Another great Drink and Draw Like a Lady

Drink and Draw Like a Lady has been a pre-MoCCA staple since 2009 when it was held at Madame X and organized by prolific cartoonists Hope Larson, and Raina Telgemeier.



I was happy to help with organizing the annual Drink and Draw Like a Lady this year. I was on the train with Raina when we ran into Tea Fougner and Raina asked if either of us wanted to help out since she wouldn't be in New York to co-organize this year. Lucy Knisley who has been coordinating DDLL for the past few years with Raina would be kicking off her book tour that week and could use the help. I volunteered to make the flyer for the event (something I've secretly been wanting to do for a few years now.) I was also happy to link Lucy up with my friend Susan Godfrey who owns a co-working space called The Productive in midtown when the usual bookstore venue fell through. Tea donated a ton of delicious vodka from the distillery she works at and created an amazing punch for the party as well as setting up for the event. Sara Becan is the unsung, off-site hero of the yearly website updates!


There were already a bunch of prompt ladies at The Productive when I arrived at 7:30pm after picking up a few last minute odds and ends. I met some Philly cartoonists in the elevator including Dre Grigoropol who will also be at the Brooklyn Zine Fest on April 21st.

Over the course of the evening it was fantastic to meet up with friends and new cartoonists alike. I was happy to get a few minutes to talk with people like Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading, Gina Gagliano of First Second and Alison Wilgus of the webcomic A Stray in the Woods whom I barely glimpsed at MoCCA Fest itself.


I caught up with several artists that I met at last years' party or other zine fests including Carey Pietsch (who had a fun mini called Crafts for the Un-crafty), Glynnis Fawkes, Marguerite Dabaie, Megan Brennan and Rel (who both gave me amazing mini comics of Pencil Pup and The Virus, respectively). It was also fantastic to meet cartoonists Jennifer Hayden, Noelle Stevenson and illustrator Rebecca Mock (who had a cool optical illusion mini) among many others.



To my delight, a number of ladies set up at some of the desks and brought out their sketchbooks making this one of the first Drink and Draw Like a Lady parties where at least a third of the attendees were actually drawing at some point! This particular crew were all from MICA and their work at the convention was stellar.



Lucy had set up a photo booth on one of the brick walls and everyone was having fun using it throughout the evening. I'm looking forward to seeing all the photos from that night when she is back from her book tour! It looks like Marion Vitus has a bunch of photos of the evening up on her Flickr!

The new space seemed to accommodate everyone well, though the brick walls had the voices of 60 plus women bouncing off them. I did hear some complaints after the fact that it was hot, but there were quite a few bodies in there and only windows on one side of the studio that were open. If we're able to use the space again in the future, we can look into getting a fan or two in there. As the night wore on people spread out more which helped with the heat factor. Overall it sounded like everyone had a great time. I finally left close to midnight and there were STILL people drawing!


Thanks to co-organizers Lucy Knisley and Tea Fougner, Susan Godfrey for letting all of us trample through your space and to everyone who came to the party, especially all those who brought snacks, booze, good conversation and helped clean up afterwards! See everyone next year!