The Artiste Manquée

From Comixpedia

The Artiste Manquée

Creator(s)	Simon Harchun
Website(s)	http://www.the-artiste.net
Update Feed	http://feeds2.feedburner.com/artiste
Update Schedule	Saturday, 6:00 PM EST
Launch Date	March 11, 2008
Genre	Humor / Satire

"The Artiste Manquée" is a webcomic drawn and published online by Simon Harchun. It has been active since early 2008.

The comic provides a humorous take on the world of contemporary fine art, and is essentially a satire. The story follows Janet, a nerdy and klutzy science geek with large round glasses and no aesthetic sense, who upon entering college finds that she has been mistakenly registered in the Faculty of Fine Arts, and now has no choice but to find her inner art student. The story is told in a series of weekly strips in a horizontal, individual-gag format similar to a newspaper comic. A typical strip or story arc will depict an episode in Janet's school or social life as she attempts (and inevitably fails) to understand her new field of study and fellow art students, with whom she is horribly mismatched. The humor style is sharp and satirical, and usually serves to poke fun at the art scene, artists and art students.

The author describes the series as "a humorous and highly satirical little story based upon my own experiences as an art student." He created the comic as a skewed take on his own life and to give a taste of art school to those who have never attended one.

[edit] Notes

As of July 2009, it is part of the SpiderForest Webcomic Collective.
The comic was fully hosted on Smack Jeeves until late January 2009, when it moved to its own domain at www.the-artiste.net. Prior to the move, the-artiste.net simply redirected visitors to the comic's Smack Jeeves site.

[edit] Characters

Janet - The central protagonist, featured in every strip. Dorky, clumsy and not the least bit artistic or stylish, Janet is a complete misfit in her school environment. Her attempts to comprehend her her fellow students and their mindset usually prove useless, and leave her frustrated. Still, she hopes one day to make sense of it all.

Tabitha a.k.a Tabby - Janet's artsy classmate who tries to assimilate her into the hip, non-conformist art student culture. She is the second most prominent character and can be seen as Janet's character foil.

Kai - A young painter who is also Janet's classmate. Janet has a crush on him, but he is self-absorbed and gives her very little positive attention.

Evan - Janet's little brother, who takes delight in annoying her in any way possible. Evan is a master of witty insults and knows how to really get under Janet's skin. He also looks exactly like a smaller, male version of her.

Mikey - One of Janet's friends from high school, who, like her, is a stereotypical science geek with ridiculous glasses. He appears in the very first strip, but is otherwise a rarely seen character.

Heather - Another non-fine arts friend of Janet's. The two girls are occasionally shown drinking together in a cafe.