Some people may have had trouble accessing the Girlfiend Comics website this morning, thanks to Blogger randomly misplacing my site. Problem seems to be fixed now.

This week's update schedule

2010-05-16T07:20:00.002-05:00

In case you're wondering: "Sweet Sue and Myrtle" is the update for this week, posted early for your reading pleasure. The next update will be Thursday, ~~June 3~~ May 27.

Notes on "Interview with the Vamp" and "The Proposal"

2010-05-12T22:41:00.007-05:00

Last week's comic takes the form of a conversation with the fabulous Liz Luscious, who's basically a composite character of different strippers/escorts I've met in college and afterwards. Not strictly a queer story, I guess, but there seem to be so many bi/lesbian women who are sex workers that it certainly qualifies. (And Liz, I'm pretty sure, is bi--I'm working on a longer story about her for later.) Speaking of which, I saw a great documentary last week, Live Nude Girls Unite! about a group of San Fransisco peep show ladies organizing to fight unsafe and illegal employment practices in their club. Not a new film--I think it came out in like, 2000--but it was very funny and inspiring.

In this week's "The Proposal," Janice conjures up all sorts of crazy outcomes when Jessi suggests bringing a third party into the bedroom. Uh oh--lesbian drama happening in 3...2...1... Actually, I don't think Jessi really wants to have a threesome at all--she just gets off on watching her lover act all flustered. Anyway, read it quick because next week's update is going to be posted a few days early, by the end of the weekend.

Notes on "Surprise, Surprise" and "Lesbotron 3000"

2010-05-05T10:31:00.003-05:00

"Surprise, Surprise": This one is about settling, especially in a new relationship. Like, when you can tell right away that the person isn't right for you or is setting terms you don't like, but maybe you haven't had a date in a while so you find yourself inexplicably revising your list of dealbreakers. As in, "Sure, she's an unemployed, chain-smoking Star Wars fan with herpes--but I ought to be able to see past the little things."

"Lesbotron 3000": Uh, this one's about a lesbian robot love slave.

Some new faces

2010-05-05T10:19:00.004-05:00

I'm still trying to learn to use Photoshop and draw with the Wacom tablet. These are characters for a new short story project I'm working on.

Free Comic Book Day haul

2010-05-05T10:02:00.003-05:00

So, Free Comic Book day was fun, as usual. My best friend Ben and I went to seven stores in total. (Actually eight, but one store wouldn't open their doors at 11:50 for us so we left.) In addition to the regular Free Comic Book Day editions--which seems to be mostly samples and previews this year, boo--Zeus Comics was having a sidewalk sale. I scored some back issues of The Devil's Panties, Books with Pictures, some Andi Watson comics, and issue #1 of Trina Robbins' Go Girl!, which I hope to get signed one day. And some Xena and Tank Girl comics for Sarah. I also discovered a new store for my favorites list, Madness Games and Comics in Plano. It's huge and well-stocked, they have good sales, and the staff is very helpful and friendly there.

Don't forget...

2010-04-29T14:25:00.002-05:00

...Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday!

One year anniversary and new update schedule!

2010-04-22T09:55:00.004-05:00

Hello beautiful readers! Guess what today is! Can't guess? It's the one-year anniversary update of this lovely rebooted Girlfiend Comics webspace! WOot, woot!!

I'm excited because I have some exciting news: As you might have noticed from some scribbles on the mermaid graphic up top, as of this week, this webcomic will be going to a weekly update schedule. Every Thursday! No more cycling through your Thursday bookmarks/subscriptions and sheddin' a biweekly tear 'cause there's no new Girlfiend. Hooray!

The reasons for this change are threefold:

1. I'm getting much faster at drawing, so there's no need to murder my personal life or sleep schedule in order to make the deadline.

2. My voluntary term of unemployment is offering a great opportunity to stockpile some comics.

3. The new stuff is so nifty I'm in a big hurry to blow through the old stuff.

While I'm celebrating, I just want to say thank you all for the last year. Building a webcomic is a slow, slow process, but thanks to your loyalty and word of mouth, Girlfied 2.0 has gone from zilch to 500+ views a day. I've also gotten some great feedback and encouragement to help continue to develop a kick-ass lesbian webcomic over the coming year.

Cheers,

Michelle

Experimenting with digital drawing

2010-04-19T00:50:00.008-05:00

I've always been a hardcore pen-and-paper kind of artist. I relish the simplicity of dragging ink across the page and making a mark with it. I enjoy being able to bring my drawing with me everywhere--being tied to a desk just feels to much like work. I also just prefer the look of an organically drawn line. Nevertheless, I think that the time has come for me to quit being such a Luddite and learn digital drawing. Not saying I'm going to convert, but who knows. I spend a hell of a lot of time erasing pencil lines, scanning, formatting, doing cleanup, et cetera--time that I could be using to create more art if I could just skip those steps. That's a tremendous incentive: To produce more, and possibly to produce better comics.

I've fiddled with Sarah's Wacom tablet in the past, and it's been a thoroughly humbling experience. It really is like learning basic drawing all over again. I'm reminded of the frustration of being a child trying to color inside the lines--you can see where the lines are, but somehow the crayon just goes everywhere, outside of the control of your wobbly hand. And don't get me started on Photoshop, one of the most powerful and intimidating computer programs ever created. There's millions of options, probably dozens of different ways to execute any one visual effect. Should be exciting, but it's mostly just terrifying.

Anyway, all this is to say, I did my first digital webcomic tonight. I hope it gets easier.

Notes on "Maid in Heaven" and "Baby Dyke Blues"

2010-04-15T09:47:00.003-05:00

Update day isn't until next week, but I'm updating early because I feel like it and because I have a huge backlog of comics just waiting for someone to look at 'em. It's crazy--I'm getting so much faster. If I'm off work and I focus, I can now ink approximately one page per day (5-6 hours of work), whereas it used to take more than an hour just to do one panel. Is a more frequent webcomic update schedule in the cards? Maybe--I'll have to see how it goes after I finish this project.

Anyway, this week's update features a lovely maid who marries her messy client. This was my first attempt at writing a story without words. I didn't quite succeed--there's text in panel two--but close enough.

Speaking of which--the ad for auto glass under the sexy maid ad is from real life, I swear. I drive a '97 Corolla with a cracked windshield that I've never replaced--I bought the car like that, it's never bothered me, so I just left it. The only annoyong part is that when I leave my car in a parking lot, often when I come back to it there's little flyers and business cards for auto glass places stuck under my windshield wipers. I just throw 'em away reflexively, but If I kept 'em all, I could recycle 'em and save a forest. Anyway, one time I left my car parked in southeast Dallas, and when I came back there was a card offering the "Cheap Auto Glass for Yo' Broke Ass." But I didn't keep it, and nobody ever believes that story.

On "Baby Dyke Blues": Every once in a while, you get these human interest stories in the news about how gay high school students are coming out of the closet so early, junior high students are coming out--even some elementary school kids are out as gay/lesbian. (There was a features story about this in the New York Times recently.) One common theme of these stories is how brave and self-aware kids are these days, how accepting their parents and teachers are, and how much easier it is to be openly gay than it used to be. While that's all true enough, the fact remains that adolescence/first love is hard. Even for straight kids. Even for gay kids lucky enough to have accepting families and communities. So you're out at fifteen. Great. You're still going to have regular teenage insecurities. You're too young to really date anyone, but you're still horny as hell. Your peers are mostly going to be equally insecure girls or boys who will mess with your affection and break your heart. And that is what this story is about.

So long, day job!

2010-04-13T12:40:00.002-05:00

It gives me so much pleasure to say that my last day at work will be this Monday, April 19. I've been cooking at the same place for about three years now, and although I've been reasonably happy and learned a ton there, it's time to move on. I intend to take a few weeks to catch up with myself and my family, enjoy a long-ago-planned trip to Alaska, and look for another job when I get back.

While I'm not quitting work specifically in order to draw comics more (something out of the question even for many far superior artists), I hope that the break is productive. The book is hovering around 70% completion. If I can work like crazy to fill that meter, I may be looking at a late-fall 2010 release day!

Notes on "The Bears and the Bees" and "Rosemary's Party Trick"

2010-03-30T16:10:00.003-05:00

Okay, so who's ready for baseball season to start? I am! I am! Hopefully, this week's comic conveys some of that excitement. Actually, I don't know/care a great deal about the sport itself but I go to at least a few minor league games a season to get my summer's worth of stadium food, beer, and good ole pride 'n patriotism. Baseball/softball is one of the greatest live sports, but probably the second worst (after golf) to watch on television. Women's in particular. The only excitement I can derive from televised softball is watching the players' inevitable blonde ponytails bounce around behind their helmets.

