it's story time!

First Snow

2011-12-09T21:56:00.001-06:00

Last night was the first snow of the year. It's late this year. Although I'm not a huge fan of the cold, looking out and seeing the snow blowing under the streetlamps on Mozart is a magical feeling. I really love it and it feels like things are really changing.

Tomorrow is already time again for the Milwaukee Zine Fest!

I love this zine fest because it marks the anniversary of Matt, Ramsey, Neil and I's decision to start Chicago Zine Fest. It was 3 years ago now already! Sadly, just Neil and I are left from the original crew but we'll be tabling with Zine Fest goods and our own zines tomorrow from 10-5 at the Falcon Bowl.

What new things will I have there?
Sadly, not much. I finished my book Stella's Big Wish at long last
Here is the cover:

And a couple sample pages:

I printed two copies through lulu and was going to get more but was not entirely happy with the printing...so I don't have any copies for Milwaukee unfortunately. I will figure it out soon and post more info when they're available! Hopefully soon!

Here are a couple of little drawings I did for my friend Jamie's website (more about that in the future too!)
"party/happy/fun" pic:

"trading" pic:

And lastly, Chicago Zine Fest is in full swing. Can't begin to say how excited I am about things going on this year. Holiday fundraiser, with our NEW ARTWORK by the amazing Lilli Carré

Free Fallin'

2011-10-11T11:43:00.003-05:00

Listening to a lot of Tom Petty, getting a lot of work done.
It's been so gorgeous out and I've had a few unexpected days off from work, which is great for getting real work done.
My friend and former tourmate Jim Joyce is putting together a Halloween zine he asked me to be a part of. These four pages were my contribution:

I'm excited to see it all together. Also in the zine are Xavier Maldonado, Dave Roche, Vicky Lim and more!

I've been working non stop on a project I can't share..shhhhh it's a surprise for someone! But I'm really excited, so just rest assured there's a lot of work going on.
photo proof:

Fall means getting back in Zine Fest swing. We're back on a weekly meeting schedule and hosting our first fundraiser Oct. 24th. Here's the flyer I made for the reading:

Speaking of zine fests, I'll be at the Madison Zine Fest Oct. 22nd--if you're in the area or looking for a day trip, come say hi! I'm excited to go back to Madison. It was really lovely this time of year last year.

End of Summer

2011-09-24T00:13:00.003-05:00

It officially feels like the end of summer these past few days. I saw a few trees starting to turn color this week. I've been spending a lot of time holed up in my apartment with my roommate Sara Drake drawing, eating curry and watching Gossip Girl before she leaves to teach comics in Cambodia in mid-October.

Whenever it turns to fall I start missing Michigan. Seeing the leaves change, going apple picking and drinking cider. Hopefully I will make it back there soon and see my niece (who is already 10 months old!) For now, here is a comic about how much I love my family (awwwww..)

Read 'em and Weep

2011-08-27T10:47:00.003-05:00

Tour was an amazing time. It's pretty incredible to put something together that depends so much on other people caring about what you do and just hope that they come through. It reminded me what I love about the DIY punk community and it felt really weird in a lot of ways to finally have something to share within that group. I don't usually do picture posts but tour deserves it.

We started our adventures in Grand Rapids, MI--my old town. Our friend Sara Baier set up the reading at a really nice art space. There was an awesome mix of old friends and people I didn't know who came out to the reading. Kate Mosher, my old roommate and dear friend, read for the first time and it was really outstanding.

We ate Brickroad Pizza (the best), went to the tire swing, visited Gerald Ford, walked the river and the skywalks then hung out with old friends at the Pyramid Scheme.

Next day we drove to Lakewood, OH. Stopping at Horrock's (my favorite grocery store) along the way for free coffee, melon and a quart of blueberries.

This is the crew: Dave Roche, Jim Joyce, Xavier Maldonado and me.

I don't have any pictures of our reading at the Soggy Dog house. We read at a show, in between bands, which actually worked out pretty well. Everyone who listened was really into it and it was fun being a part of a punk show. Our friend Bri Z was moving to Cleveland the next day so we decided to do a real late night drive to Pittsburgh instead of bugging her by staying at her place. Late night drive with Coast to Coast and cookies--good stuff.

We actually stayed in Braddock, PA where a bunch of kids are living now trying to form a community in a pretty run down industrial town. They cooked us an amazing brunch and we got to see the kids from the Ambulars who had played a show the night before.

Jen Twigg and Ramsey Beyer. We all organized Chicago Zine Fest together. Jen's been away most of the summer and Ramsey lives in Philadelphia now.

Ice cream at Oh Yeah.

The reading that night in Pittsburgh was at the Cyberpunk Apocolypse. Which is a really awesome collective space that houses Artnoose's letterpress studio and does writing residencies.

