Comic Nurse Blog

Collaboration Week One

2012-02-17T08:59:00.002-06:00

Ian Williams, a Welsh doctor who makes comics under the pseudonym Thom Ferrier, is visiting for five weeks to collaborate on teaching, lecturing, writing, website developing, and comic-making. We met through his website, Graphic Medicine, and the first conference on Comics & Medicine in London two years ago.

The first week has been hectic! For the most part, we've been working in the mornings, then heading to Northwestern for teaching & meetings in the afternoons, then spending evenings in my studio. Between these activities we try to fit in some food, sleep, and exercise.

We started our collaboration with a few "Jam Comics." The exercise is from Jessica Abel & Matt Madden's Drawing Words and Writing Pictures. On a grid of nine boxes, each person has two minutes to do a panel, then you switch, doing the next panel of the other person's comic. The end result is usually quite amusing, and it is a fun way to focus creative energy. The two main goals of these comics were to see how our visual styles would look together and for me to learn a new way to colorize in PhotoShop.

Here are our first two Jam Comics. Click to enlarge.

Sketch of the Week 6

2012-02-13T08:21:00.000-06:00

Photo of the Week

2012-02-12T22:22:00.001-06:00

Fountain of Time, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2012-02-08T07:15:00.002-06:00

I'm a very lucky girl.

Sketch of the Week 5

2012-02-08T07:07:00.000-06:00

I love being in pools, especially pools in rooms that allow the water to dance with pillars of natural light. Surrounded by the constant grid of the tile feels so ordered in contrast to the flow & freedom of the water. Swimming in practice for open water in the spring, I'm keeping my head up, eyes focused on the cross grid at the end of the lane.

Sketch of the Week 4

2012-01-29T07:15:00.002-06:00

When uncertain what to draw at the end of a long day, sometimes I steal an idea from the amazing Katie Green and just record the obvious information of the day. I put my own twist on her idea, adding nocturnal attire.

Winter

2012-01-29T06:46:00.001-06:00

Winter, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2012-01-28T17:02:00.001-06:00

Alice Bea, snowed., originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

By popular demand.

The We Inside of Me

2012-01-27T11:56:00.000-06:00

I've mentioned this before, but I think it's worth revisiting. In my medical school course the students and I watch an incredibly interesting TED talk titled, "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor. The talk forms the basis of her book of the same name. What an amazing opportunity: to hear a neuroresearcher narrate the experience of having a stroke.

I use this talk on the day we discuss doodling, right brain and left brain, and how drawing enables you to access input to and output from the brain other than what text alone allows. So while Dr. Taylor is delivering her talk, we doodle.

Below is my doodle (colored with pencil) whilst watching Taylor this year,and last year's doodle (colored with watercolor paint) is below it. Though I find myself skeptical about some of Taylor's conclusions, and her tone at the very end, clearly I also find the talk intriguing and inspiring.

I use a few other audio and video clips for doodling. This year I've added another TED talk, this one by doodle revivalist Sunni Brown, to the mix, should you be curious why I have medical students doodling.

Sketch of the Week 3

2012-01-21T18:02:00.000-06:00

Concept sketch for a commission. I may have been a bit drunk.

Photo of the Week

2012-01-21T17:33:00.001-06:00

Alice Bea, Recovering, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Drawing Conclusions

2012-01-16T12:58:00.000-06:00

I've posted before about my struggles with representational drawing, particularly of people. I'm much more confident with buildings, though I could certainly still use some perspective help there as well.

Enter the gentle but powerful force of nature that is Riva Lehrer, at the Comics & Medicine conference this past June in Chicago. Aside from being an amazing portrait artist, Riva is an awesome human being - kind, funny, reverent and irreverent, smart, genuine, warm, a great and interested listener as well as talker. In short, Riva disarmingly genuinely human. I quickly grew to adore her. Her most recent show, Mirror Shards, is stunning, and features, among others, this image done in collaboration with Alison Bechdel.

Riva has a terrific command of human anatomy, obviously.

Riva knew of my struggles with drawing, and she so kindly invited me to attend her figure drawing classes at the School of the Art Institute.

Gesture drawing, in fact the use of the word gesture in this context, was completely new to me. Here is my first attempt, first drawing, first day of class, a "pretest" of sorts to show where I started.

You can see that the torso is a mess, and I was clearly more focused on the detail of the facial features. I realized pretty quickly that I was drawing from the inside out, a shadow frame, without, despite being a nurse, evidence of the body's interior.

That's where we started, talking in detail about the architecture of the body. I was pretty okay when we drew Norbert, Riva's skeletal model. He's a great model, too, because he never assumes those flashy, dramatic, and frustrating foreshortened poses that the real models love to show off. Norbert is a simple guy.

In looking at the architecture of the body, we considered what evolution has done to the skeleton- both animal and human. We looked at what joints exist where, what their natural ranges of motion are, how movement of one joint impacts the others in terms of bearing the weight of the body's muscles and organs. This is all content I knew from nursing school, but learning it in this context, as it applies to accurately re-representing the human form, that felt all new.

And this is where things started falling apart for me. It all seemed logical, and like it would all flow back together, a simultaneous awareness of interior and exterior, but thinking about drawing in this way seemed to be destroying the tiny, weak grasp I had on representing the human body in charcoal on paper. It looked and felt really crappy sometimes. And it got worse, as you can see here - unless the model this class was a fetus, which I don't seem to recall. Perhaps I'm drawing my inner urge to crawl into a fetal position and weep.

But I forged on. I decided no matter what, I was going to be the honey badger of drawing. I just wasn't going to give a damn, I was going to just keep doing my drawing thing, regardless of how ugly it got or how it almost killed me.

Riva taught about how to think when drawing - about gauging proportions, and relationships of objects in space. We learned a few tricks for measuring and comparing - how to look. And see.

