mara gervais

Been actually enjoying drawing again recently, an endeavor I (dramatically) thought was a lost cause. Turns out the answer was friendship all along (but actually). After spending a week in Portland for the @aznzinefest and @p_n_c_a ''s Small Press & Art Book Fair, I left feeling full of love and inspiration (sorry to be cheesy, but it's true). I spent my time with friends I met at past zine fests (selfishly bringing everyone i love together) talking comics, browsing art supplies, and eating some good fucking food. Seeing how much time, effort, and dedication my friends put into their work reminded me how much fun making art can actually be, and what I used to love about it. Drawn in CSP, printed with a RISO GR 1700 (using the Extremely Reliable ADF scanner...) in Light Lime, Fluorescent Pink, and Aqua. In other news, I'll be at Reed Zine Fest ( @reedzinelibrary ) this weekend (3/28) @frenzycoffee next weekend on 4/3, and Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest the next day on 4/4 @heavymannerslibrary Zine Fair the following week on 4/11 Brooklyn Independent Comics Showcase ( @bicsbrooklyn ) the week after (4/18 - 4/19) (then a Much Needed free weekend) And @santarosazinefest on 5/2 The rest of May TBD, come say hi if you're in any of these areas! #risograph #riso #drawing

my first ever completed hourly comics day! yippee!!!!!! ignore my spelling and continuity errors!! #hourlycomicsday #hourlycomicday2026 #hourlycomicsday #hourlycomicsday2026

i've attempted to do hourly comics day every year since 2014, but this year i might actually pull it off! (part 2 hopefully coming later today) will this also be the year i'll be able to bench my own weight? #hourlycomicsday #hourlycomicsday2026 #hourlycomicday #hourlycomicday2026

trying to draw more (as if i haven't been saying the same phrase periodically for the past 10 years) but i've been having fun spending my free time skating instead

barely made it in time for #makeaterriblecomicday2025 featuring @heyitsfrog and @anmlcollective (i don't know what's wrong with me)

I'll be at @qtzfest this Saturday and @sfzinefest this Sunday with a new zine. I'll also be at @baqzf , @phxzinefest , and @denverzinefest next month; along with Portland Zine Symposium ( @pdx_zines ) on 9/22 and @oceansidezinefair on 9/28-9/29. In October I'll be at @chicagozinefest , @demo.spot 's spill ur gutz zine exhibition & zine fest on 10/12, @dczinefest , and @pittsburghzinefair . I'll also be at @curiouspublishing 's Over Here Zine Fest on 11/2, @dallaszinefest on 11/17, and I applied to @zinefesthouston in November as well. And lastly, save the date for November 9th if you're a zinester in CA - I'm brewing up something secret and special, and I can't wait to share what it is! Also thank you to everyone who commissioned me, I truly appreciate it! I'm still working hard on your portraits (one of the reasons I don't take money up front lmao), thanks for your patience

I recently took a week off work to attend an out of state wedding, and could use some extra money to cover the travel expenses and hours lost for rent for next month (I don't get vacation/sick days)!! For $20 I can draw you, your pet, your original character, your fursona, your favorite pokemon, your favorite anime character, your favorite animal - you name it! DM me for more info & please share - thanks!

i had a nightmare the other night about a beastie boys song. i don't drink, but i still do in my dreams! a quick one for #makeaterriblecomicday2024

I was recently awarded a full-tuition scholarship to attend @mgillman 's Graphic Memoir Workshop at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. Huge thank you to @cartoonstudies for the incredible opportunity, @davellove for helping me out with lodging (& lugging my ass to class on the first day), and @rena.yehuda for letting me crash in their study when Hotel Coolidge was fully booked! I also absolutely have to thank @comicsbyeva , who was awarded a full-tuition scholarship last year to attend @natalie___norris 's Graphic Resiliency Workshop. I applied for a scholarship on a whim, with no expectations in getting selected, after hearing about Eva's time at CCS. I was on the fence about accepting the scholarship due to travel & lodging logistics (I ended up taking an hour long train to the bart station, an hour long bart to SFO, a 6 hour plane ride to Boston, and a 3 hour bus ride to White River Junction), but Eva was extremely supportive in me going! I also wouldn't have gone without @alexgradziel who asked me, "will you look back and regret going? or look back and regret not trying to make it happen?" - it was an easy decision after that (he also picked me up at SFO at 1am)! I don't know how to describe my time spent at CCS without being over the top cheesy, but I will say that my heart is full from the experience. I learned so much from Mel, @mintandvanilla , and all of my incredibly talented and encouraging classmates! I couldn't tell you the last time I sat down to draw, so this workshop, and the guidance I received, was and will continue to be immensely valuable to me. It was also so hard to say goodbye to the Schulz Library on campus...slides 4-7 are zines & comics I never thought I'd have the opportunity to read, especially in physical form! If I were evil, I would have totally smuggled tons of comics back home with me. The unfinished comic I made during my week in Vermont is now available to read on my website (it took a lot of willpower to actually share it) - a cleaned up & actually finished zine version is coming soon! Some portrayals and interactions are exaggerated for entertainment's sake. I think that's all for now - bye!

