Little Black Marker

This site has been up and running pretty consistently since 2007. That's kind of amazing to me. In all that time, I have not taken the time to explain where the name comes from. Figured now is good a time as any.

the actual LBM in question

During my semester in Rome in college, we spent a lot of time traveling. Go figure. As I was studying German, our class spent a few days of immersion time in Germany. Once of the things I was excited to do was shop at a KaDeWe. It's like a giant department store, but unlike ours in the states its not just clothes, shoes and appliances... Not wanting to come back home with a ton of stuff I got a few small things, in this case, a tiny black permanent marker. I used it throughout my time in Europe and have kept it since then.

While I was in Rome, I started doing short comics based on some of our experiences, both exciting and daily life. I had thought that perhaps I would keep doing them and make it into something, but it never really got off the ground.

I had longer hair then.

I designed myself and tried to get caricatures of the people that I hung out with established.

not sure why this is the answer.

In total there are only about 10 short comics, in various stages of completeness. Figured I would share a few here. Most are inside jokes from our time in Rome.

Joanne and I sunbathing on campus.

the cycle of exhausted study and overwhelmed travel

some girls thought the teachers were hot

our RA was kind of a nut

the famous gelato incident

random d&d story

Looking at these is just another reminder of the progression of skill over time. A lot of time.
Keep working on yourself.

Hark, A Vagrant Madonna!

And now for something less completely different... or: back to webcomics!

The next on my reader list is Hark, a Vagrant! by Kate Beaton.

Honestly, this is one of my favorite comics out there right now and I'll tell you why... If some of these had been shown in my history classes I would be less bored by history. I have found that putting difficult subjects in comic form makes me want to learn more about that subject; make sense? Not really. Ok, I will try again: History is totes boring to me. Always has been. Except for Art History, that is... and what little "actual history" gets put into art history for context is all I care about. This pains my husband, who is a history graduate and teacher. Part of what makes it so likeable, is that the famous (or not so famous) people in these comics are all humanized. Meaning I can relate to them in some way, which makes their plight or circumstance something that maybe I might just give two cents about.

My favorites: the covers, the peasants, and sexy Tudors, or anything with wolverine, the pony or her younger self too. Even when I have no idea about the subject matter, I still end up laughing and maybe even learning something, after I go look it up. But SHHHHHHH, comics are silly and rot your brain right?

My doodle for this comic has been daunting. I knew I couldn't pass by without doing one, but like I said, I don't like history enough to try and learn something new just for a doodle. I thought about drawing my husband in her style, but I can't cause she's too good at capturing that essence of a person in so few lines. Then I thought about asking him what his favorite historical figure was, but then again I might have to go look something up, so no.

Today I thought, OK, if I did a comic like this, it would be about art history right? So pick something from that... duh. I wanted to do a comic about Dali in his limo full of cauliflower since that story has always stuck with me, but it is funny by itself. So I started looking through all the images I have kept from my art history classes... Oh lord, the Spiral Jetty... that is only funny to a certain few of us I think. Ahah! That will do.

This painting, so strange with the proportions... With a neck like that, it's no wonder Mr. Giraffe liked her. And I am pretty sure that babies do not look like that.

Pisa Cathedral

Here's another where my theme of angels creeps in. The fantastic architecture is overwhelming, but in this perspective it is the human relation to the space, and the immense feeling of space that is created by the building, that takes center stage.