Artnoose reading:

It was a great reading and lots of nice people came out. We headed back to Braddock that night for rootbeer floats and hang outs. Then headed to Philly the next day

We went and got pizza at Blackbirds once in Philly and Ramsey and I snuck off to the Grindcore House (all vegan coffee shop!) before the reading.

The reading was at the Woodenshoe Bookstore. Which is an awesome radical space in Philly.

That night we hung out with Ramsey and watched the movie Twins

We went to Satellite the next morning and then headed out to the Big Apple.

The reading was at Book Thug Nation, Aaron Cometbus' bookstore in Williamsburg. It was slightly intimidating to read in front of him, but it went so so well we all felt amazing afterwards. Reading with Cristy Road and Carrie Colpitts was pretty rad as well.

So of course we went and treated ourselves to ice cream at Lula's

And we got to hang out with J who just moved to Brooklyn from Chicago.

The next day we got breakfast at Breakfast all Day and then headed to DC.

Our DC show was very last minute. We had planned to go to Baltimore the whole time and it just kept falling through so I asked a zine friend Shira if she could set something up with about 3 days notice in DC. Amazingly, people came! I really couldn't believe it. We owe DC big time.

We hung out with Shira that night and watched a show called whisker wars with a guy who does professional beard competitions and was featured on the show a bit. Funny stuff.

Breakfast at Sticky Fingers with David and Shira, two of the best in DC

Then headed off for a long drive from DC to Columbus. Wasn't so bad and listened to some PG Wodehouse to pass the time (though no one seemed as into it as me)

We read at a house called the Iuka house who were all super sweet people and cooked us an amazing taco dinner!

Ryan J read with us, he also set up the reading for us. He's an awesome Columbus kid.

We went and hung out at the Tiger's Jaw show at the Monster House for awhile afterwards, it was so packed we couldn't even go into the basement to see them! We stayed with Ryan and ate some Pattycake cookies (best vegan bakery!) The next day met up with everyone for burritos before heading to Louisville.

Of all the readings Louisville was definitely the least attended. It was at a coffee shop called Quills that was super nice and the people who did come were very enthusiastic about our reading, which was nice.

Dave did decide to take his clothes off while reading though to spice up the night a bit.

Jake, who is awesome and set up the reading had to work, so we decided to go straight to Bloomington rather than stay in Louisville.

We stayed with Charlie who used to live in Chicago too until a month ago. Bloomington always feels good to visit, so many fun kids and such a relaxed town.

We went to a bbq, ate pesto pizza and then met up with Eric to do his youth radio show.

Our last reading was at Boxcar Books, a really awesome bookstore and zine shop.

The one and only Kari Jorgensen read with us--she's the best.

We went night swimming and then to a dance party after the reading.

The next day we went to the Owlery which is a restaurant my good friend Toby opened with his partner Ryan. It's pretty incredible that they did this. It's such a cute place and everyone who works there are friends.

And then we headed back to Chicago. Overall, I can't say enough about how amazing it is to have people support and acknowledge what you do. Having positive feed back night after night about what I've chosen to do with my life right now is pretty huge and feels so good. It inspires me to keep making things, thanks everyone!

(also a few of these pictures were stolen from Ramsey and Dave)

Tour Time

2011-08-07T21:08:00.005-05:00

I'm leaving on tour Friday for a week and a half with three talented friends Dave Roche, Jim Joyce and Xavier Maldonado. Here are the dates and places for the tour, if you're around please come say hi!

Aug 11th Chicago, IL 826CHI (1331 N Milwaukee 7pm)

Aug 12th Grand Rapids, MI Calvin Gallery (106 S. Division 7pm)

Aug 13th Cleveland, OH Soggy Dog House (tentative)

Aug 14th Pittsburgh, PA Cyberpunk Apocolypse (5431 Carnegie St 7pm)

Aug 15th Philly, PA Wooden Shoe Bookstore (704 South Street 7pm)

Aug 16th New York, NY Book Thug Nation (100 North 3rd St 7pm)

Aug 17th Baltimore, MD Red Emma's (tentative)

Aug 18th Columbus, OH luka House (2131 luka ave 7pm)

Aug 19th Louisville, KY Quills Coffee Shop (930 Baxter 7pm)

Aug 20th Bloomington, IN Boxcar Books (408 6th St 7pm)

I'm very excited to take my work on the road. I love having the instant feedback of a crowd, it's pretty amazing.

I've been binding like crazy to make copies to take out. I will have copies of my new edition of Aurthur and the Whale.

I drew this comic for a zine about nannying that Jami Sailor asked me to contribute to. I'm very excited to see the finished product!

And in other huge news-Chicago Zine Fest 2012 date has been set. Please mark your calendars!

