I'm so long winded when I post here and I'm sorry in advance for this wall of text... Here we go!
I've always been a voracious comic reader. My dad introduced me to Marvel comics when I was around four years old, so I really don't remember a time before comics! They've always been a medium I've loved to engage with as a reader. Later I got super into graphic novels and manga as well and once webcomics moved to more long-form storytelling rather than gag-a-days or four panel strips, they super caught my attention. I think I read more comics now than I ever have and it's super inspiring to see just how inclusive, diverse, and accessible comics as a medium have become both for readers and creators. I truly think that the medium of comics is thriving like never before. Webtoons and Tapas are totally viable means of publishing comics these days and I think that is just plain awesome.
All that said, I'm yet another "always wanted to draw comics" person. I was enthralled by Jim Lee, Joe Mad, and Alan Davis as a kid (and still am--I have a sketch commission from Alan Davis framed on my wall). When I was a kid, I had this assumption that only boys were allowed to draw the kind of comics I liked to read, which was a gigantic bummer to me. Of course, that perception changed when I moved away from just reading Marvel comics, though it still seemed like it was a near impossible feat for a woman to break into mainstream comics as an artist back then. Then I started reading manga and I fell for it so hard. Unlike the comics I was used to reading, in manga there were women drawing comics for girls (which in itself was awesome because HECK YEAH GIRLS EXIST AND WILL TOTALLY READ COMICS IF THE STORIES ARE ONES THEY ACTUALLY RESONATE WITH AND WANT TO READ), women drawing comics for boys, women drawing comics, WOMEN DRAWING COMICS. It was so neat and so inspiring. I devoured manga by Rumiko Takahashi, CLAMP, Katsura Hoshino, Kaoru Mori, Kentaro Miura, Takehiko Inoue, Nobuhiro Watsuki, and more. After that as I continued reading comics, I noticed more and more women entering print comics as artists and writers. And then webcomics came along and woooooo! The possibilities were endless!
As for my creator journey: I made tons of comic strips in elementary and middle school. My sister and I made a children's book in high school for a class and I drew a fancomic in my spare time. After I graduated high school, my sister and I illustrated a children's book that my mom self-published and I made my first attempt to draw pages for my current comic (that were all reworked and redrawn because my first attempts at anything are always sooooo baaaaad lol). I've been to tons of comic conventions, talked to so many creators, attended so many "how to make comics" panels, befriended some incredibly lovely people who self-published comics and have a huge wealth of experience they've been willing to share, and have been blessed with a group of close friends who are comic creators and artists and writers themselves and are huge sources of inspiration. I've also been playing DnD since 3.5 was the newest available edition and that has been a significant source of inspiration for me over the years.
Comics have always been a huge huge huge part of my life and I hope to keep reading them, being inspired by them, and drawing them for the rest of my life. ^^
