Minimal style drawings: John Porcellino

When it comes to drawing, I look for artists whose lines are simple, both because I gravitate towards such esthectics and because I'm a beginner. The work of John Porcellino often comes up when discussing how to tell your story with fewer lines. I wanted to learn more about his style and picked up From Lone Mountain, a collection of his well-known King-Cat Comics and Stories from 2003 to 2007.

And I did not only learn how simple illustrations are often the most powerful when telling stories. I also found out how fantastic and vulnerable his work is. I must admit that I had heard about the King-Cat series before, but I wasn't particularly interested because I had the wrong idea that they were simply a collection of stories about his cat (which is true to some extent). The King-Cat, however, is more a diary. As a fan of creative non-fiction, I loved reading personal stories. Porcellino's style of drawing and writing could be best described as simple, but despise this, I found his art incredibly expressive. I'll never forget, for instance, how beautifully he described his Father in his writing. Additionally, as a Chicago native, he describes locations in the Midwest that I am familiar with, such as Elgin, DeKalb, and Chicago, making reading about these places a personal experience for me as well. Porcellino’s work serves as a great inspiration for me to capture everyday life in the simplest way possible using the resources I have.

After studying his illustrations, I figured Porcelino is not very precious about his art, which is an attitude I admire in other artists. After all, he’s been making King-Cat regularly for over thirty years and in a simple style, just to put things out there. But it turned out that creating doesn't always come easily for him. Porcellino mentions struggling with OCD in the book's endnotes, which makes me appreciate his honesty and vulnerability even more.

Artist shoutout: Bruno Neiva

Narrative medicine tools: parallel charts