Help Calyn continue Pratt Institute
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Hi. My name's Calyn. I'm an American cartoonist born and raised in Paris, France. If you go to Pratt, I'm the one that draws the "Pwatt Institute" comics. I am also the one methodically adjusting safety goggles from the woodshop with a pen in one hand and cawfee in the other. I am looking for your help right now to help me complete my studies.
Pwatt is just part of a whole world of Dill Comics, all stemming from one character: Dill. When I invented him at six years old, he immediately became my best friend. Dill eventually branched off into a whole world of "dills". Other characters with their own comics then developed after that.
In 2014, when I first started posting regularly on the web, my story was featured on Afropunk. The reaction towards the article was surprising. I didn't expect much since I had just begun publishing work, but a backlash I hadn't anticipated occurred. Many readers thought Dill was white. See, Dill is as B&W as you can get, at least within his world. His race is undefined. The comments led me to realize that there was more to his identity than just being a cartoon kid with a lemon stand. He also had existential issues. Dill's constant search for his core self and gut feeling that "things are not always as they seem" reflected a lot of what I was feeling at the time the article was published. It also became apparent that I was building something slightly more solid than paper maché.
A lot of male readers began to question my credibility, suggesting that appearance alone had gotten me the piece. As they went on to research my background and personal life, my first exposure to a reality I hadn't been familiar with before was prompted. Following this "dill"emma, there were multiple occasions where readers assumed I was both white and male. With the lemons this life lesson threw, Dill Comics would soon go from bitter to better.
Dining with Dana was created when I was 14 out of my own need for an unapologetically black and round role model. Dana's comic became a website. This fat bat, rabid reader, and sweet chef aims to represent the underrepresented through word, taste and sound.
I, however, tend to take on the role of my characters from behind the paper or screen... As Dana's a bit of a personality in her cozy corner of the net, she has been published in For Harriet and Black Girl Nerds. She also made her own appearance in Afropunk.
She has collaborated with Michaela Angela Davis for #30for30 and plus size yoga guru Jessamyn Stanley for Fit Bat Yoga, a subset of her Fit Bat Workout tutorials. The series is inclusive of all sizes and encourages a realistic healthy lifestyle. (Who would ever even consider cutting out chocolate?)
Vashti DuBois added Dining with Dana to the Colored Girls Museum's permanent collection in 2016 where I was one of the founding artists. (Photo by Florence and Ed Goff)
In 2013 I signed up to the first rendition of France's unique programming school, École 42. As one among the first 800, I was selected to be part of the month-long boot camp. For someone who's logic is not linear, I felt it a miracle that I even got in - let alone survived. Having no recollection of the acceptance e-mail, I felt like the little stick figure in Google maps you drag and drop to get to street view. The experience of being accepted into the first class of an institution during its founding was irreplicable. Truth be told, beyond "if-this-then-that", I was there to study things from a "Dill's" perspective. That's when 42 Born 2 Crash was born. A spin-off of École 42's motto "Born 2 Code", it brought cartoons to code for the visual thinker.
Within the inaugural class of 2016, there was unlimited room to create. Featuring "Denver the developer" (a fourteen-year-old programming genius), Born 2 Crash became part of the school's identity as illustrations showed up in newly created associations, press-kits, business plans as well as assignments.
Denver also started an afternoon comics class where students could illustrate their frustrations in terms of dysfunctional code. This was my first time drawing for an academic institution, but the feeling of satirizing while within stuck with me.
After leaving École 42, I was called with a project. Nepal Orphan's Home wanted me to fly over so "Denver the developer" could teach children to code. In the meantime, I was encouraged by my Mother (chairman of the Motherboard) to go back to school. I chose one: Pratt. I got in and based on my portfolio was given a Pratt grant. Because I decided not to go to Nepal, I narrowly missed the tragic earthquake.
Upon matriculation, Pwatt Institute began. Deirdre, the school's satirical alternate ego, followed the adventures of a grumpy goal-driven-cawfee-drinking Pwatt student. In freshman year, I began a trial partnership with POSCA pens. Thanks to them, I was able to produce drawings with open access to art supplies. In my sophomore year, I became the cartoonist for the Prattler, Pratt's official newspaper since 1940. As a Critical and Visual Studies major with a minor in Philosophy, I constantly use the knowledge I gain through my academic studies to fuel the universe of Dill Comics.