For baseball in Dallas, I like the Fort Worth Cats and the Frisco Roughriders. I wonder if the Roughriders have ever played the Portland Beavers, and what the local headlines were the next day. ("Roughriders Pound Beavers, 8-2"?)

Oh, and I just realized I forgot to give the softball cutie her freckles in panel three. Now I have to fix it. Maybe it can wait until the book comes out.

On "Rosemary's Party Trick": In college, there was always some girl doing this at parties. It was fun to make up silly meanings for the tarot cards for this story.

Notes on "Health Ed Horror"

2010-03-04T18:04:00.003-06:00

I may be showing my age with this one--do post-Bush schoolkids even get sex ed? But my cohort remembers this: Being herded into a classroom with the other girls being shown a bunch of gnarly slides by a reluctantly drafted female teacher. And it always came either way too early (when we thought of the opposite as nothing more than a potential source of cooties) or way too late (when we had known about sex, or had even been having sex) for a long time. If only someone could formulate a sex education program that was timely, comprehensive, and inclusive--kids might grow up less fucked in the head when it comes to sex. But I must be dreaming.

On a related note, this week's Dallas Observer's cover story, "Too Much of a Bad Thing: Internet Lures Kids into Porn Addiction" is more of the ignorant, alarmist crap that passes for insight about teen sexuality. All the usual crimes abound: Weepy anecdotes, anti-sex, anti-tech cliches, bunch of opinions from the "experts" in the sex rehab business, conflating pornography with bestiality/pedophilia, and so on. Bleh.

Book update

2010-02-27T14:49:00.004-06:00

Just wanted to post a little update on my upcoming book--I've been furiously working on stories and it's coming along swimmingly. At this point, I have almost the entire thing scripted out, and about 55% of the drawings done. I'm planning a release in early 2011--possibly sooner if my work schedule allows. (Because of some rights that I sold, the earliest possible release date is November 2010.)

The book will be a nice fat trade paperback with 100 episodes of the webcomic, a longer, print-exclusive story, and some bonus character art and such. The working title is 101 Lesbian Nights.

I'm excited to get this one out the door because I'm starting to work on content for a second book--but it's too early to say much about that yet. More details when I have them! Also on the way: An overhaul of the website that adds some of my older stuff.

Notes on "Pastry Perv's Predicament:"

2010-02-09T16:30:00.006-06:00

Oh man, I haven't been too good about updating the blog recently, what with the crazy work schedule and moving and all. But I haven't missed any comic updates, and that's what matters more.

So, this fortnight's comic, in case you didn't read it (and if you don't read my comics, what are you doing on my blog, ya stalker?!) is about a pastry chef who likes to bake dirty cakes in her spare time. More broadly, it's about having a day job that you like, but also a secret pervy avocation that your coworkers probably don't need to know about. Ahem. This is one of my favorite stories that I've done so far, and I definitely want to bring these two chefly ladies back for an encore performance.

The "Happy Fucking Birthday" cake in panel three, incidentally, is something I made for a friend's birthday back in college.

Adding the chocolate pubes:

The finished product:

Thanks for reading Girlfiend Comics, and check back on Thursday for a special Valentine's update. Since Valentine's day is this Sunday and will be old news in a week, there will be an extra update next Thursday! That's three updates this month! Hooray!

Notes on "A Good Day for Ducks"

2010-01-13T10:11:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it's two weeks into 2010 already! And update day. Time really flies when you're waking up at 4:30 AM for work, staying there until the sun goes down, working on your house all evening, then falling into bed at night. But is it fun? I think so. Some masochistic German worker bee part of me thinks so, at least.

So, this week's update. I wrote this when I was planning our wedding. (I work about six months ahead of my update schedule, which is a good thing in busy times like this.) I was just thinking about what it's like when you love someone so much and have the best time with them every single day, and when a moment is so perfect that you can hardly stand it. The moments that are better than dreams. The moments that you recall right before you die. The happiness so complete you think it can never continue, and then it does.

Why the title? Well, one time we were having some crazy unpredictable Texas weather, so I asked Sarah to go outside our apartment and see what the temperature was like because I was wondering if I could wear my new sundress. (Yes, I'm a spoiled rotten femme.) Well, it must have been quite grey and damp because she came back and reported, "It's a good day...for ducks." Ever since then I've been completely enchanted with the idea of a good day for ducks. So that is what I wrote about: A good day for dykes and for ducks.

Edited to say: Aw, crap, "A Good Day for Ducks" is also the name of a children's book about duck hunting. That is so wrong.

Smiling Sarah

2009-12-31T01:08:00.006-06:00

Portrait of my wife Sarah that I did the other day. If she's not smiling in a photo or drawing, then it doesn't look like her.

Notes on "Millionaire Mansion"

2009-12-31T00:31:00.006-06:00

Who didn't play this game as a kid? It's so great because you only need a pencil and some graph paper. (And if you're desperate, all you need is a pencil and regular paper and you can make your own graph paper.) You draw the perimeter of your dream house, then you start plotting out where you're going to put the menagerie, the dirt bike collection, the bourbon fountain...and so on. (Okay, hopefully no kids are wishing for a bourbon fountain--that's just me.) Then you show it to your buddy and he tries to one-up you with his own castle.

"Millionaire Mansion" is one of my favorite stories with Jessi and Janice because it shows that what Janice lacks in imagination, she makes up for in sweetness and smoothitude. I'm posting it this week to celebrate the fact that I just got my very own castle, this adorable two-bedroom pad:

Buying a house is crazy stressful. I mean, that's what people say, but I never believed them. I always thought you just pick out a house, write a check, and start living there. (Or, I don't know, draw it on graph paper and wait for it to materialize.) I took a psych class in college that assigned numeric values to different kinds of stressful events, and buying a house was right up there with losing a loved one or being unemployed. Bullshit, I remember thinking. Typically American, to be stressed out over buying something. Boo hoo hoo.

Well, after a couple of months of waking up early to look at properties, trading offers, sitting by the phone biting my nails, sending the mortgage company every piece of paper that my name has ever been printed on, and more nail-biting--I finally understand. We had every advantage: Great agents, nice sellers, and a solid buyer's market. It didn't matter. This is exhausting stuff. Besides all the legwork and number-crunching, there's a lot of psychological stress that can result from not knowing where you're going to be living. "Where's my home, where's my home," my mind says. "I want to go home and I don't know where that is right now."

Finally, though, I have my dream house. The part I'm most excited about? I'm getting a library/art room, so I can draw at a desk like a real artist and not in bed or on the sofa with a drawing board balanced on my knees.

Notes on "Jessi Lessons #2: Special Straight Guy Question Edition"

2009-12-20T00:11:00.012-06:00

Wooooooo-weee. Let's just say the response to this week's strip has been...overwhelming. In a typical week I get, like, I don't know, one or two reader comments, but since I posted this, my inbox runneth over and I feel like I should respond to some of your objections.

A few points:

Fictional character, fictional rant. Sure, Jessi's a bit bi-phobic. She had her heart broken bad one time by a bi girl. (Funny story, I'll post it sometime.) I create a lot of characters, and while there's a little of me in each one of them, I don't use them solely as mouthpieces for my personal views. Cause that's boring.

I firmly believe that to be funny, you have to offend some people some of the time. To be sensitive to everyone all the time is to be funny none of the time. Not that all good humor is offensive, of course, but a big part of humor has its roots in our discomfort with our differences. Take that away and all you're left with is knock-knock jokes. Until some person emails you to tell you that your knock-knock jokes are too violent and help encourage door battery or something.

I don't pretend to speak for or about all lesbians or bisexuals, or indeed anybody besides myself. That should go without saying, right? And some of my best friends are--oh, never mind. For the record, I realize that bisexuality is a legit, non-mythical sexual orientation--one that's somewhat marginalized by society. And real-life bisexuals are plenty diverse in all possible ways. In fact, if I was going to venture to make one generalization about bisexual people based on my experiences, it's this: Bisexuals think and talk about their orientation way more than monosexuals, and are really sensitive when it's their turn to be the butt of a joke. Don't believe me? Sometimes my comics portray lesbians or straight people in a less than favorable light, but how many pissed-off comments do I get from those people? Uh, zero. As Dan Savage once put it (hey, another person who gets accused of being bi-phobic but is really kind and tolerant and simply unafraid to step on a few toes), "It's a sexual orientation, not a higher calling. Get over yourself."

Oh, and besides the kinda predictable bi stuff, I had a reader point out to me that this story was not believable because nobody would ask Jessi those kinds of questions because they're too personal. Now this I never thought about. They seem like pretty normal questions for your buddies, maybe even your co-workers if the boss isn't around. Maybe it's because I'm part of the post-third-wave, socially-networked, no-such-thing-as-TMI generation. Maybe it has something to do with my profession. (Line cooks make dinner, not dinner conversation--we're not known for language you can bring home to mom.) Or maybe it's because I'm friends with so many straight guys and they do ask these kinds of questions of their lesbian pals.

