Welcome to Pride month! LGBTQ+ creators are well represented in the arts and in creative careers, and while we celebrate countless LGBTQ+ artists all year long, we're always excited to turn a particular emphasis to queer, trans, and gender non-conforming artists every June for Pride month.
Queer all year, but especially in June: Celebrating LGBTQ+ comic artists
This month, we're focusing specifically on queer comics! Comics have long been a space where LGBTQ+ stories are created, celebrated, and shared with the world, and we're excited to share three new comics from queer artists specifically about the value and importance of comics as an artform to LGBTQ+ culture, and vice versa. In the coming weeks, we'll see art from Blue Delliquanti, Niki Smith, and Taylor Robin, as well as from students at La Guardia Community College, winners of a recent Wacom Lab Grant.
This blog post is the first in a series we'll be running all month long highlighting amazing LGBTQ+ (comic) artists:
- Series Intro: Roberta Hall aka Happy Impulse (you are here!)
- Feature #1: Blue Delliquanti
- Resource: Six LGBTQ+ Comics You Can Read Online Right Now
- Feature #2: La Guardia Community College Students Kris, Cairo, Vee, and Nini
- Feature #3: Niki Smith
- Feature #4: Taylor Robin (coming soon!)
All of that's to come, however – stay tuned. To kick the month off, we want to celebrate and highlight the amazing artist who created the feature image you see above and across our social media pages right now: Roberta Hall, also known as Happy Impulse.
We chatted with her about her inspiration for the artwork and for creating queer art in general; keep reading to check it out! Note: the following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What inspired you to become an artist? Why is art important to you?
I was a broken kid who couldn't read, couldn't speak right, and couldn't be myself in small-town USA. Art was the only thing that ever really made sense. While other kids read chapter books, I was just sounding out words in 1st grade and getting speech therapy in 3rd. My ADHD brain was chaos, my dyslexia made me feel stupid, and staying closeted made me invisible. But with a pencil, I could finally communicate.
And like most broken kids, I got angry about society's injustices. Why wasn't there a reflection of me in media or art? Am I not enough? Is something wrong with me? So, I create for every kid who feels like they don't belong. Art saved me when nothing else could, so maybe it can save them too. And if I'm lucky, my work is proof that they're not alone. That joy can be found.
Why is making LGBTQ+ art important to you?
Because representation matters. And I'll call out corporate rainbow capitalism when it's hollow, when corporations don't pay queer artists or give back to the community. But I also know that sometimes a kid's first glimpse of themselves is in a Pride display during June. We need it all: the messy, uncomfortable queer art and the mainstream visibility. Sometimes the goal isn't purity, it's authenticity wherever we can get it. I try to advocate for our rights and community 365 days a year, not just Pride month.
That's the responsibility that comes with visibility, with me being out, because it's a responsibility I've chosen. I choose to show up at Pride events, talk on conference stages, and share thoughts about my queer experience. I choose to have side bar conversations about how to support queer youth and young artists. I choose to give back to my community.
What hardware and software do you currently use to make your work, and why do you choose to use Wacom products?
I live on a Macbook Pro with Adobe Creative Cloud Standard, and recently upgraded to a Wacom Cintiq 16 after doing live digital illustration at Crop Con with a Wacom Cintiq 24. I'd been practicing my style in 1-hour sessions for weeks before the event, but was still running 15 minutes over even the day before! With the Cintiq during the live demo, I finally nailed the timing, and hit my style perfectly within the hour. The upgraded tool with enhanced precision made all the difference. As a creative professional, I want tools that help me work faster, and that's what I get with Wacom.
About the artist
Happy Impulse is an Atlanta-based, queer and woman-owned indie brand. Run by the couple Roberta (the artist) and Cheryl (the better half), we design everything in-house and handcraft some pieces ourselves, with plenty of sweat and tears. We’re happy troublemakers: a little queer chaos, and a lot of good rebellion.
Check Happy Impulse out on their website or on Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, or Pinterest.
