While a lot of students enjoy competing in sports during their high school term, some choose to excel in other areas. Senior Katie Barisic, has been writing the comic strip, “The Good Times” for The Feather for the past four years.

Barisic has always been very interested in drawing and painting. She had never drawn comics before, but was very interested when the journalism advisor Greg Stobbe, asked her to work for The Feather.

After getting involved in drawing for The Feather it became a full time job for Barisic. Stobbe saw potential in her work and decided to make her a part of the staff.

“Ever since kindergarten, I have really enjoyed drawing and other kinds of art,” Barisic said. “I had a lot of notebooks that I would fill with doodles and sketches. Mr. Stobbe saw my drawings one day and I guess he thought it would be neat for The Feather to have a comics section, so I joined journalism.”

Since the beginning of her comic drawing career, Barisic feels as if she has developed her drawing skills. She is confident now that she can make a career out of it.

“When I first started doing the comics I was pretty good, but I don’t think I was good enough to make a career out of it,” Barisic said. “Now, having been doing it for four years, I have really improved my skills. It is fun to see my comics from freshman year and comparing them to my comics now.”

Barisic’s comics depict real-life high school problems that teens of any age can connect to. Freshman, Brittany Bender enjoys reading the comics and encourages Barisic to pursue a career in that field.

“I love reading ‘The Good Times,'” said Bender. “It is super funny and I like how it shows what happens to us students everyday. I really think she should pursue a professional career in art.”

Considering Barisic has written over 580 comics, it can get a little difficult for her to come up with new ideas. Barisic explains the struggles involved in writing the comics.

“The biggest struggle for writing comics is the time it consumes,” Barisic said. “Sometimes it is hard to find the time in my day to write a comic. Surprisingly, though, coming up with new ideas is not a problem. When I first started, coming up with new ideas was a bit of an issue, but after doing it for so long, it is really not that hard.”

Barisic has always dreamed of having a career in art. She has aspirations to go on and work for Disney.

“It has been my dream for a long time to go work for Disney,” Barisic said. “My hope is to go to Cal Arts once I graduate. I don’t really want to make a career on this particular comic strip, but I definitely would like to be an animator for Disney.

Fellow Feather staff writer, Mark Bennet, ’14, shared his thoughts on Barisic’s comics and how he thinks it benefits The Faether.

“I think Katie’s comics add a humorous aspect to the website,” Bennet said. “Usually everything on The Feather is really serious and not meant to be funny, but ‘The Good Times’ really lightens the mood a little bit. From reading her comics, I’ve noticed how much potential she has for making drawing a professional career.”

Art teacher Sharon Scharf applauds Barisic for her dedication and hard work in her art career. Scharf is proud of Barisc and how much she has improved since the beginning.

“I’m definitely proud of her,” Scharf said. “She works really hard to publish a comic each day. I can see her talent in art has progressed and Disney would be lucky to have her on their staff. She has come a long way since she started.”

To see the current comic, click here.

For more features, read the Dec. 13 article, Get used to it: You are being watched.