books 


16-page comic book, hand-drawn, with digitized handwriting,
50 handbound copies.


Somewhere is a 16-page comic book I drew, wrote, and designed about my experience growing up and moving away from home. It is mostly autobiographical and explores how our identity is often connected to a sense of place or placelessness.





illustration






poster design





typeface design


Poetisa is a bold, decorative typeface for poets and designers alike.

Poetisa is a decorative typeface 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 that explores how we like to see ourselves as characters, and our lives as stories. I tease out the difference between what feels real and what is exaggerated in my life.



visual storytelling


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.







© 2025 Celia Ruley Donnelly

celiaruley@gmail.com