I had to miss several classes due to my mom's brief illness and travel to Leeds, but in the classes I did attend, it started to slowly, painfully, start coming back together.

And then I did this one, with which I was quite pleased. Certainly not perfect, for example despite being a big guy, I don't think his shoulders were that broad. But whatever, I liked this one.

There's this moment we discussed in the final class, where as an artist you decide, as you look at the work you are creating based on the body you are looking at, whether your loyalty is ultimately going to be to the body as it sits before you, or to your drawing. Riva wants us to be loyal to the body, at least at this early stage.

I tend to be more loyal to my drawings. Honey badger don't care.

The process of Riva's drawing class disassembled my assumptions and approach to drawing, then painfully tried to help me reassemble basic skills. I cartooned it (admittedly somewhat unfairly, in a moment of frustration) like this...

But in reality, the impact of thinking about drawing in this new way, from the inside out, has carried over to drawing just about anything. I was sketching a coat and found myself thinking about its internal structure, how it supports what is seen on the outside. The drawing actually ended up having some depth. Huh. Who knew?

Interestingly the butcher paper from class sessions is organized in order below, and perfectly reflects the process of this class for me. At first, I'm all cocky & confident, and I roll my (thought to be) masterpieces, tuck them under my arm & trot home. The middle was a different story - folded my work, jammed it into my bag, slunk home. There may have been some crumpled on site that didn't even make it home. But then it comes together again, and I did drawings it doesn't pain me to revisit & I rolled them again.

Learning is hard. Teaching effectively is even harder, and I thank Riva for her patience & skill. I have much more to learn, and much, more drawing to do. There's a saying that feels like a lame cliche, "When the student is ready the teacher will appear" or something. I guess it might be true. Dorky, but true.

Sketch of the Week

2012-01-14T14:32:00.003-06:00

Photo of the Week

2012-01-14T14:21:00.001-06:00

Pencils, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Sketch of the Week 1

2012-01-09T11:44:00.003-06:00

Unfinished, but I suspect most of them will be...
DaVinci wrote, "Art is never finished, only abandoned."

Photo of the Week

2012-01-09T11:18:00.001-06:00

Sturgeon, Lake Worth, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Draw Every Day 2012

2012-01-01T15:28:00.000-06:00

Today is the day to decide if there's one thing you want to try to do every day for a year. Here's what I'll try, to follow the wise advice of the amazing illustrator Katie Green. For 2012 I will

At the end of a week, I'll try to post the best of that week, assuming there is a best. My methodology may vary - sometimes on iPad, sometimes following the words of Annette Goodheart, as quoted by Roger Ebert,

"Begin with a proper sketch book. Draw in ink. Finish each drawing you begin, and keep every drawing you finish. No erasing, no ripping out a page, no covering a page with angry scribbles. What you draw is an invaluable and unique representation of how you saw at that moment in that place according to your abilities. That's all we want. We already know what a dog really looks like."

It's Year-in-Review Time!

2011-12-26T14:47:00.002-06:00

Best-of lists started posting before Christmas, but to my mind, one doesn't review a year until it's nearly over. The time between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve is that week for me. I know some Comic Nurse fans like to also enjoy my annual tradition, so here are this year's questions.

2011:THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Themost enjoyable moments of the past year were:

Theleast enjoyable moments of the past year were:

Themost enjoyable meals of the past year:

Thebooks I enjoyed most:

Themusic I enjoyed:

Themovies I enjoyed:

TheTV shows I enjoyed:

Favoriteradio of the past year:

Bestlive performances I attended:

Newfriends I made this past year:

Mostmemorable quotes:

Discoveries/thingsI learned this past year:

GoalsI reached/my accomplishments:

DisappointmentsI experienced:

Thenicest thing done for me this past year:

Thenicest thing I did for others this past year:

Otherstuff about this past year that I don’t want to forget:

Myperson of the year for the year ending is:

Forthe coming year, these are my personal goals:

Theseare my professional goals:

Householdgoals for the coming year:

Forthe coming year, these are my predictions:

Graphic Medicine Blog AND Podcast!

2011-12-19T11:02:00.001-06:00

I'm very pleased to report that there is now a Graphic Medicine blog here and a Graphic Medicine podcast available in the iTunes store. Search the store under "Graphic Medicine" to subscribe or you can access our feed directly here.
Currently the podcast is presenting talks from the November Graphic Medicine forum in Leeds. After those are posted, episodes will consist of interviews and conversations defining and introducing the Graphic Medicine movement.

Photo of the Week

2011-12-19T10:42:00.001-06:00

Frose, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-12-10T09:20:00.001-06:00

Spot On., originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Comics & Medicine 2012 Announcement and CFP

2011-12-10T02:30:00.001-06:00

Comics &Medicine: Navigating the Margins

22-24 July 2012

Toronto, Canada

Facultyof Medicine, University of Toronto

BiomedicalCommunications Program, University of Toronto

Officeof the Vice-Principal, Research, University of Toronto Mississauga

The third international interdisciplinary conference* oncomics and medicine will continue to explore the intersection of sequentialvisual arts and medicine. Thisyear we will highlight perspectives that are often under-represented in graphicnarratives, such as depictions of the Outsider or Other in the context ofissues such as barriers to healthcare, the stigma of mental illness anddisability, and the silent burden of caretaking.

The conference will feature keynote presentations bycomics creators Joyce Brabner and Joyce Farmer. Brabner, a comics artist andsocial activist, collaborated with her late husband Harvey Pekar on the graphicnovel Our Cancer Year (1994), whichwon a Harvey Award for best graphic novel. Farmer is a veteran of theunderground comics scene who nursed her elderly parents through dementia anddecline as shown in her graphic memoir SpecialExits (2010), which won the National Cartoonists Society award for graphicnovels.