Which brings me around to the real inspiration for this page: Straight men. Rivers of ink has been spilled about the famous symbiotic relationship between the hag and her fag, but no one ever talks about the awesome chemistry between certain lesbians and their het brothers. So I will: How I love the straight men in my life. How fun it is to watch television with them, drink and eat crap with them, and check out girls with them. My guy friends won't ever hurt me (at least not on purpose), and if I don't call them for a few weeks or months because I'm busy, they won't guilttrip me or think that I don't love them anymore. And if I write a story that makes them collectively look like doofuses, they realize I'm laughing with them, not at them.

Anyways. Thanks, readers, for visting and sharing your opinions with me. It's my goal to make interesting comics for people to read, and sometimes that overlaps with controversy and that's just how it's gotta be. I hope you will continue to indulge me.

Peace,

Michelle

A magical creature and a beautiful girl.

2009-12-17T01:21:00.002-06:00

Sarah swimming at Stingray City sandbar, Grand Cayman. September 2009.

Notes on "Divine Intervention"

2009-12-17T00:42:00.006-06:00

Recently I was rereading Leonard Shlain's fascinating The Alphabet Versus the Goddess--one tenet being that humans inevitably gravitate toward polytheism, in part because our artistic left brains just can't resist the visual possibilities offered by a multitude of deities. My own left brain had a great time constructing this pantheon in order to help a cute lonely dyke get laid. While I was drawing this, I also recalled a recent MS. magazine cover (which I think is based on an earlier cover, which I can't seem to find online) that depicts a multi-armed task-juggling modern mother. The cover raised a tiny bit of fuss for its supposed disrespectful appropriation of Hindu imagery, etc. I hope those same people don't read Girlfiend Comics, because if they're seriosuly offended by that innocuous cover, who knows what they'll think about my double-dildo grasping, shocker-displaying Goddess of Acrobatic Sex Positions. Just sayin'.

Also, if I could do this piece over, I would not try to cram nearly so many people/events/text boxes into one page. But I don't have time to sit around re-drawing stories that I messed up on. The show must go on.

The Variants Fan Art

2009-11-25T18:33:00.010-06:00

The Variants are a troupe of web comedy actors from the baddest-ass comic book store ever, Dallas's own Zeus Comics. Like Clerks, but nerdier. This is a fan art I made for them. (Click on image to see it larger.) I heard about them from a postcard I picked up in store. I think this may be the most men I have ever drawn in one panel.

Changes to the website

2009-11-25T18:18:00.003-06:00

I made a few minor changes to the homepage today. Most are not noticeable, but some eagles eyes might be wondering what happened to the Girl Trouble strips that used to be listed under the story archive. I deleted them from the front page to improve loading time, and so that I could put in a teensy little banner ad under the art. Later I'll be adding a snazzy new archive page with improved navigation--to include the comic strip archive, plus whatever else I can dig up. (I know I did some embarassingly bad mini-comics in high school.) In the meantime, if you really want to read Girl Trouble, it's accessible via my Flickr page.

In other news, I made a purchase offer on a house today. OMFG sticker shock!

Notes on "After the Wedding"

2009-11-18T13:21:00.002-06:00

So, even though the characters in this story are newlywed dykes, and I am a newlywed dyke, THIS IS NOT A STORY ABOUT MY LIFE. Promise. Sarah was afraid that some people might think it is autobiographical, which of course WOULD BE A MISINTERPRETATION. So here goes. Ahem. ATTENTION INTERWEBS: THIS IS A FICTIONAL STORY. IT IS NOT ABOUT US. IT IS ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE. IMAGINARY PEOPLE. ME AND SARAH HAVE GREAT SEX ALL THE TIME. THE NEIGHBORS HATE US. WE BELIEVE "LESBIAN BED DEATH" IS A PATRIARCHAL MYTH. DID I MENTION WE HAVE SEX ALL THE TIME?

Thank you.

Notes on "My Faire Lady"

2009-11-18T12:41:00.003-06:00

Ah, Renaissance fairs, home of the free-flowing ale, silly costumes, and abundant cleavage. Packed full of 9-to-5ers on vacation from their real lives and bi girls on vacation from their boyfriends. A jolly time to be had.

On a semi-related note, I'm now working under the tentative assumption that three characters is about the ideal number for my one-page stories. And that is for stories like this one, where the narrative is action-driven: girl meets girl, girl steals girl, etc. (More than that, and the pace just gets breakneck--plus it's hard to fit so many in the panels.) For stories that deal with a more complex relationship between individuals, two people is the maximum. And for stories that have any amount of character development/history--well, one is probably pushing it.

Review: How to Make Money Like A Porn Star

2009-11-17T12:46:00.005-06:00

Neil Strauss is best known for "The Game," a book/pickup strategy/talk show ticket that purports to teach even the schlubbiest guy able to score with the hottest women. It's no surprise, then, that his first detour into comic books is cynical, sex-crazed, and icky icky poo. Which isn't to say that it's bad, exactly.

How to Make Money Like a Porn Star (titled after Jenna Jameson's memoir, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, which Strauss co-wrote). It chronicles the rise and fall of one fictional Claudia Corvette, porn's umpteenth Hot Young Thing, as she struggles against rival performers, an evil Svengali, pesky Arab kidnappers and her own dark past. A collage of mini comics, movie posters, flashbacks, and coloring book activities supplement the main narrative. Bernard Chang's art is versatile, fluid, and a perfect match for this postmodern tragedy.

Strauss's parodic takedown of the porn industry works best when it sticks to its main targets--the absurd scale of the industry, some men's dependence on porn, empty materialism, our collective cultural hypocrisy about sex. But the missteps are many: A more repulsive, unredeemable cast of characters never existed--it's hard to care about any of them. Cheap jokes and low blows abound. The gross-out shocker of an ending falls flat. How to Make Money Like a Porn Star is also full of bizarre racism and persistent (and often completely gratuitous) sexualized violence. Parts of the book that were probably meant to titillate made me feel kinda sick. I couldn't put the book down, but afterwards I felt like a needed to take a shower. And never have sex again.

Despite it's flaws, this book is a must-read (if you can stomach it) for those interested in porn, comics, and pop culture. If only it wasn't too goddamn misanthropic to be any fun.

Busy Michi

2009-11-12T12:16:00.006-06:00

Whew! I have been working some crazy hours lately. Not crazy by industry standards, perhaps, but crazy by sane and healthy person standards. Nonetheless, we're charging full speed ahead with the book project. Work, sleep, draw. Work, draw, sleep. Draw, sleep, work. Eating? Sometimes. My shifts have been so busy lately that meals at work have consisted of whatever I can find that (a) I don't have to expend effort to cook, and (b) don't have to walk far off the line to get. (Which leads to weird combinations like last night's plate of cold roast beef, tomatoes, and guacamole.) I was going to have today off to catch up around the house, but I'm going in to help out with a special event. Tomorrow's my other scheduled day off (so far, anyway)--that's when the real work will happen.

Inking oops

2009-11-02T12:49:00.004-06:00

So, I frequently am at work late into the night, and try to draw when I get home and am really too tired to hold myself up, much less a pen. Mistakes do happen. Last night I accidentally gave Janice three arms. It's times like these that I get envious of webcomic artists who have the technical know-how to do their art digitally, because once I put liquid paper on an image, it never, ever looks right again.

Crossed Genres Issue 12 (Shameless plug)

2009-11-02T12:22:00.005-06:00

Issue 12 of Crossed Genres magazine is out! Besides my humble contribution, it also features art from fellow webcomic artists David Willis and Megan Rose Gedris, stunning cover image by Julie Dillon, plus lots more queer sci-fi goodness.

Read the issue online here:

Or support the publishers by buying it in print.

Book project and publication announcement

2009-10-25T01:55:00.004-05:00

It's probably way too early to even be mentioning this, but...I'm working on a book. It's going to be a collection of 100 or so one-page stories, all wrapped up with some nice cover art and bonus material. The manuscript is nearing the halfway point. If I really push myself and become a raging coffee-chugging, friend-shunning, carpal tunnel-having comicking machine, I think I can have the content finished by the end of next year. A couple months to format it for publication, and I may have it finished in early 2011. I plan to make it available on Amazon.com, at conventions, and of course right here on girlfiendcomics.com.

So why would anyone buy my book if the main content is available online? Well, for one thing, there's nothing like new book smell. But also, the book project is currently coming along quicker than my biweekly updates, so the book audience will get to see new content sooner than the webcomic audience.

