Sarah C. Andersen is an American cartoonist and illustrator best known for the webcomic Sarah's Scribbles. Currently based in Portland, Oregon, she has collaborated with artists and writers like Andy Weir over the course of her her career, and has been recently noted for her public opposition to the rise of text-to-image models and generative AI illustrations.
Early life
Sarah Andersen was born in Norwalk, Connecticut and lived in multiple countries during her childhood, "hopping between Denmark, Germany, and Connecticut."[2] While a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), she started drawing and uploading Sarah's Scribbles on Tumblr in 2013; after graduating in 2014, she worked on the webcomic full-time.[1][3] Originally, the comic was called Doodle Time, but GoComics asked for the name to be changed in order for them to syndicate it.[4]
Career
In March 2016, Andersen released her first print collection of Sarah's Scribbles comics, titled Adulthood is a Myth and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.[5] They would go on to publish the follow-up Big Mushy Happy Lump the following year, as well as the subsequent volumes Herding Cats, Oddball, and Adulthood Is a Gift! in 2018, 2021, and 2024 respectively. The first book was described as "hilarious" and "relatable" by The Independent,[6] who also praised the webcomic's depiction of "that horrible realisation (...) that being a grown-up is actually pretty awful."[1]
In late 2019, Andersen began releasing a supernatural romance webcomic called Fangs on the Tapas platform.[9][10] In September 2020, Fangs was published as a book by Andrews McMeel Publishing.[11] It became a Publishers Weekly Bestseller that month[12] and a New York Times Bestseller in October 2020.[13]
In January 2020, Andersen painted a mural of her characters as part of a public art project in Mexico City, but it was graffitied over within days.[14]
On September 20, 2022, the book Cryptid Club[15] was published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. It was nominated for two Eisner Awards in 2023 for Best Humor Publication and Best Writer/Artist[16] but did not win.
On December 31, 2022, she authored a guest essay in the New York Times about the rise of artificial graphist systems such as Stable Diffusion, pointing out threats it presents on graphic creators such as increased confusion, appropriation, reputational impact, and income reduction.[17] In January the following year, Andersen was listed as a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against AI companies Stability AI, Midjourney, and online art community DeviantArt.[18] On July 19, 2023, Judge William Orrick III stated he would dismiss most of the case, requesting they elaborate on issues and "provide more facts".[19]
Bibliography
Sarah's Scribbles
Adulthood is a Myth (2016) Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN9781449474195
Big Mushy Happy Lump (2017) Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN9781449479619
Published editions of Sarah's Scribbles won Andersen the Goodreads Choice Award in Best Graphic Novels & Comics three years in a row. She won in 2016 for her debut book, Adulthood is a Myth.[20][21] The following year, she was awarded for her book Big Mushy Happy Lump, and in 2018 for Herding Cats.[22][23]
In 2021, Fangs won two Ringo Awards for Best Webomic and Best Humor Webcomic.[24]
Andersen won the 2023 Silver Reuben Award in the category Best Online Comics – Short Form for Sarah's Scribbles.[25]