We invite proposals for scholarly papers (20 minutes) or paneldiscussions (60 minutes) focusing on medicine and comics in any form (e.g.,graphic novels, comic strips, graphic pathographies, manga, and/or web comics).In particular, we seek presentations on the following—and related—topics:

· Graphic pathographies of illness and disability

· The use of comics in medical education

· The use of comics in patient care

· Depictions of the illness experience from theperspective of loved ones and family caregivers

· The interface of graphic medicine and othervisual arts in popular culture

· Ethical implications of using comics to educatethe public

· Ethical implications of patient representationin comics by healthcare providers

· Trends in international use of comics inhealthcare settings

· The role of comics in provider/patient communication

· Comics as virtual support groups for patientsand caregivers

· The use of comics in bioethics discussions andeducation

We also welcome workshops (120 minutes) by creators ofcomics on the process, rationale, methods, and general theories behind the useof comics to explore medical themes. These are intended to be “hands-on”interactive workshops for participants who wish to obtain particular skillswith regard to the creation or teaching about comics in the medical context.

We envision this gathering as a collaboration amonghumanities scholars, comics scholars, comics creators, healthcareprofessionals, and comics enthusiasts.

300-word proposals should be submitted by Friday, 28February 2012 to submissions@graphicmedicine.org.

Proposals may be in Word, PDF, or RTF formats with thefollowing information in this order:

· author(s)

· affiliation

· email address

· title of abstract

· body of abstract

Please identify your presentation preference:

· oral presentation

· panel discussion

· workshop

While we cannot guarantee that presenters will receive theirfirst choice of presentation format, we will attempt to honor people’spreferences, and we will acknowledge the receipt of all proposals submitted. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by aninterdisciplinary selection committee. Notification of acceptance or rejectionwill be completed by 14 March 2012.

Please note: Presenters are responsible for session expenses (e.g. handouts)and personal expenses (travel, hotel, and meeting registration fees). All presenters must register for atleast the day on which they are scheduled to present.

*Informationabout the 2010 conference, “Comics and Medicine: Medical Narrative in GraphicNovels,” in London, England, and the 2011 conference, “Comics and Medicine: TheSequential Art of Illness,” in Chicago, Illinois, USA, can be found atwww.graphicmedicine.org.

In The Wild

2011-12-06T10:18:00.001-06:00

Courtesy of Ian Williams, photo of my books on sale at the Wellcome Trust Blackwell bookstore. Honored to be surrounded by amazing graphic medicine texts by super cool women - especially Sarah Leavitt (Tangles) Nicola Streeten (Billy, Me & You) and Phillipa Perry (Couch Fiction).

World AIDS Day

2011-12-01T11:47:00.001-06:00

World AIDS Day, 2011 - thirty years (and five months) since the New York Times ran a small article titled "Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals"

I just watched the end of Angels in America again, written by Tony Kushner in 1993. The main character, Pryor Walter, and his friends are standing at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. He says, "This disease will be the end of many of us but not nearly all. And the dead will be commemorated and we'll struggle on with the living and we are not going away. We won't die secret deaths anymore. The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come."

Acer

2011-11-27T09:13:00.001-06:00

Acer, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

in Bodnant Gardens, North Wales.

Photo of the Week

2011-11-26T21:04:00.001-06:00

Magpie?, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-11-23T21:42:00.001-06:00

Llandudno, North Wales, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Tough to choose. Here's one from the first day to make it easy. Sunset in Wales.

Photo of the Week.

2011-11-11T07:50:00.001-06:00

Heartleaf, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Runner Up

2011-11-05T23:13:00.001-05:00

Lion Dog, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-11-05T23:11:00.001-05:00

Searching, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-10-30T15:19:00.001-05:00

, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-10-20T19:25:00.001-05:00

Bridge to Somewhere, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Graphic Medicine Update

2011-10-20T12:50:00.004-05:00

My Graphic Medicine presentation at the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) conference in Minneapolis was very enthusiastically recieved. I was honored to co-present with my Chicago conference planning colleague Michael Green of Penn State Hershey College of Medicine.

Now my attention turns to next month's trip to the UK.

Another Graphic Medicine Comics Forum post is up, "Of Comics and HIV" by Ian Williams. Ian's goal in this post is to give some background and context for my talk in Leeds next month.

Also, a Huffington Post blog entry called, "Dealing with Illness? Read a Comic" discusses the Graphic Medicine movement and features Sarah Leavitt's wonderful book Tangles. Sarah will be speaking with me both at the Leeds Graphic Medicine conference and at Laydeez do Comics in London the Monday after.

Tangles was also very deservedly just selected as one of the "Canada Reads" Top 40. Yay! Everyone in Canada - and everywhere else - should read this book.

Beyond the Leeds conference, planning is underway for three exciting developments in the Graphic Medicine world. I'm not able to post about any of them just yet, but they're all going to be fantastic! Okay, a hint - one is about our 2012 conference date and location announcement. Stay tuned!

New collection finally available!

2011-10-17T12:24:00.002-05:00

My new collection contains 32 comics I did between late 2006 and last week. It will officially premiere in Leeds next month, but you can get your copy now in my Etsy shop.

Photo of Last Week

2011-10-13T22:32:00.001-05:00

Leaf, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-09-23T11:56:00.001-05:00

Old Dog, New Trick, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Comics Forum Article

2011-09-20T08:50:00.001-05:00

My piece, "Hospice Comics" is now live on the Comics Forum Blog. The Graphic Medicine Forum that precedes the Thought Bubble conference in Leeds is fast approaching! Very excited about my trip back to the UK, seeing many of my new pals from the Chicago conference again, and meeting for the first time people I've only corresponded with via email.

