Lady Love

Oofta, I'm not even going to talk about how horrible I've been about updating because

I got into Cornish!
And that's super exciting.
Tomorrow is Christmas.
And Ellen Forney is going to be my teacher in January.
Best.
Present.
Ever.

So today while I sit here in my pajamas, eating a poached egg and drinking coffee in my pajamas, I am going to post some links to women cartoonists/artists that are huge inspirations to me, and part of the reason why I want to do this for a living:

Firstly:

Ellen Forney

When I was in elementary school, I was blessed (And cursed) with an incredibly high reading ability.
I firmly believe this is in part due to the fact I didn't have television growing up. Thanks parents.
So while my brother was off playing every instrument he could get his hands on, I was moving past the books intended for my grade level and reading in the "young adult" section of the library. I probably had the capability to read books for "regular adults" too, but the subject matter was never very interesting. I find that books written for adults are often about unhappy adults, and that didn't appeal to me as a child.
Anyways. One of the books that I regularly checked out from the library was "I Was 7 in '75," by Ellen Forney.
At the time I was entranced by this book because it explored material that was totally alien to me, like nudist colonies and weed.

So good. And I just finished her book "Marbles." Also amazing. Little scared to meet her, not gonna lie.

Secondly:

Erika Moen

Met her multiple times at comic book conventions and last year in Portland went to one of her panels. Such a neat lady. Serious girl crush.
So I've been reading DAR (which recently ended) for many years now, and it was one of those comics that gave me such hope, because you can very distinctly SEE her getting better. You can see her art visibly progress. Great sense of humor, amazing skill, and she addresses important issues.
Like these:

no but seriously:

Thirdly:

Lucy Knisley

Another huge internet amazing cartoonist lady that I have a girl crush on.
I read her work and just sigh with jealousy. She does work that makes me think, "Ugh I want to do this! I could do this! Okay... Maybe I can't do THAT. How does she do that?!"
Inspiring, funny, quirky: Lucy Knisley is awesome. And loves cheese seemingly as much as I do. Which I didn't think was possible.

http://lucyknisley.c

Fourthly:

Obviously Kate Beaton. If you haven't read her work, you are living under a sad little rock. Hilarious and historically (sometimes) accurate, her comics (when she finally posts once a freakin' month) are the highlight of my day. A perfect example of someone bringing their own distinct humor and interests to a comic. Historical comic books! Yeah!
And is it just me, or does the lack of punctuation just make it even more hilarious?

Fifthly:

Jess Fink is amazingly erotic, funny and talented. I have this fantasy that all of these lady artists get together and make cocktails and trade pens and draw each other.
I need a lady artist friend.


So erotic...:

No but seriously:

Okay, okay

SIXTHLY:

Danielle Corsetto writes an amazing daily comic I have been reading for YEARS called Girls With Slingshots. Hilarious, and again, it's easy to see that her art and style have changed so much from the beginning, giving me hope that someday, I could be as awesome as she is.

And one of my personal favorites:

I hope I've left you with some nice holiday reading! Seriously, take an hour and visit all of their websites, you will get sucked in.