somewhere
16-page comic book, hand-drawn, with digitized handwriting,
50 handbound copies.
50 handbound copies.
Since I was 9, I’ve wanted to make a comic book. This comic weaves together past worlds I’ve created across projects into a new narrative. The title “Somewhere” references the video game I coded called “Nowhere”, and there are other subtleties woven throughout the story. Questions asked in conversation and in class, and an overarching narrative that has connected all my work of trying to capture life as it happens. The character’s feelings in this book are autobiographical, but the character is not me. To me, life is contradictory, and it feels like wandering, as though I exist nowhere, simply in time and in motion. I’ve drawn 16 pages capturing this feeling in 3 parts: a slice-of-life, a coming-of-age story following one girl growing up, and wondering why she’s here on earth.
illustration
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
poster design
typography
Poetisa is a bold, decorative typeface for poets and designers alike.
Poetisa is a decorative typeface I designed. Inspired by the Mexican avant-garde art movement of the 20s and 30s, Stridentism. Poetisa uses bold, angular counterforms and art deco aesthetics to create a typeface meant to catch one’s eye on a poster or to be used sparingly with small blocks of text, such as a poem. The word “poetisa” refers to the Spanish word for “poet” after the founder of the Stridentism art movement, a poet named Manuel Maples Arce. Arce is known for his poem “Urbe (Super-poema bolchevique en 5 cantos)” of which the typeface takes inspiration. While the word “poetisa” is considered a feminine word in Spanish, by using the feminine form, the typeface’s name gives reference to the female poets and type designers who are often less known than men working in the same fields.
comics
Special Feature is a comic series I’m making to explore how we like to see ourselves as characters, and our lives as stories. I wanted to tease out the difference between what feels real and what’s exaggerated in my life. I asked myself, “How do I make a comic that is representative of my thoughts, if my thoughts feel like a story, but don’t have a plot?” That’s one part of this story. There’s also some nods to grief, to missing my grandmother Mimi, to figuring myself out more, and trying to use my voice differently.
game design
http://celiaruley.github.io/nowhere/
Nowhere is the story precursor to my comic book, Somewhere. It is a text-based video game that explores the feeling of placelessness by being set “nowhere in particular”. The game asks you a series of questions that advance the plot, inspired by text adventures and interactive fiction. Click here to play.