Booth at the Women in Comics convention. (photo by Angela Hall)
Although I also sell merchandise and custom cartoon portraits at comic conventions, what I love most about doing this is hearing people's stories. Readers talk as I draw them and try to capture their Self into a Toon. So far, Dill has attended Women In Comics Convention 2016 and 2017 as well as East Coast Black Age of Comics. This year, I got to be part of a panel at Newark Culture Con. Additionally, to help offset the extensive cost of my studies, I have been working with children at Court 16 as an Arts & Crafts assistant. Children have been such a great source of inspiration for me that my dream is to be able to empower them through my comics.
Full "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" comic here.
Today I am asking for anything to keep me going to Pratt Institute. I am an independent student and have run out of options to fund my education. This is a last resort. Anything would be appreciated. Even if you cannot donate, a kind comment is always encouraging. All of the funds would go towards my tuition and living expenses.
My immediate goal is to successfully graduate and focus on my publishing. I have consistently maintained good standing at Pratt Institute. With Dill Comics, I hope to change minds and perspectives, showing that the lemons of life can, in fact, go from bitter to better. Your contributions will help me complete my story.
If you've read this far, thank you.
Oh and by the way, special thanks to Time Out Paris, Arludik, Ormes Society, MAD Free, Sud Ouest, The Colored Girls Museum, Mecca Con, Afropunk, POSCA pens, Black Comics Chat and most recently to The New Yorker for your continued and future support. Shout out to Les Katsura and everyone who supported me on Patreon for keeping my comics going.
A further shout out to Thomas Chatterton Williams for chronicling my family as part of his story in the Smithsonian Journeys Magazine as well as Deborah E. Whaley, author of Black Women in Sequence who is writing a forthcoming book chapter for an anthology of scholarly articles on black women in horror/speculative fiction about Dill Comics and musician Militia Vox.
Lastly, a shout back to my high school, Lycée d'Arts Appliqués Auguste Renoir for taking care of my baby brother, Cassius, and to CalArts for giving an opportunity to my younger brother, Cain - for we are together in drawing our own narrative.
Pwatt is just part of a whole world of Dill Comics, all stemming from one character: Dill. When I invented him at six years old, he immediately became my best friend. Dill eventually branched off into a whole world of "dills". Other characters with their own comics then developed after that.
In 2014, when I first started posting regularly on the web, my story was featured on Afropunk. The reaction towards the article was surprising. I didn't expect much since I had just begun publishing work, but a backlash I hadn't anticipated occurred. Many readers thought Dill was white. See, Dill is as B&W as you can get, at least within his world. His race is undefined. The comments led me to realize that there was more to his identity than just being a cartoon kid with a lemon stand. He also had existential issues. Dill's constant search for his core self and gut feeling that "things are not always as they seem" reflected a lot of what I was feeling at the time the article was published. It also became apparent that I was building something slightly more solid than paper maché.
A lot of male readers began to question my credibility, suggesting that appearance alone had gotten me the piece. As they went on to research my background and personal life, my first exposure to a reality I hadn't been familiar with before was prompted. Following this "dill"emma, there were multiple occasions where readers assumed I was both white and male. With the lemons this life lesson threw, Dill Comics would soon go from bitter to better.
Dining with Dana was created when I was 14 out of my own need for an unapologetically black and round role model. Dana's comic became a website. This fat bat, rabid reader, and sweet chef aims to represent the underrepresented through word, taste and sound.
I, however, tend to take on the role of my characters from behind the paper or screen... As Dana's a bit of a personality in her cozy corner of the net, she has been published in For Harriet and Black Girl Nerds. She also made her own appearance in Afropunk.
She has collaborated with Michaela Angela Davis for #30for30 and plus size yoga guru Jessamyn Stanley for Fit Bat Yoga, a subset of her Fit Bat Workout tutorials. The series is inclusive of all sizes and encourages a realistic healthy lifestyle. (Who would ever even consider cutting out chocolate?)
