After senior Daniel Hopper retired from illustrating the previous daily comic, ‘The Teen Age,’ freshman artist Katie Barisic eagerly took up the task of producing her own weekday online comic strip, ‘The Good Times.’
Barisic will release her 100th issue, Feb. 24, after working on the comic daily throughout the year.
“I never thought I’d get this far,” Barisic said. “I didn’t even realize I was coming upon my 100th until [journalism adviser Greg] Stobbe said something to me. [Drawing the comics] seemed to go by slowly at the time, but now looking back, it went by fast.”
As an avid artist since childhood, Barisic went into the process of illustrating ‘The Good Times’ with skills and techniques. Barisic uses real-life inspirations in her comic strip and incorporates events and characters from her daily experiences.
“Drawing comics has been fun because I get to draw things that happen in real life, despite their strange nature,” Barisic said. “The most colorful inspiration I get is from my two sisters, Lauren [’10] and Alex [’11]. I can honestly say that I would have no ideas if I didn’t have my sisters.”
As one of the two sources of comedy, Alex recognizes that many comics mirror funny sayings she has said or actions she has done.
“Every comic has at least one thing relating to Lauren, Katie, my little brother William or me,” Alex said. “In the Christmas one where Zack breaks the reindeer, that actually happened to me. I feel good knowing that I can help her create something without me really trying. I always joke to her saying that if I wasn’t her sister, then she’d have nothing to write about.”
Besides events in her family life, Katie includes campus events and situations that relate to teenagers in her comics to better appeal to students.
“I try to keep up with the events that happen with our school and put them in my comics to help people relate a little more,” Katie said. “I’ve had comics about Adventure P.E., Christmas, Night of the Stars and the day we taped [David Casuga, ’12] to a wall. I also ask people about their day and what they are doing on the weekends for ideas.”
However, despite these resources, Katie understands the time-consuming process of making comics and keeping them unique.
“I try to tie in things from real-life that happen, but sometimes there is nothing going on and that is when things get really tough,” Katie said. “Sometimes I have to pull comics out of thin air. I have been in moods where I feel like I don’t want to draw anything or am too lazy, so it pushes me behind on my schedule.”
To keep her comic series daily, Katie tries to stay two weeks ahead of schedule to ensure that she doesn’t fall behind. This requires discipline and responsibility, says Katie, since each comic takes about two hours for her to make. This means that on the 100th mark, Katie will have spent 200 hours drawing her comics among other art projects.
Despite this hard work, Katie felt surprised to learn that she had viewers and readers outside of the campus community.
“I had no idea that other people were reading my comics besides the students and teachers at this school,” Katie said. “I was surprised to find this out. The number of people who do read my comics is more than I ever thought.”
Among her followers, fellow freshman Maddie Yee appreciates Katie’s artistic talent and enjoys the comics for their originality.
“[Katie] thinks outside the box,” Yee said. “Her comics are really entertaining and creative; they are a way for her to use her talent. She also uses real situations. One of the comics was about an event that I was actually a part of in real life. I try to read them each day.”
Though drawing comics takes time and creativity, Katie’s passion for art has given her a desire to continue drawing the comics until she graduates, though she is unsure whether she will keep the same characters and story line.
“I have always loved drawing, and I plan to do it for as long as I live,” Katie said. “Drawing is a very therapeutic thing for me to do and making the comics is definitely worth it in the end. It has definitely been hard to pull a comic out of certain situations, but as long as I am around my family, comedy is just one comment away.”
To read ‘The Good Times,’ click on the daily comic button on the right menu bar, situated between FC Underground and the podcasts.
Lori Mascarenas • Jan 29, 2011 at 12:02 am
For those of you who have not come to a volleyball game… you are really missing out on a lot of fun!! Not only do we have a team of girls who are almost undefeated, there is a lot of talent on the floor that is amazing to watch, fun cheer for and lots to be proud of!!