I’m thrilled to share this 3-sided, 9-foot mural I created for Orem City Center Park! The mural is my celebration of our community and its many cultures—our individual colors rich and vibrant, and playing off each other. One person’s smile becomes another’s hairline, as we are united in our differences and varieties. (You might also…
Autumn is here! Why not swap out that old wallpaper with something seasonal, like this fall-approved pattern? To Download: Select your device below and save the image to your device. Select the image on your phone and set as wallpaper. iPhone 12 iPhone 11 iPhone X iPhone 9 iPhone 8 More fall wallpaper here. HOT…
The Book No One Wants to Read by Beth Bacon Wow! What a brilliant, wonderful experience! This book tells jokes, keeps secrets, plays games, and makes deals with the reader (while also endearing the reader to the power of words in the most delightful and clever ways). This wildly subversive celebration of literacy (including visual…
I’m happy to share that I FINISHED WRITING THE ROUGH DRAFT of my gritty sci-fi adventure novel last night! Clocking in at 175,000 words and exactly 700 pages, my sketchbook ideas are now fully fleshed-out characters, creatures, and technologies that make up a single, cohesive story. Is it perfect? YES! Just kidding. Among other things,…
I’m excited to share this Build Your Own Valentine Kit I illustrated for McNeil Printing. The kit comes with 4 blank cards, 4 blank envelopes, and 4 sheets of removable vinyl stickers. I’m giving away 2 Build Your Own Valentine Kits: 1 on Facebook and 1 on Instagram. ENTER TO WIN by commenting on my…
Read on to learn more about: Creating my 224-page rough draft in 3 weeks while stuck in bed Finding beta readers to proofread my graphic novel Setting up surveys and forms to gather feedback from beta readers Using reader feedback to revise my graphic novel Hi! My name is Jess Smart Smiley. I’m an author/illustrator…
Over the last 4 or 5 years, PEOW has quickly become one of my favorite indie comics publishers. Founded by Elliot Alfredius, Olle Forsslöf and Patrick Crotty, in Stockholm, Sweden, PEOW publishes a unique brand of beautifully-produced risograph comics from around the world. While the heavy shipping costs to the US have been cost-prohibitive for…
I teach comics workshops to children, teens, and adults. Most of my students are new to writing and/or drawing, and come with equal parts excitement and anxiety. I feel like my role is to make the creation process fun and accessible, while allowing the students to pursue whichever styles/genres/approaches interest them most. Week-long comics workshops…
If you think Secret Santa is rubbish, take a look at this ‘ungifted‘ green solution courtesy of Pentagram. Ungifted Secret Santa is a free platform where you and your workmates can gift each other nice surprises instead of stuff that’s destined for landfill – it could be anything from a month of memes to a surprise…
Are you a creative professional working in the US? Beat my record of 8.5 minutes and complete the 2019 Design Census. The information gathered from this survey will allow AIGA and Google to better understand the situation of US designers in 2019, which will be provided at the conclusion of the results. Jess Smart Smiley…