PHD was started by Cham during his grad studies at Stanford. Jorge took all of his daily frustrations of life as a grad student and channeled it into PHD. It follows a cast of characters as they do their best to procrastinate their way through grad school. As a former student myself back in the old days, I can tell you that procrastination is the best way to get through school, and Jorge nails it perfectly in PHD.

Jorge currently updates three times a week. Previously a five day a week strip Jorge cut back his schedule so that he could do a lecture tour. This has almost turned into full time job itself. Touring colleges Jorge speaks on a subject that is near and dear to him “The Power of Procrastination”. You can find a list of his upcoming talks just below his comic.

When I asked Jorge to draw a self portrait I discovered the worst kept secret in all of comics, his self portrait looks 99% like the nameless lead in his comic strip, coincidence you decide?

The theme of my sketchbook was self portraits. Today’s sketch comes to us from Rene Engstrom who does the comic Anders Loves Maria.

I would recommend if you are reading Anders Loves Maria (ALM) for the first time you start at the very first strip. The story is told in the classic sense with a definitive beginning, middle, and end in mind. Rene describes ALM: “It is a story about “adulthood” in a modern age where coming-of-age seems to be completely arbitrary.”

ALM has very adult themes and is for a mature audience. The artistic medium changes throughout from vector art to beautiful watercolors. Rene is an extremely talented artist and if you are of a mature mind I would highly recommend Anders Loves Maria. Check it out now before the story comes to an end.

The theme of my sketchbook was self portraits. First up is Dave Kellett of Sheldon Comics. You can find it seven days a week.

Dave writes on his website: “Sheldon is a sarcastic, nerdy family strip filled with pop-culture references and fun, random storylines. At its center is this weird, wonderful little family: a boy, his duck, and the grandfather that raises them both. It’s a strip of geeks, for geeks, drawn by a geek. You’ll dig it: trust us.” I dig it.

When I first approached Dave about doing a self portrait he was a bit hesitant at first since it’s not his thing, but he was kind enough to oblige. I think he was happy with it because he snapped a picture of it and actually beat me to the punch by including it in his NEWW write up. Enjoy the awesomeness.