Hello, I'm Mari.

[Mari]

Hi everyone. I found a banner for this site being advertised on my webcomic's project wonderful box and really enjoy comic collectives! so yeah... here I am! (right, and here is the part where I tell you random useless info about myself, so here it goes)

I'm an entomologist/scientific illustrator by day and and comic artist by night.

Here are some pages with my stuff on it for people who are interested:
my current webcomic, "Shizentai"
Artbloom article (then vs. now type dealie)
my deviant art

[Mutt]

HI Mari.  Beautiful art work! wow.

[Rob]

Hello Mari,

New Orleans huh? Was that the reason for the transfer to Purdue? That was a rough time. Sorry you had to go through it.

I love your website. It's very unique yet conforms well to standard and presents your art well (I especially like the cursor change on your credentials page and the way you did your character page is brilliant). And that's good because your art is amazing.

One thing to correct you on, this isn't really a comics collective. And I say that only because that particularly loaded term has a connotation among webcomics that goes beyond the typical definition of the word "Collective."

One could certainly argue that we are a collective in that we all share a common interest, but collective as it applies to webcomics usually brings to mind the other parts of that definition. The working together on projects for financial gain and making group decisions and exercising power.

Usually, when it comes to webcomics a collective is a group of creators who band together to share expenses, pool resources and promote across the collective. Joining one can be beneficial, it can also be restricting and if you don't read the contract can put your creative freedom in danger.

One of the best known collectives is Dumbrella which was started by a bunch of webcomic creators and has since become quite the webcomics monolith giving birth to Project Wonderful, Topatoco (Webcomics Merchandise order fulfillment), Dumbrella Hosting and they own Fleen; easily the best known webcomics blog.

Believe me when I tell you that I wish this was where we were going. LOL. But the intention of this site is to just come together with other creators and share information. Anything that goes beyond that will most likely be up to the individual creators involved.  ;)

[NoahRodenbeek]

I've always wanted to be a scientific illustrator.  How did you get into that field?

[TakaComics]

Haha, I have a friend from Japan named Mariko (who went by "Mari"), and when I saw your work, I wondered if you were the same person! I thought "She does art too?!" :D

Your work is beautiful. I love digital painting in comics, and wish I could do the same. Need to practice it :(. I am also a martial artist, so when I got to your latest page, it definitely caught my eye.

[Mari]

New Orleans huh? Was that the reason for the transfer to Purdue? That was a rough time. Sorry you had to go through it.

I love your website. It's very unique yet conforms well to standard and presents your art well (I especially like the cursor change on your credentials page and the way you did your character page is brilliant).

Well thank you very much! I can't take all the credit for the site though, since I didn't code it myself. I just designed everything (the fun bit) and left all the hard work to my poor dear friend who is far too understanding of my incompetence in site building. >_<

As for Katrina, all's well that ends well i suppose. Besides, members of my family have been in New Orleans for 291 years; they survived fires, wars, and epidemics. If I didn't come back after a little water I'd look like a total wuss when I get to the afterlife. lol

One thing to correct you on, this isn't really a comics collective.

So sorry. my bad. I enjoy comic "communities" ;)

I've always wanted to be a scientific illustrator.  How did you get into that field?

Well, I was an undergraduate student worker at an entomology lab when I started. I made a Christmas card with an ant on it for my bosses one year and they were like "Can you draw something for my dissertation?" or "for this publication" or even "for this textbook." From there I just started calling myself a scientific illustrator and jobs have been finding me ever since. I wish I could say that there was more to it than that. lol I guess business cards help.

Haha, I have a friend from Japan named Mariko (who went by "Mari"), and when I saw your work, I wondered if you were the same person! I thought "She does art too?!" :D

Your work is beautiful. I love digital painting in comics, and wish I could do the same. Need to practice it :(. I am also a martial artist, so when I got to your latest page, it definitely caught my eye.

haha, yeah, Mari's a really common name isn't it? I guess it adds to the numbers that it's also an Irish and Hebrew name. What martial art do you do?

[TakaComics]

What martial art do you do?

I practice Kendo and Iaido. I've been thinking about doing a kendo comic for a while (and yes, I know about Bamboo Blade.)

[Mari]

wow! Swords huh? Well if you do make that comic we should start a martial arts webcomic club.  :D

[TakaComics]

wow! Swords huh? Well if you do make that comic we should start a martial arts webcomic club.  :D

Well, I have my zombie story right now. Gonna be doing this for a while. Maybe the next one will be Kendo related!

[Mari]

I understand.
I'm in a similar boat with my other now defunct comic project (communication confusion). I was planning on redoing the whole thing after I finish up with Shizentai... except... I've been noticing lately that someone has been tagging the French Quarter with one of CC's main characters  :-\ (odd as that sounds). I should probably feel concerned about copyright or allegations of defacing public property and whatnot, but it really warms my heart actually ;_;

I may end up bringing it back sooner than expected.