I grew up in a pre-internet world, but I learned to be an artist on the internet.

Being a cartoonist online is the longest relationship I’ve ever had doing anything.

I’ve been blogging since blogs were invented. (”I blog, therefore I am” was my unspoken motto in college.)

I started posting webcomics in 2011, drawing them everyday before work. Online was where I first found the courage to call myself an artist. Before that, I never had the confidence to declare it.

This week’s comic tells a short version of my art journey so far, along with hope for where it will continue to take me, as I learn to practice creativity on my own terms. I share when I want to; otherwise, “Whatever happens IRL, stays IRL.”

No matter how much technology changes, I hope my “IRL” existence will always be fuller than my online footprint.

I’m grateful to still be doing it.

Thanks for reading and being along for the journey.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share a new comic strip each week, while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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This week, I’m sharing three previously unpublished single-panel gag illustrations, another style I sometimes work in. Surprisingly, single-panel comics can take longer to finish than longer pieces because there’s less room to get a point across and make a joke land.

I’ve been working on this batch of ideas at my drawing table for months now. I decided to publish them because they are as close to the sentiment I first wanted to convey as I can get them.

The process of writing and cartooning is often difficult and laborious, but I keep trying because I want to get better at sharing ideas and being understood. If an idea doesn’t resonate with others, I try to puzzle out why. What I’ve learned about myself in the years of studying the craft is that I’m willing to put in the extra work, even if I’m not a natural and it never gets any easier.

In short — I hope you enjoy the cartoons. I’ll keep showing up to draw them.

Thanks for reading and being here.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share a new comic strip each week, while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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I met another Connie on the train and broke the cardinal rule of the riding the New York City subway: Keep to yourself and don’t bother strangers.

In a city this big, there are too people to just go around making small talk with everyone you see. We keep pleasantries to a minimum, out of respect for each other’s space and energy. I don’t mind that and have learned over many years that it’s best to mind your own business as a social protocol, unless asked to intervene or there’s an emergency. That’s the only time New Yorkers will spring into action.

So I wrestled with breaking the rule, but decided to just be human and take a chance. I kept it brief and, in the end, forgave myself for interrupting her commute. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to break a rule or two.

Thanks for reading and being here.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share a new comic strip each week, while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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For most of my life, I’ve struggled to feel like I belong anywhere. By the grace of individuals who showed me kindness along the way, I’m still here. For them, I am always grateful.

I always think of this when the World Cup rolls around and all the collective energy around the games rises to a pitch. I didn’t grow up with the cultural phenomenon of World Cup football, but I remember the first time I attended a watch party outside of the U.S. in my 20s and had the feeling of being welcomed into a global community, even as an outsider to the sport. The fervor among football fans was so intense that I felt like I was part of something larger than myself and that we were all interconnected.

Things changed a lot since and our world feels more fractured than ever.

But maybe we can all be bridges in our own way. The world needs more of this — though it can be an uncomfortable learning curve:

Thanks for reading and being here.

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It is a source of shame that it takes me longer to learn new skills or perform certain tasks.

Our society values the quick study and the efficient worker to keep the machine running. But not everyone’s brains work in the same ways or optimally in those conditions. I can crack the whip, but sometimes the work suffers as a result, especially if it’s creative and complex.

For larger projects, I can have a hard time seeing the steps needed to get to the end goal and it takes me longer than I think it will to come up with a plan. I also tend to get lost in the process and have to get myself back on track.

That said, there’s certainly value in coming up with ideas and seeing them through, from start to finish. With my current projects, I’m still in the weeds and trying to forgive myself the time I need to get them done.

Many worthwhile things in life aren’t easy and maybe we can give ourselves a little more grace when needed. I’m reminding myself that the important thing is to keep going.

Hope you’re surviving the heat dome if you’re anywhere near one!

These heatwave cartoons are becoming evergreen. Stay safe and stay hydrated! Hope you are doing something fun this weekend and/or enjoying the World Cup festivities. Thanks for reading and being here!

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share new comics, art process and pep talks each week while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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This week, I’m sharing a diary comic about spending time with friends with kids and how humbling it is to encounter their frank acuity in assessing the adults around them. I have zero cred with them (except that we all listen to the “K-Pop Demon Hunters” soundtrack), but it’s great fun to witness how children start to make sense of the world and develop personalities.

In this day and age, adults should be kept on their toes, no question.

Parents of young children possess very hardy constitutions. If you are one, I admire you!

Take care and thanks for reading! Stay safe and stay sharp!

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share new comics, art process and pep talks each week while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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I often have to remind myself that the struggle is the way!

This week’s comic is about the slow, arduous process of being a writer and how I still have a lot to learn.

The punchline of the comic hits close to home for me:

“I prefer to do things the hard way. I live my life like a slow-moving, uphill battle.”

If I’m honest, it’s barely an exaggeration. In fact, it might be the truest thing I’ve ever said about myself and how I function in life.