In personal news I have a new amazing roommate Sara Drake. It's awesome to have a roommate working on stuff and to have work nights. She is right now working on raising money for an amazing trip she is planning to go to Cambodia and work with women there on making comics. It's pretty incredible and a great cause. Please, think about donating to her kickstarter to try and help fund it. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/178882708/comics-in-cambodia?ref=live

Hope to see some of you on tour!

Summer, at last!

2011-07-02T19:49:00.004-05:00

So much to update!

Summer is in full swing, it's so great. I love being warm and late night swims.

Big news is I'm going on a reading tour in August. My friend Dave Roche and I were planning a tour and found out our friends Xavi and Jim were planning a tour at the same time, so we combined efforts for one mega zine reading tour! Here are the tentative dates:

Aug 12th Grand Rapids

Aug 13th Cleveland

Aug 14th Pittsburgh

Aug 15th Philly

Aug 16th NYC

Aug 17th Baltimore

Aug 18th Columbus

Aug 19th Louisville

Aug 20th Bloomington

Very excited! If you are in any of these cities, please come out, or let me know if you can help out in any way.

I've been busy letterpressing away. Myself and 3 other girls are actually looking at spaces to try and open our own studio up North.

I printed a new edition of my book Aurthur and the Whale. Here's the set up:

Printed at 64th St print shop that I helped open up

I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

Also, here's a funny article my friend Elizabeth wrote about me:

http://www.wearedesignbureau.com/projects/peep-show-leslie-perrine/

so it's come to this..

2011-05-06T10:51:00.007-05:00

I know I mentioned it a long time ago, but I finally have the comic zine I did with Ramsey, Kettner and Liz Prince up in my Etsy shop! www.etsy.com/shop/leslieperrine

Ramsey: www.everydaypants.com

Liz: www.lizprincepower.com

Both of them along with Kettner also have comics up at the awesome website www.ifyoumakeit.com

In other news, I just turned 29 2 days ago! Ready for a great year.

It's finally starting to be warm out.

Time for bike rides, movies in the park, friend visits, coffee on patios and swimming at the lake!

Here's a peek at a new project I've just begun working on:

Dig Deeper!

2011-04-16T17:55:00.002-05:00

Chicago Zine Fest is over and the weekend was AMAZING. It was so fun and so successful it was definitely hard to process it all. THANK YOU to everyone who made it possible. The most rewarding part of the weekend was being around so many people who do the same thing as me. For me it helped validate what I'm doing by seeing so many other people who care about the same thing. It's inspired me to do a lot more work and focus on getting stuff done.

One week left of INSANITY workout. Here's some fun links to insanity punk websites:

http://insanitypunx.blogspot.com/

http://apocalypticfitness.tumblr.com/

Fun stuff.

Here's a comic about it:

It's Zine Fest time!

2011-03-24T00:48:00.004-05:00

Well, for about seven months straight I've devoted most of my "free time" to planning The Chicago Zine Fest, which takes place THIS FRIDAY and SATURDAY.

This year I'm a little less scared and just as excited about the weekend of festivities!

Check out this line up!

Then there is a super fun (in)Formal dance after party Saturday night in an outerspace theme.

These are the people I've been spending hours and hours with planning, fundraising, emailing, food making, errand running and just over all hanging out with

That's Ramsey, Jen, Me, Carrie and Johnny and NEIL is taking the picture--he's the one who gave us all kazoos.

They're all amazing and awesome.

This is the map I drew of Chicago for the program that will be at all the events Friday and Saturday:

For Zine Fest--Ramsey and myself are putting out a split comic with Liz Prince and Kettner. It's about OkCupid.

Here's a sneak peak of one of my comics:

So excited! Hope everyone gets here safe, thanks for all your support!

Go Dolphins.

2011-02-20T02:36:00.001-06:00

Winter Hibernation

2011-01-15T01:43:00.004-06:00

It's officially that part of winter where it feels like it's never going to end.

I did a really fun reading last weekend at The Beauty Bar which I forgot to post about, whoops. It was a reading series hosted by Two With Water a really awesome literary magazine my old roommate Amy helps run.

We sold out tables for the Zine Fest already! We are still trying to free up some space so there's a waiting list we're asking people to sign up to be on just in case! It's been kind of whirlwind response, which is so amazing.

Here's a flyer I made for an upcoming fundraiser event.

I'm very excited to be showing Groundhog Day on Groundhog Day, kind of a dream come true of mine.

The 64th st. print shop is coming along and we tested out working the smaller press last weekend and worked out some kinks. Tomorrow is a type sorting event that Clare organized. It will be nice to see who else is interested in the project and figure some things out.

Happy to be writing again, happy to be drawing.

Here's a comic about crushes, ah winter.

Turn and Face the Strange

2010-12-14T23:57:00.004-06:00

Big News is registration for the Chicago Zine Fest is now open!

