#larrybear

[calaverarts]

El oso Larry en cuarenta #osolarry #larrybear #personaje #draw #dibujo #tinta #ilustracion #ink #digital #color #jueves (en Antofagasta, Chile) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE9ES0GF1V1/?igshid=l4k8hpr75teb

[calaverarts]

Larry, El Oso #larrybear #osolarry #ink #tinta #dibujo #draw #ilustracion #lunes #personaje (en Antofagasta, Chile) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBdpPHYFsvX/?igshid=1to6mxol2ff6d

[gr8fuljuju]

#LarryBear #orangecats #orangecatsofinstagram #ilovemycats #lazycat (at America/Indiana/Indianapolis) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo0WcI7DVJJ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jcy6uawzp3t6

[gr8fuljuju]

My boys... Garfy my little lion and my best buddy #LarryBear. #orangeisthenewcat #orangecatsofinstagram #ilovecats #orangemycatsbeautiful #housefullofcats https://www.instagram.com/p/BnRRfujBJF1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=15qqit415zez2

[gr8fuljuju]

#LarryBear

[calaverarts]

El oso Larry #Larrybear #dibujito #ink #tinta #draw #drawing #dibujito #dibujo #elosolarry

[broadlycast]

Time Clock —  Leslie Stein

“People always blame strange occurrences on a full moon, but I think shit is weird every single day.”

“That’s a lie.”

“I’m going to get us some wine.”

Up until a year ago, I was tentative about graphic novels, but Time Clock by Leslie Stein captured me. It’s a great example of the genre’s burgeoning popularity and adult appeal.

Third in the Eye of the Majestic Creature series, Time Clock centres around Stein’s semi-autobiographical alter ego, Larrybear, and her group of friends as they wander through “the vicissitude of everyday life.” Larrybear is a typical struggling artist living in Brooklyn; she has a passion for building sand sculptures and pays rent with her serving job wages. Within this familiar story Stein includes a touch of magical realism, the supporting cast includes Larrybear’s two roommates: a cigarette-smoking, pie-baking, gardening guitar, and Marshy, the Marshmallow. The plot: When Marshmallow slides into a depression and Larrybear receives an order of defective sand, they head to the countryside for a much-needed timeout. But after a short while, Larrybear’s job calls her back to help manage the restaurant. On her premature return she starts drinking heavily to cope. Life starts to get sloppy, is Larrybear losing control?

Time Clock depicts people who get high, get drunk, get sarcastic and get naked (in that HBO Girls kinda way). Stein says she uses her characters to show an “honest take on what [she’s] witnessing and experiencing on the planet at the moment. Everything is really sad, beautiful, and funny.” Like any artistic medium, graphic novels can be entertainment, a glimpse into another life and/or social commentary. Stein is candid about describing a young woman’s efforts to scrape by and the result is a saucy capture of being a twenty-something in our modern world.

While there’s a format to graphic novels—the use of images in a sequence to express a story—they have a looser structure than your traditional novel. And like traditional fiction, every graphic novel holds the voice of the author, but this is expressed in the aesthetic and the pictures as much as in the written words. Connecting with the artwork creates an understanding of the tone and artist; this distinctly visual interpretation offers a new dynamic to the reader’s experience of a story. In Time Clock, Stein uses simple, cartoon-like imagery for her characters and the irreverent nature of her style lends comedy to the rather melancholy material.  

Time Clock is evidence of how much more than comedic indulgence or sagas of superheroes graphic novels have to offer. If you haven’t indulged in them yet, I highly suggest giving them a try.