Vashti DuBois added Dining with Dana to the Colored Girls Museum's permanent collection in 2016 where I was one of the founding artists. (Photo by Florence and Ed Goff)
In 2013 I signed up to the first rendition of France's unique programming school, École 42. As one among the first 800, I was selected to be part of the month-long boot camp. For someone who's logic is not linear, I felt it a miracle that I even got in - let alone survived. Having no recollection of the acceptance e-mail, I felt like the little stick figure in Google maps you drag and drop to get to street view. The experience of being accepted into the first class of an institution during its founding was irreplicable. Truth be told, beyond "if-this-then-that", I was there to study things from a "Dill's" perspective. That's when 42 Born 2 Crash was born. A spin-off of École 42's motto "Born 2 Code", it brought cartoons to code for the visual thinker.
Within the inaugural class of 2016, there was unlimited room to create. Featuring "Denver the developer" (a fourteen-year-old programming genius), Born 2 Crash became part of the school's identity as illustrations showed up in newly created associations, press-kits, business plans as well as assignments.
Denver also started an afternoon comics class where students could illustrate their frustrations in terms of dysfunctional code. This was my first time drawing for an academic institution, but the feeling of satirizing while within stuck with me.
After leaving École 42, I was called with a project. Nepal Orphan's Home wanted me to fly over so "Denver the developer" could teach children to code. In the meantime, I was encouraged by my Mother (chairman of the Motherboard) to go back to school. I chose one: Pratt. I got in and based on my portfolio was given a Pratt grant. Because I decided not to go to Nepal, I narrowly missed the tragic earthquake.
Upon matriculation, Pwatt Institute began. Deirdre, the school's satirical alternate ego, followed the adventures of a grumpy goal-driven-cawfee-drinking Pwatt student. In freshman year, I began a trial partnership with POSCA pens. Thanks to them, I was able to produce drawings with open access to art supplies. In my sophomore year, I became the cartoonist for the Prattler, Pratt's official newspaper since 1940. As a Critical and Visual Studies major with a minor in Philosophy, I constantly use the knowledge I gain through my academic studies to fuel the universe of Dill Comics.
Booth at the Women in Comics convention. (photo by Angela Hall)
Although I also sell merchandise and custom cartoon portraits at comic conventions, what I love most about doing this is hearing people's stories. Readers talk as I draw them and try to capture their Self into a Toon. So far, Dill has attended Women In Comics Convention 2016 and 2017 as well as East Coast Black Age of Comics. This year, I got to be part of a panel at Newark Culture Con. Additionally, to help offset the extensive cost of my studies, I have been working with children at Court 16 as an Arts & Crafts assistant. Children have been such a great source of inspiration for me that my dream is to be able to empower them through my comics.
Full "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" comic here.
Today I am asking for anything to keep me going to Pratt Institute. I am an independent student and have run out of options to fund my education. This is a last resort. Anything would be appreciated. Even if you cannot donate, a kind comment is always encouraging. All of the funds would go towards my tuition and living expenses.
My immediate goal is to successfully graduate and focus on my publishing. I have consistently maintained good standing at Pratt Institute. With Dill Comics, I hope to change minds and perspectives, showing that the lemons of life can, in fact, go from bitter to better. Your contributions will help me complete my story.
If you've read this far, thank you.
Oh and by the way, special thanks to Time Out Paris, Arludik, Ormes Society, MAD Free, Sud Ouest, The Colored Girls Museum, Mecca Con, Afropunk, POSCA pens, Black Comics Chat and most recently to The New Yorker for your continued and future support. Shout out to Les Katsura and everyone who supported me on Patreon for keeping my comics going.
A further shout out to Thomas Chatterton Williams for chronicling my family as part of his story in the Smithsonian Journeys Magazine as well as Deborah E. Whaley, author of Black Women in Sequence who is writing a forthcoming book chapter for an anthology of scholarly articles on black women in horror/speculative fiction about Dill Comics and musician Militia Vox.
Lastly, a shout back to my high school, Lycée d'Arts Appliqués Auguste Renoir for taking care of my baby brother, Cassius, and to CalArts for giving an opportunity to my younger brother, Cain - for we are together in drawing our own narrative.
Organizer
Calyn Pickens Rich
Organizer