Underwater

2011-09-18T08:22:00.001-05:00

Underwater, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Heart with Crinoid

2011-09-18T08:21:00.001-05:00

Heart Shadow - with crinoid, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Crinoid in situ

2011-09-18T08:20:00.001-05:00

Crinoid in situ, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-09-18T08:19:00.001-05:00

Sparkle, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Sunday Night

2011-09-12T16:59:00.001-05:00

Another incredible Michigan Sunday sunset., originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-09-08T07:22:00.001-05:00

Lakeshore, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-08-25T18:34:00.001-05:00

Karen's Caterpillar, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-08-20T07:18:00.001-05:00

Champion Frog, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Portraits, Those Darned Portraits!

2011-08-13T09:55:00.011-05:00

Moving ahead with the second half of Chapter Nine of my book, Taking Turns and struggling again. As you can see with a quick perusal through what I've posted thus far, I am combining a fictionalized patient story in comic form with a related, non-fictional oral history, illustrated by portraits of the narrator.

Argh those portraits! When I started, I used a comic-like caricature based on a photo.

Caricature is what I do most instinctively, but I've come to feel that simple caricatures such as this one do not do the serious nature of the oral histories, or my feeling for my narrators, justice.

I challenged myself to do better. I read a few books on doing portraits, and practiced as much as I could. And I felt they were getting better, this portrait thing was going very well. I even posted a success blog babbling on how well this was going. I was particularly pleased with this one.

Then I learned that the person depicted above isn't very fond of this rendering. Sigh.

Drawing people you know and care about, when you have a limited skill base as I do, is really hard!!! Whine whine whine moan whine.

The amazing artist and educator Riva Lehrer was kind enough to recently take a look at the paintings I've done for this book, and her reaction was that she could see from the paintings that I truly care about the people I am painting. That helps.

But here I am again, the project update delayed because I am hung up on another portrait that after several attempts is not what I want it to be, and in fact doesn't really resemble the person I am intending to depict. At all.

In my frustration, I turn to the work of artists I have been influenced by and respect. Lynda Barry, Maira Kalman, and Heather McAdams have all done portraits that don't really look like their subjects, but instead evoke them, a sort of "their-style version" of their subjects. But I'm no Lynda Barry, Maira Kalman, or Heather McAdams.

I'm reminded of a blog post about the work of UK artist Darryl Cunningham called "Show Us Your Betas." (At least in my mind that's what it was called. Turns out it's actually "Share Your Betas." Huh. I thought it had a fun New Orleans thing going. I'm learning not to trust my memory.) The point of the story is that Darryl posts the drafts of his comic bits just finished. People give him corrections, point out things, etc.

I tend to be resistant to much input on an unfinished project. But in this case, I'm asking. What should I do about this struggle I'm having with the portraits I create not really resembling the person they are intended to represent???

One option that has come to mind is to skip my portraits entirely and insert black & white photos of my narrators into the oral histories. This could work, but would it be too jarring in contrast with the drawings of the patient story?

Another option is to just shut up and keep moving forward.

Thoughts?

Photo of the Week

2011-08-13T09:47:00.001-05:00

Balloon Flower, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week (Perhaps the Year?)

2011-07-29T22:38:00.002-05:00

Pistol, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Tangles

2011-07-18T12:01:00.004-05:00

Thought it might make some sense to feature graphic narratives I'm loving from a nurses' point of view on this blog. Current fave is by my new BFF, Vancouver based artist and editor, Sarah Leavitt.

(photo by Paul Gravett, edited by Michael Green)

Her graphic narrative is called Tangles. Currently it is only published in Canada, but will release in the UK this fall, the US in the spring.

Tangles is an incredibly well-written, well drawn, honest, tender account of losing your beloved mother to Alzheimer's Disease. That's all I'll say, other than to encourage you to get, read, and share this book.

Keeping Up

2011-07-18T11:43:00.005-05:00

(Photo by Carrie Channel, edited by Michael Green.)

That's me introducing Kaisa Leka's graphic memoir I Am Not These Feet at the Comics & Medicine conference in June.

Not blogging here does not mean I'm not busy - quite the opposite. But as we nurses say, if it isn't documented, it didn't happen.

I've been periodically blogging and posting audio, links, info at the website for the Comics & Medicine conference and on the Thought Bubble site in preparation for Graphic Medicine day in Leeds in November.

Delivered a talk to the Chicago chapter of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. It was a real treat to speak to and listen to reactions from an audience of nurses (and one doc) about my oral history of an inpatient AIDS unit.

Next up - back to the book, big time, for the rest of the summer. Lots of exciting things on the horizon. I'll try to be a better blogger as they materialize.

Photo of the Week

2011-07-18T11:25:00.001-05:00

Nothing is Permanent, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of Last Week

2011-07-07T09:47:00.001-05:00

Face of Pride, Texting, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Workshop Comic

2011-06-20T10:48:00.002-05:00

This awesome comic was created by Ariel & Mimi Zander in Neil Phillips' workshop, "Mental Health: Cartoons, Comics, and Communication" at the Comics & Medicine conference. Ariel finished it over the weekend and sent it on. Click on the comic to enlarge.

Comics & Medicine: The Sequential Art of Illness

2011-06-18T16:30:00.012-05:00

The organizing committee of the Comics & Medicine conference worked for eleven months to pull together the amazing three days we experienced in Chicago. Worth every second of focus, work, and dedication. That's me above with two brilliant women who I now call friends - Penn State professor of English (with very fortunate students) Susan Squier, on my right. Next to her is the talented Vancouver-based totally real-cartoonist, Tangles creator Sarah Leavitt.

There's much more to say about this conference, of course, and it will unfold over time. Lots & lots of photos. The panelists, keynotes, and workshops were so inspiring. It moved me deeply to learn about the work people are doing in medicine with comics.The New York Times agrees. Gleefully back at work with the tech pen and watercolors - never more clear sighted that what we're doing in Comics & Medicine is of value.

