Portfolio
Artist Statement
The art I make falls into or intersects three categories: drawings, comics, and stories. The comics are published in a variety of formats, such as zines, webcomics, or with a publisher. Everything I draw has a cartoonish quality, sampling and mixing a variety of illustrative styles such as CalArts, manga, Franco-Belgium, Fleischer, and underground. I don’t see the value in having a nailed down drawing style, and a collected body of my work speaks in a variety of voices. I enjoy playing with the distance between symbolic drawing (symbols, words, cartoons) and representational drawing (shape, shade, line), and intersecting these two ways of reading within the same picture plane. This intersection is most obviously presented within the conventions of the comic page, however can show up in a variety of contexts. Presently I am exploring bright and textured colours while leaning into a high fantasy aesthetic. My work is populated by monsters, knights, unicorns, and other worldly beings. Sometimes there is glitter or sparkles if the situation calls for it.
Narrative drives my practice, and everything I make is tied to a larger story that may be explored or left undiscovered. I have been fascinated all my life by world building and often disappear myself into the places I create, sometimes forgetting to invite others along with me. I struggle at times to convey the ways in which my worlds function, and take for granted that the reader will understand what is going on or why certain things happen. It is very confusing for me when they do not understand. Being understood has been a crux within my work and life, and I often feel caught between worlds. I think I may have begun world building as a strategy to deal with loneliness. Themes of queer identity, self realization, and neurodivergence run heavy throughout my stories. I take inspiration for world building from creators such as William Gibson, Becky Chambers, Micheal DeForge, Shary Boyle, Jeff VanderMeer, and Matthew Thurber. I endeavour to create worlds that hang together lightly, and dislike overwrought fictional worlds or worlds that lean too heavily upon genre conventions outside of parody.
Presently I have published my graphic novel Lake Jehovah with Conundrum Press, and my second book, Cheryl, will be released in 2024. My work has also been included in a variety of anthology publications such as the award winning Alberta Comics: Home. In my spare time I have been toying around with a comic called Murderbird! My Love! about magical military drones and the unicorns who love them. Outside of publishing I have been known to deliver the occasional lecture or art workshop on the subjects of comics, zine making, ink making, or mental health in comics.