Summer update and new comics
Conferences, festivals, Lonely Hearts, and comic ramblings
Dear readers,
In the last couple of months I gathered quite a few updates and scattered notes in form of comics, but for some reason I haven’t felt like it’s enough to share it here. With the first half of the year behind us, I think it’s finally time to put all these scattered thoughts together in a new post. I’m hoping that putting all of this together will make me see it’s all part of the process and not just being stuck!
This post will be a bit unhinged, so please bear with me. First, updates and then a few comic ramblings born out of an inconsistent creative practice.
Academic conferences
This is the time of the year most academic conferences happen and that’s exactly what I’ve been up to. I’m a little exhausted, to be honest.
This is me at a linguistic conference in Lyon. This photo is maybe a bit much for me, it’s not usual for me to turn out looking this professional or almost neurotypical? There were many other versions of this photo where I am forcing a smile and don’t know what to do with my arms. This photo made me laugh and reconsider my life choices, maybe I should be a LinkedIn influencer after all.
This week, I am participating online at the Cognitive Science Society conference with another paper on comics! In this paper, we compare the two main types of symbolic lines used for motion in comics.
Long story short, we find that circumfixing lines that go around the characters don’t really mean much. They just say something like “look, this character is moving back and forth”, while motion lines show the path, direction, speed, and are used more often with objects that are not animate (alive). I will stop here for now, but I might write a longer post about this paper, once it’s out.
Comic Invasion Berlin 2026
In May, I also participated in Comic Invasion, our yearly comic festival in Berlin. And it was the first time I got to sell new printed copies of my comic “Different”. You can also read it here for free:
Every year I leave this festival feeling grateful and reinvigorated. Selling your art can feel very vulnerable, but I met so many interesting people and connected with them over all kinds of life experiences. Regardless of whether someone buys my comic, I get to see that my art can be a vehicle for that kind of connection. Thank you Comic Invasion!
Lonely Hearts update
Last year I shared the cover for my “upcoming” Lonely Hearts comic (here) and it turns out that my fear of whether I was going to deliver on this comic was totally justified. For a variety of reasons, including the difficult topic and getting swallowed by a new job, I didn’t get far with this comic, except for this one page that I really like. Since I had shared the cover with you, I thought it was only fair to let you in on my process (or what is left of it).
I don’t know if this page is done, but for now it feels right just the way it is. This scene happened in 1995, when I saw a tank and asked my grandma why it was there. I felt a little bit insane being told about the war that was still going on or ending and I had no idea what they were talking about.
What I remember well is the horizon of the fields and the mountains. This summer I will go back to this landscape and hope it inspires me to get back to this comic.
Comic ramblings
These are some of the comic/visual notes I’ve made recently. I guess one of themes for my creative rut has been distraction. And while reading Heated Rivalry fan fiction has been therapeutic, drawing and writing are the only ways I can find a way back to myself. So, thank you for being here to read it!
Have a nice summer!
And if you liked this, leave a like and a comment!
Ana
💕 so nice to witness your updates
Awesome. Your work is amazing and refreshing. It reminds me of how I can make my life more enjoyable