What we hoped and dreamed for the conference in Chicago has happened - and, I think I can speak for the organizers when I say, exceeded our expectations.

Reflecting on the experience of organizing the conference, I recall keynote speaker Scott McCloud's four pieces of advice on work, which I have kept in mind since reading them in my graduate studies:

1. learn from everyone

2. copy no one

3. recognize patterns

4. work like hell

If I had to put forth a few lessons I've learned about work from the conference, I'd say:

1. Keep your eye on the ball & stay one step ahead of it.

2. Pursue what you dream, certain it can come to fruition

3. Make sure what you dream isn't all about yourself. If it is, you might want to consider expanding that circle, because there are a lot of amazing people out there waiting to join you.

Photo of the Week

2011-05-22T17:11:00.001-05:00

End of Days Fog, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-05-19T18:08:00.001-05:00

Girl Birdie, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-05-13T12:32:00.001-05:00

City Tulips, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-04-30T15:58:00.001-05:00

Japanese Maple leaf buds, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-04-24T12:45:00.001-05:00

Cherry Blossom, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Roger Ebert: Remaking my voice | Video on TED.com

2011-04-20T20:01:00.001-05:00

Photo of the Week

2011-04-17T11:18:00.001-05:00

About to Bloom, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-04-10T21:59:00.001-05:00

Crocus, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Mineral Point, Wisconsin

2011-04-07T20:30:00.001-05:00

Mineral Point, Wisconsin, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-04-04T10:51:00.001-05:00

Shakerag Bridge, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Comics & Medicine: Panels are set!

2011-03-28T18:32:00.002-05:00

After much work, the planning committee for the Comics & Medicine conference in Chicago have established the panels. We will have 32 speakers coming from all over the world to speak to us about how they are using comics in medicine, what they think comics can uniquely accomplish in medicine, and much more. There will also be three incredible creative workshops, and keynote speakers by three other renown comics luminaries, Scott McCloud, David Small, and Phoebe Gloeckner. Visit our conference website and be sure to register now!

Photo of the Week

2011-03-25T14:43:00.001-05:00

First Color, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-03-19T19:50:00.001-05:00

UglyDolls, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-03-13T11:07:00.001-05:00

Leaping to Shore, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Macarons

2011-03-04T18:07:00.005-06:00

A break from comics, medicine, and all that. I have finally succeeded at making authentic French macarons - on my fourth try. The batter is basically ground almonds, powdered sugar, egg whites, and a little regular sugar. (Making that combination work properly sounds easier than it is.) When made correctly, the cookie part is delicious. (Not so much on my first three tries.) Fortunately, I found an awesome book called I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita.

It helped a great deal, mostly because it is a very visual guide - many photos - which is where I guess making macarons does tie to comics, medicine, and teaching, because I'm always aware of work that employs image over text. For many of us, that's critical.

The filling is a chocolate ganache.

Here's what my little treats looked like:

And here's what possibilities await me:

New Illustration

2011-03-02T14:59:00.007-06:00

I'm pleased with this piece I did for Chapter Eight. I started with a photo I'd taken a few years ago - whilst driving - on Lake Shore Drive. (I do not recommend doing this.)

Then I did a rough watercolor painting based on the photo, changing the daytime to night.

Then I drew a simple rear-view mirror, found the painting I'd done of the hospital and dropped it in.

Then put it all together.

Lynda Barry

2011-02-25T13:29:00.002-06:00

Anyone who has seen me speak on comics & anything has heard me babble about Lynda Barry and her great recent work on drawing, doodling, recovering our willingness to communicate in images as well as words. Here's a great bit she did at the MCA here in Chicago.

Photo of the Week

2011-02-17T09:53:00.001-06:00

Strip-ed Shell, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-02-05T12:39:00.001-06:00

Eastwood & Wilson Alley, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-01-30T11:49:00.001-06:00

Everbright, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Homework Week Three: My Stroke of Insight

2011-01-27T15:41:00.003-06:00

In class this week we talked about neurology & doodling, among other things. A great discussion ensued. One of the catalysts was a TED lecture by neuroresearcher Jill Bolte Taylor about her own stroke. How often can you hear a neuroresearcher discuss her own stroke? Above is my doodling about the lecture, below is the lecture. We discussed the idea of doodling whilst listening. We agreed doodling works to enhance listening for some, but if focused on the content of the doodle, it can detract from listening for others.

An oldie but goodie on Sit Stay Read

2011-01-27T12:57:00.000-06:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Photo of the Week

2011-01-23T10:30:00.001-06:00

Frozen Shore, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Drawing Medicine Homework Week Two

2011-01-20T17:01:00.005-06:00

This week in class we focused primarily on comics in medicine. One of the examples we used is Darryl Cunningham's brilliant strip on the vaccination study that was recently debunked. You can read it here. The medical students reported that Darryl's graphic narrative of the study and ensuing controversy was clearer and more readily understood than anything they had previously read on the topic. And they felt that the excellent graphics aided in that clarity. The BMJ is going to print this strip soon - I believe the first time a full comic has run in that publication. Way to go Darryl! Awesome work.

Homework: Stories Are Good Medicine

2011-01-14T00:13:00.003-06:00

I started teaching again this week, and thought it might be fun to share a bit of our homework material. Here's a lecture called "Stories Are Good Medicine" by Sayantani DasGupta that I have my students watch before our first class, to set the tone. It's not about drawing, per se, but about what we'll hopefully be drawing, and ultimately attending to - each other's stories.

Lecture link now available

2011-01-14T00:06:00.004-06:00

The keynote address by the chaplain of Maine's Game Warden service, Kate Braestrop (from the AfterShock conference lecture I discussed in a prior blog entry) is now available for your listening pleasure here.

