Let's do this again in 2036

Helioscope, my comic studio, is featured in Portland Monthly magazine right now! It's a great write-up by Ben Coleman, who really gets the studio and is basically a member in all but title. He's definitely Studio Family. We were even given the full celebrity treatment for the article with a professional photoshoot by Actual Photographer Michael Raines and his assistants, complete with all the fancy lighting apparatuses and incomprehensible fancy contraptions that looked very expensive.

At the bottom of the article are links to similar articles they've run in the past, which includes... an interview with Matt and me from years ago! What a fun coincidence that both the preview for the older article and the photo from the current one are practically the same framing of me working at my desk.

The photo they used for the older solo article was already a few years old, one from 2012, when I was 29 years old. When I posed for Paige Jones back then, my face hadn't changed too much by the time Portland Monthly asked me to send along a headshot- but holy moly. Back then I could get away with using a photo of me from a few years ago. But now? Erika of 2012 to Erika of 2026 is quite the fucking leap!

I'm proud.

I mean, at first I wasn't- At first I was surprised by how much my face has aged.

It's not a bad thing! It was just... surprising.

It was surprising to see that my face is unmistakably one of a middle age woman now.

And then I was proud.

I'm proud that I'm still here at 43, still doing this work, still making comics about subjects close to my heart.

My brush is replaced with a stylus now and our studio has moved to a new location, but that's still my same desk that I was working at as a 29-year-old and I'm working at it still at 43.

I made comics through my 20s, first as a passion project while I worked my day jobs for minimum wage and then I turned it into a career. I worked as a cartoonist professionally, full-time, through the entirety of my 30s. And now, here I am, cracking into my 40s, still doing it, still making it, still living it.

My work is digital now, there's no more original pages with ink and eraser marks to hold in your hands and examine up close. Unlike in my first two decades doing this, I now have to schedule regular breaks with a timer and alarm to stand up and do exercises, so my middle age body doesn't get injured(!!!) from sitting at this same desk for long stretches of time. The fat that used to sit high on my cheekbones is pulling down to my jawline and the smile lines around my eyes and mouth are deepening into permanent grooves even when my face is at rest.

I'll take it.

Let's take this picture again in 2036.