✨💚✨It's here! ✨💚✨ A collection of poems written between 2015 and 2023 that mystifies the regular and tackles the distance of recollecting relationships both big and small, 𝐻𝑜𝓁𝓎 𝒞𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝐵𝓇𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓃 𝐵𝑒𝓁𝓁 meanders with poems and illustrations in hand to identify landscapes of concrete and day light while thinking aloud in a commute of sincerity and calm 🕊️ ~*~*~* Originally printed as a Christmas gift to Ian's partner Sandrusia, this 2nd edition features gold leafing front + back covers on emerald green 65lb cardstock. The interior text and illustrations are risograph printed with burgundy ink on pearl white 24lb paper ✨ ✦ 36 pages ✦ 5 x 7" ✦ Gold leafing + Risograph ✦ 1.41oz / 39g Printed by Sandrusia's internet childhood friend, Mara Gervais, in Davis, CA. They both share the same birthday 🎀 [(available to ship everywhere)] link to purchase in bio ✨ .·:*¨.·:*¨୨💚୧¨*:·.¨*:·.

in 2016 i bought a bunch of screen printing supplies from @norcalscreenprintsupply with the intention of printing skateboard decks...8 years later i finally got off my ass and pulled some (semi-passable) prints. (do you take medication and does it help you with motivation? tell me more in my inbox) a 5 color print on a concave was a very humbling experience. i used a 305 mesh screen (will definitely be making my own low tension screens from now on) and hot glued (what the fuck is wrong with me) my clamps to a door (on the floor of my living room) and the press to a drawing board underneath it because i'm impulsive and impatient (aka just plain stupid). the amount of force i needed to account for the concave for the final layer (had to pull half the print, then use my foot on the screen to apply more pressure while pulling the second half) compromised the structural integrity of my hot glue job (why) resulting in having to re-register each individual deck. all i can say is thank god for trapping. i didn't have a curved squeegee, and the screen tension was too high, so i couldn't get the full print for the line art layer meaning each deck is a little different and wonky in their own way. all in all, i'm happy with my experience and will definitely be tackling more designs in the future. in my shop now, you know where to find it. anyway, in the continuation of biting off more than i can chew, find me at @printpomonaartbookfair tomorrow & sunday (3/2 & 3/3), @okc.abf on 3/9 & 3/10, @multipleformats on 3/23, and @reedzinelibrary on 3/30. as always, sorry for the wall of text and thanks for sticking around!

Howdy howdy - is it zine fest season again??? Find me at the @santarosazinefest this Saturday (4/15), at the 1st Red City Zine Fest (hosted by @jeanbeanmedia ) in Redding on 4/29, at @gridzinefest in SLC on 5/6, at @deardiaryzinefest in Oakland on 5/7, at the @spokanezinefest on 5/13, and in Ashland for @southernoregonzinesociety 's Southern Oregon Zine Fest on 5/27. I'll also be tabling virtually at @brokenpencilmag 's Canzine from 5/5 - 5/11. I'm crossing my fingers for one more zine fest in May, but I'll also be at @genderhealthsac 's Queer Poetry Night this Friday (4/14) and @ucd.ownit 's Marketplace on 4/30! I need to shoot another roll of film for posts like these, but for now here's @alexgradziel (again) in my backyard. #santarosazinefest #redcityzinefest #gridzinefest #deardiaryzinefest #spokanezinefest #southernoregonzinefest #canzine #zinefest