Photo of the Week

2011-01-07T15:57:00.001-06:00

Gentle, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2011-01-01T16:49:00.001-06:00

Hope, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

2010 Year in Review

2010-12-28T22:59:00.009-06:00

It's that time of year again! Time to look back and forward, always keeping lists. Remember: the unexamined life... just isn't very well organized. Feel free to copy & paste the list below - or add a few in the comments!

Enjoy. And all the best in 2011.

The most enjoyable moments of the past year were:

The least enjoyable moments of the past year were:

The most enjoyable meals of the past year:

The books I enjoyed most:

The music I enjoyed:

The movies I enjoyed:

The TV shows I enjoyed:

Favorite radio of the past year:

Best live performances I attended:

New friends I made this past year:

Most memorable quotes of 2010:

Discoveries, things I learned this past year:

Goals I reached, my accomplishments:

Goals I failed to reach, my disappointments:

The nicest thing done for me in 2010:

The nicest thing I did in 2010:

Other stuff about 2010 I don't want to forget:

My "Person of the Year" for 2010 is:

For the coming year, these are my personal goals:

These are my professional goals:

These are my household goals:

For 2011, these are my predictions:

Photo of the Slow-Progress Week

2010-12-28T22:57:00.001-06:00

Chapter Seven Illustration in Progress, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

The Crafty Beaver

2010-12-23T11:18:00.002-06:00

Chapter 7 is taking a bit longer than expected to post. It's quite a challenge to keep painting in the face of holiday chaos. I have somehow managed to make at least some significant progress each day. It's almost ready - three more illustrations to go - hope to be done by sometime this weekend. Sneak preview - I'm thrilled that the storyline has somehow turned to include my favorite neighborhood hardware store.

Photo of the Week

2010-12-19T17:37:00.001-06:00

Blue Takeoff, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Call for Papers!

2010-12-15T16:13:00.003-06:00

COMICS & MEDICINE:

The Sequential Art of Illness

June 9-11, 2011

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Chicago, IL

Call for papers and more information available here:

http://graphicmedicine.org/#/conference-2011/4546507879

Photo of the Week

2010-12-06T21:25:00.001-06:00

Columbine, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

World AIDS Day

2010-12-01T12:14:00.008-06:00

In honor of World AIDS Day, here is a sneak preview of two pages from the book I'm working on, Taking Turns. In many ways it recalls what life was like when there were no drugs to stop HIV.

On this World AIDS Day, two things to think about regarding the antiviral drugs that have changed everything. First, access to and tolerance of these drugs is not to be assumed. Many people in the United States and around the world are unable to get a constant supply of antivirals. Even if they can, their bodies may not tolerate these often challenging medications. Second, it is not known if the antivirals now active against HIV will always & forever halt the virus' replication. Because a virus has the capacity to mutate, the drugs could stop working as well as they do now. For both of these reasons, reducing the transmission of HIV is still of critical importance.

Click to enlarge the images below or go here. For more about my ongoing project, go to www.comicnurse.com and click on 'webcomic.'

Process Discussion

2010-11-29T13:03:00.011-06:00

I'm always blathering on & on about how we all should draw to communicate, regardless of our comfort level doing so. As brilliant cartoonist Lynda Barry frequently says, pretend we sat a 40 year-old down next to a 4 year-old, and we asked them both to draw. If the 4 year-old refused to draw, we'd worry about that child, about her emotional well being. But if the 40 year-old refused to draw, we wouldn't be surprised or worried, we'd assume it to be normal.

That makes no sense!

In grade school, we start out drawing to communicate our thoughts, ideas, feelings. Then we are given words. For a while, we combine the two. But then someone, somewhere, be it teacher, fellow student, or ourselves, says, "Suzy/Johnny/Robin are the 'real artists' in this class." So Suzy/Johnny/Robin are allowed to keep drawing, and the rest of us generally use words alone from then on.

We stop drawing. How unfortunate.

And it's illogical, because there certainly were kids who showed more natural aptitude at writing in those same classes, but the rest of us didn't stop writing because they were the 'real writers' in the class. We had no choice but to learn what it took to write. But we don't afford drawing the same benefit of the communication doubt.

When I was about 25 I was so frustrated with my inability to fully articulate myself in words alone that I began adding images. Alison Bechdel has talked about this discovery in the intro to The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For.

So I've been trying this drawing thing, with mixed results, for almost twenty years. Lately my efforts have been far more concentrated - and as I mentioned in a prior blog post, that consistent effort is starting to pay off. Inspired by some great posts on artist process by Brian Fies and an interview with Pulitzer Prize winning writer Junot Diaz (who said that his discard pile of crap writing is enormous) I thought I'd share a bit of my own recent process.

Thus far, I've learned four basic things from trying to draw people in a somewhat recognizable way. I'll illustrate with an attempt I'm making to draw Narrative Medicine guru Rita Charon to accompany her fabulous quote in my introduction:

"As doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, persons, relative strangers, come to us and give accounts of themselves which center on trouble. The background is always the presence of death. It took me about a year in medical practice to see that what they paid me to do was listen dutifully to their stories."

I found this photo of Rita on a Greek website, and felt it captured my sense of her essence - warm, kind, stylish, with a nova-bright inner light.

Here are my learned lessons thusfar:

1. Drawing is about geometry & proportions. In people, that geometry is biometrics. How far apart are their eyes, where do they sit with relation to their hairline, their ears, where do their eyes sit relative to their nose, how long is the face vs. wide, what is the angle of the mouth, proportion of the face covered, etc, etc, etc. Stuff you would never really notice about a person until you try to re-create their face. As you sketch, re-sketch, sculpt with an eraser, these are the questions going through your head. I have found it helpful to draw marker lines on the reference photo face. Your lines may vary.