Oh, and on a related note, I'm thrilled to announce that I'm going to have a story in the November issue of Crossed Genres magazine. This event marks a lot of firsts for me--first sci-fi comic, first paid contribution, first publication in book format. Due to my contract, I can't publish the story right now, but it's one of my best and you will love it and all the other fabulous contributions! So go subscribe today!

Notes on "The Road Trip"

2009-10-22T00:47:00.006-05:00

I'm probably going to get in some trouble with the PC police for this one. But it's all in good fun, y'all. And for the record, Dallas chicas do like it hot.

Notes on "Marci, the Barista"

2009-10-10T14:06:00.004-05:00

I might have mentioned before that I don't generally do autobiographical or diary-style comics, mainly because my actual life is not as interesting as the stuff I can make up. This one, however, is a 99% true story that happened to me when I was 17 or so. Marci was not named Marci, however. And the Rainbow Reading Room in the story is Dallas' now-defunct Crossroads Market Bookstore. But getting a take-it-or-leave it proposition from the cooler, older girl you've been crushing on for months? Couldn't make it up if I tried.

90's reference roundup! Just for fun, I crammed as many 90s trends and artifacts as I could into these twelve panels. See how many you can spot!

1. Independent bookstore
2. Shoulder bag
3. Gay pride rainbow
4. Frosted tips
5. Beanie
6. Eyebrow and cartilage piercing
7. Technicolor hair
8. Bustier top
9. DIY
10. Polka dots
11. Flannel
12. Bisexuality
13. Newspaper in print
14. Layered necklaces
15. Fleece pullover
16. Striped leggings
17. Jumper dress
18. Scrunchie
19. Secret handshake
20. Calling a girl you like on the phone
21. Bull market
22. Overpriced espresso drink

Some thoughts on marriage

2009-10-05T14:09:00.002-05:00

After our engagement last spring, Sarah and I began to joyfully announce the news that we were going to be married. And in the months leading up to the big day, the question that we got the most was "How?" Followed by "Where?" Our well-meaning friends and relatives seemed puzzled that we did not know, or chose to ignore, that marriage equality is not yet a reality.

Our decision to use the words "marriage" and "wedding" despite the lack of legal marriage for gays in our home state wasn't a political move. We've never been fond of the neuter-sounding "partnered" or "union." And "committment ceremony," while accurate and not without charm, has begun to take on a ghettoized connotation through years of use. Nope, I thought, the day that I put on a white dress and stand with my chosen one before my family and friends and God and everyone and pledge my undying love and fidelity--that will be my wedding day. If it looks like a wedding, talks like wedding...and so on. It's similar to what it feels like to be queer in a big city after having been out for 10+ years. Sarah and I don't even usually remember that we're queer anymore, unless someone else brings it up.

There's no small amount of denial involved with this. Marriage inequality and other greater injustices against gays upset me a lot. It breaks my heart, it burns me up, it makes me tear out my hair and cry, if I allow myself time to think about it. And so far I feel like I've been unable to channel that energy into any productive endeavor.

Fortunately, we have wonderful friends who are willing to indulge our willful ignorance. Now the question that we're getting the most is, "So how's married life?"

Notes on "The Princess and the Dress"

2009-10-05T14:03:00.002-05:00

This week's fractured fairy tale came about after Sarah made me watch Enchanted for like, the third time. I guess I was thinking what I would do if I had a beautiful redheaded maiden locked away in a tower, and it just kind of went downhill from there. Panel three is undoubtedly the rape-iest thing that's ever shown up in the Girlfiend universe, and drawing/publishing it made me uncomfortable at first. But it's hot, and the princess seems to be enjoying herself, anyway, so I guess I'll let it slide. (No double entendre meant, heh heh.)

Those were supposed to be poisoned apples on the wrapping paper, but they turned out looking like cherry bombs. Just as well.

Notes on "Sorority Romance"

2009-09-24T13:17:00.002-05:00

This week's comic (actually last week's, because I'm slow) is just a cute tale about two sorority girls who fall in love. I wanted to revisit the mean Sigma girls I drew in this strip. Like, are they really that mean? Where do they live? Are any of them secretly dykes? And so on. I probably got some of the details wrong, seeing that my university didn't have much Greek life and my knowledge of sorority life comes mainly from B movies and not actual experience. (What? Sorority girls don't really have half-naked pillow fights? My bad.)

Fave details: The argyle vest in panel four and the flat-ironed in front, pokey in back haircut that every queer girl wore five or so years ago.

Goin' to the chapel

2009-09-12T00:26:00.003-05:00

This week's update is being posted early because...I'm marrying my sweetheart of five years tomorrow! And we're unplugging all the computers for a week so we can celebrate. The update I originally had lined up was kind of sad, so I swapped it out for one with a happy ending in honor of the occasion.

Notes on "Fun with Vegetables"

2009-09-02T18:45:00.000-05:00

"Fun with Vegetables" is dedicated to those people. You know, those people. The ones who make you want to say, "How about you and the locally grown/organic/hormone-free/non-genetically-modified squash just get a room? And toss me some of that ginger extract for my sudden nausea."

This story was an experiment, the result of my striving to have more sex in my comics. There's tons of lesbian hookups and innuendo, of course, but I had to dare myself to draw wide open beaver or it never would've happened. (Am I subconsciously squeamish about girly parts or just bad at drawing anatomy? Not sure.) I like the way the comic turned out, but it's a still more silly than sordid. I'm just a failure as a pornographer. Which is too bad, considering the number of Google hits I get from people looking for porn comics.

Incidentally, today's update marks four months that my new site has been active. While that's hardly an accomplishment at all, in webcomic time it counts as a real anniversary. Thanks y'all, for reading, and the best is yet to come.

Ice cream girl

2009-09-02T18:39:00.003-05:00

Timed practice drawing. Prismacolor and ink.

Bristol board tragedy

2009-09-02T16:37:00.003-05:00

Today I looked closely at a story I've been penciling, and noticed that I drew the entire thing on the wrong side of the Bristol board. I don't know how I did that: One side is shiny and one side is textured. Now I'm going to have to redraw it. It would be funny, if only I didn't hate the pencil stage of the process.

Some webcomic goals

2009-08-25T15:39:00.007-05:00

Supposedly, if you care enough about succeeding at any endeavor, it helps to make a list of goals. You're supposed to write the goals down, to make them as specific as possible, and to share them with others. I've never done this before. (I also don't have a written budget, and I seldom make grocery lists.) But I really do want to succeed at this webcomic, so here goes:

To have 100 stories "in the bank" by Jan. 1, 2012. That is, written, illustrated, and scanned. The deadline is roughly three years after this project began. At 33 pages a year, it's do-able. (I'm on page 30 or so right now and it's not even September.) But it's faster than my current update schedule of 26 pages a year, so I'll have to keep up the pace and stay ahead of my updates.

To make every biweekly update day, without fail. If I meet the goal above, this one should be no problem.

To improve my artwork drastically over time. Specifically: Improving line quality. (Not retracing, getting it right the first time.) Increasing contrast between light and dark areas. Getting off my ass and using reference photos when necessary, instead of just guessing. More variety of background, textures, not just hatching and stippling. Trying different poses and character designs. Learning more rules of human anatomy. (So I can ignore them later, hee hee.)

Write more creatively. Continue to introduce diversity and imagination into the stories I tell. Different types of characters, different times and places. I've selected a wide-open format, I just need to use it.

Draw something every day. Even if it's just one panel. Even if it's just a sketchbook entry.

To reach more people with my comic. I'm not setting any specific web traffic benchmarks, because I think they're kind of arbitrary. But I would like to see traffic continue to increase month over month. And get into print if possible. Because why do all this, if not for people to look at it?

Make some ads. Attractive ads, at least one in each of the standard sizes. For fun, and to help with the goal above.

To attend Dallas ComicCon on January 30-31, 2010. Probably not as an exhibitor, but at least as a fan. This will be my first comic convention.

To thank other artists who have entertained and/or influenced me. By commenting, linking, reviewing, or e-mailing. I'm bad about this, because I'm shy. But art can be a lonely vocation, and acknowledgment is hard to come by. But it's important--I know this. So I want to try to start doing my part.

To continue to grow and succeed at my day job. For its own sake, but also for that dangling carrot of financial freedom.

Awesome Girlfiend banner (in color!)

2009-08-24T00:06:00.005-05:00

So, about ten years late, I'm finally aboard the animated .gif bandwagon. I made this banner ad in Photoshop. It's my first try at animated graphics, and I also decided to try coloring, on a whim. The prevailing wisdom of webcomics is that it's misleading to have color ads when your comic is in black and white, and this will probably send my bounce rate through the roof for just that reason, but oh well. It's purdy.