We're anticipating being able to sell out 100 tables this year--pretty crazy.

Also have some big name special guests including Aaron Cometbus, Al Burian, Cindy Crabb, Anne Elizabeth Moore, John Porcellino, Lilli Carre, Jeffrey Brown, and more!

It's going to be an awesome time!

Please visit our website and check out our new artwork done by the amazing Edie Fake

http://www.chicagozinefest.org/

I'm also taking on a new project down at the 64th Street Print Shop, which is basically an abandoned print shop funded by U of C that myself and 3 other girls from my letterpress class have decided to start up again. We went down last Wednesday to scope it out and do some cleaning. It's going to take a lot of work but I think we can get it up and running soon. Here's a photo Elizabeth snapped after moving all the drawers of type and stacking them in the shelving. Moving drawers of type around is definitely going to help my triceps!

I also became a very proud and happy Aunt the day after Thanksgiving.

Here's a comic about that..sort of...

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

End of November, already.

2010-11-20T19:18:00.004-06:00

This past week was my last week of my letterpress class. The first day of class our teacher Pamela told us that a book for a final project was probably a little much to try for. Of course in my head I'm thinking, "Noooo problem!" I quickly discovered she was probably right. But none the less here it is--my tiny book final letterpress project:

I'm happy with how it came out. If you would like one, I'm selling them for two dollars. Please email me.

Also, the slug prints I posted before are now available on my fabulous etsy page!

Exciting Exciting News Part 1: Chicago Zine Fest has announced it's dates March 25th and 26th! and will happen at the Conoway Student Center at Columbia College again. I am so excited about the programming and actual event, I can't wait until March. I'll share information soon, just know it's going to be AWESOME.

And Exciting Exciting News Part 2: I'm going to be an aunt probably within this week!!! Here is a comic about it. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Staying in on a Friday Night

2010-11-12T22:03:00.005-06:00

Spending the night in, catching up on so many projects and things I've wanted to do all week is nice. Not having my computer all week due to it breaking (again!) means lots of stuff to get done on the internets. Also, a new episode of Glee to watch! This is what I did while I watched Glee:

I've been meaning to have a tabling tablecloth for a long time now, but am always so behind before shows that I don't get around to it.

Tomorrow is the Milwaukee Zine Fest!!!

Come, if you are in the area!

My friend Shannon asked me to be a part of a "punk house" zine she's putting out specifically for the Milwaukee Zine Fest.

Here's my comic contribution:

Excited to see it all together!

Pressing it all Out

2010-11-04T17:56:00.006-05:00

I've been taking a letterpress class for the first time ever, which has been so exciting and great! I totally love it and love the process of placing each letter and space into place.

Our first assignment was to do some wood type and metal type on one page with a quote or definition. I did a Frank O'Hara quote from my favorite poem of his "Having a Coke with You."

We also did images by doing linocuts and then setting them up on the printing press as well. This was my favorite thing we did and mostly what I'm doing for my big final project. I did a linocut of a page from my new mini-comic bananaslug! I will have some of these for sale in Milwaukee next weekend. I did 3 separate runs in three different colors.

As mentioned, next weekend already is the Milwaukee Zine Fest! Which holds a sentimental place in my heart since, not only was it my first zine fest I tabled at, it was also when we got the idea to start working on Chicago Zine Fest. Crazy it was only a year ago!

So I will be busy all weekend getting stuff made and put together for that.

Also, bananaslug! is up on my etsy now.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/leslieperrine

And here's a little comic I've had for a bit..

The banana slugs are coming!

2010-10-13T09:21:00.004-05:00

Just arrived back from this Philly Zine Fest this weekend. I met some of the nicest people ever there. And ate some super good, amazing food. And got to hang out with my good friend Ramsey away from Chicago, which was awesome.

In preparation for Philly I was going nuts finishing my first official MINI-COMIC! I'm very pleased to be able to say I got it finished in time, and it's now available. If anyone is interested let me know..it's $2 plus a stamps worth of shipping. Here's some samples from it:

this is the cover which is stencil painted and hand bound.

a few pages:

Also, in exciting news I'm doing a reading October 23rd. Here's the flier I made for it:

happy fall everyone! I can't wait to be in michigan this weekend and do some apple picking!

October! Aaaah!

2010-10-01T10:53:00.005-05:00

This is possibly the busiest October OF MY LIFE. Which means a lot to talk about!

Tomorrow a whole slew of us Chicago kids are heading up to Madison to table for the Madison Zine Fest it should be a good time. If anyone knows any great Madison hotspots--let me know!

Then next weekend Ramsey and I head out to Philly for the Philly Zine Fest

I'm mostly just excited about being on the East Coast for a bit and meeting a bunch of zine kids I haven't met before.

