Comic artist Rachel Olsen is too real for you
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
December 3, 2008
What started out as a crude drawing of UWindsor English major Rachel Olsen’s father has spawned an online comic, constantly gaining more fans through Facebook. Is This Too Real For You?, still true to its crude roots, illustrates Olsen’s family members and friends, her strange childhood, and the everyday situations she finds herself in.
After finding an illustration of her father she had drawn when she was two-years-old, Olsen decided to redraw it on her computer.
“It looked ridiculous—a massively disproportionate head, with arms coming out of it, wobbly eyes, no torso. I thought it was hilarious,” recalled Olsen.
Soon she was adding in the weird things her dad would say. She showed the pictures to her friends, and then posted them on Facebook. The comics quickly outgrew the single album Olsen had designated for them and she then began the Facebook group.
Her friends and family are portrayed in the comics mostly as being strange or angry at odd things for absurd reasons. Olsen thinks they enjoy it. “I mean, my dad did throw me out recently and told me never to come back home because I’m not his daughter anymore, but he said that’s just his way of asserting the patriarchy. Nothing weird,” said Olsen.
The character of her father, who loves sardines and attests to the magical powers of vinegar, is certainly a stand-out favourite among the cast. The fame has not gone to his head, thankfully.
“If I asked him, he’d probably say something like, ‘I’m waiting for mail, go stand on the porch and wait for it. If you can’t stand on the porch for your father’s mail, you can forget about everything.’ My dad is too modest of a guy to do anything but divert the attention,” Olsen explained.
Olsen even gets recognized because of her comics now. “The weirder the person is the better. Usually they’ll start their sentence with, ‘I know this sounds weird, but…’ and then I know it’s going to be good,” she said.
Olsen will step away from updating her comic for a day to set up a booth at the FAM Holiday Art Show and Sale, Saturday, Dec. 6 at Terrace 285, located at 44 University Ave. W. (West entrance). She will be selling T-shirts, tote bags, calendars, and water bottles, items also available for purchase on her website and Facebook.
“It’s odd to do shows with these people because they arrive for the set up with… you know, actual art. And I’m like, ‘Hey everybody, do like my stick people?’,” said Olsen.
As for what she’d like to accomplish with her comics, Olsen said, “I wouldn’t mind single-handedly turning our agricultural community against the harvesting of celery. But more humiliating is the real reason, which is that I’m such a huge fan of my parents and siblings that I originally just wanted to show my friends how awesome they are. They are the best people I know. If other people think they’re great now, then I’m happy.”
Besides diligently updating the Internet population on her absurd life, Olsen is busy working with people from a film school in the states writing a script, as well as working on her own writing.
Olsen is also working on her website with artist Ryan Marshall. The site is up at http://isthistoorealforyou.webcomicplanet.com/, but under construction, so it’s encouraged that you catch up on the comics on Facebook at http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33857540332.
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