Do you remember that kid in middle school? The quiet one who
was always drawing instead of paying attention and would get really excited for
art class? There’s always a kid like that, someone who shows talent and
excitement for art early on, who will make something of themselves if they can
find just a little bit of intense dedication as they get older. That’s the kid
that you always wonder, what happened to them? Did they make it? Are they
living a glamorous art life filled with pencils and fancy mustaches while I sit
at my desk job thinking about how bad this chair is for my back?
Well, friends, when you take that quiet kid from middle
school and send them to art school and show them the mighty and majestic world
of comics, who you’re going to get is Claire Connelly. Although I cannot speak
to how glamorous and mustache filled her life may currently be, I expect to see
her name more often as time goes on. Already, she pops up on Comixology, and my
Twitter and Tumblr feeds show me that she’s working hard every day. Claire
breathes and thinks illustration, and so far, it’s working out for her pretty
well.
One of the remarkable
things about Claire Connelly is the sheer amount of work she puts out. She is
always working, always posting about her work. When she isn’t doing comics, she’s
drawing, painting, doing commissions – forever making art and getting better
and better. Her style is reminiscent of Jeff Lemire, but a little darker, a
little stockier, a little more on the fantastic side, with a certain underlying
sense of unease. A lot of Connelly’s work is dark sci-fi/fantasy, and she is
very good at it. Her monsters are strange and uncomfortable and her
storytelling is spooky – I would love to see her try her hand at some weird cosmic
horror.
When I have seen Claire Connelly at shows before she had a
large amount of books with her, all hand made and all very fun. I expect this
year will be the same. Claire will likely be selling copies of her graphic
novel Here, as well as her collection
of shorts Down With The Ship, if you’re
looking for a bigger book, and will be premiering print copies of one of her
newer color works, Phantom Harvest at
the show. You will be able to find Claire Connelly at SPX on September 19th
and 20th at table J1A.
