Smoke and Mirrors page 5 (or 6...)

It's funny what you can accomplish when waiting for eight hours for your car's brakes to be fixed -- This page for example. Other than some last minute touch ups, this whole page was drawn in a West Seattle coffee shop. It's amazing how exhausting waiting can be, and I was fried when I got home afterwards, but it's days like this, when I can really dig into my passion for cartooning without interruption, that reminds me how much I absolutely love what I do. Shamanism and Cartooning -- The double helix of my existence, that both shapes and is shaped by who I am and who I become; My twin divinely destined vocational callings which I can not not answer as easily as I can not not breathe. They truly are not just what I do, but who I am -- A Shaman Cartoonist. 

This particular page is the fifth in my Smoke and Mirrors series, recalling my path to becoming a Sacred Pipe Carrier after being challenged by a couple people who questioned what I was doing online. When I started this page, I failed to reference the previous one and so this may become page six because I am realizing the need for a better segue. I also need to fix the bit about my Lakota teacher. After drawing the page I contacted my teacher and, though she was trained in Lakota ways, she is not herself Lakota. To move forward with even a slight inconsistency like that would undermine the integrity of, and the whole purpose and reason for drawing this particular comic.  

To read the entire series thus far, please click on the "Smoke and Mirrors" label below. If you enjoy what you read here, please follow my blog. I do hope you enjoy my comics as much as I enjoy drawing them, and thank you for reading!

By the way, my aforementioned teacher, Kristina Bloom, is amazing and was one of my greatest teachers. You can check out her website at https://kristinabloom.com/.

Blanket Statement

There are two comic artists who really influenced and inspired the direction of my own comics, demonstrating for me the joy, growth, and healing of turning my cartoonist's pencil toward myself, drawing my own life as a comic. They are Craig Thompson, author/illustrator of Blankets, and James Kochalka, author/illustrator of American Elf. 

A few weeks ago, Craig was doing a book signing in Portland and, because of his importance to me, a three hour drive seemed a worthwhile investment to meet him. Though my intuition was on overdrive to get me down there, things did not turn out the way I'd hoped.

The following comic is the result of this seeming wild goose chase. Because I didn't get to meet him in person, the plan is to send him the comic to connect with him and to thank him for being such a huge turning point in my personal approach to my comics. Stay tuned for possible updates!