2. Draw large. My first attempt at was about the same size as some of the other illustrations for my book, about 6x4. (my apologies to Dr. Charon.)

My next attempt at this portrait is about 9x12. That leads right into the third lesson -

3. If it isn't right, no matter how much time I've invested in the existing drawing, no matter when the deadline, and whatever else I should be doing instead, I must start over.

Which, in turn, leads right into my fourth lesson -

4. Integrate the easel. I've set up a remote drawing station out of my studio, on a big board, in a common area of the house. When watching movies or TV, or chatting with friends, I can do a touch here, a touch there, add a color, constantly reassessing if the piece is working, but not spend an entire day on it. This has been invaluable. And it takes some of the pressure to be perfect and productive off the hours I do spend in the studio . This approach may not work well for others, but with someone with limited patience but endless drive to create like myself, it seems to be working. A somewhat mess-tolerant spouse/roommate/family is also required here. I've been very fortunate in that regard. I've found people actually love to witness art in process.

And here's where I'm at after working on it all weekend - we'll see if this makes the cut.

Photo of the Week

2010-11-28T18:25:00.002-06:00

House Champagne, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2010-11-25T21:02:00.001-06:00

Birdie, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

After Shock Conference, my sketchy notes

2010-11-24T11:24:00.017-06:00

Last weekend I attended the Maine Humanities Council’s conference “After Shock: Humanities Perspectives on Trauma.” It was held in Washington DC at the historic Mayflower Hotel. The purpose of the conference was to, from the MHC website, "explore ways in which the humanities—including literature, theater and writing—can support the personal and professional development of health care professionals who work with war veterans and others who have experienced trauma.”

The conference opened with a compelling statement from Erik Jorgensen, the executive director of the MHC. “This is a conference on story, and how it can heal us.”

The thought-provoking opening plenary was by Jonathan Shay, MD, PhD, recipient of a MacArthur genius grant, and author of Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America. His work involves counseling combat veterans, partly through reading and discussing Greek tragedy. In his plenary, Shea discussed the concept of moral injury, which he defined as “a betrayal of what is right by someone in legitimate authority in a high stakes situation.” As a result of moral injury, one’s moral and social horizon shrinks, leading to a berserk state. In a berserk state, the person psychologically damaged by the moral injury seeks to rain down destruction for it’s own sake, with no concern for their own safety. As I listened to Shea, it became clear that this kind of moral injury not only occurs on an individual level, but it seems to occur on a social level as well. As I listened to Shea break down his moral injury definition I did this quick comic in my sketch book. (Click to enlarge, and please excuse the bleed-through.)

It was difficult to choose only one workshop to attend, because they all looked so informative and interesting, but they were unfortunately running concurrently. I decided on Maura Spiegel's "Films and Feelings, Beyond Spectacle to Process and Reflection" because I am a very big fan of Dr. Spiegel's work, having come to know it through the Narrative Medicine program at Columbia. The workshop opened with the critical courtroom scene from an all-time favorite film, "To Kill A Mockingbird." This scene very clearly illustrates, as Spiegel points out, "that sometimes filmmakers seem to have direct access to our central nervous system." Though we have not lived the specific experiences portrayed in the clip, we still feel very "real feelings, with histories" (Spiegel) as we watch them. We watched and discussed clips from "The Thin Red Line," "Saving Private Ryan," "The Hurt Locker," "Waltz with Bashir," and "Home of the Brave." Watching these mostly fictional film clips made very real the potential challenges returning veterans face. As Spiegel quoted Ellie Wiesel to state, "It's not that I can't explain that you won't understand, it's because you won't understand that I can't explain." Spiegel said, "You need the story (of the film) to allow some feelings to happen... Stories can grow over a wound like a second skin."

While listening to this presentation and watching the stirring clips, I sketched - and embellished - the beautiful stage from the Mayflower conference room, and later colored part of it.

After lunch I attended a performance of "Theater of War." The group was founded in New York by Brian Doerries. From the program, "Since 2008, Theater of War has presented readings of Sophocles' Ajax and Philoctetes to military communities across the United States. These ancient plays timelessly and universally depict the psychological and physical wounds inflicted upon warriors by war. By presenting these plays to military audiences, our hope is to de-stigmatize psychological injury and open a safe space for dialogue about the challenges faced by service members, veterans, and their caregivers and families." You can watch some performance excerpts here. The performance brought to life the work of Jonathan Shay from the opening plenary, on how ancient texts can be astonishingly healing for present-day veterans. The panel discussion with combat veterans and family members that followed the performance was quite moving.

During the next workshop session, my colleague Catherine Belling and I presented our contribution, "Graphic Witness: Comics, Drawing, and Trauma." We had an engaged, cooperative, and appreciative audience. It was a thrill to present, and I am grateful for all I learned along the way toward doing so - about processing traumatic experiences with graphic narrative, both by reading and creating.

But again, I was sad to miss the other concurrent workshop sessions!

The next morning's plenary was from Kate Braestrup, called "The Bad News and the Good News." Braestrup is a chaplain with the Maine Game Warden Service. One of their jobs is to search out persons lost in the woods and waters of Maine. When people are missing and/or bodies are found, it's Baestrup's job to assist the game wardens in informing the family of the death. A short video of her describing her work can be seen here. Her talk was moving and informative. By temporarily going off the topic of war trauma, we were able to gain a new perspective on it. Braestrup's most wonderful line was much quoted for the rest of the conference, "In difficult, painful situations, I cannot subtract pain, I can only add love."

In addition to enjoying her stories and anecdotes, the talk made me want to visit Maine. It sounds like a gorgeous state with exceedingly nice residents.

