Why Dumpy Grace?

Why Dumpy Grace?

I got the idea to draw little paint figures after reading the absolutely brilliant blog, ‘Hyperbole and a Half’, written and illustrated by Allie.  The adventures of her little character and the way she could manipulate so few lines and say so much was an inspiration.

Unfortunately, I am not an artist and only have one character that I can draw reliably. I’ve been doodling her all my life I have always thought of her as my alter ego – what I would look like, who I would be if I wasn’t so average. She had long, flowing hair, big expressive eyes (except I wasn’t so great at drawing eyes so they were usually demurely closed) and a killer body. This is what she looked like.

As I got older, I seemed to identify less and less with this stunning but remote Babe and my doodles changed. Her hair got shorter, her waist thickened and her boobs flew south. She was prickly, more opinionated, less concerned about the way others saw her. She was more engaged. She was less afraid. And for the most part, she had her eyes wide open (because I no longer cared  how hopeless I was a drawing eyes)

She was decidedly unattractive. When I tried to think of an adjective that adequately described her, the only word that felt right was…Dumpy.

I called her Grace because she had curly hair piled high over her head, like one of my characters in my books. But, she’s not that Grace – she’s an entity onto herself.

 I like her. Dumpy Grace with her eyes wide open. Dumpy Grace who can still be surprised by beauty.