Monetize That
July 26, 2022
Still one of my favourite episodes from “Monetize That,” my comic strip that unpacks success culture.
This episode was first published in 2019 — before Covid. It feels like it has found its footing even more profoundly in our current moment.
Monetize that
July 27, 2021
I made a zine
October 21, 2019
Thank you, Art Gallery of Hamilton for mounting the thought-provoking show, “This Is Serious: Canadian Indie Comics.”
And a big thank you to Meredith Park for spending time with us over the last six weeks and showing a group of eager students the ins and outs of journaling through comics (we each made an 8-page zine!).
Co-curator Alana Traficante best captured why I think I’m “drawn” to comics at this stage of m
y life: “The format of comics is one that uniquely compels readers through literary and visual experiences, and when used to recount personal, nuanced narratives, can awaken an essential, critical understanding of ourselves and one another.” My comic is another episode in a strip I started last year called, “Monetize That: Living in a Success Culture When a Soul Culture is More Your Style.
Window Art: My process
May 9, 2017
We all have skills that are lying dormant — for whatever reason. For me, it was art.
A dozen years ago, when I was trying to break into journalism (with no degree in the field and no contacts), getting writing gigs was all-consuming. And it was creative, so not drawing didn’t feel like such a loss.
None of us cold have predicted the Maker Movement and its subsequent publishing channels (Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, WordPress, and even LinkedIn), or the rise in paid gigs for surface designs on walls, windows, tote bags and teacups.
With afforable design programs, the ability to market yourself internationally, one-swipe billing and e-payments it’s so much easier to be your own boss.
So what skill are you sitting on that, (a) you used to love doing but stopped, and, (b) that you could ressurect and monetize in today’s economy?
My Process (this gig was at The Merchant Tavern in Toronto):
• Read the menu and ask for a list of suppliers. Pick out food items that make the best designs
• Use a simple drawing style and sketch a handful of food items (legibility above all else).
•Arrange your designs around your key message. Check out MyFonts.com for typeface styles appropriate to your message.
• Then map the rough sketch out on your window. I didn’t grid the drawing or the window, so the spacing wasn’t exact. Certain items did not make the cut, like the pie at the bottom. That’s ok. The think the finished looks better than the sketch.
