Illustration |

Young & Old

Amy Longo

See it On Campus: Level 2

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Award Recipient

  • John C. Kerr Chancellor Emeritus Awards for Excellence in Visual Arts – Honourable Mention
  • Opus Art Supplies Graduation Award BFA – Honourable Mention

Hysterical weeping has accidentally become a recurring visual in my comics. I didn’t plan it, it just happened. I’ve drawn a lot of children and elderly women, and that wasn’t quite intentional either. I’m attracted to expressive faces, that is, faces that aren’t always required to be attractive. So the weeping probably came first, followed by the young kids and old women, then the old stories, and my attempt at a new (young?) perspective on those stories. A theme develops… 

Thanks for checking out my work, I hope you enjoy it!

Content warning: Some violent and/or sexual content. Discussion of bigotry, mental illness, death.

“‘She’s like an old baby.’ Yes! That is the perfect description of what I am. Very old, and baby-like.”
– Maria Bamford

Out to Pasture
They’re to Eat You
Strega
Confessional
Out to Pasture

Out to Pasture

Out to Pasture
10 pages
Graphite, ink, digital painting

This comic is definitely fiction, but it was inspired by the experience of listening to my elders describe their childhoods. Some elements of light horror, humor, drama, and history have been added, to make it into its own story. It’s about the absurd contrast that is possible between the lived experiences of a family, even just a couple of generations apart. More simply put, it’s about a kid and his great-aunt trying to relate to one another. Read the full comic here

Comic illustration of a close-up of an old photograph of children standing in a yard. Dialogue: "This is your grandpa. And this is me! I was oldest. We were four girls and five boys, not counting the cradle-deaths. And then Alice, Rodney, Franklin, Bobby - he died in 1941, fell in a wheat thresher - Linda, Paula, Theo. Theo died when he was little, too."
Comic illustration of a cow looking dismayed. Narration: "The cow stepped on him."
Comic illustration of old woman and little boy in a kitchen. Woman: "Would you like more pineapple-pomegranate juice, by the way?" Boy: "Yes."

Read the full comic here

They’re to Eat You

They’re to Eat You
7 pages
Ink, collage, graphite, digital photography, digital painting

This comic is a nonfiction essay, combining elements of folklore, history, autobiography, and psychology, and trying to find meaning in that combination. To keep things interesting, I broke from traditional panel structure to experiment with how images could be separated on the page, and how to guide the reader’s eyes through the composition. Read the full comic here

Comic illustration with narration: "Older versions of fairy tales are often crueler. Little Red Riding Hood dies in an earlier telling of her story. "'Oh Granny, your teeth are tremendous in size!' 'They're to eat you!' and he ate her!" Sleeping Beauty is raped by the prince. When she awakens, she's given birth to his twins. These stories are intended as warnings."
Comic illustration with narration: "The story of Hansel and Gretel is supposed to have originated from the Great Famine of 1315 when several years of nearly constant rain rotted crops in the fields and killed maybe a tenth of Europe's population. Child abandonment and cannibalism likely occurred during this time, though it has been a subject of controversy and debate. No one likes to admit to such things, so long past."

Read the full comic here

Strega

Strega
4 pages
Ink, digital painting

In this fantasy comic, I thought about the genre in the context of escapism and loneliness – personal fantasy, and the needs it can serve. The urban setting hopefully helps to flesh out this idea. Read the full comic here

Comic illustration of grocery store stocker. A shopper speaks to his crying toddler: "Tyler. Tyler, stop. If you don't quiet down, no Pop Tarts." The toddler breaks a jar and the stocker mops it up. Shopper: "Sorry, lady."
Comic illustration of a grocery store stocker riding the train home, drawing a bath, and putting her face in the water.

Read the full comic here

Confessional

Confessional
12 pages
Ink, collage, digital painting

This comic is another nonfiction essay – a look at mental illness and misogyny in the alternative comics of the last half-century, and my relationship to them as a neurodivergent lady comics-reader. Autobiography, literature, comics history, feminism, racism, and religion are discussed. It’s about asking why and how we love problematic art. Read the full comic here

Read the full comic here

Amy Longo

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Amy Longo is a BC-based, neurodivergent artist whose work centers on narrative media, including comics, illustration, and writing. She likes bad music and good books, and she would love to be involved in making the latter. She currently lives with her partner and their mean cat in Port Coquitlam (the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm – Kwikwetlem First Nation.)

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