#maria frantz

[helioscopepdx]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIA!

Happy birthday to the great Maria Frantz, aka @mariacfrantz. Maria is a cartoonist and illustrator who creates lushly textured and deeply emotional worlds. They're currently working on MEGREZ OF THE GREAT ABOVE, a graphic novel to be published by Harper Collins.

[maria-c-f]

Had a dream about these odd creatures. They had the body of a Borzoi dog, with black beaks and kind eyes. They lived in the woods, and ate fruit. Sparrows were afraid of them.

[rondanchan]

Here's some fan art for my bud @mariacfrantz! Maria's debut graphic novel, The Chancellor and the Citadel, is a rich and textured masterpiece, and is available now from Iron Circus Comics!

https://ironcircus.com/product/the-chancellor-and-the-citadel/

[blacknerdproblems]

“Set at the end of the world, The Chancellor and the Citadel is a stunning debut by Maria Capelle Frantz.”

@ripopentheuniverse , “ Dark And Dreamy, “The Chancellor and the Citadel” is a Must Read “ http://blacknerdproblems.com/dark-and-dreamy-the-chancellor-and-the-citadel-is-a-must-read/

[comickerdigital]

Next Wednesday, LOST ANGELS returns!

Volume 2: The School Daze Playlist, by David Accampo ( @davidaccampo ) & Chris Anderson ( @cduck77 ), kicks off with “The Talk,” with special guest artist Maria Frantz ( @mariacfrantz​ )!

Crime, culture, and coming-of-age take flight in LOST ANGELS - a sci-fi series set in a world where Los Angeles residents coexist with a race of alien angels. As tensions between communities boil over, high school student Alex Martinez must navigate an everyday life that takes her from the highest spires of the Silver City to the underground ruins of Old Santa Monica. Each issue of The School Daze Playlist has an accompanying playlist curated by David Accampo! Click here to check out the playlist for “The Talk” on Spotify (or scan the image above in “Search” in the Spotify app)!

Get caught up on LOST ANGELS with the first five issues on comiXology, DriveThruComics, Amazon Kindle, and hoopla, or order the trade paperback through the Comicker Press store!

And don’t forget: you can read issues for free on comiXology Unlimited and hoopla digital!

[destinationisirrelevant]

Wolfsbane – Maria Frantz  @mariacfrantz

Polaris – Yuki Saeki @yukisaeki

Cannonball – Dan Schkade @danschkade

Beak – Kory Bing @skindeepcomic

Mirage – Roxy Polk @adventureseekerroxy

Blink – Leila del Duca 

Professor Xavier – Michael Lark

I almost forgot to put my sketchbook roundup for Rose City Comic Con up! The Con was good times as always and I got to meet more fantastic artists again. These folks were all super nice and if you give them money they draw for you! It’s AMAZING! Check out the links on their names to see more stuff they do and what they’re up to professionally. 

[unversedcomics-blog]

Maria Frantz

Follow Maria at @mariacfrantz on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr

Check out her website at mariafrantz.net

1. What got you interested in comics? Any cartoonists that you look up to?

Maria: I was always making up stories in my head as a kid, but I didn’t have any way to put them down on paper. I knew that drawing was an important part of that process for me, but I didn’t know how to integrate that into what I was doing. I played around with various sorts of picture books, and eventually settled on comics. It was the quickest and easiest way for me to create these stories when I was just working by myself. As time went by, I learned how to handle the medium better, and I ended up falling in love with it.

As far as cartoonists I look up to - there’s too many to name. Emily Carroll, Kate Beaton, and Michelle Czajkowski are all pretty close to the top of the list.

2. Can you tell us a little about your comic? How does it speak to the theme of the anthology (uncharted territory/unversed)?

Maria: Mellaby and the Infinite Black is about a kid who encounters death for the first time in their life, and the fantasy they create around that event to cope with it. Life, death, and mortality are such a huge ideas for a kid to explore for the first time, that it seemed like a perfect story to tackle for this anthology.

3. What was the inspiration behind your story?

Maria: A lot of this story is autobiographical, and based off of the death of my own grandmother when I was about eight years old. It was the first person I felt close to that I’d lost, and it opened me up to new ideas that took a long time to get comfortable with. I became convinced that nothing happened when you died - that it was just black, forever. I had so much anxiety around that idea that I was afraid to close my eyes, because it meant I’d see that black space. Hence, the title. In the comic, I attempt to capture the process of healing and acceptance that I went through, and how the last words my grandmother said to me would eventually put my fears to rest, years after she passed.

4. What challenges arose during the course of this project? Takeaways?

Maria: Most of the hard stuff was trying to remember what had happened, and what I was feeling during that time. Combing through fuzzy memories from over a decade ago was no easy task, and there were a few gaps that I needed to fill in before I started. So I spent a good amount of time talking to the other people in my family who were there, trying to get a better idea of what had happened, and what head space I seemed to be in.

5. Can we expect more comics beyond this project? Where can we find more of your work?

Maria: Oh my goodness, YES. Like 90% of my existence is comics right now, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. You can take a look at my work at mariafrantz.net, and find me at @mariacfrantz on the various social medias.

Thanks for reading, and please donate to Maria’s Kickstarter in the link below!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oneofthejohns/unversed-comics-anthology

[maria-c-f]

Colored a sketch of Chancellor just for fun - I’m still playing around with color and whatnot.