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Marya's avatar

Lynda Barry forever. FOREVER.

Did you ever get into Berkeley Breathed?

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Jeff Gill's avatar

I did! He went by Berke Breathed when he was doing Bloom County back in the 80s. When he started Outland he started signing his work with his full name. (What a name!)

Who could not love Opus and Bill the Cat. Also, did a brilliant job highlighting the horrific stuff that goes on in animal testing labs. He played a part in some makeup companies stopping animal testing for a while. They restarted because I guess there's good money in being evil?

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Jecelyn Shenkin's avatar

I’m pretty sure you are, in fact, an Actual Genius.

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Jeff Gill's avatar

It's all smoke and mirrors.

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E.L. Zeitgeist's avatar

This is SO my early childhood – comics and the tease of Art Instruction School. In middle school, I rode the bus with a guy one year older than me and he bragged about how he was going to become an artist (showing me his Tippy Test to prove it). I was like, whatever, that's probably a scam. Well, then he grew up and became this guy. Dang. https://www.rorykurtz.com/

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Jeff Gill's avatar

He's GOOD!

It totally seemed like a scam, but it was legit, just stuck in the past.

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Peter Bangs's avatar

Great story. It was comics and comic strips that inspired me to become an artist. Never managed to let go of comics and comic strips as something I enjoyed making though.

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Jeff Gill's avatar

I still love comics. I read graphic novels regularly. When it comes to making them, my problem is I get bored easily. Drawing the same characters over and over for years is not something I've ever been able to do.

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Lois Payne's avatar

Loving the autobiography vignettes, Jeff!

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Jeff Gill's avatar

Thank you, Lois!

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