Hope it gets a laugh because, at the end of most days, humor is the only relief.

This is an older cartoon I drew in 2018 about living with fearless abandon and how nobody else can do it for you. Still true and still showing up to the drawing table.

Thanks for reading and may things get easier for us all, not harder. At least everyday is another opportunity to grow.

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Lately, I’ve been thinking about what parts of our humanity we can retain in times of uncertainty and destabilizing change. I came up with this list, just as a start.

This week, I also gave myself the challenge of trying to animate the comic panels manually, without the use of any generative AI, which I’ve still never used.

I’m no animator, but I taught myself draw and color each frame by hand -- no shortcuts. It was labor-intensive, but I got much more out of the exercise than I would have if I outsourced my learning to an algorithm.

Sharing my beginner’s attempt at animation here. It’s clunky, but I’m proud of it because the learning is 100 percent mine.

Here is the original comic.

Thanks for reading and being here. Working hard on something new, so I’m online less. Hope to be able to share with you all soon.

Stay proud. Stay human. Be an original.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share new comics, art process and pep talks each week while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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Some situations call for compassion and others, less so.

Hope you enjoy this week’s diary comic, drawn from memory, because I wanted to remember it. Sometimes riding the subway is aggravating and other times it is a reminder to be less robot and more human.

This is another subway comic I drew in 2014 about being kinder to myself. For many people, this is not an easy task.

Life may not be kind, but we’re all in this together. One step at a time.

Thanks for reading and being here. Working hard on something new, so I’m online less. Hope to be able to share with you all soon.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share new comics and pep talks each week while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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This week, I'm sharing an unpublished illustrated poem I drew last year when I started considering what is at stake if we lose our ability to learn and evolve at a human pace. Maybe it's the loss of the kind of slow wisdom that we only come to know in our bones.

I find myself grasping for reassurances these days. So much of the news is plain bad and, for all the billions being spent on the A.I. race, none of it seems to helping make any of the world’s problems better.

I could just say, not my circus, not my monkeys, but the impact of decisions being made on our lives has been real.

The second comic strip is more recent. Six months after drawing the first one, I’m confronting harsher economic and social realities, as many of us are. The constant flood of change and disruption (to say nothing of the destruction) is overwhelming and a lot to process. It’s tempting to look for easy outs and to “outsource” the hard stuff elsewhere or to the machines.

I don’t have the answers, I’m just living through it, as we all are. I believe it’s important that we take care of ourselves and each other.

“Rest before worry” is what I tell myself; otherwise, I will not have the strength to do the work. And none of us are machines.

Thanks for reading, for your humanity, and for being here.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share new comics and pep talks each week while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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I’ve never had a dog before and I’m not a gifted dog communicator, but I still try to learn their language the best I can.

Here is a batch of cartoons of a few dogs I’ve met and drawn over the years.

Hope you’re keeping busy and finding comfort and sanity in your daily life, no matter how crazy things get.

Working on a new project that I hope to share soon.

Thanks for reading and being here.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share new comics and pep talks each week while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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This has not been an easy time. I’ve had some setbacks lately, but I’m taking things a step at a time and doing my best to keep moving forward.

This week, I took the most positive thought I had and made a cartoon out of it. That’s something.

I’m also working on something fun that I’m excited to share soon.

In the meantime, here is one of my daily comic strips from 2015. It's a staple pep talk I often revisit as needed.

Thanks for reading and being here. Hope you are also finding validation in the all the cumulative life experiences that make you who you are.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share new comics and pep talks each week while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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I’m recovering from a minor procedure this week and thought I’d share some recent gag cartoons I drew for some needed levity. This is a different style from the personal comics that I’ve been sharing.

Sometimes I wish I had a more consistent style of work, but I also believe in constantly growing, evolving, and exploring new ways to make art.

One of my favorite quotes is from the late comedian George Carlin, who once said this in an interview:

“An artist has an obligation to be enroute — to be going somewhere. There’s a journey involved. You don’t know where it is - and that’s the fun.”

As I work on longer projects, I’ve kept this blog as a safe space for me to play, experiment, and keep making art no matter what. A lot about my life has changed since I began cartooning, but I’m glad I kept going and haven’t given up.

I’ve still never used generative A.I. It’s kind of a social experiment at this point. But I am paying attention to how it’s changing people’s behavior around me.

For all of its bells and whistles, I don’t think A.I. can touch what matters most to me about the creative process, in all of its human-made inefficiency.

Thank you for reading and being along for the journey. I have some fun things in the works — stay tuned!

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share new comics each week, while I work on new projects and my longer graphic novel. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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I love coming up with ideas. That’s my favorite part of the creative process, even when it’s messy.

Over the years, I’ve gotten less hung up on perfection and I’ve even grown to love the wildness of ideas that aren’t formed yet. They are full of possibility and potential.

