About Me (a Miniature Autobiography)

Am I not beautiful? Actual Photo

I can't believe you clicked this link! Nobody reads the "About Me" pages! Well, I guess I'll have to write something now...

I was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. on March 9, 1985. I was brought out right in the middle of the eighties, and they never really left me. I still curl up into a fetal position when I hear Blondie. I listen to eighties music much more than is healthy for a young adult, and I have a startling tendency to wear fingerless gloves on the most inappropriate occasions.

I dropped out of public school in the fifth grade so my mother could teach me at home, but soon I began to teach myself. I had the time to learn how to read Japanese, study Egyptian mythology, raise chickens, and do all sorts of things my peers didn't.

I once lived in the lovely Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, surrounded by streams, forests, wildlife, and my flock of pet chickens.

Then one day I decided to move out on my own to a small city and drive a motorcycle! I live with my arrogant pet budgerigar, Tenno.

Always wear protection! I love my little motorcycle!

My dream is to start a girls' comic book publishing company. That's a pretty tall order, though, so this is what I have been doing in the mean time:

A Brief History of Rachel's Comicking Career

2002 I drew A. Dave Lewis's Threnody's Coda for the 2002 Third Eye Annual, a comic writers collective. Started making comics for gURL.com.
2003 I was a finalist in the Seventeen sponsored 2003 CHANEL "Colour of the Year" Contest. My entry was in the form of a comic, naturally, and was chosen from among thousands of other entries.
2004 I was the first female American teenager to self-publish a graphic novel, 18 Revolutions, a collection of comics I made through age 18. I had just turned 19. (At least, I think I was the first. If you know someone who beat me to it, let me know!)
2005 Participated in 24-hour Comics Day 2005 by creating the comic A Brief History of Grifonton, which I also self-published as a mini-comic.
2006 I self-published my second graphic novel, Crow Princess. Also made the mini-comic Subculture of One: the Body Issue(s), which collected several comics made for gURL.com. In November, gURL.com comissioned me to start making weekly comics for their site (new comics every Wednesday!).
2007 Won Friends of Lulu's Kim Yale Award for Best New Female Talent. Made more mini comics. Still making comics for gURL.com.

Ongoing Projects and Accomplishments

MangaPunk.com I started this community site in December 2002. After several revamps and overhauls, it is now powered by Drupal, an opensource, PHP-based content management system which I hand tweaked for efficiency and custom performance. Manga Punk is a truly interactive site where the next generation of comickers can come to share ideas, catch up on news and polish their skills. I also registered (legally, I kid you not) "Manga Punk" as a trademark under which I publish comics and graphic novels.
gURL.com is a revolutionary site for girls and young women. I've been making comics freelance for gURL.com since I was about seventeen. As my skills have improved over the years, the demand for my work has grown. I currently make comics for them on a weekly basis with new comics going live every Wednesday. As of this writing, gURL.com is owned by iVillage, an NBC company.

When I'm not ranting like a madwoman atop my soap box, I tend my chickens and watch the crows. I like rain, cloudy days, running, running in the rain on cloudy days, and white cheddar popcorn.