Notes on "Sex Shop Spree"

2009-08-23T23:12:00.005-05:00

This week's comic stars butch buddies Cate and Len in a smut shack mega-splurge! Pretty much an average weekday night for me and my friends freshman year in college. Although we went to gawk and snicker, not so much to buy. Porn was beginning to be free and plentiful online, and our sex shops never carried any decent toys, thanks to those draconian Texas obscenity laws.

My favorite detail is the bubblegum-chewing cashier that rings Cate and Len up. The women that worked at these places were usually tattooed alterna-chicks who were way too cool to work regular retail, but not too cool to chat up every customer to earn that 2% commission. I almost became one when I was 19, lured by the prospect of sex-positive work that wasn't sex work, plus the employee discount. I got the job offer on Friday, and they were supposed to call me with details on Monday. In the intervening two days, they decided not to call me back, and I decided it would really, really suck to work there.

Proudly modeling my Condoms to Go shirt after the interview.

As a side note: If you've ever wondered how Cate and Len got the giant double dong serenaded in "Ode to Silicone" ...well, now you know.

The Boiling Point by Mikhaela Reid

2009-08-18T12:33:00.002-05:00

I must have been hiding under a rock the last couple of years, because I've been missing out on Mikhaela Reid's fabulous editorial cartoon, The Boiling Point. Her comics on politics and culture are incisive, sharply rendered, and scathingly funny. Reading the archives is a great way to celebrate the end of the Bush era.

Archive here.

Mikhaela's homepage/blog here.

Buy the book here.

Notes on "The Third Date"

2009-08-06T11:31:00.001-05:00

This one is about those third-date jitters, when you just know you're going to end up in the bedroom before the night's over. The attraction is electric, the temptation to rush things is monumental. You both want the same thing, and you could just cut to the main event, but that would ruin it. It's all about the anticipation, the lingering uncertainty, and the dance of seduction.

I chose an old-school butch/femme couple to tell this story, because just like with straight couples, the rituals leading up to sex are codified, and mutually understood. (And because certain butches need to learn the art of waiting!) In the apt words of Beyonce:

You can look at it, as long as you don't grab it
If you don't go braggin, I might let you have it
You think that I'm teasin, but I ain't got no reason
I'm sure that I can please ya, but first I gotta read you

That's the transaction: I will surrender to you, but first you have to show me that you have the strength to resist, and that you think I'm worth the wait.

Eros Comix is having a sale!

2009-08-04T20:59:00.006-05:00

It's a great time to be horny and broke--Eros Comix (Fantagraphics' pervy little brother) has just posted an awesome summer sale. Get your Birdland for half-price, and your Bondage Fairies for only a dollar! Lots of hentai DVDs on sale, too. You can use their store's search function to find the deals, or browse the print catalog in PDF format. I ordered some stuff from them last time they had a sale, and was really pleased with both the shipping and the comics.

I'm going to miss new book smell when print media finally bites it. At least there will always be old book smell.

Too deviant for deviantART

2009-07-30T17:13:00.006-05:00

I registered for a deviantART account today, after hearing for years from friends and fellow artists that it is the single best online artist's community. Then I read some of their content policies. Including this extremely broad definition of pornography, and this incredibly long-winded apologia for said policies. And I realized that most of my current work would possibly be subject to deletion there. Bummer. I might keep my new deviantART account open for non-sexy things like character drawings and sketches, but it hardly seems worth the trouble, especially since Flickr lets me upload any filth I choose without having to worry about some strangers' "interpretation" of it.

Now, I recognize the value of keeping an art site insulated from the terabytes of internet porn out there. And I understand the right of deviantART to moderate content any way they choose. And I knew, when I decided to make a sexually oriented comic, that I would be giving up the chance to exhibit it in certain venues. (Like Gay Pride festivals! Unbelievable!) But I don't make porn. If some people do get aroused by my comics, then whoa, I'm flattered--but my primary purpose is to make a joke or tell a story.

How is Girlfiend Comics too deviant for deviantART? Let me count the ways:

Masturbation. Check.

Sexual Intercourse. Check. And get this: "Some depictions of oral to breast contact might qualify under this guideline." Third base is all the way, y'all!

Sexual body fluids (actual or simulated). Does drool count?

Erections. None at this time, but maybe in the future.

Vaginal or Anal Spreading. Only when it helps advance the plot.

Adult oriented (sexual) toys. All the time, baby!

Notes on "Castaways"

2009-07-28T11:05:00.005-05:00

This week's strip is one of my favorites. "Castaways," of course, refers to both the fact of being stranded on an island, and of discarded inhibitions, regrets, etc. It was inspired by my trip to Roatan--a beachy paradise if I ever saw one--in January. Most visitors only stay on the island for a day (as cruise travelers), but there is a small population of expats who rent cottages by the week or the month. (There aren't hotels or condos--yet.) These adoptive Hondurans spend their days drinking in the oceanfront bars, playing in the water, and holding cookouts on the beach at night. So I started to wonder: Who are these people? Where did they come from, and, more importantly, what did they come here to escape? And so, this story.

And now, here's some totally gratuitous pics from Roatan:

This story happens someplace like this.

Salva Vida, Honduras' only locally brewed beer. There was a giant inflatable one of these on the dock as I sailed away from the island.

Stopped for a cold one at the Barefeet Bar.

That's island living for you.

The warmest, clearest, bluest stuff on earth.

Dating advice from Comic-Con attendees

2009-07-21T13:09:00.004-05:00

In honor of next weekend's Comic-Con, I present Nerve's "Dating Advice From...Comic Con Attendees." For all the geeks brave enough to face the ridiculous crowds for a chance to score (and I'm not talkin' autographs).

New ads for Girlfiend

2009-07-15T02:26:00.004-05:00

I've got some cute new ads, which you may have seen on various related websites. (Heck, you may have even clicked on one and that's why you're here.) I made them myself! It took me hours. My professional graphic artist girlfriend could have made these in two seconds, but then I would never learn. Anyway, feel free to use these for linkage purposes, if you're so inclined.

Notes on "A Fish Story"

2009-07-09T03:55:00.001-05:00

Blame Disney's hypersexual, irresistible Ariel for creating an entire cohort of baby dykes with mermaid fetishes. ('Fess up. You know who you are.) I was born in 1986, The Little Mermaid premiered in 1989, and ever since then I've been fascinated with those seductive maidens of the deep. I have not heard the mermaids singing, but hope springs eternally.

Playing mermaid, age 5.

Playing mermaid, age 21.

Anyway, this week's comic deals with the very delicate topic of mermaid sexual relations/reproduction. Of course, mermaids have long lifespans and seldom produce offspring, so little is known about their mating habits. (I asked a marine biologist about it one time, but she thought it was a stupid question.) So I had to come to my own conclusions: Mermaids, being pescoid from the waist down, do not possess human genitals and are therefore incapable of sexual intercourse. They both lay eggs, and nurse their young. (Like the platypus.) Mermaids rarely associate with mermen, even during spawning times--however, sapphic dalliances are common. I drew my mermaids without navels, which looks funny, but scientific accuracy on this topic is very important to me.

Notes on "Dirty Dice"

2009-07-09T03:40:00.001-05:00

Surprise! You get two comics this week. I like "Dirty Dice," but the art's a little awkward to stay on the front page for two weeks. Yes, the art's a little awkward on "A Fish Story," too. Okay, all my art's a little awkward. But I'm working on that, I promise. In the meantime, enjoy!

Oh yeah. "Dirty dice" were originally going to be one of the Nine Things That Sound Sexier Than They Really Are. Then I started wondering what would happen if I gave Jessi and Janice a pair, then it grew into a full-page story.

On a roll

2009-07-07T13:22:00.004-05:00

I had three days off of from work in a row this week, which were incredibly relaxing and productive. I got almost three pages of pencils and one page of ink done over the weekend, which is lightning fast for me because I draw slowly. (Trying to ignore Megan Rose Gedris' livejournal post about the ten pages she penciled on Sunday alone. Sigh...) My current strategy is to draw while watching television episodes with my girlfriend. Multitasking, with varying degrees of success. We had been watching The L Word, and that didn't work out so well for drawing because Marlee Matlin's character is deaf and there's a lot of subtitles and lipreading. Now we're watching Dexter, which is a clever show but really too violent for me. So whenever Dexter kills somebody, I just work on my drawing instead of covering my eyes. I have the page finished before I know it.

A Fun Home musical (!)

2009-07-03T13:43:00.005-05:00

The news is out that Tony nominees Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori are working on a musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir, Fun Home. The project will be part of the Ojai Playwrights Conference in Ojai, California in August. (Read the Playbill News article here.)

Here's my multi-stage reaction to this surreal development:

First thought: Really?
Second thought: I love Fun Home, and I love musicals--why shouldn't it be great?
Third thought: Wait, really?
Fourth thought: The set designer is going to have it so easy. Bechdel's already done all the work.
Fifth thought: I can't wait for more details!