In preparation for these two events I've been working on something totally new...a mini-comic! And it's not even just drawings of myself over and over! It's been fun to try to make a story move without a narrator. Seems totally backwards from being a writer. Here's a sample page:

The weekend after next I head to Michigan for my brother/sister-in-law's baby shower. I made the invitations for it:

Such a fun project to have. I forgot how much I love just doing the tedious work of the same thing over and over (I made 20 of them) when it's not the same two books I spend hours making over and over.

Then the weekend of the 23rd I will be doing a reading at The Moving Castle House. I will post a flier (when I make it).

And lastly, what should I be for Halloween?!

Here's another long lost summer comic about feeling out of touch with Chicago...

I'm back!

2010-09-17T15:50:00.002-05:00

I've been away so long! I've had a lot of summer adventures and then my computer died and my scanner stopped working. This is the main reason I haven't been able to upload stuff lately. But I finally found the right driver online and now I can sort of scan things again in a round about way. Hooray!

Things are in full swing in my studio this fall.

I'm starting a new project to hopefully have done for the Madison Zine Fest, which I'll be tabling at October 2nd.

Also, on a whim, I'm flying to Philadelphia with Ramsey (who just put out List #14 --and it's awesome!) to table at the Philly Zine Fest October 11th.

Very excited about all of this!

I'll be updating a lot more regularly in the coming weeks since I have a lot of backed up work to upload onto here.

Here's one of the long lost comics of the summer:

July, July

2010-07-09T10:55:00.005-05:00

On my way to Minneapolis today to participate in the Twin Cities Zine Fest!

it should be a lot of fun! I'm very excited. If you're in the area, please stop by and say hello.

Also, I'll be doing a reading shortly after I get back here's the info:

July 31st, 2010

Fritz Pastry (they have vegan donuts!!)

4-6pm

We had our first Chicago Zine Fest 2011 Meeting this week!

So much to think about! I can't wait to get the ball rolling for it.

We're trying to get some flyers together to hand out at the Printer's Ball, which is an awesome event also, at the same venue we held the zine fest!

This is somehow all the info online about it:

http://printersball.org/

Here is one of my first finished pages from the paper cut book I've been working on:

Comic_june25th

2010-06-25T16:53:00.005-05:00

I just got back from a great trip to California, it was nice to see people I hadn't seen in a long time.

I visited Mills College while I was there to look into their creative writing and book arts degree. Unfortunately only one student is in the program and hasn't graduated yet! So they are still figuring a lot of things out. I'd like to find a bookmaking and creative writing program but maybe one that's a little more flushed out. I'm going to find out more about SAIC and their interdisciplinary program.

Tomorrow I will be tabling at this event:

which is sure to be really awesome, AND a lot of the tablers (including myself, Neil Brideau, Matt Whispers, Michelle Aiello and Busy Beaver Buttons!) will be donating a percentage of their proceeds to The Chicago Zine Fest!

And we are starting to talk about the 2011 Chicago Zine Fest already. Very exciting stuff.

Also, if some certain things work out and stars align I will be tabling at the Twin Cities Zine Fest on July 10th

And lastly, here's a comic I drew while I was in California...

Happy Summertime!

2010-06-03T14:16:00.003-05:00

This is what my days have been like lately.

Nice weather makes it so hard to get things done!

Rainy weather makes it so hard to get motivated!

Mondays are hard to get things done.

Blah, Blah.

But progress is being made.

Drawing groups are hopefully getting together.

I'm cutting bits of paper at an alarmingly slow rate.

Here's a comic about it:

paper cuts

2010-05-25T13:15:00.002-05:00

I've been busy but not with drawing comics lately. I've been mostly working on making the backgrounds for a new book I'm making. The pictures are going to be done all in paper cuts. Here's the start of one of them:

I will share more as I go.

In practice for that I've made a lot of other paper cuts for different projects I've been doing

Here's a birthday card I made for the little girl I nanny for:

And here's a flier for a show at our house coming up:

I'm sure I'll get some more writing and drawing done soon, but so far this has been keeping me very busy.

Who knew grey construction paper was so hard to find!!!

comic_may6th

2010-05-06T10:43:00.003-05:00

Nothing makes you feel weirder about things than friends having babies.

I'm trying to start some bigger new projects for the summer and getting back on a writing schedule. Hopefully, you'll see some things from this soon!

Comic_april13

2010-04-13T13:20:00.005-05:00

Trying to get work done is hard when it's nice and springy out. I came home from tour with tons of ideas and things I wanted to get done, but once I got home I got distracted by a messy house and things I needed to take care of.

Spring is also the season for long walks and hang outs.

So here's a funny thing I drew about that.

