Thank you! No need to be starstruck, though. We're all big goofs here. :)

Oh, maybe the early twentieth century? I love a lot of 40s-60s fashion, but METROPOLIS gowns are where it's at.

I love working large whenever I have the chance, so yes. And I'd paint whatever I could get away with.

The best advice I can give is just to go for it with all the passion and energy you can muster! Have a blast making a comic just for yourself. Say and draw exactly what you want, don't worry about catering to anyone else, and have fun exploring the medium and figuring out what motivates you creatively!

I'd like to say there are no particular advantages to being a female artist rather than simply a good artist, and I think by and large there's no favoritism shown towards women behind the scenes. The quality of an individual's work should speak for itself, and I believe that for the most part it does. I don't credit my gender for landing me work, I credit my work ethic. And when I don't get jobs, I know it's because my art isn't right for the project, not because I'm a woman.

In general, you'd be hard pressed to find a kinder, more supportive and enthusiastic group of peers than comic book artists. The editors I've had opportunity to work with have also been exceptionally helpful and understanding, so maybe my personal experience is uncommonly biased towards the positive.

But taking all these positive points into consideration, it's still more than easy to look at the publishing landscape and infer a bias towards women simply because there are so few of us present... or perhaps I should say represented. I'm fortunate enough to know and know of a huge amount of talented female artists. Sadly, I know fewer aspiring or professional female writers, but I know they are out there. A lot of this is because comics has traditionally been a male profession, and it managed to stay largely unintegrated for a long while. But that's been changing for years now.

I don't think that women are blocked or discouraged from pursuing work in comics, but it's an intensely difficult field to break into. It's hard to achieve any measure of staying power, as well. The odds are against any creator looking to make their mark, but I hope that as more people struggle to share their vision, we'll be treated to a more logically egalitarian representation of voices across the board.

Thanks! I've been working on a 190 page graphic novel for the past year. "Tantalize: Kieren's Story" will be out August 23rd.

http://www.amazon.com/Tantalize-Kierens-Cynthia-Leitich-Smith/dp/0763641146

I'm already working on "Eternal," the sequel to "Tantalize," but I'm looking to publish some shorter format stories this year as well.

GREAT JUST GREAT

Whenever we have another friend over and are bored out of our skulls, I suppose!

THERE. ARE. FOUR. LIGHTS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_eSwq1ewsU

Play

Fortunately, not yet, but I have been "slammed" by various and assorted comic book readers. Of course it's never pleasant to hear ill opinions of your work, but the best way to deal with these kinds of situations is to remember that they are only the opinions of however many individuals, and that perceptions of your creative endeavors do not impact your worth as a person, for good or ill, or in any way diminish what you've set out to do.

Everyone has different tastes, and even if you may admire or be inspired by a particular writer or artist's style, that's no guarantee that they'll adopt the same positive view in reciprocation. As long as you feel confident in the direction you're heading and are realistic about acknowledging your strengths and, most importantly, your faults, then every piece of criticism is just a helpful step in the learning process.

That I love MAKEUP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=solUSuE5tzQ

Play

I've quietly decided to start limiting my personal Facebook profile to friends, family, and colleagues over the past year. If you'd like to keep up with my work, then my official fan page is a fun place where I'm perfectly comfortable spending a lot of time interacting with people. http://www.facebook.com/mingdoyleart

If you want to keep up with my personal life, Twitter's fairly good for that, and I try to respond to all replies.

It's nothing personal, just a matter of personal preference and organization.

Yes all of the kinds.

But if you pressed me, then maybe Xiaobaitu rice candy and fake grapefruit slices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rabbit_Creamy_Candy
http://www.amazon.com/Haribo-Gummi-Candy-Grapefruit-5-Pound/dp/tags-on-product/B000EVOSFI

Additionally, dark chocolate.

