{"id":1341,"date":"2008-07-06T00:01:46","date_gmt":"2008-07-06T06:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1341"},"modified":"2009-01-31T21:06:15","modified_gmt":"2009-02-01T03:06:15","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-70-featuring-up-and-coming-illustrator-maris-wicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1341","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #70: Featuring Up-and-Coming Illustrator, Maris Wicks"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nLate-Sunday Addendum:<\/font> Why don’t we leave our kicks post up on Monday? It was a holiday weekend, and some folks might not have been able to come kickin’ with us. So, if you didn’t, feel free to do so on Monday. Come on, you know<\/font> your kicks-lists brighten our days. <\/p>\n

Plus, we want to show Maris’ art work to more people.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

Jules<\/strong>: Well, happy holiday weekend to one and all on this Sunday with the kickin’ numerology goin’ on (“7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #70”). It’s the first of the month again when we here at 7-Imp highlight the work of student illustrators or those new to illustration. This week we welcome Maris Wicks<\/strong><\/a>, whose above illustration is a re-imagining of Wonder Woman. “I submitted this to an on-line contest (Project: Rooftop<\/strong><\/a>) that challenged artists to redesign Wonder Woman’s costume,”<\/font><\/font> she told us. Maris, who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design<\/strong><\/a>, has found herself drawn (excuse the unintentionally lame pun) to the world of comics, as she explains below. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n

Maris: “I did the cover {pictured below}, inside spot illustrations, and a 12-page story within the anthology <\/em>Project: Romantic<\/strong><\/a>, published by Adhouse Books<\/strong><\/a>, 2006 . . .
{above is} one of the pages . . .”<\/font><\/em><\/center><\/p>\n


\n

Maris: “blogwave, a promotional image I use on postcards”<\/font><\/center><\/em><\/p>\n

I always tell illustrators that they’re welcome to tell us a bit about themselves in these Sunday features. And, when they take us up on that, I’m always happy to hear from them and<\/em> to share with our readers what they have to say about their art work, their process, themselves, their careers, their dreams and goals, whatever. Maris did that PLUS SOME. She told me to feel free to edit what she calls her “ridiculously long bio,” but I love it. I found it quite enjoyable, indeed. So, without further ado, here’s Maris:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As I was saying, my name is Maris. Maris Wicks, actually. A little bit about myself, you say? Well, all right. Here goes: I was born some time in the 1980s. I was a really fat little baby; my parents called me “blotto-baby.” I grew up on the edge of our town’s state forest, so I was often dirty and covered with leaves. Somehow, I made it through middle school, no longer a blotto-baby. I had now evolved into an angst-y, indie-comics-reading, punk-rock-listening, cheese-loving, semi-blotto (thanks mostly to the cheese) teenager. Another four years and I had made it through high school, though over those four years, I had figured out that I did not want to stay in the town I was born, even though it had a perfectly tasty Taco Bell. Instead, I opted for a life in the city of Providence, RI, while getting an education at the Rhode Island School of Design<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another four years later, and after much sleep deprivation, I graduated with a BFA in Illustration. I immediately got a job in the field—or should I say fields—at a local farm. Over the next few years, I would have many jobs, all of them somewhat bizarre: orchard tour guide, canoe\/sailing instructor, EMT (potentially — I completed and passed the course, but upon working on a real ambulance, I promptly pooped my metaphorical pants, and decided I should stick to other things), camp art director, Americorps volunteer (I’ve done 1,700 hours of community service, baby!), museum educator, pie baker, after-school teacher, you name it. Not that I wasn’t doing art, mind you. I picked up random illustration jobs here and there, made stuffed animals and mini-comics to sell at sales, and ended up doing a considerable amount of illustration work for the “real” jobs I worked at (hand-painted signs, logo design, museum exhibit design, and book\/calendar design to name a few). The places I had been employed with—The Big Apple Orchard, Citizen Schools, Providence Children’s Museum, various summer camps—had given me a valuable insight concerning the diversity of the illustration world. Plus, I had realized that I was happier doing a bunch of different things (a blessing and a curse sometimes…), and that it made for a rather good time. In short, nothing was ever irrelevant or unnecessary; it all had a positive impact on my life (yes, even the time I learned how to drive a front-loading John Deere tractor).<\/p>\n

But more about the art: post-college, I fell further in love with the medium of comics. I found myself drawing them way more often than single illustrations. I also found that the stuffed animals I made sold pretty well at art sales and small-press comics conventions (and who doesn’t like a little extra cash here and there?). {Pictured here is} me after thirty-six hours of no sleep (before a convention), surrounded by my wares. So, over the past 2 or 3 years, I’ve tried to focus mainly on drawing comics and making stuffed animals. Truthfully, I just really want arthritis.<\/p>\n

Recently, I’ve been published by Adhouse Books<\/strong><\/a> (a small-press, “boutique” publisher), which has gotten my work out on the comics circuit. From there, I’ve drawn a number of short comics stories that have appeared\/will appear in anthologies. And, more recently, I’ve signed on to illustrate a 128-page full color graphic novel (fancy word for “long comic book”) due out from First Second Books<\/strong><\/a> in the future (you’ll have to check my blog<\/strong><\/a> for more information).<\/p>\n

Currently, I live outside of Boston and balance a life of both working part-time as an educator for the New England Aquarium and drawing comics. O.K. I think I have officially written too much. Thanks to the wonderful folks at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for showcasing my work (and letting me flap my metaphorical gums).<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\n

Maris: “What a typical table at a comics convention or art sale looks like
(minus the magenta explosion)”<\/font><\/em><\/center><\/p>\n


\n

Maris: “One of the ‘100 themes,’<\/strong><\/a> an on-line drawing challenge. I used the characters from the <\/em>Project: Romantic story (whom I have dubbed ‘Black’ and ‘White’…original, I know). All 100 themes are posted on my blog<\/strong><\/a>.”<\/font><\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

We’d like to thank Maris for stopping by and showing us her art work and soft sculpture pieces. If you like what you see here, Maris’ blog, dots for eyes<\/em>, is here<\/strong><\/a>. Or you can visit her LiveJournal<\/strong><\/a>, which has the same content, I believe. Thanks again, Maris, and we wish you all kinds of luck!<\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

As a reminder, our weekly 7 Kicks list is the meeting ground for listing Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week — whether book-related or not — that happened to you (as well as featuring new artists like Maris). You—yes, you<\/em> reading now—are more than welcome to leave your kicks from the week, whether you’ve ever done so before or not. <\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ AND eisha’s kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

Eisha and I are joining forces on our kicks this week. Instead of seven, separate kicks, we have one big, simple, happyhappyjoyjoy kick: We got to visit one another this weekend! Eisha’s visiting family way down here in Tennessee, and so she stopped by the Danielson household to have lunch with us, too, and let us throw her an early birthday party. Here we are; my wee’est insisted on sitting in my lap. And I think, though I’m not entirely sure, that my four-year-old might have taken<\/em> this picture:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What are your<\/em> kicks this week?<\/font> We hope folks are around this holiday weekend . . . <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late-Sunday Addendum: Why don’t we leave our kicks post up on Monday? It was a holiday weekend, and some folks might not have been able to come kickin’ with us. So, if you didn’t, feel free to do so on Monday. Come on, you know your kicks-lists brighten our days. Plus, we want to show […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}