I made the first version of this comic two months before the start of the pandemic. I drew it quickly, in about 10 days. I still liked the story, but knew I could do it better.now. So, I drew it again. 

"Night Class (Redux)" Jessica Boehman, 2025. Fountain pen ink, watercolor, and digital ink. 

This spring and summer I had the pleasure of working on an album design--a cd and LP--for my friend, colleague, and guitar coach Tom Dempsey. The straight-up jazz record was called "Likely Story," and we knew we wanted to include a portrait of Tom and his bandmates in the album design. We started with a few concepts, from very simple to a little more imaginative. 

There was one imaginative concept that was really fun to draw--I wanted to play on the concept of what I would think would be a likely story. (In my mind, it went something like, "So there I was in the middle of the woods..." But the concept didn't strike Tom in quite the same way. It's me that has the connection to the woods, after all. So this felt right for me​, but needed to be edited to be right for him. He liked, however, the concept of the doorway in the middle of nowhere leading somewhere. Just not the woods! How about the city?

We played around with a few sketches for making this have the same sort of feel but in an urban setting--it was tricky to find a spot where the concept would still work.  Tom wanted the feel of brownstones, something very New York without being touristy. While we figured out what that setting was, exactly, I worked on the base of the drawing, which we would change a bit (particularly in the poster--an early idea of Tom's for the cd cover for which we had done a photo shoot.) This drawing below gave me the sense of how it would look against some sort of darkness (here, playing with the concept of sky over the dark woods).

We decided on a roof top with an impossible doorway. We'd have room for his name and we changed the poster design for a nod to a drawing I had done for him after a gig. I kept the brownstone graphic, focusing on the architectural details and the light in the window below. 

For the back of the CD/LP. Tom had wanted portraits of his bandmates. I wanted them all to appear as illustrations, not just photos. Getting this to look right took some time. We had to have enough space for 10 tracks names for the cd. 6 for the LP, which was slightly different dimensions, dedications, a logo, a UPC code and a QR code (for the LP), and dedications. So I had to simplify the brownstone and remove the windows. I had to leave room in the sky for the tracklist. 

Going to be in the city on Friday, August 8? Come by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and see the free launch concert and pick up an album for yourself.

This was a ton of fun. Thanks for thinking of me, Tom!

"Wolfskin." Written and Illustrated by Jessica Boehman. 2024-2025. Watercolor, fountain pen ink, acrylic ink, india ink, and digital ink. Please do not reproduce without permission. 

What would you do for love?

My Halloween illustration this year was inspired by last Halloween in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, when I saw these two lovers riding up my street on the edge of the park during trick-or-treating. That's how I remember them, in any case.

"Halloween in Brooklyn" Jessica Boehman, 2024. Fountain pen ink, watercolor, acrylic ink, and digital.

I made this comic in the wake of late winter and Spring 2024, when my father was gravely ill following a massive surgery in Baltimore, MD. I spent about a month all said and done traveling back and forth to be in the hospital or to provide care for my dad. My 5 siblings took up the slack for me when I had to be in NYC and for each other over the course of nearly three months. It was a traumatic time for us all, and during that time, I started thinking about this story, likely as a way to make order where there was none and to process the trauma of it. I find it generally helps. 

In a coda that's not in the comic: After two and a half months in and out of the hospital, Dad has been finally making a great recovery. His tenacity, guts, and bravery saved his life. 

This story weaves together many seemingly disparate parts of my life, which, in hindsight, all feel like they fit together perfectly. Dad, this one is for you.

"The Comet," Jessica Boehman. Fountain pen ink, watercolor, and digital drawing. Summer 2024. ​

Here's another illustration from "The Last Unicorn;" it's the scene where Schemendrick, the ageless magician, transforms the unicorn against her will to save her from the red bull.

I started this one, like the last drawing from this book (see two posts down), sitting in the hospital with my dad. I finished it home in NYC. I feel unsure about it, but it's been a hard, hard month, so I don't really trust my judgment just now.
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"The Lady Amalthea" Jessica Boehman, 2024. Watercolor, fountain pen ink, and digital drawing.

I started this drawing accidentally, by testing out some new fountain pen inks from The Birmingham Pen Company used as watercolor. This one, "Algae Bloom," intrigued me; it splintered into dark green, yellow, and blue with the addition of a little water. 

The more I looked at it, the more it looked like. a landscape. So, I turned it into one, a quick little drawing on a warm, false-Spring sort of early March day, channeling those golden warm nights on the horizon. (And a nod to "Blackboard Bear", a favorite book as a child. 

"Perfect Day" Jessica Boehman, 2024. Fountain pen ink, acrylic ink, watercolor, and digital drawing. 

"Mommy Fortuna' Finds the Unicorn" (from "The Last Unicorn") Fountain Pen ink, Watercolor, and Digital Drawing. 2024. 

Second attempt at a concept drawing for a new project. 

​Jessica Boehman, watercolor, acrylic ink, and digital drawing. 2024. 

I made the first version of this drawing seven years ago.  I've wanted to rework it for a while, and finally took the chance to do it this winter as a break from the end of school madness. 

"Wee, Wee, Wee, All the Way Home" Jessica Boehman, 2023. Watercolor and digital.