Keep Moving, Keep Warm

Welp, I heard my first Christmas song on the radio and it's consistently snowing daily, which means the time has come to actually admit winter is happening again...
In hopes of keeping spirits merry and bright I made a few sets of winter/holiday cards now available on my etsy page.  Here's what they look like:

If you're in Chicago I will be tabling with these and other prints/books/zines/goodies at the Spudnik Holiday Sale taking place Friday, December 5th from 6-10pm  at Spudnik Press!

***Also, I'm going to be doing a limited number of holiday-time commissions.  All will be square sized up to 11x11" hand inked and watercolored.  They can be of any 1-2 animals doing any 1 activity (example: a panda bear eating cereal).  Email me at leslieperrine@gmail.com by November 24th  to get your request in! All drawings will be mailed out the second week of December.  ***

I have been working on one big secret special project that's not the graphic novel I neeeeed to start drawing.  Sometimes things you love the best come as distractions to what you should be doing..

November, Forever

November has become one of my favorite months.  Not even by choice as it's the mark of winter beginning (since it snowed all day yesterday..) but because of good things in my life coming my way in November.  I love Thanksgiving--not the actual reason for the holiday but the idea behind celebrating harvest and food before the coming winter.  The last few years I've had the joy of celebrating "friendsgiving" in Chicago and it's one of my favorite nights of the year.
My niece was born in November and will be celebrating her 4th birthday this year, which is hard to believe.
I also met Andrew in November.  We'll be celebrating 2 years together, which is easy to believe.

I also love the Milwaukee Zine Fest which will be happening again this year on Nov. 8th.  I will also have some work hanging at their pop-up art fair the week before.   Opening Sunday November 2nd at Jazz Gallery, 926 East Center St.  info here: http://www.riverwestart.org/zine_week.html
These are the 3 original watercolors from a series called "Scary Things" Nightmare/Shadow/Reflection

 if you get a chance go say hi to these dudes for me.
Tonight is also fall behind!  Best night of the year, extra hour of life!

Scary Things

A couple years ago I participated in this awesome month long challenge called "31 Postcards in 31 Days"  it was super fun and I decided to do it again this October.  I upped the challenge a bit by deciding to hand draw, ink and watercolor each postcard as a drawing challenge to myself.  I also wanted them to look dark and spooky as a practice for the book I'm starting to work on.
Here's a few glimpses at some postcards that directly relate to the book:

I am pleased with the creepiness of some of them..and I think it helped a lot for what I'm trying to move forward working on.
I'm posting a postcard every day for the month of October on my Tumblr

In other scary news I'm leading a workshop for teens at the Sulzer Library this Thursday about drawing comics. Check out the CPL events here 
I'm excited to be a part of a YOUMedia workshop and also a part of One Book One Chicago which is if you don't know about is a really cool sponsored event by CPL where one book is chosen for the whole city to read and then attend events/workshops about.  This year the book is the Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon

Happy October!

Heart Seed

I can't believe summer is almost over.  It feeds very weird and I am in total denial that winter is coming again.  I always feel very rooted in the seasons at the end of summer though and very grateful that I live somewhere that I get to experience all the changes of the seasons.

I finished a new comic!  I'm really excited to share it with everyone.  It's called Heart Seed.  It's about settling your roots in somewhere planting seeds from the past.

I've been thinking a lot lately about settling in and how comforting it is to build a future.  With so many good friends starting families and buying homes--I'm seeing how important it is to know what you want from your future.  I'm working hard to get there. <3 p="">

One step for me towards the future is seeing myself as an artist and not waiting for others to tell me I am.  So I took a big leap and bought a fancy printer to make archival prints with.  I did a few small prints for the Grand Rapids Zine Fest and this is how they turned out:

Both of these items are up for grabs at my etsy shop or just by talking to me.  OR also exciting news!  My good pal Neil has started an incredibly awesome comics distro and is selling some of my comics as well as tons of other super amazing artists.  Check out his Radiator Comics page and order some awesome stuff!

Keep Feeling

I've been using my tumblr a lot more for every day sketches and posts--so make sure and check that out.
I can't believe it's the summer.  I've done some big life changes in the last couple of months ending one my jobs and also stepping down as an organizer of the zine fest.  Here is a little comic I wrote about that:

This is all in an attempt to focus on my own work and really make a go of it as a writer (scaaaaary)!  Please get in touch if you're interested in any commissioned work as I have some time now to work on things like that (leslieperrine@gmail.com).

I recently went on a trip East to visit Andrew's parents for Mother's day.  It was great.  Here's a little drawing I did of how we spent our time in NYC

 I've been trying to settle into working at home and having time to work while Andrew is also starting work on his dissertation.  It's been a transition and I think I'm getting better at actually saying what I feel and what I need.  I heard a woman on NPR a few weeks ago talking about the idea of modern women thinking feelings and emotions are weaknesses.  I wrote a little comic thinking about how I've been feeling more lately (yes, I cried hearing the opening music to Orange is the New Black starting season 2..) but I don't think that's bad at all!

That's all for now.  Stay tough, keep feeling.  xo

Friendship

It has been forever since I posted in here.  A lot has happened since June!  I moved into a great new apartment, organized the 5th annual Chicago Zine Fest  and been doing small projects here and there.  I am coming up on a huge work time for myself and hoping to get a lot done and keep posting results of things I'm doing.  I hope!
Here is a comic I drew for my friend Heather's comp zine called Always and Forever: A Zine About Friendship she made for Chicago Zine Fest.  It's totally awesome (because so many amazing people contributed!)  and you can order it here:
http://strangerdangerzines.com/catalog/a-c or here
https://www.etsy.com/listing/184541201/always-forever-a-zine-about-friendship?ref=af_you_favitem

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