Brooke McEldowney is the creator of two popular comic strips, Pibgorn and 9 Chickweed Lane. 9 Chickweed Lane has been syndicated by United Media since 1993, and has one published collection called Hallmarks of Felinity. Pibgorn has been developed strictly as an online comic strip, and is not currently available any other way, though there is an online archive.
Biographical Information
Born in Charlestown, West Virginia, McEldowney grew up in Florida and now lives in Maine with his wife and two daughters.. He attended Allegheny College and majored first in biology, then changed to art. From there he went to Julliard School in New York, where he studied the viola and got both a bachelor's and master's degree in music. He also studied and performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Following that he worked concurrently as a professional violist, music critic and cartoonist. He was assistant editor of Opus, a classical music magazine, and has had cartoons in magazines such as Yankee, Opus and Pulse. His first cartoon sale was to Punch. He has also had music articles and reviews in many magazines, and designs sets, writes and composes for the theater.
Cartooning
McEldowney says he's been drawing cartoons for as long as he can remember, often in the margins of whatever he was actually supposed to be working on. He describes himself as self-taught, though he studied art in college. His influences include H.M. Bateman , Ronald Searle, Gerald Scarfe, and Jean-Jaques Sempe , not to mention Charles Schultz. He also cites Don Martin and Pat Brady as role models. His comics reflect his experiences - music is a common theme in both, and though he claims that Juliette of 9 Chickweed Lane best reflects him, Amos appears to be the character who is mirroring his experience in studying viola at Julliard.
External Links
Last updated: 10-16-2005 15:56:32
