Danielle does a comic strip called Girls With Slingshots. The short answer is it is a strip about two girls, a bar and a talking cactus. The long answer is that just about nothing is out of bounds in this strip: booze, sexual orientation, language, dick and fart jokes it’s all there but done in such a way that you embrace the characters as people you could actually know. She crafts her characters in such a way that they seem very real and relatable. Her art has simplified over the course of the strip to a point where it just looks so easy but trust me it’s not. With just a few simple lines she is able to convey a great deal of emotion from her characters.

Girls with Slingshots isn’t your typical gag a day strip, it’s more like a developing storyline that is just funny because more times than not you can relate to it. Everyone I’ve ever shared this strip with has enjoyed it. Especially if you are a woman I’d recommend giving this strip a read. There’s just something about it that everyone can relate to.

Danielle tends to draw herself drinking but had a cold the day she did this for me and therefore we have cough syrup instead.

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 Dave Malki who is the creative genius behind Wondermark.

Wondermark is a wonderfully original strip that updates twice a week. The best way to describe it is this is what comics from the victorian era would have looked like. Each strip is a stand alone gag so you don’t need to start from the beginning, unless you wish to do so. Give it a look you’re sure to get a good laugh.

Wondermark isn’t a traditionally drawn strip so I wasn’t sure if Dave would be up for drawing me a self portrait but he was quickly up for the challange and provided a lovely self portrait.