Odds and ends from way back when

2009-07-01T17:07:00.004-05:00

Because update day is still a full week away, I'm filling in the gap with a few old strips that I just excavated from my bedroom at my parents house. All are circa 2002.

Early closet-y college newspaper strip.

Jessi and Reagan fight.

Jessi and Janice fight. My freshman Lit class was reading Dante's Inferno.

My freshman Lit class was reading Romeo and Juliet.

Notes on "Ode to Silicone"

2009-06-25T02:45:00.000-05:00

Oh boy. This one was a blast to write and draw. It's an illustrated poem about silicone toys--as in dildos and butt plugs and such--as well as some of the other great products that are made from silicone. It is the perverse outcome of all the Dr. Seuss books I read as a kid and all the chemistry classes I took in school. I'm going to leave it that, though. I do still believe there's such a thing as too much information, even in this whole post-privacy Age of Twitter.

So where can a girl (or guy) get the best silicone? Unfortunately, most brick and mortar sex shops don't carry it, preferring to peddle skanky vinyls and high-margin bachelorette party gags, so the best shopping for the connoisseur is online:

Of course, check out Babeland, the mother of all women-owned sex-positive socially responsible sex toy stores. I did some writing for them in college. They are a badass company with a handpicked selection of great products.

Vixen Creations has an astounding number of original designs, including semi-realistics for packing and dildos made with their patented lifelike silicone formula, Vixskin.

Tantus, Incorporated now sells direct! Tons of smaller toys for the beginner, and amazing closeout bargains. Where's my credit card?

The Lollie Bombs burlesque show--it was the bomb!

2009-06-21T02:22:00.013-05:00

So my girlfriend and I had the pleasure of seeing the Lollie Bombs, Dallas' resident burlesque troupe, over the weekend. Dallas has more titty bars than you can shake a twenty at, but the burlesque scene is still pretty small. The Lollies play occasional two-night engagements at the 145-seat Pocket Sandwich Theatre.

This was my second time seeing the Lollies--the first was their spectacular holiday special--and they did not disappoint. They did a mix of new numbers, crowd favorites, and audience participation. Their current lineup boasts a beautifully diverse range of body types. (And pasties!) The cozy old dinner theater is the perfect place to drink a pitcher of Ziegenbock and hoot and holler at gorgeous ladies stripping--I mean, doing sex-positive performance art.

If you missed this weekend's performance, you can still see the Lollies at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre on August 21-22 and October 9-10. Tickets are $15 and reservations are recommended.

I actually got up the nerve to talk to the Lollies and get pictures after the show! Check them out here.

Photo: That's my partner/webmistress Sarah on the left, the fabulous Black Mariah in the middle, and yours truly on the right.

Five common webcomic mistakes and how to avoid them

2009-06-16T12:35:00.004-05:00

I was just looking at the Bad Webcomics Wiki, where all the haters come to talk about comics they hate. (And yet, have mysteriously read from beginning to end.) I don't agree with all their criteria (bad art does not a bad comic make, right?) and some of the reviews are pretty spiteful. However funny. But they're right about one thing--you can improve your work by noticing others' mistakes. I'm scarcely an authority on the matter, but I've started reading a lot of online comics lately and here's some errors that pop up again and again:

Ugly website. There should be art on the front page, so visitors can decide if they like it without having to click around. Navigation should be clear and logical. And if you have a gazillion pages in the archive, you get bonus points for making your major story arcs and/or greatest hits easily accessible to new readers.

Typos/poor graphics formatting/general sloppiness. Get someone else to look at your work before you post it. They might see something that you missed.

Missed updates. True, most of us artists have day jobs and busy lives preventing us from drawing as much as we'd like to. But that's all the more reason to choose a less frequent update schedule (or none at all) instead of committing to daily or weekly updates when it will only cause you stress and piss off your readers when life gets crazy.

Self-referential humor. For the love of God, don't have every other joke be "Hey look, we're in a webcomic." And to borrow a phrase from Tanya from The Webcomic Beacon, when you make a webcomic about making a webcomic, you're really making a webcomic about...nothing. Go ahead and peek through that fourth wall every now and then. Your readers will indulge you. But to do it all the time isn't clever or original--it's lazy and solipsistic.

Veering off-topic. How many times have you seen a webcomic description like this: "My strip is about the crazy randomness that is my life and all the different stuff I like." And how many times do you click through? Readers want to know what's in it for them--what kind of content they can expect--and they like it to stay relevant. If your strip is about say, gaming, and you ignore gaming and get all political for three months because it happens to be an election year, you're going to lose people.

My first published cartoon

2009-06-15T14:18:00.003-05:00

This is the very first cartoon I ever published, in the Eastfield Et Cetera on September 12, 2002. (Cue laugh track.)

Notes on "Her Camp Name Was Turtle"

2009-06-11T13:29:00.001-05:00

The stories I write for Girlfiend Comics are generally imaginative vignettes--fantasies, I guess--not things that have actually happened to me. (I've been basically married to the same woman since I turned 18. There's no way I could've done all the kinky stuff my characters get up to.) This week's story is an exception because it is almost 100% autobiographical. I really did go to Girl Scout camp every summer. I really am severely allergic to ant bites. And I really did get crushes on all the counselors--especially one very cute one who really was called Turtle and who once applied calamine lotion to every part of me that ants could find. The mountains, however, are an embellishment. I went to camp in North Texas, where the closest thing to a mountain was mountainous piles of ants.

"Phantom Pines," by the way, comes from a typo of "phantom penis"--which is something that lesbians have, according to my buddy Andy. I remember thinking that "Phantom Pines" would be a great name for a scout camp.

Lesbian webcomic roundup

2009-06-05T14:09:00.020-05:00

Here's the first installment of Lesbian Webcomic Roundup, in which I search out lesbian webcomics (other than mine) for your reading pleasure. This is not meant to be an exhaustive or definitive catalogue--just a few good links. I'll be posting more later, along with (eventually) some full-length reviews of lesbian-themed webcomics. If you find something that you like, please consider supporting the artist(s) by buying their merch or dropping them a note. Enjoy!

True Tales of Lesbian Drama by Astrid Lydia Johannsen
Astrogirl X2 author Astrid Lydia Johannsen returns with more crisp line art, smart writing, and of course, lesbian drama.

Bitter Girl by Joan Hilty
Long-running newspaper strip by one of the greats. The archives are unfortunately scattered all over the place--check out Hilty's website for the latest info.

Curvy by Sylvan Migdal
Scantily clad high school physics whiz meets interdimensional babe on the run. High-contrast hijinks ensue. New page every Saturday.

Girly by Josh Lesnick
Needs no introduction, since it's hugely popular and has been running for 6+ years, which is approximately 1,023 in webcomic years. My fellow Dallasites will appreciate the Dallas-esque skyline of Cute-Town. Also the big hair.

I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space! by Megan Rose Gedris
A campy starship romp with an alluring cast of gals in spandex and go-go boots. The perfect antidote in case you accidentally overdose on angsty high school love/coming out comics. Currently on hiatus.

Liliane, Bi-Dyke by Leanne Franson
The adventures of everyone's favorite faggy butch bi dyke, also known as Liliane. Leanne Franson comics mainly fall into the "creative autobiography" category, and she excels at both long and short forms of the genre. Updates sporadically, but there's enough stories in the archive to keep readers occupied for days.

Simply Sarah by Sarah Skye
Poor Sarah. Her folks don't understand her, stupid boys harass her all the time, and her lame-ass girlfriend won't own up to being a dyke. Now in color!

Sister Claire by Yamino
Nuns!

Starcrossed by Erica Batton
Quinn Morrigan (Wait, wasn't that the name of the little sister from Daria?) is just a regular guitar-totin', dream-havin', shaggy-haired lesbian high school brat--until a mysterious visitor arrives via meteor. What will happen next?! Infrequent updates.

Yoko+Mamiko by Loka
A tiny, tasty morsel of a sex comic done in colored marker. Completed.

YU+ME=Dream by Megan Rose Gedris
An epic high school romance turned surrealist drama, with enviably trippy art. Gedris has earned hordes of devoted fangirls with this comic, and deservedly so. Updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Welcome Belfry WebComics readers!

2009-06-05T13:24:00.003-05:00

Here's a warm and fuzzy (ha ha, couldn't resist) welcome to my new readers surfing over from the Belfry WebComics Index. Wow, there are a lot! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you check back--I've got a lot of great updates planned for the coming weeks. And maybe one day I'll get around to doing a special furry episode of Girlfiend just for you.

