The Good News: being stuck in bed with constant, debilitating pain for the past 14+ months afforded me more reading time than I usually get. The Bad News: much of my reading time and enjoyment was cut short by the effects of medicine (headaches, brain fog, memory and concentration issues). That being said… 2019 was…
Check out these stunning photos of Cormorant fisherman Lao Huang by photographer Peter Yan. His last name is Huang, and he is 86 years old. The locals call him Lao Huang (meaning old Huang in Chinese). He told me he’s been a fisherman ever since he was a kid, and both he and his brother…
Ghost Comics by Jess Smart Smiley I’ve started making a weekly comic strip called Ghost Comics, about the adorable yet problematic lives of ghosts. I’ve been posting the comics on my Instagram page, and thought I’d share a few here to get you excited so that you’ll follow me on Instagram, follow the comic, buy…
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…
When I was given the opportunity to teach a set of week-long comics workshops at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA, I had no idea it would be such an important week in my life. This summer has been packed with teaching comics workshops for children and teenagers in my home state…
I recently completed a handful of illustrations for Narratively, a platform dedicated to compelling human interest stories. All four stories that I illustrated shared the theme of serendipity, though each was vastly different from the other three. It was refreshing to work on stand-alone images and I got a little carried away, turning 3 of the 4 illustrations…
THE GEEKEND IS HERE! Get Your Sci-Fi/Fantasy Fix at WesterCon This Weekend Westercon 67 is a general interest science fiction/fantasy convention covering literature, art, science, gaming, movies, comics and more…and it starts today! Guests include Brandon Sanderson, Cory Doctorow and Dan Wells (among others), and I’ve been invited to participate in a couple of panels…