From my sketchbook during this presentation:

The last workshop I attended was by two physicians, Hugh Silk of Massachusetts, and David Loxterkamp of Maine. In a very warm and personally vulnerable manner, they discussed some of the ways in which being a caregiver can negatively impact the caregiver. They encouraged participants to become aware of their own life narratives and "the story" that led them to pursuing a career in health care. The presenters maintain that these stories will, consciously or unconsciously, govern how an individual is responding - sometimes destructively - to the challenges of caregiving.

The closing plenary of the conference was given after lunch by author and Vietnam veteran Tim O'Brien. I hadn't heard of O'Brien until just before being asked to present at the conference. A friend was having open-heart surgery, and another friend had brought his book The Things They Carried to read during the day-long waiting room vigil. As she passionately described O'Brien's book (which she was re-reading) she told us about the title conceit - that the author weaves his stories around the tangible and intangible items he and his fellow soldiers carried in Vietnam to help them survive. On her recommendation, and in preparation for the conference, I read The Things They Carried. O'Brien describes in several ways how and why stories help us survive trauma. This one helped me greatly in the current project I am creating:

“By telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths. You make up others. You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened... and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain.”

O'Brien's address to the conference was both insightful and challenging. He challenged caregivers to not see combat veterans as victims, because it strips them of their agency and their responsibility.

And that was my experience of the Maine Humanities Council's After Shock conference. My only regret, as I have mentioned, is that I cannot know what the workshops I missed offered, and I wish there were a way to read a summary of each of those. I included my sketches from the conference partly so they don't disappear into my archives, but also to illustrate (pun intended) that note-taking is not always text driven, and, as I try to point out in my teaching, doodling while listening can actually increase the amount of content absorbed, not distract from it, as some may assume.

Wrigleyville Classic

2010-11-21T08:22:00.001-06:00

Wrigleyville Classic, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2010-11-15T09:50:00.001-06:00

Hirschhorn, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2010-11-07T14:01:00.001-06:00

Passion Flower, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Did not take very many exciting photos this week - a combination of uninspiring weather and focus on my work. So I'm back to mining the almost 500 France photos for something really special.

Right Brain, Left Brain. Front Brain, Back Brain

2010-11-04T13:39:00.003-05:00

When I've discussed why comics should be taken more seriously and used in medicine, I've always talked about how they uniquely allow us to access both our left and right brain hemispheres. The left brain, so it's believed, is used when processing text. The left brain is verbal, rational. According to Richard Bergland's 1985 book Fabric of Mind, the left brain, "reduces thoughts to numbers, letters, and words." But when we process our thoughts by also engaging images, as comics give us the opportunity to do, we bring in our right brain, which is used to communicate, again in Bergland's words, in "patterns and pictures."

Betty Edwards book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain was based on this premise, and her students had amazing success learning to draw using techniques that 'trick' your brain into using the right hemisphere.

But I've always thought this model must be too simplistic. In fact, before I presented what I discuss above in a medical humanities class, I cleared it with a classmate who happened to be a neuroscience researcher. (How handy was that?) She said that my descriptions (and certainly my drawings) were gross oversimplifications, but that nothing I was saying could really be disputed by research she was aware of. And this still seems to be true.

But the devil is in the details, of course, and in looking into this again for a presentation I'm giving next week, I've found a fascinating (and encouraging) wrinkle about how the brain communicates with relation to art. There may also be important stuff going on between the front and the back of the brain that is relevant to comics - particularly relevant to me making them.

In a book called The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Mind, Dr. Alice Flaherty points to the communication between the front of the brain and the rear, or the frontal and temporal lobes. They appear to be involved in mitigating creative drive. Her research shows that the left and right brain hemisphere models are good at predicting what is involved in particular domains of creativity, whether it’s art or music, or literature. But the left/right brain model is not so good at talking about creative drive, that is, why we strive to communicate creatively, to make things like comics at all. She says in an interview, "Creative drive is way more important than talent. In fact there is a fair amount of evidence that over an IQ of 115, increasing your knowledge (IQ) doesn’t really help your creativity, there’s a threshold. What’s really important is drive."

This research excites me because I have creative drive, by the truckloads. My frontal & temporal are in high gear. What I'm still struggling with are some of the finer, more technical aspects of drawing and cartooning. To paraphrase a quote I heard once by Roseanne Barr, I was born with the blessing of a strong drive to create but with none of the accompanying talent. Most of you who have seen my efforts have been kind enough not to make too fine a point of this, or have focused on the positive when talking about my work. This is greatly appreciated.

I have always vehemently resisted "how do" drawing and comic-making books that propose that they can teach anyone to become a great draw-er or cartoonist. It seems to me that the only thing another artist can teach you is how to draw or make comics like them. And I don't want to draw comics like anyone else. I want to bring forth my own style. I learn how to make comics by reading great comics. This is where I do my work. I practically slept with Alison Bechdel's Fun Home under my pillow for a week hoping it would somehow oooze up into my brain. And I seek out and pour over the details of artists of all stripes talking about their creative process. This I can learn from, and I do. (Thank you, Terri Gross.)

I have noticed that what I'd hoped would happen -- that what I've repeatedly told others in order to wish it into reality -- does seem to hold true. The more you draw, the better you get. Duh. Practice, practice, practice. Turns out there's a reason anyone who is good at anything will tell you this. Illustrations I'm doing today are far closer to what I'm intending to bring forth than ones I did when I started in January. For those of you who happen to be depicted early in my current project, take heart. I'll redo your portrait before the book goes to print.

Flaherty's research came to me via a public radio show called Studio 360. You can listen to the full story here.

Scott McCloud on Comics

2010-11-02T10:38:00.001-05:00

Photo of the Week

2010-10-31T21:29:00.001-05:00

Sycamore, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.

Photo of the Week

2010-10-24T21:45:00.001-05:00

Leaf 2, originally uploaded by ComicNurse.