Don't quit your day job

2009-06-02T11:45:00.006-05:00

Over at The Simple Dollar personal finance blog, Trent's got some great advice this week for would-be professional artists and writers. Basically, he says there's two kinds of careers: stable careers, and what he calls scalable careers--ones that some people make a lot of money at, but most people make little or nothing. Stable jobs have a lot of advantages, but often the careers people dream about having--musician, writer, professional athlete--fall into the "scalable" category. Is compromise possible? Sure. Trent says:

My suggestion is simple: whatever that dream is that you have, don’t let it go. Instead, spend your free time practicing it in the way you want to. If you already have a stable income, don’t worry about what sells and what doesn’t - just do it. Practice deliberately. Have fun doing it. Don’t worry about the end product - just have fun with the process and try new things.

In other words, treat that hobby as you might treat a scalable career if you didn’t have to worry about the income at all. It actually frees you to experiment, since income is merely an unexpected bonus. Try new things, practice the details, and enjoy what you’re doing.

What happens next? You get better. You produce interesting things. And people begin to pay attention. It might take years--it might never happen--but does it really matter? You’re enjoying the process.

This passage really resonated with my current situation. I know that it's damn near impossible to make even a meager living drawing comics, no matter how good you are. (And often good has nothing to do with it.) But for two years I let that fact stop me from drawing at all. I settled into a fun day job, and decided I could get all my money and my creative fulfillment at work.

But I miss drawing comics--I miss it a lot. So I hereby vow to draw a little everyday, do my updates on time, and keep getting better, even if it results in a net financial loss. It'll mean some cutbacks, of course. I'll have to give up a little sleep, drink less, and waste less time on the internet. But I know the end result will be satisfying.

And you know what else? There's no shame in having a day job. Some of the comic artists I respect the most--like, I look at them and think, I want to be there in ten or twenty years--have day jobs. We live in a society that just isn't structured to reward most artists financially. (Which is maybe a good thing--thins the herd.) But it doesn't make art any less essential.

Notes on "Nine Things That Sound Sexier Than They Really Are"

2009-05-28T02:07:00.002-05:00

This week's comic names some things that are reputedly hot, but when you actually try them are lukewarm at best. My inspiration was those Cosmopolitan articles like "957 Ways to Drive Your Man Wild in Bed!", when they get past idea #80 or so and start scraping the bottom of the barrel of sex tips. Here's a few more items that didn't make the cut:

Sex in cars
That thing where you put an Altoid in your mouth before you go down on someone
The much-touted Rabbit vibrator
Making love in the green green grass, behind the stadium
Ice and popsicles
Lacy panties (Itchy!)
Food in the bedroom

Any more? Leave 'em in the comments!

Lesbian comics by men?

2009-05-26T16:49:00.006-05:00

I recently listed Girlfiend Comics in the Lesbian Romance section on the comics wiki Comixpedia. The section carries this startling heading:

Female homosexual romances- also called Yuri or Shoujo-Ai. These webcomics tend to feature angst, but also generally happy endings. Perhaps regrettably, many are written by men, and of those, quite a few make use of the prurient possibilities of the genre.

I did a little research, and the wiki is spot-on! Many lesbian webcomics and yuri manga--especially the dirtier ones--are written by men. I guess I never noticed it before because I can't usually tell the gender of a Japanese name. But that explains a lot, actually. When I first started posting comics online, I would get the occasional email asking if I was a man. Not often, but more than once. (This was before I had my name and glamour pics splashed all over the site.) I always wondered why anyone would think my comic about lesbians was written by a man. Now I know. It's because they're "prurient"!

86 Hawaiian Punch

2009-05-23T02:29:00.008-05:00

I kind of liked my little luau-inspired header that used to be on the top of the page. I used the font from the Hawaiian Punch can, and I really like Hawaiian Punch. Also, I had planned the change out the panel on the far right with a new teaser graphic every couple weeks, which was a pretty sweet idea:

But my all-knowing webmistress/editor/girlfriend had a few words to say about the graphic. "Unprofessional," "ginormous," "unsexy," and "random" were some of those words. "Draw something else" were the next words. So I have a mermaid now. And you know, she's right, it's a lot better. And I like mermaids even more than I like Hawaiian Punch, so it wasn't too much of a sacrifice after all.

Review: Superfist Ayumi

2009-05-22T14:42:00.014-05:00

Just when you thought it was going to be all Girlfiend, all the time--look, reviews! I'll be grabbing a lesbian or comic-related title off the bookshelf every now and then and jotting down a few impressions.

First up, Superfist Ayumi by Kozo Yohei, a manga-style erotic comic devoted to college lesbians, karate, and--you guessed it--fisting. Athletic Ayumi is the president of her school's female karate club. Too bad they're at the bottom of their league. All the girls love Ayumi, but Ayumi mainly just loves karate. Ayumi tries to fend off her infatuated teammates as much as possible, but when she accidently kicks one in the head, she's too much of a gentledyke not to check up on her later. And the rest, well, you'll just have to read to find out. Girlfight and medical fetishists will especially love this one.

Way too many erotic comics are too sexless (schoolgirls, kissing, giggles) or too mechanical (generic fucking and sucking) for me to enjoy. Superfist Ayumi manages to hit that perfect spot on the sweet/sexy axis. The art is typical mangerotica style: dynamic and slurpy. Ayumi is a standout character, with her choppy hair and fists of fury, and left this dyke weak in the knees. It's refreshing to see a hot butch in a genre plagued by piles of doll hair and triple-F bazoongas.

Availability: Issues #1 and #3 are available in print from Eros Comix. The whole series is hosted as a compressed file on numerous file sharing hubs. Not that I'm recommending anything like that, just FYI.

Character Spotlight: Jessi

2009-05-20T02:32:00.020-05:00

Jessi is the original girlfiend--the first character created for the comic strip. Jessi's life revolves around sex and good times--she's completely amoral and apolitical. Having escaped her small hometown and conservative upbringing, Jessi is now a perpetual college student who spends all her time drinking, watching porn, and strenuously avoiding any form of work. This is her very first appearance, in a microcomic from 2000:

Jessi began as a swinging single, and her constant companion was a sarcastic lizard named Reagan. Reagan delights in pushing Jessi's buttons. (And Jessi has a lot of buttons.)

After suffering alone through most of a 60-page graphic novel, Jessi finally met true love Janice. (Reagan found a wife, too.) And they all lived happily ever after. In classic odd couple fashion, Jessi and Janice argue all the time but are also crazy in love.

Jessi was the heart and soul of Girlfiend Comics for years. She's been on the cover of every book I've made so far, and starred in most of the Girl Trouble strips. She embodies the escapist fun and unashamed sexuality that Girlfiend Comics is about. But in the last couple of years, I've found it harder to stick to writing Jessi stories. I don't want to be Garfield, telling variations on the same lasagna joke for 25 years. I don't personally relate to the character as much as I used to, and she's not a character who can really grow or change with me. (Jessi is pure id--maturity would kill her.) Also, she's basically monogamous with Janice--not that there's anything wrong with that--it's just hard to write all your sex stories around a monogamous main character. I've painted myself into a corner, and it's useless trying to sketch my way out.

All this is to say that Jessi is no longer the main queeracter here at Girlfiend Comics. More like a mascot. There will still be new material for her, when it fits her personality, and of course she'll always be my first.

Viva "mondo scratcho"!

2009-05-15T11:42:00.023-05:00

The other day I was re-reading Trina Robbins' excellent From Girls to Grrlz: A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines. One part really jumped out at me:

Zine art ranges from amazingly excellent to mondo scratcho, but the not-very-good artists don't care if their work is crude. They're simply following the advice Sarah Dyer gives in Action Girl: "Don't think you can do comics? Try anyway, even if it's just for yourself!"

I'm a big fan of "mondo scratcho." Not only the fabulous turn of phrase, but the style--even the philosophy. Comics are all about reducing experiences to just a few important frames, and mondo scratcho is the essence of reduction. A facial expression becomes just a few quick lines. Why draw five fingers when four will do? And so on.

Still, it's hard not to admire the incredible detail and realism that some comic artists put into their work. And it's hard not to be jealous. I took enough studio art classes in college to know that drawing realistically is difficult and time-consuming and incredibly gratifying if you finally do get it right.

Comics are words and pictures, though, and everybody's got to find their place on the writer/artist continuum. For me, it's mainly about the snappy storytelling. So it is for a lot of readers, too. Just look at the dailies. People love titles like Get Fuzzy and Pearls Before Swine because they're witty and accessible, even though the art's nothing special. Compare to dry serials like Prince Valiant and Apartment 3-G, which look great but (to readers of my generation, anyway) are eminently skippable.

Of course, the best comic creators, the true greats, are the ones who can do both. That's why I'm constantly trying to improve my art. If I never grow out of "mondo scratcho," though, at least I'll be in good company.

