Art is long.

As a kid I devoured art and comics. In grade school I read Doonesbury (even though I didn't understand much of it), Calvin & Hobbes, and most of the Sunday comics. In middle school and most of high school I was immersed in fantasy and sci-fi novels, I hit onto early/classic comics like Batman, Superman, and Green Arrow. I fell in love with Batman really quick, though I haven't stuck with the most current stories, but he is in my heart, along with Cat Woman. I came upon Wonder Woman and Captain American later.
In high school, my funky art school, so much art was thrown at me I almost drowned. That's when X-Men, Ghost World, and Maus showed up. I never really liked the name, but I found out about "graphic novels" like Love and Rockets by Jaime/Xaime Hernandez (he is one of my heroes and favorite artists all wrapped into one) and Doug TenNapel's work (Black Cherry mostly), along with Jim Mahfood who draws like I wish I could draw.
At crazy, hipter art college, I fell in with an awesome comic/nerd crowd and they fed me Scott Pilgrim, Bone, Pride of Baghdad, and countless others. I was going to comic book releases, I was in a comic collective, I read almost nothing but comics for awhile. I love the world, the culture, the booming rise of women in the comics industry.
I love comics. I am an enthusiast. I just wish I wanted to make them. I don't. I've made a few and printed two or three which failed to make any thunder; looking back I think they mostly didn't sell because my heart wasn't in it.
With that, though, I feel that some people are just made for it. An old friend of mine from college is booming: Just check out all his stuff, he's fantastic http://terryblas.com/thegnerdpodcast/archives/4.

I am an illustrator, but for now I feel dormant.
I have been having some strange mental problems, which are most-likely self-imposed. And doubt and regret and depression.

I find now that I am out of school and on my own (as they say) making art falls into a lower bracket. I do it for the kids at work, which is awesome, but once I am home I feel consumed with bills, and food, and drama, and roommates, and roommate drama, and all that other crap that's out there. I want to figure out how to find my level. It's hard and it's taking a lot to not quit my relatively stable job and just move to somewhere new and just sit around painting in my underwear all day trying to start over and be different. But I can't. Can't or won't? Probably mostly can't.

That being said, I'm uploading art today.

Love,
Nat.