| Molly Crabapple | |
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| Born | Jennifer Caban September 13, 1983 Far Rockaway, Queens, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Artist, Entrepreneur |
| Official website | |
Molly Crabapple (born September 13, 1983) is an American artist, author and entrepreneur.
The AP Wire once compared her work to "limerick shared amongst good company in a Victorian parlor."[1] Comics Creator behind Straw House (First Second Books, 2013) and Puppet Makers (DC Comics, 2011) Creator of Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School, a worldwide movement of alt.drawing salons in over 120 cities.
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Molly Crabapple was born Jennifer Caban in Far Rockaway, New York. She received an Associate's degree after majoring in Illustration at Fashion Institute of Technology (A.A.S. Illustration)
From her auto-didactical beginnings in a Parisian bookstore—where she cultivated her signature aesthetic by copying pages from A Tart’s Progress—Molly sketched her way through Morocco and Kurdistan.
Spurred by a desire to de-sterilize the buttoned-up art school scene, Molly founded Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School a celebratory mash-up of cabaret and live drawing. Now in its 6th year—with branches in over a hundred cities—Dr. Sketchy’s global trajectory continues to accelerate. Molly’s brand of off-grid entrepreneurship caught the attention of major media outlets, securing cover stories and featured profiles in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, Playboy, AP Wire, NPR, and hundreds of other media outlets around the world.
"I learned to draw in a Parisian bookstore. My pen and ink technique comes from hours spent copying Alice in Wonderland and A Tart’s Progress. I soon fell in love with the feel of making ink lines – the crackle of the paper, the scratch of the pen nib, the sensual pleasure in drawing a curve."
Crabapple began her art career doing covers for the pornographic newspaper Screw. She has since illustrated for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Playgirl. She was at one time a regular contributor to Coagula Art Journal.
She has also worked on a number of comics (often with writer John Leavitt), creating the graphic novel Scarlett Takes Manhattan,[2] drawing stories for two Marvel anthologies Strange Tales vol. 2[3] and Girl Comics vol. 2, as well as providing art for the webcomics Backstage at Act-i-vate[4] and Puppet Makers at Zuda.[5][6] Molly’s first graphic novel, the steampunk saga Puppet Makers, was released electronically by DC Comics in 2011, and her forthcoming Straw House will be issued by First Second Books in 2013. With close-woven ties to comic book sub-culture, it comes as no surprise that Crabapple’s celebrity fans include Hugo Award-winning graphic novelist Neil Gaiman—as well as musician Moby and comedian Margaret Cho.
Drawing on past experience as an artist's model, Crabapple founded Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School in Brooklyn in 2005. Dr. Sketchy's is a burlesque life-drawing class. It has since been covered on National Public Radio,[7] The Washington Post[8] the Onion AV Club,[9] the BBC,[10] Time Out London[11] and Time Out New York.[12]
Beginning in July 2006, Dr. Sketchy's began opening branches in other cities, which now number 50.[13]
She is also the author (with John Leavitt) of The Official Dr. Sketchy's Rainy Day Colouring Book.
Molly Crabapple has used Kickstarter.com to appeal for the funding of an event called "Molly Crabapple's week in Hell." The event will entail Molly renting a bare room for five days. The room will be covered from floor to ceiling with blank paper. She will spend that work week using fine tip markers to cover every square inch of paper with her illustrations. Backers will be entitled to; view a live-stream of the work in process, make suggestions, 4" X 6" section of the drawing, 8" X 11" section, 11" X 14" section, 18" X 24" section, 24" X 36" section, or 30" X 132" section (floor to ceiling) for various levels of financial support.
The funding amount originally requested was $4,500; the actual final amount is $25,805 meaning that she received almost six times the amount originally requested. The project will use live web-cam feeds, a hired photographer and hired videographer and two hundred (200) fine tip permanent markers. The markers will also be awarded to backers as a return on the investment pledge.
Molly adores absinthe, circus performers, leather-bound books and crowquill pens. She is deeply entrenched in plots of world domination, but will (temporarily) set aside her stratagems for commissioned projects.