Artist Inspo #13

Eleanor Davis

I have many favorite cartoonists that I love for varying reasons.

But of all my favorite comic artists, the one with my fav art-style is:

Eleanor Davis!

Eleanor Davis’s talents go way beyond her art style, of course.

(But also, seriously, look at her linework and try not to explode with pleasure).

The stories she tells in her comics are also deeply resonant and thought-provoking.

Eleanor has written and illustrated both fiction stories and graphic memoirs.

from Eleanor’s sketchbook

I’m a real ho for graphic memoirs, so my love of Eleanor should not be surprising.

Eleanor has written and illustrated many incredible comic books, but one of my favorites is her Frontier short-comic, “BDSM”, published by Youth in Decline.

And for anyone interested, Frontier is my favorite comic collectible series of all time (right behind the “Optic Nerve” series by Adrian Tomine.)

Youth in Decline refers to the series as:

[…] a quarterly art and comics monograph series, with each issue shining a spotlight on exciting and challenging new work by a single artist. The printing and look of each issue changes to match the style of work, and most issues feature an interview with the artist.

Eleanor’s Frontier short-story is about two porn stars who discover that they actually have romantic feelings for one another while off-set.

Eleanor writes and illustrates remarkable nuance and tenderness into the story, which is enticing enough, but to then place these characters within the context of a BDSM porn shoot is next level to me. The novelty of it all is incredibly charming.

TLDR review: The story is both horny and wonderfully sweet. 5/5 porn stars!

But of all Eleanor’s comic books my favorite is: “You & A Bike & A Road”

“You & A Bike & A Road” is a graphic memoir Eleanor Davis wrote about her experience riding her bike across the country after an extreme depressive spell.

I bought my copy of this book directly from Eleanor at TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) in 2019 when we were both tabling.

I of course aggro-swooned immediately upon greeting Eleanor in all my un-chill ways.

She was very nice of course and drew me this amazing little doodle in my book (left).

The second page I’m sharing from the book feels a bit like the story’s call-to-action and is a very vulnerable truth for Eleanor to share, which makes her writing feel that much more urgent and important.

If you enjoy gorgeously detailed, traditional comic art, then you will love this book.

Also if you love incredible writing and storytelling— which… are there people who don’t? I suppose it’s possible.

Comments (Let’s Chat!):

• Were you previously familiar with Eleanor Davis?

  • Does her work seem down your alley?

• Do you have activities like bicycling that helps get you out of a depressive rut?

• Please like, share, and comment if you enjoyed learning about Eleanor!

  • Pls luv me.

---

Listening to: