When the pandemic hit, I suddenly had a lot of free time on the weekends that I normally would have used to go on dates and visit friends and family. It was a pretty bleak time, especially as a single woman living and working alone. I was completely isolated. For some reason, I felt compelled to find some humor in the situation by drawing comics in an attempt to fight the despair of quarantining alone (a bunch of my early, very rough comics on my Instagram account, @zenacomics, are about this theme specifically). I just wanted to make myself laugh, which I've found to be a helpful mental health tool (it's hard to feel too down when you're distracted laughing about something). Then I started sharing these comics with friends and family in hopes they might also get a laugh too. They were incredibly supportive and encouraged me to share my work with more people. So I started doing Zena Comics as a more regular series.
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I grew up reading newspaper comics pretty obsessively, and then as a teenager got very into anime and manga. Being a comic book artist was my dream job, and though I drew a lot, I knew I didn't have the skills. In high school and college, I got into R. Crumb and started drawing my own comics a little more (which were basically rip-offs of his). The idea of adult-themed gag, alternative, and long-form comics appealed to me, but I didn't have the time to develop my own work much further as my life got taken up in college with more "serious" classes and then later grad school. But I never stopped reading comics, whether they were classic gag strips, manga, graphic novels, or webcomics. I think if you read them a lot, it's hard not to see your own life and ideas framed in a similar medium, especially if you're visually inclined. It becomes almost second nature.
I was one of those kids who loved my art classes above everything else and drew for fun in my free time. My grandmother was an artist and always gave me her old art supplies to mess around with. Drawing was just something I could always kind-of do, though I knew my limitations. Sometimes I wish I had pursued it more seriously and learned more fundamentals (especially more life drawing), but I hated the one art class I took in college (very basic still-life drawing) and kind of walked away from it for a while. But I doodled on and off for years, and never stopped reading comics. Then fairly recently (maybe 2-3 years ago) I heard Roz Chast (the New Yorker cartoonist) give a great talk at a convention and she mentioned how much she loved her Apple pencil. That gave me the push I needed to get my own and try digital art on an iPad using the program Procreate—and I absolutely fell in love with it. It's such a great medium, especially for cartooning.
I like to make jokes about what the world sometimes feels like to a single, 30-something-year-old woman. The absurdity of the internet and particularly how it overlaps with sex is another topic I keep finding myself going back to. The ridiculousness of the single life! In general, I like making jokes about love and sex, especially from a woman's perspective, which is pretty lacking in the webcomics sphere. I want to make people laugh about real things in their lives. If I'm feeling like something is absurd, maybe other people are having those thoughts too? It's a fun way to connect with others.
I’m in 6th grade and i listen to some real weird music...
Load More Replies...So, the occasional Eminem(by occasional, i mean more than almost anything) Meatloaf, and a ton of EDM stuff.
Load More Replies...ALL of the songs from Hamilton, Beetlejuice, Dear Evan Hansen, Mean Girls, Wicked, Six, and Heathers- I am a huge theatre kid don't mind me qwq (and I'm still in 6th grade lol)
If it was 7th grade ( I still am in 7th grade) I would go straight to hell.
Yay Nirvana - definitely straight to heaven for you
Load More Replies...I’m in 6th grade and my taste in music is.......questionable for my age. Eminem, Machine gun Kelli, Will Smith, and Nelly. (A few more too 😉)
Heeey! nice! at least there's another Eminem/rap lover to join me in hell xD. I havent heard WIll Smith in a while now.
Load More Replies...Sabaton, Skilet and We The Kings... Guess it's straigt to Heaven for me.
I feel like all of Skillet's songs sound the same. Sad yelling or angry yelling. I personally don't get it, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion! I'm glad you could find music that makes you happy.
Load More Replies...:0 idfk what to say, i mean, i cant listen to wap, i get like, 1 minute in then turn it off..(7th grade) the worst song i listen to is 50 Cent, or Ima a Real 1
Load More Replies...Well then I'm definitely going to hell. I like almost ALL kinds of music, however I listen to weirdcore and alternative the most :p also a little rock
Hehehehehe ill be in hEaVeN cause i only listen to Fleetwood Macccccccc
I'm probably not in trouble (eighth grade at the moment) because I was raised with the Beatles, the Zombies, Ray Charles, Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald and Roger Miller... I could go on for hours. My parents showed me just about everything except pop music because they hate autotune and the lyrics and anything to do with pop culture. They really hate it, which doesn't work out in my favor because I love K-Pop and am considering to come out of the closet... My mother doesn't mind Christian pop music, though. ANYWAYS! My point is that I should be good because I like most genres! ...Except metal... and most country music.
Hmmm... I'm going to hell for the Archies and Van Morrison! LOL
Everyone here is listing bands and genres, but the only thing that would actually put you in hell would be if you're legitimately into 10-hour loops. Not just "oh, I'll listen for a while because it's funny", I mean you're perfectly okay with sitting through the entire 10-hour video.
I listen to rock music and depressing music welp let’s see how that ends lol-
to be honest in sixth grade I liked 80's-90's pop so i don't think thats too bad? (my music taste hasn't changed sence then lol)
Mine is Family Guy, American Dad and Bob's Burgers and I'm 46!
Please, for the love of god, if a woman tells you how she likes to be touched, do it that way. Not the way you think it should be!