The latest episode of the Tell The Damn Story podcast felt medicinal. In an emotionally fraught time in history, it can seem like a trivial thing to set aside space for your creative work. But Alex and Chris remind us that our creative work can be what fills us up so we can show up for the fraught times and spaces with more energy and strength.
If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed and powerless by current events, I strongly recommend you listen to this episode. Alex and Chris are what good looks like.
I spent a few hours today doing one of my very favorite things. The next Doctor Baer story is officially underway!
Well, it was “officially” underway months ago when I was outlining it. But this stage, the second-draft thumbnails, feels like the most intense part of the process. Which means I feel a lot of resistance before beginning this part; but it also means that momentum usually kicks in once I get past that. So this is a real threshold crossed, and I’m excited about what’s happening on the pages. All of my cute friends are back and on an adventure! 🧸🐖🐢🐎🟢🔵🟣🟠
One of the moments I’ve had the most feedback from Doctor Baer readers is when Pickles claims she’s discovered Hug Magic. So it seemed reasonable to add something to the Doctor Baer store that celebrates the positive pig and her belief in the power of hugs!
Though things in the world continue to get harder and harder, I’m taking solace in making art and participating in residencies that help young people understand how much they matter.
I recently finished my annual visits to Springfield, Ohio where I worked with teens and incarcerated youth through a residency hosted by Project Jericho. This year’s residency, titled Sketching the Soundtrack, invited Springfield Teens to create comics adaptations of their favorite songs.
Project Jericho, whose slogan is Art Changes Lives (and they really mean it), always concludes our residencies with a community celebration. This year the kids’ work was put on display in an auditorium where a silent disco was held. At the end of the celebration we watched video performances of the kids’ work.
Here’s the playlist:
Many of the teens who participated worked with tools and mediums they hadn’t tried before. So they were not only expressing vulnerability in sharing a song that meant something to them; they were going out on a limb making art that they hadn’t before. I’m so proud of all of them. This was a rich, meaningful residency, as it always is with Project Jericho. I say it over and over–they’re what health looks like.
And if you’re in the Central Ohio area, I have more comics workshops and summer camps opening up!
Yup! You can get sneakers with Doctor Baer-inspired designs on them over on my Etsy store!
It’s been a lot of fun designing apparel that’s a little more customizable than your average t-shirt. I feel like the Wisps sneakers look pretty neat. But what I’m really enjoying is making products that also build more lore into the world of Doctor Baer, like the Shoes of the Deathly Dance:
These legendary shoes should not be worn by the fearful or careless! They are cursed shoes the mysterious Baba Yaga instructed a young farm hand to give to their wicked employer.
These enchanted shoes compel the wearer to dance fiercely until they meet their end–unless the wearer has a pure heart. You will know that the dancing curse is activated if the shoes turn green. If they stay blue and red, you are pure of heart and safe from the curse!
Like the talismans I’ve been making, it’s a fun creative exercise to create an in-world object that comes with the suggestion that it might have magic properties. It’s a nice, time-boxed way to playfully explore some of Doctor Baer’s world. I don’t need to tie these objects into any particular plot, but if they seem especially interesting, I can. And yes, it’s another way Doctor Baer readers can support me.
As a kid I was all over products like this. Whether it was superhero pajamas or the He-Man dress up set, anytime I could feel like I was participating in the imaginary worlds I loved was a good time. I guess there’s something to it like what makes Halloween so fun. But it was also the notion of interacting with an object from that world. I remember getting my first light-up lightsaber in 1984. It was a cheap knockoff purchased at a vendor stand at the state fair, basically a flashlight with a green piece of cellophane over the bulb, and an opaque white tube attached to the bulb end. I couldn’t cut through walls, and the tube got irreparably bent after a few swings, but it helped transport me into the world of space wizards and monsters on a warm summer night in my grandparents’ back yard.
These things I’m making might not deliver such core memories or emotional charge. But I’m having fun sitting alongside that kid while making them.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a new episode of my Transformers podcast, but Hoover and I are still making fun images that you can put on things like tshirts and mugs. And here’s the latest!
For those not familiar with the G1 Transformers episode, here’s the story of Doctor Fujiyama, the Famous Scientist!
And here’s Hoover and me talking about the episode on the Four Million Years Later podcast:
I’m happy to say that the kind folks at the Peggy R. McConnell Art Center in Worthington, Ohio are letting me lead another Minicomics Challenge series!
This six-week workshop series is for ages 9-12 and features gameful activities designed to guide young people into making their own printable minicomics. But it’s not just about finishing a product–the class is as much a playful exploration of the visual storytelling language of comics.
Classes are on Wednesdays, 4:30-6pm beginning March 19 and ending April 30 (no class on March 26).
Travis Jonker—school librarian, children’s book author, and co-host of The Yarn podcast—was kind enough to interview me during the 2024 American Library Association Conference in San Diego last June. In our conversation, he graciously gave me the chance to discuss The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue. Here’s the interview:
At the beginning of the episode, you’ll hear The Yarn co-host Colby Sharp share some kind words about my school visits. Colby, an elementary teacher in Michigan, has been a wonderful collaborator through events like the fabulous (but now retired) Nerd Camp Jr. He even allowed me to kick off the Doctor Baer tour at his school—a generous gesture I deeply appreciate.
I’ve since led author visits for elementary students in Dublin and Columbus, Ohio. Here’s video from one of my favorites so far. Instead of leading a presentation I hosted a series of drawing game shows where the elementary teachers (and even the principal!) drew characters based on the students’ prompts. After each round I interviewed the teachers about their work, congratulated them for their courage, and highlighted the process they were practicing.
This is a modification of a game show I’ve led at comics festivals, Super Comics Challenge:
There’s an “exotic animal” quality in the author at a school visit. We come from the outside world, beyond the spaces where the kids spend so much of their time. That’s a privilege I want to handle with respect, so I spend a lot of time with my hosting schools discussing language I can use during my visit in order to support learning happening in their school. I want the kids to say, “Hey, he said the same thing Miss Scarpa has been telling us all year!”
This supports the teachers, but it also implicitly underlines that the adults around them care about their success. When I was 10 I felt like most adults just liked pushing me around, and I think I would have felt safer in my school had I been pointed at how some of their behaviors were expressions of caring.
The game shows also invite the teachers to empathize with their students, while letting the students devilishly challenge their teachers. Each round lasts two to three minutes, and even a seasoned pro can feel the pressure of creating a recognizable drawing under those constraints. The students delight in giving their teachers challenging drawings. The teachers, many of whom do not identify as artists, get a visceral sense of what it’s like to be out of your depth, the way many of their students often feel.
And this compassion can go both ways. One of my favorite memories of 2024 will be when the school’s principal said, after I introduced him to the 200 3rd and 4th graders in attendance, that he was very nervous about the games and hoped the kids would be kind to him. After the assembly I might have been a bit effusive as I told him how much it meant to me to see a person of authority express vulnerability to his students. And you can be sure I led them in a few chants of “WE BELIEVE IN YOU!” while the principal was drawing.
All this is to say that I cherish the opportunity to create events that celebrate everyone present. Yes, I want to sell books. Yes, I enjoy the curiosity and attention of the children. But even more I enjoy instigating joyful subversion of the traditional notion of an author visit. I want every person there to walk away with an artifact representing the idea that every one of us is a creative creature.
And here’s where I get mercenary: I’m offering free school in-person visits Central Ohio and virtual visits everywhere else. If you’re an educator or librarian who wants to create a meaningful experience for your students, click the button below!
