Hello all my dear ones, readers/friends/muses/Patrons/collectors! It’s my 52nd birthday!
I made over 250 individual pieces of finished documentary art in 2018, despite a year of health challenges (including being in a bus accident that busted up my drawing hand, ongoing menopause & auto-immune problems and my hb’s health issues!). That’s right baby! More diversity, representation and beautiful human stories than ever!
Easy to view and search albums here. Scroll the whole stream of thousands of drawings here.
The only reason it was possible: the financial support of my Patrons on Patreon. Thank you, my darlings!!!!!!!
As always, the best birthday present you can give me is sharing and tweeting and facebooking my Patreon!
For the biggest boost of all, totally free to you!!!, PLEEEEAASE, I beg you, submit my documentary artwork project to Colossal, LaughingSquid, My Modern Met, BoredPanda, Vice, Women’s Art on twitter, Beautiful Bizarre, Brown Paper Bag, Creative Uprising, PaintGuide, and/or any of these other sites. Starter text at bottom to give you an idea how to do that!
I don’t make art if I don’t get paid. I don’t have the strength to make art for free.
To me, there is no greater validation of my work than getting money (to use for food and medicine) for it. So the last three and a half years on Patreon have been amazing, a total revelation in how happy and fulfilled I can be. You can help on Patreon, for as little as a dollar/euro a month.
https://www.patreon.com/join/SuzanneForbes?
Schwester Francine of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at Folsom Europe Sept 20 2018 by Suzanne Forbes
I love you all so much, and I’m so grateful to you for supporting my work.
I am not giving up and I will keep working. Despite advancing arts censorship in the US and UK, I believe crowdfunding and releasing my art open source is the way for me. And of course I am available for private portrait commissions too 😉
Yours in love, hope and solidarity,
my best wishes for 2019,
Your Suz
Sample text/project descriptions for submission to art news websites:
- Former courtroom artist makes a life’s work of open source documentary art, live-drawing scenes from sex parties to the Berlin subway.
- Former DC artist documents alternative culture by drawing live on the scene, then distributes her work open-source.
- Huge open source queer and alternative culture art archive in jeopardy from SESTA/FOSTA.
Suzanne Forbes is an expat New Yorker by way of the Bay Area, using the skills she developed as a courtroom artist to live-draw queer, trans and alternative culture. Much like the embedded combat artists who traveled with troops in World War One, she draws live on the scene for public distribution. Instead of newspapers, her drawings are published open source for anyone to
print and share on flickr and
her blog. Her documentary art project has been running since 2005, and is
crowd-funded through Patreon. Her mission is to tell unique human stories, with a focus on visibility and representation.
Drawing a foreshortened face is always a good challenge.
edit. to add one person who DOESN’T bundle up: this very tall pole dancing guy I’ve seen several times on the U7!
