Since Riley uses the U.S. Mail to contact her favorite TV comedian, I drew and designed these postcards. I bring them with me to book signings for THE REAL RILEY MAYES. Want some of your own to mail to your fave celeb, LGBTQ organization, your friends, or even your enemies? Here are two downloadable, printable color PDF files to make your own RILEY MAYES postcards. It works with Avery 8387 postcards, or you can print them on standard 8.5 x 11 cardstock and cut them yourself.
If you click on PORTFOLIO and then COLOR ILLUSTRATION, you’ll find some new work! These are all mixed media pieces. There’s a little bit of correction going on in Photoshop, but most of what you see is true to the original illustration on paper.
The Great Heron.
Watercolor, colored pencil, and brushmarker with pigment-based ink on watercolor paper.
Snow Shovelling
Watercolor, colored pencil. brushmarker with pigment-based ink on watercolor paper.
Watercolor, colored pencil, alcohol marker, brushmarker with pigment-based ink on watercolor paper.
Photos of famous cartoonists always show them holding a dip pen. Alison Bechdel uses dip pens. Charles Schulz loved a particular dip pen nib so much, when the company was shutting down, he bought up the remaining nibs (or so the story goes) and now the nibs he stockpiled get auctioned off on Ebay.
When it comes to dip pens, I’m less like Charles Schulz and more like Charlie Brown.
Back in 2015, I started drawing an elementary-aged girl who played with tonka trucks, acted out death scenes with markers, and chopped off her blonde ponytails. The character began to talk and interact with other characters in my sketchbook. Before long, I had several pages of comics about this kid. Years later, my agent Susan Hawk helped me revise the story into a graphic novel, which has been sold at auction to Donna Bray at Balzer+Bray / HarperCollins. THE REAL RILEY MAYES will be available on May 3, 2022.
Rachel Elliott 