Drawing the Line

on my love for a well-drawn line and other things

some scenes from where i am, autumn in western new york

It’s like we are invisible sometimes. I went to find a comic series or graphic novel with a character I could relate to, maybe a philosophical female in her in mid-sixties, a couple cats nested on her well-worn reading chair, a house full of books, a love for coffee and a well-shaken martini. Maybe she muses on the world as it goes by her big picture window in a brownstone on an eclectic avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, all through the changing seasons. Needless to say, nothing like this exists. Nothing even close. What, you say comic books are for kids? Uh, not really. It’s a huge industry and there are plenty of middle-aged men who still get wrapped up in their favourite superhero series. Graphic novels are becoming more popular and there are a very few that might appeal to an older female with a sense of the spiritual in her, or even just someone who enjoys a slice of life story from someone else’s shoes. But comic series? Nada. It just doesn’t exist.

Maybe the market is just too small. Maybe there are not many women my age who are in love with comic book art, New Yorker cartoons, or even a spirited and mysterious manga series. I enjoy reading a few of those series that are aimed at a much younger audience, but lately I have felt like I wanted to open the pages to a world of someone more like me in age, and it just does not exist. I started searching for female comic artists in my age range or older and found an exciting list: Lynda Barry, Maira Kalman, Roz Chast to name a few. I adore them all, and their work, but they are really not creating what I am looking for, either. Am I off the mark to think this would be a good idea? You know what they say, if it doesn’t exist, create it. And maybe I will.

Why do I love a black line that tells a story so much? Is it the crisp contrast to the white page? The way it makes me stop and think a little more about something, and usually laugh under my breath, or even out loud? I love the art of manga and graphic novels. I love a New Yorker cartoon. I love the art of Kim Kran’s The Wild Unknown tarot deck, probably my favourite deck of all. I love block prints, etchings, intaglio and pen and ink and sumi-e and all of it’s simplicity. I love illustrators like Sarah Simblett whose only tools are an ink pot, a dip pen and a pad of paper and how she creates the most intricate drawings of the natural world. I love Frederic Forest whose economy of line makes me gasp with fascination. I love it because I just don’t have it in my own work, and oh I want it. Oh how I want it.

So, I decided to take myself to school this winter. I found three, used Lynda Barry books on writing, drawing and making comics and pulled together a stack of supplies from my copious stacks of supplies, and I opened a simple notebook and began. It’s really foreign to me, it’s uncomfortable, it’s scary and I am really a novice in every way. And yet… how thrilling, exciting it is to be a student of something I have wanted to learn for such a long time. I will work on on it every morning before the sun rises for an hour or so and who knows where it will lead me. I just know I want to try, to shake things up, to give my very, fine-art-based practice a challenge. And let me tell you, drawing comics and illustrating ideas is far more difficult than drawing and painting a landscape or a bluebird. At least for me. It will enrich and inform all of my skills, of that I am certain. I already have a pocket notebook that I jot down ideas for cartoons about being an older woman in the world, and I gotta say there is plenty of material. We are a fascinating demographic, if you ask me. We deserve the spotlight as much as Clark Kent and Spiderman. We also have superpowers. Oh yes we do.

Now I want to hear from you. If you could learn anything new this winter season, what would it be? Also, do you know of any comic series or graphic novels that you think I might enjoy? And if you are a woman over 60, what are some places or things that you notice women of our age are poorly represented, things that matter to you and leave you without many options? How do you feel about the idea that if it doesn’t exist, maybe it’s time for you to create it? Lots of questions, but questions are the best thing, aren’t they? Far more interesting than answers.

See you in the comments below, or just reply to this email, if that’s how you receive this little offering. xo 🌈