Portfolio
Portfolio of Work for Sophie Lucido Johnson
Comics mini-essays
I love how words alongside illustrations allow the mind to slow down. When you look at a picture, one side of your brain is activated; and when you read language, the other side is. Combining these creates a lovely internal rhythm that lends itself to a particular flow of thought that I think helps big ideas land. I use the comics medium to write small essays about humans as they interact with nature, and vice versa.
Watercolors and scientific illustration
I studied scientific illustration with the Chicago Field Museum’s resident artist, Peggy Macnamara. I learned so much from observing the elegant design of animals’ bodies, and wrote several essays about my experience learning to draw animals.
Here’s an essay about just a few of the lessons from Peggy’s class.
Here’s an essay about drawing all the birds in North America.
Below are some watercolors I’ve created using some of the techniques I learned while studying under Peggy.
Other endeavors
Here are a few other things I’ve worked on that I am proud of. For even more details, including my Artist Statement, please see my CV, linked here.
I’ve written three books, including one entirely graphic memoir, one illustrated memoir, and one audio book. These are, in chronological order:
I am a cartoonist for the New Yorker. You can see some of my work here.
I have made a video series about painting and understanding birds.
I had a recent gallery show at Antenna Gallery in New Orleans, which resulted in the publication of a mini-book of illustrated how-to essays.
My writing and illustration has been featured, among other places, in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, and The Guardian. Here’s a complete list of my published writing / illustrating.
Illustrated essays with more of a language base are here, on Medium.
I publish a weekly newsletter called “You Are Doing A Good Enough Job.”