To so many people, coffee isn't just a delicious-tasting wake-up beverage; it represents a cozy atmosphere, good friends, good books, good music, and so much more. It's such a diverse topic, and there is so much inspiration to be found within. I've taken that inspiration and made piles of comics, animations, music, and apparel designs that you'll find on my socials and I'm excited to share some of my favorite comics with you here.

My artistic inspirations and influences are definitely NOT single origin. I'm a huge fan of animated cartoons and Japanese anime. Bravest Warriors, Regular Show, Gravity Falls, Cowboy Bebop, Fairy Tail... just to name a few. I'm obsessed with cozy-feeling color palettes and I probably spend most of my time fine-tuning and balancing hues, then actually drawing.

The Comics of Coffee Hotline looks at the world mostly through the eyes of cute cups of coffee brimming with wholesome energy, dad jokes, and just plain silliness. I like to think my art transfers the kind of energy I get from a hot cup of joe directly into this imaginary caffeine-infused multiverse I'm creating.

I have loved to draw and be creative for as long as I can remember, which dates back to when I was about 5 years old. I attribute a lot of this to growing up in a musical and artsy family. The desire to create has always felt as natural as any other basic human need to me and it's inspired me to explore a lot of different artistic mediums over the years from painting to music, photography, and eventually digital illustration. I have spent a lot of time studying design in my free time and even have had the pleasure of working professionally in web and marketing design more than once, but in many ways, I consider myself more of a creative explorer and tinkerer than an artist. Thinking this way has helped me to be a lot freer with what I choose to share on my social media channels: ditching my perfectionist tendencies in favor of trying something new and seeing if it works. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, but either way, I learn something new from it!

When I first started making comics, I would sit down with a cup of coffee and my iPad, start sketching a mug or to-go cup, and try to come up with a joke on the spot. Anything coffee-adjacent is usually acceptable as a topic. One of my favorite prompts is thinking about what kind of interaction 'coffee' would have with another item that could also be sitting on a counter or tabletop. How would their views of the world differ or align? If I couldn't come up with something funny within the 30-60 minutes I gave myself, I would settle for something just absolutely ridiculously absurd. For the most part, it worked, and I have maintained that same process for over five years. The only thing that has changed is that my mind is pretty much always looking for little jokes everywhere I go throughout my day, but I still find that a cozy coffee shop environment is my favorite place to get inspired - right from the source!

It has been an absolute joy making comics about coffee for people who love it as much as I do. Nothing makes my day more than hearing that my silly caffeinated comics brightened someone's morning. With this project, I just hope to bring more and more positive silly energy into the world. That being said, not every comic I come up with is going to resonate with everyone and that's just part of the deal. The way social algorithms work can make us feel inadequate if we don't hit certain numbers every time we post, but engagement numbers are not reflective of the true value of art. So, at the end of the day, my main goal is to just have fun making art that I find joy in the process of creating and hope that some of that joy can spread to others.