That’s only part of creating though. I’m less practiced with editing ideas to get them to a finished stage. My sketchbooks and journals and full of ideas that need more work.

Longer projects, like the book I’m writing, are even more challenging. Today’s cartoon is basically a metaphor for my writing process. I have years of work and research under my belt, multiple drafts, and — much more editing and honing to do.

It’s getting closer — but pushing toward “a finish” is harder than I ever imagined.

This is a cartoon sketch I drew from 2011 - No. 10 of my daily sketchbook “status messages” that started my journey as a cartoonist. That’s when I decided I would stop making excuses and just make art everyday, no matter how small.

At the time, I was working full-time at Columbia University and I promised myself I would draw something every morning before work and blog it, no matter how good or bad. I kept it up for 8 years, before I scaled back daily posts to learn new skills. I haven’t quit — I still draw everyday, but I don’t need to post everyday to stay motivated.

The Tina Fey quote that inspired that 2011 drawing of cartoon me trying to white-out an absurd amount of spilled ink still rings true: “There are no mistakes, only opportunities.”

I’m learning to embrace the “mistakes” that got me here and will get me to where I want to go. Thankfully, I have a healthier mindset than I did in 2011. I also keep a more realistic amount of white-out.

Thanks for reading and being here. May we have infinite opportunities to learn and grow.

Ways to support this independent publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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I love the high-octane, unapologetic individuality of New Yorkers. Even in the small moments, it’s never boring. This week, I turned some sketchbook drawings from memory and life into a small comic strip homage.

Even though a lot feels broken in the world, there’s a lot that keeps going, like trains and every one of us.

Shout out to friends Onyx and Malik (in panel 4) for their amazing fashion choices on Tuesday, which made me very happy.

To new subscribers, thanks for joining! This is where I share a new comic strip each week, while I continue to work on my longer graphic novel project. You can also find my entire cartoon archive here, all the way back to when I first started teaching myself to draw comics 15 years ago. Against all practical odds, I still haven’t given up the dream.

Thanks for reading and being here!

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This week, I had the impulse to act on my anxieties and prepare for the worst. What do I need to live? Non-perishable foods and consumer staples? Or do I follow my default impulses? I noticed how my brain reaches for odd comforts that are not entirely practical. Maybe even frivolous. They did feel essential to me in the moment.

I don’t mean to make light of anything that is happening. I’m just noticing quirks of my own psychology and asking myself what impulses I should listen to or quell.

That said, I did buy more ink to refill my pens with so that I don’t run out. Frivolous? An odd fixation? Maybe. But it did bring me a momentary sense of comfort and relief.

I imagine we all have our own ways that we’re dealing. Wishing you everything you need and some extra comforts too.

Thanks for reading and being here.

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I drew this comic for some encouragement. I need a little push to get through the week. Hope it gets easier, but regardless, all I can do is one thing at a time. Some days, every step is monumental.

Hope you're carrying on too. Take care of yourself and thanks for reading.

Here’s a bear hug from 2013 if you need one.

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I drew this because I’m feeling awe-inspired by the photos captured yesterday by the crew of the Artemis II. The image of the Earthset is especially breathtaking and some welcome perspective of the planet in the first half of 2026.

You can view the official mission gallery here: https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/lunar-flyby/

Thanks for reading and have a good week. Stay well and stay inspired.

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Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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I have the tendency to be conflict-avoidant and easily overwhelmed by people arguing and fighting around me. It stresses me out and I don’t like how being in conflict with others brings out my worst qualities by default, like high emotion and black-and-white thinking.

Avoidance doesn’t solve a lot of problems though and the elephant in today’s comic has a point. I can’t really hole up in a cave and not face the world, no matter how much fighting is going.

Maybe some moderation is in order for introverts though, to preserve sanity. Staying sane is no easy task in the world we live in.

Thanks for reading and being here.

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Art prints and gifts are available in my shop.

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If I do an honest assessment of how I’m doing on my book project, it’s plenty discouraging. It is taking years longer than I ever imagined it would at the start of my journey.

I have had so much to learn about myself, the craft, and the process. If I knew how unbelievably hard it would be be, I probably wouldn’t have started.

Yet, I’m still at it. That’s the work; it’s lonely and plodding with no guarantees. There are days of inspired clarity and many more days when writing is like hiking in mud. My only options are: keep going or give up.

As for progress, I can report that I’m better at slogging through mud. Despite the struggles, I’ve managed to cover a lot of ground over time. No shortcuts.

One day, I’ll be able to discuss in detail what I’ve had to do and learn along the way, but for now, I’ll keep writing and revising until I’m there.

Thanks for reading and being here, in spite of all.

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Ways to support this publication: Subscribe to once-a-week posts, Share with a friend, Support CartoonConnie on Ko-fi, Follow on Substack or Instagram. Art prints are available in my shop.

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