As a kid, when I first started drawing JC I wanted a storyline that would not only get some laughs, but show an important aspect of the characters. I was 12 years old when I drew the original strip, and also a huge practical jokester at the time, so it only seemed appropriate for my character in the strip to be equally enamored with such nonsense. A few years later, somewhere around 2003, the strip got put down.
In May 2010, I returned home after graduating from college. While I was unpacking my stuff I came across the original "Just Caitlin" strips; they'd traveled with me to Michigan, though I hadn't paid them much attention during those years, or given them much thought. As I sat on the floor of my room, flipping through 10-year-old pages of computer paper with mechanical pencil and graphite drawings covering them, it struck me in many ways I still found the strip funny. Sure, the stories reflected the maturity and depth of a 12-year-old, but there was something about them that grabbed me, even all those years later. Despite all the kinks and shortcomings my 22-year-old eyes saw with the strips, they also saw potential. "Just Caitlin" wasn't perfect, far from it, but there was an underlying heart to the strip that had survived the years and still reached out to me. Sitting there on the floor, flipping through those pages, I made myself a promise. I'd known for years I wanted to do nothing but draw comics for a living; college was behind me, I'd achieved the higher education I sought in East Lansing, MI, now I needed to start doing what I really wanted to do. I'd recently purchased a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen; that same day, I got up off the floor of my room and ordered Bristol boards for sequential art.
On May 11, 2010, I completed the first page of the re-designed "Just Caitlin" comic strip, with a new look but much of the same story, much of the same dialogue, and all of the same heart. I hope you, the reader, enjoy the journey as much as I do.
Possibly Gross
The very first "Just Caitlin" strip! WOOT!
As a kid, when I first started drawing JC I wanted a storyline that would not only get some laughs, but show an important aspect of the characters. I was 12 years old when I drew the original strip, and also a huge practical jokester at the time, so it only seemed appropriate for my character in the strip to be equally enamored with such nonsense. A few years later, somewhere around 2003, the strip got put down.
In May 2010, I returned home after graduating from college. While I was unpacking my stuff I came across the original "Just Caitlin" strips; they'd traveled with me to Michigan, though I hadn't paid them much attention during those years, or given them much thought. As I sat on the floor of my room, flipping through 10-year-old pages of computer paper with mechanical pencil and graphite drawings covering them, it struck me in many ways I still found the strip funny. Sure, the stories reflected the maturity and depth of a 12-year-old, but there was something about them that grabbed me, even all those years later. Despite all the kinks and shortcomings my 22-year-old eyes saw with the strips, they also saw potential. "Just Caitlin" wasn't perfect, far from it, but there was an underlying heart to the strip that had survived the years and still reached out to me. Sitting there on the floor, flipping through those pages, I made myself a promise. I'd known for years I wanted to do nothing but draw comics for a living; college was behind me, I'd achieved the higher education I sought in East Lansing, MI, now I needed to start doing what I really wanted to do. I'd recently purchased a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen; that same day, I got up off the floor of my room and ordered Bristol boards for sequential art.
On May 11, 2010, I completed the first page of the re-designed "Just Caitlin" comic strip, with a new look but much of the same story, much of the same dialogue, and all of the same heart. I hope you, the reader, enjoy the journey as much as I do.