This American Life Contributors Explore the Arctic

It's NPR pledge time again, which leads me to posting the first of many pages that have been excised from the upcoming sketchbook because of space.  Presenting: This American Life Contributors Explore the Arctic

(Click the image for a full-sized version) A while back, while my students were working on the sketchbook-theme assignment for my mini-comics class, I toyed with the idea of doing a theme one myself.  Though I'm in a position where I can now financially contribute, for years I had no such extra dough, and would do my bit to support NPR through answering phones during the pledge drives.  I still like this idea of service, putting in time for something you feel strongly about, and no program on NPR carries more weight with me than This American Life, a show that basically compiles a series of excellent essays, reports, and memoirs about the theme of the week.  There are hundreds of episodes at this point, and I listen to them while working on my books (the penciling and inking stages, not the writing or thumbnails).  My idea was that I'd do a This American Life-themed mini, something with nice production values and a screen-printed cover, featuring funny illustrations of a dozen or so of TAL's more prominent contributors, sell 'em at shows, and give 100% of the proceeds to the program, hopefully putting more money into it than I usually do on my own.  I did a few preliminary sketches of some of the folks with whose visages I'm somewhat familiar... and had to stop.  Radio, it seems, doesn't do the best job of helping one remember faces, and maybe I'm lousy at internet searches but I had a devil of a time trying to find photos of the folks for whom I was looking.  If anyone can point me in the right direction (and not the show's staff page - many of those are candids from a distance, and of little use for reference), I may take it up again.  Who knows, I might do a print instead of a mini.  Either way, it's my little fan attempt to show how much the show means to me.  That, and a chance to draw Sarah Koenig punching a walrus in the face.  You can support This American Life here.  Also, I'll post a report of my trip to the OSU Cartoon Research Library in a day or two, so check back!