Well hey, you'll get nothing but thanks for the nice comments from me, anonymous Formspring user! So thanks tons. :)

I have a Nexus One on T-Mobile, and the phone is awesome but discontinued, while the service is less than stellar. I'm about to switch over to Verizon, so if anyone has any awesome phone recs, hit me! Androids only please, I'm a Data lover.

Oh, this'll be a tome. I have had three tablets over the course of my life. One was a very cutting edge piece that my parents bought for me when I was about 14 or so, way back in the mid-to-late-90s. So long ago in fact that I can't even remember the brand of the tablet, except that it wasn't Wacom and it probably had less that 256 levels of pressure sensitivity. Anyway, I used that for about a decade. Not often, but it seemed to do the job.

A few years ago, I bought myself a Wacom Intuous 3 in the smallest size available, and that seemed to work about exactly as fine as my prolifically archaic older tablet, right up until it ceased to function completely after two years of less than heavy use, no matter the amount of updated drivers I downloaded and installed.

My boyfriend surprised me the next Christmas with a Wacom Intuous 4 in the largest size available, and I was ecstatic over it until both of its USB ports broke. I'm now more than a little wary about Wacom's quality control. Thus ends my interaction with traditional tablets, though I've heard the Cintiq is supposed to be pretty good if you've got an extra thousand dollars to spare.

And speaking of the Cintiq; people seem to love it because it more accurately represents the act of *DRAWING*. I never really liked any of my traditional tablets, because the action of drawing was so divorced from the resulting drawing, if that makes sense. You have to move your hand down on one plane, but watch the marks your hand makes up on another plane, independent of the mark making itself. It all seems so very alien and disconnected, and I always found that personally, the resultant art was less that representative of my intention. Everything turned out slightly skewed.

Taking all that into account, I don't own a Cintiq. I've never used one. But what I do use every day is the Lenovo x201 ThinkPad tablet. It's my everyday computer, but it also doubles as a Cintig replacement. Thanks to some Wacom software (which I am hopeful won't crap out on me this time), it has all the computing power and portability of a high end laptop with the functionality of a Cintiq. I'm able to draw directly onto my laptop's screen with a stylus. Works just like a Cintiq, but it's a more independent setup that gives you way more bang for your buck. And refurbished, it didn't cost me much more than the smallest sized Cintiq available.

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-2985F4U-i7-620LM-Professional/dp/B003TAMUJ2

But really, the bulk of my art will probably always remain firmly lodged in the analog realm, just where I like it most. Tablets are a fun tool, but they're just that. They're no more essential than a pen or pencil. If you love to draw, you'll find a way to do it that works for you. Remember the mark, never get too hung up on the tools.

That one where William Shatner sees a crazy creature gripping on to the wing of his plane because it's the only episode I can think of off the top of my head and also because William Shatner.

Oh, this really couldn't be a tougher question, given that essentially everyone I know in the comic book biz has something big, wacky, or wonderful about their work that endears it to me completely, but. Probably Eric Canete. I've never known another person who cares more about his work and could care less about what other people have to say about it. It seems like everything he draws, he draws specifically to his definition of right, and he'll draw it until it's absolutely right, naysayers and haters be damned. He's also constantly fostering hopeful beginners and is unfailingly generous with his time. I can't tell you how inspirational that dedication and attitude is.

http://kah-reload.deviantart.com/
http://kahnehteh.blogspot.com/

At the moment, it's the PROJECT: ROOFTOP Invitational Jam: JLA artist group picture (for which I drew the inky Batman, front and center). It's available for free download in the sidebar on the P:R page!

http://www.tencentticker.com/projectrooftop/

I live with my best friend in a small but beautiful city, and we spend most days at our separate studio spaces in our living room, working alone together. I usually get up much too late, draw either sporadically or feverishly, and go to sleep far too late (or early, depending on which side of the night you're looking at).

I look forward to visiting with my few but cherished friends, going on walks, and indulging my desire to go into stores and poke around sales racks. I dread mortality and the crushing onslaught of time! Normal stuff, you know.