Notes on "Jessi Lessons #1: Porno Party"

2009-05-13T14:13:00.002-05:00

In this week's strip, Jessi gives Martha Stewart a run for her money by offering a few hostess tips. Her problem: Porn is fun to watch, but very few adult movies are well-made enough to deserve your full attention, or arousing enough to actually get off to. Parties are fun, too, but there are those inevitable lulls in the conversation. The solution: Put the porno on during the party and enjoy both!

Most of this strip was inspired by my undergraduate years at UTD. There were always tons of guys at campus drinking parties and not too many girls, so if a single lady did show up, she always got her way--choice of drinks, choice of seat, choice of music or television. (Just like Rosemary does at the end.) The scene in panel seven was taken directly from my college graduation party which was busted up by the campus cops. In one of those "could not make it up if I tried" moments, the arresting officer threatened to seize a stack of porn DVDs that was sitting on top of the television.

Will there be more editions of "Jessi's Lessons" in the future? Jessi loves to get up on her soapbox, so I can almost guarantee it.

Character Spotlight: Rosemary

2009-05-11T14:20:00.017-05:00

Girlfiend Comics has only a handful of a recurring characters, and a whole lot of walk-on roles--characters who do their bit (or do each other) and are never seen again. You don't have to know any of the regular characters to enjoy the comics strips. (But it helps!) Every week or so I'll pick someone to highlight here.

Rosemary is Girlfiend Comics' sexy earth mama and token bisexual. Rosemary works at the local natural goods purveyor, Sunshine Foods. She mesmerizes men and women alike with her unadorned beauty, only to repel them with her un-zenlike habit of starting arguments and being a know-it-all. Perpetually single, but she does have a hot fling now and then. Rosemary stars in her own veggie-loving adventure, coming soon to the front page!

Here's Rosemary in action:

Gay comics in a post-gay universe

2009-05-04T16:38:00.005-05:00

In 2004 I wrote the first cartoon in my Girl Trouble series mocking the idea of a post-gay identity. I was 16, living in a small town, and had just recently come out. To me, and most of my queer buddies, it seemed that the only way to change the status quo was to fight invisibility--to declare our difference and carve out a space to exist alongside the het world. I could not have conceived of a cultural universe where sexual identity didn't matter. But now, less than five years later, it's apparent that this impossible thing is slowly becoming a reality.

The trouble began when I started trolling around for lesbian websites that might give my comics a link. I took it for granted that there would be plenty. My favorite web hub as a teenager, Technodyke.com, is now defunct, as is the new-ish social networking site OurChart. Lesbian.com and Lesbian.org are relics, last updated years ago. PlanetOut.com is a virtual billboard. Gay.com is a virtual bathhouse for the boys. The last girl standing is AfterEllen.com--a slick and entertaining site, but its celebrity obsessions and up-to-the-minute technoliteracy have a way of making even this 22-year-old dyke feel old.

This void of lesbian-specific webspace made me wonder: Where are lesbians getting their news and entertainment these days? And the answer, of course: The same places everyone else is. On television, on the front page, and on mainstream websites.

As a queer artist of modest talents, I can't help but feel conflicted about all this change. The evolution of a society where sexual orientation affords neither special attention nor censure, is exciting and just--and yes, inevitable. But I have my selfish doubts. Assimilation of lesbian culture puts a lesser-known artist in danger of becoming a small fish in a big melting pot. Gone--or going fast--are the days of the desperate audience, the people who will read something just because it's got lesbian content, and not because it's necessarily any good.

Maybe one day the idea of a lesbian comic will seem as absurdly separatist as those old hippie womyn's communes. And maybe that's a positive step for society. Still, there's nothing wrong with shedding a tear at the huge hole in the lesbian webspace, or getting nostalgic for affirmative action when you're sitting at the bottom of the heap.

Vintage Girlfiend!

2009-05-04T16:12:00.004-05:00

This is the back cover art from a one-shot I did when I was a kid. Back when there were only three characters. (Sigh...)

Notes on "That Smell"

2009-05-04T12:10:00.002-05:00

So here's the wanky artist commentary I promised. I'll be writing a few liner notes for each update, so if you want to know the inspiration behind a story (or if you're one of my exes and are wondering whether a certain comic is about you or not), check the blog.

"That Smell", of course, deals with that old idea that a woman's vagina smells or tastes like fish. The epithet "seafood lover" is still one of the most devastating double entendres that one middle-schooler can hurl at another. (And is, I think, especially insulting in my home state of Texas, where cattle is still king and seafood is only for Lent and those namby-pamby dieters.) But for me, it's always been one of the easiest misogynistic comments to shrug off because--as the protagonist of the story concludes--fish are delicious! (And so are clams, scallops, shrimp, crab, mussels, squid...)

This is the first comic I drew for my new sex comic project. I did it almost two years ago, and I was kind of hesitant to post it because I think my art has really improved since then. But I like the story a lot, and I'll get to the good stuff soon enough.

So close now...

2009-04-30T13:51:00.008-05:00

So after about a month of pretty intensive work on the site, I'm just about ready to go public with it. I'm proud of the new layout and think it looks great. I've learned a whole lot about web design that I didn't know before. I'm also happy to finally be getting off of Geocities--which is timely because Yahoo! is shuttering the free hosting site later this year.

Despite not being updated for over two years, Girlfiend Comics at Geocities still enjoys a great search engine ranking and a decent number of page visits. (March 2009 was a new record--what the hell?) I've set up a redirect page, and I'm looking into other ways to bring my readers here.

Updates are scheduled for every other Thursday. I'd love to do weekly updates, but with my crazy demanding day job, I can't possibly commit to that. I have a good backlog of material to help me stay on schedule, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Shopping for art supplies

2009-04-28T05:34:00.007-05:00

I just ordered a huge cache of art supplies, since I've been on a roll lately and there's nothing worse than running out at the wrong time. (All the digital webcomic artists out there are scratching their heads at this post. "Art supplies? What are those?") I draw with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Boards. They're my favorite tools and I've never used anything else. Well, a couple of early drawing attempts involved Sharpies, but that didn't turn out so well.

For supplies, I'm a big fan of DickBlick.com--their selection is amazing and their prices on my items are about 40% less than my local Hobby Lobby stores. Plus, I don't have to feel guilty every time I fund Hobby Lobby and their wacky right-wing agenda.

Required reading

2009-04-23T19:59:00.012-05:00

I won't call it an influences list, because I'm not important enough to have influences. But here's some of my favorite comic artists who deserve a shout-out, since I've stolen so many of their ideas:

1. Can't talk about lesbian comic artists without talking about Alison Bechdel. I've been reading Dykes to Watch Out For since I was a baby dyke just learning to smuggle the local gay weekly home from the library. And I collected all her books--the originals, not the reprints--which took a while because she has so many. I admire her slavish attention to detail in drawing, and the way she manages to write stories that are both topical and universal. I also like that she's made even her earliest drawings available to readers. It shows how much her craft has developed over the years (and gives us mere mortals some hope). I'd love to meet her one day, but I'd settle for being friends on Facebook.

2. Jennifer Camper is dirty, and I mean that as a compliment. Her strips are full of unabashed, gleeful filth, which is something I aspire to but can never pull off. She is also the editor of both Juicy Mother anthologies, which prove that she not only has talent but taste and connections as well.

3. Carol Lay's Story Minute is a smorgasbord of striking high-contrast art and quirky character design. But the format itself was the biggest revelation for me. I'd long felt constrained by the "panel-panel-punchline" method of comic making, and intimidated by the "endless soap opera" format. Enter Story Minute, one-page stories with a snappy ending and only a few recurring characters. You can read them in any order, but they're so damn addictive you just want to sit down and finish the book. Why don't more people do it this way?

4. Ellen Forney does exquisite line work, and writes such instructional gems as "How to Be a Fabulous Fag Hag" and "How D'ya Smoke Pot and Stay Out of Jail?" But my favorite is her book Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads, in which she illustrates some of the sex-seeking personals in the back of the Seattle Stranger. I've heard she occasionally gives workshops in Seattle--guess I better start saving my pennies.

Girlfiend Comics back in business!

2009-04-18T11:45:00.003-05:00

After a two-year hiatus, Girlfiend Comics is back (are back?) and better than ever! New comics will be posted to the main page, here. This is the accompanying blog, which will serve two main functions:

1. To give you, my readers, up-to-the-minute information about Girlfiend Comics goings-on, including page updates, convention appearances, and exciting new projects. I also plan to drop my odds and ends on the blog--sketches, vintage Girlfiend, and other tidbits that don't belong on the front page.

2. I loathe other peoples' artist statements, but don't have the discipline not to make them myself. So, this blog will help to keep all my wanky commentary, backstories, and asides away from the front page, and safely buried in a blog archive where no one will find them unless they really, really want to.

Hope to see you here soon,

Michelle