Happy nice weather finally everyone!

making things happen

2010-04-08T12:29:00.009-05:00

Tour with Paul is over. I was really surprised at what a warm response my readings got at our shows. Lots of people came up and said how nice it was to see someone reading at a show. This made me feel really great.

The biggest show we had was in Grand Rapids, our old stomping grounds, where over 100 people showed up to watch and I read into a microphone on a stage.

I am lucky enough to be friends with such talented people and to let them welcome me into their lives. Paul works really hard to have the kind of crowds he does at house shows so it was pretty incredible to get to read in front of such large groups.

In other news my friend James Payne asked me to do a drawing for an anthology the amazing Anne Elizabeth Moore was putting together for the Chicago Zine Fest.

It's a really neat zine about women's representation in the comic book world. I was honored to be asked to do it. Here's the beautiful cover by the ultra talented Sara Drake:

I was lucky enough to share the middle spread with Ramsey Beyer. Here is our page:

For now, I have to work on getting things together. I have several whale books to make from tour since I ran out and had to start a mailing list for them. I also want to start another large project now that my last book is done.

It's nice to have everything you feel you should be doing reaffirmed in just 12 days.

I started an etsy shop with all my goodies available there.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/leslieperrine

Some New Things

2010-03-22T12:02:00.002-05:00

The Chicago Zine Fest is over. It was a pretty amazing weekend and made me really feel like part of something in Chicago. It was wonderful to see so many talented people able to get together in one place and share what they love doing. It was very inspiring. Here's the little daily comic I drew about it:

In other news, I'm going on a little mini-tour with my good friend Paul Baribeau. This is our tentative schedule:

03/27 Chicago

03/38 Grand Rapids, MI

03/30 Cleveland, OH

03/31 Columbus, OH

04/01 Bloomington, IN

04/03 Louisville, KY

04/05 Milwaukee, WI

If we're coming your way, please come say hi to me, I'll be at the table with my books, and maybe doing a reading here and there. Should be a lot of fun. I'm very excited to leave and city and hang out with Paul for awhile.

Here's the flier for the show at my house that I made:

Thanks everyone who came to the zine fest and supported us! It really meant a lot!!

It's Here!

2010-03-10T22:51:00.007-06:00

Tomorrow we are hanging art for the Chicago Zine Fest! It's hard to believe--this is really happening!

We have had a crazy amount of hype and it's getting so exciting. I feel like I used to before Christmas, or a trip to Cedar Point. I would get so excited about an event coming up that I would actually make myself sick. Hopefully that doesn't happen. Although I haven't slept really or taken a break in about a week..

Here's what I've been working on:

My new book!

Here's a sample page:

This will be available at The Chicago Zine Fest 1104 S Wabash Saturday March 13th from 10-5pm

Don't forget Friday night there is a reading at Quimby's Bookstore at 7pm and a zine-related art show/gadabout film fest showing at Johalla Projects 1561 N Milwaukee.

Please come!!!

Also, tomorrow 4:30-7pm and Friday 4:30-7pm is the Comic Symposium down at SAIC

and Friday from I think 5:45-7 is a reading at 826CHI

All of these events are free and going to be AWESOME!!

Here's a funny article Matt and I were interviewed for with the Onion's AvClub.

http://www.avclub.com/chicago/

2010-02-15T14:22:00.002-06:00

Well, it's February! Actually it's over half-way through February. I'm not sure how that happened. The Zine Fest is less than a month away. Things are going great. We filled all 45 tables we had planned to fit in the space, and we have a lot of amazing people signed up to participate. I've been so busy I haven't been working on my own stuff a lot. I'm hoping to have a new book finished for it, but that deadline is looking completely unrealistic now, but however much work I get done this week will determine if that's true or not! Wish me luck!!

Here's a comic I managed to finish while I was away in Milwaukee this weekend. Milwaukee is such a nice place, so much quieter and welcoming than Chicago.

Comic_jan28th

2010-01-28T14:36:00.003-06:00

Chicago Zine Fest

2010-01-22T16:10:00.002-06:00

I've been planning this zine fest for months now with three friends and we finally have everything confirmed enough to start inviting people to come!!!

The set up goes like this:
Friday March 12th
Reading and Talking @ Quimby's bookstore (6:30-8)
Art show and Gadabout film fest @ Johalla Gallery (7-11)

Saturday March 13th
Exhibiting and Workshops @ Conoway Center at Columbia College (10-5)

It's going to be super fun, and we also need a lot of help with volunteers and getting the word out to people who would like to table. Let me know if you want to do any of this stuff. Or just come and have fun with us!!!
Check out our website at chicagozinefest.org (still under construction a bit)

comic_jan19th

2010-01-19T10:44:00.001-06:00

I had the best weekend hanging out with kids from Milwaukee and Columbus. I love hanging out with people who aren't worried about the kind of image they're giving off to everyone else constantly.

