IT'S ME: 31 Self Portraits, 2021-2024

The beginning of Lynda Barry's book Making Comics includes a long-term exercise in which an artist uses a pen and note cards to draw quick self portraits based on a random prompt. Barry describes how she would have her students participate at the start of each class period then discuss with their peers. The point is to loosen up, draw whatever comes to mind, and put oneself in a spontaneous, from-the-heart mindset. 

Because I am an artist who started in traditional mediums but is now stuck doing digital art for commercial efficiency, I've returned to this exercise (though only loosely following Barry's guidelines) every once in a while to remind myself why I love drawing. The satisfaction of holding a physical note card smelling of ink with an image I drew simply for the joy of creating will never be matched by the impersonal feelings of making art with a tablet pen on a screen.

IT'S ME is a collection of all the self portraits I've made with this method so far, spanning a variety of genres and subject matter. They're silly, they're authentic, and they're some of the most fun I've had drawing in the past few years.

32 pages, 4.25" x 5.5", available digitally as a PDF download. 

⭐ There are also a limited number of physical copies available below!