2010-01-14T12:01:00.002-06:00

So, last year on New Year's Eve I did a one night zine about the past year. I didn't have time to do it on New Year's Eve this year, but I did decide to do a year in review zine again. It was nice to force myself a lot of what had happened over the past year--good and bad. Sometimes it's just easy to let time keep passing without really looking at what you've gained and lost from it. This zine "Where are you now?" is a look at just that what I accomplished, learned, lost, miss and had in 2009. If you would like an actual copy of it, please let me know and I we can work something out.

it's a happy new year

2010-01-02T18:23:00.003-06:00

Happy New Years everyone. I've been busy busy with zine fest things. It's looking like it's going to really happen and on March 12th and 13th. I will let you know more when it's closer to the time.

I think the holidays makes everyone very reflective, thinking back on past years and how far you've progressed. I've been feeling really good about where I'm at right now, literally and figuratively, which is great. But things do always feel pretty temporary these days. So this is kind of sad, but really I'm feeling pretty good.

Happy new year everyone, I love you.

comic-dec10th

2009-12-15T12:27:00.002-06:00

You'd think with it being cold and staying inside I'd be more productive than ever lately, but this unfortunately is not so. We have been making a lot of progress with the Zine Fest and pretty much have a location set and a date which is so exciting! I am starting a new project to hopefully have for that along with all the old standbys. We also have been really busy making chocolate and we have truffles now up our etsy shop--check them out!

With all my time at home I have been drawing and watching television on the internet (boo) but it has given me a chance to watch the rest of the 3rd season of 30 rock..

comic-dec 5th

2009-12-07T13:57:00.003-06:00

With the winter coming I've been staying in a little bit more. It's good for getting things done, but not so much for the social life. An example of a hopping Saturday night for me..

contact

2009-12-04T00:19:00.005-06:00

I recently re-watched the movie Contact for the first time in many, many years and it made me remember a bunch of funny things which I don't really think about anymore. Winter always makes me nostalgic and I guess I would usually just write in my journal about it but since I've been trying to draw I figured I would try to draw about it.

shameless self-promotion

2009-11-23T11:19:00.004-06:00

So, in news other than writing my friend Toby and I have been working on starting a vegan chocolate business.

Bum's Candies is officially up and open for business!

Please, visit our etsy shop here and our fellow blogspot here, any feedback would be great or if you have any flavor suggestions we would love to hear them!

Also in other news, tomorrow night I will be participating in an open mic event for my friend Amy's literary magazine Two With Water

The story I'm reading came from a writing prompt that Matt and I did earlier this week. So far they have been almost all helpful and we have written some good stuff from them.

Here is a snippet from that story...

I started to stay up most nights, as late as I could take, doing god knows what, just to avoid the nightly cat fights. It was around that time that I started trying to teach them simple English to try and communicate with them. I talked to them as you would a baby, just learning how to make sounds and form them into ideas.

“You. Cat. Andy.”

“Me. Human. Michael.”

I would point at their tails and say, “Tail. Can you say tail?”

Ralph, who was big and gray and whom I loved more than Andy, seemed more receptive to the lessons. He would mew and cock his head, as if asking me to, “Explain that again? Maybe slower this time and possibly in cat tongue?” His big green eyes curious to the sounds I was making and the response I was looking for. Andy, on the other hand, would just scamper off, looking for food or a toy. He was a very cat-like cat and I guess I resented him for it. He thought only of cat concerns and seemed to be telling me he had no use for this higher knowledge I was wasting his time with.

If you're in Chicago, please come to Cafe Ballou on Western between Division and Chicago around 7pm Tuesday to hear the whole story!

it's not funny

2009-11-16T14:18:00.004-06:00

Well, as I've been saying, in preparation for the Milwaukee Zine Fest Matt, Ramsey and I compiled our comics together and made a zine with them all in it. I like the way it turned out a lot and we called it "it's not funny" since they're comics but aren't really comedic.

This is what is turned out like:

let me know if you would like one, we've been charging $4 for them. They are 40 pages long!

The zine fest was a lot of fun (although I was sick), and actually quite successful. We as a table sold a lot of zines. This was the first time I really tried to sell any of my things and people bought them which was very very exciting. We are trying to plan a zine fest for Chicago now, since for some reason one doesn't exist here.

comic-nov 7th

2009-11-11T11:18:00.002-06:00

Okay, this is the last comic that will be in our comic zine that we're putting out with Matt, Ramsey and I. It's exciting to have a small project like just practicing drawing turn into something much larger and see everything I've done all together. Yah for having friends that do things!!

comic-nov3rd

2009-11-10T11:41:00.004-06:00

I've been so busy getting ready for the Milwaukee Zine Fest and putting together our new comic zine that I've barely had time to scan in stuff that I've been making. Exciting news is that our friend Neil is coming to table with us as well, he makes really awesome comics! Here is a comic I did last week..

prompts, please

2009-11-04T11:15:00.003-06:00

So, my friend Mathew (who writes this blog) and I have started every other day writing sessions. But we need prompts. Last time we used a book title by Rita Dove and a quote from Brideshead Revisited. If you would be so inclined, you should help us out by sending us a prompt or two for us to use in our writing. Thanks! We're hoping to eventually compile a bunch of stuff and put it in a zine possibly.

comic oct. 30th

2009-11-02T11:13:00.002-06:00

Exciting news is that Ramsey and I are getting close to having all the preliminary stuff done for the graphic novel and almost to the point that we can storyboard the whole story out.

We are also working on a comic zine with the things you have seen right here on this blog and at Ramsey's blog everydaypants.com/blog with her and Mathew's comics. We're getting this together for the Milwaukee zine fest which is next weekend, Nov. 14th. I'm very excited to table at a zine fest and see all the other people's zines. This and next week are going to be very busy with getting things made for it.

Here's a drawing (the third panel says "fully stocked kitchen" I first spelled it "fully stoked" which would be funny--but confusing. Hopefully I'll stumble across some white out soon to fix it.)

comic oct 21st

2009-10-22T14:21:00.002-05:00

i have had a lot of guests and a lot of visits other places lately that have distracted me from doing things, but hopefully i am back on track.

i am trying to do the artists' way that paul introduced me to. it's writing three pages stream of conscious every morning when you wake up. it's kind of hard to do but it's supposed to free your mind up so you are ready to work on real stuff. we shall see.

here is a drawing:

graphic novel update

2009-10-08T12:51:00.002-05:00

today, i finished the story for the graphic novel that ramsey and i are making.

i feel very good about it. i haven't finished writing a lengthy project in some time

it came out to be about 30 pages. it will be interesting to see how many pages

that translates to with drawing.

here's a little sample:

This was the kind of place they sent kids with serious problems. Mischa wasn’t one of these kids; she didn’t understand how things had gotten so serious so fast. In the brochure there were children all in white shirts and blue pants looking like zombies being taught how to be “proper people.” It made her sick. Around lunchtime Ryan walked by and slipped a note into her backpack. She opened it during Math. It read:

Go straight home, I’ll come over at 3:30, leave the back door open.

Get ready to lose at tetris.

ca caw

She smiled and immediately tore it up and threw it away. She knew that if she was to try to have secret meetings with her friends there could be no evidence of them having been there or her parents would somehow find out.

now you just have to sit and wait to see what happens. ooooh

comic-oct2nd

2009-10-06T11:34:00.001-05:00

i love michigan more than any place in the world. it was nice to be home for a weekend.

another place i would rather be

2009-10-05T12:34:00.002-05:00

i miss living in a place with leaves and trees and fall especially.

comic-sept29th

2009-09-30T13:43:00.000-05:00

places i would rather be

2009-09-29T13:25:00.003-05:00

awhile ago i made these drawings of places i would rather be. i'm going to start them up again. here are two of them..

this weekend

2009-09-28T14:46:00.001-05:00

today i'm not doing as much work as i should, since i can hardly move my muscles from getting doored again on my bike...booo.

this is a look at the past week

jellyfish comic

2009-09-27T15:20:00.003-05:00

this weekend i've spent a lot of time going back through older drawings so i'll be posting a lot of drawings this week! here's one of them.

drawrings

2009-09-21T11:31:00.008-05:00

so, i have been trying to work on my drawing skills by drawing something new kind of like a comic everyday or every few days. i'll post more every so often. here's one from last week:

a new project

2009-09-04T10:13:00.002-05:00

as week two comes to a close of my life as a profession writer, i have begun a new project that i'm more excited about than anything i have been lately.

my friend ramsey and i have decided to venture into the world of the graphic novel.

this is ramsey:

she's awesome.

this is her website:

www.everydaypants.com

i'm really excited!!!

goodbye for now squirrel

2009-08-25T13:30:00.007-05:00

this is day one of my life as a professional writer--i have mornings to write now everyday, which is very exciting. here's a project i just finished (none of the pages are actually crooked..):

the lonely hippo

2009-07-13T15:38:00.004-05:00

this is a story i wrote a little bit ago.

let me know if you would like one i'll mail it to you!

a hello to start

2009-07-07T03:15:00.000-05:00

hello, my name is leslie perrine. i've been meaning to make a website for awhile now but don't understand the land of internet...so alas, i have ended up with a blog to chronicle my writings.

please, feel free to comment and let me know what you think.

or email me at disappearingground@yahoo.com and say hello.

thanks.

love

leslie