About the comic:
Nosve Release is set in the lovely town of Claremont, CA: home of silver-haired retirees, overpriced tourist boutiques, and an excessive number of colleges and universities. Nosve Release documents events in the life of the "5C" community in Claremont, and most specifically the relationship between Harvey Mudd College and Scripps College. With a male-majority science school and a liberal arts women's college directly across the road from one another, interesting things are bound to happen...
Is the comic based in real life?
Yes and no. Most of the storylines are based on actual events. My close friends may even recognize lines of dialogue from time to time. HOWEVER, no storyline or character follows reality perfectly. Think of Nosve Release as putting my college experience, my friends' college experiences, random stories I've heard, and some pure made-up stuff all into a blender, and setting it on high. I consider my work fiction.
How do you pronounce "nosve"?
I pronounce it like "NAWZ-vee". Say it however you want, though, I'll know what you're talking about.
What does the name mean?
It depends. At first, NOS/VE (Network Operating System/Virtual Environment) was a product at my mom's work. To celebrate, everyone in the company got t-shirts that said "NOS/VE RELEASE" on them. Except my mom's department. Tech writers don't get no respect. My mom's boss was a wee bit annoyed, so she made some homemade NOS/VE RELEASE shirts with iron-on letters for her department. Some years down the road, when I was a small child, my mom gave the shirt to me for sleeping in. I loved the shirt because it was soft and comfortable. It ended up in the costume clothes bin somehow, to be rediscovered ten years later as I was cleaning the basement. The shirt had shrunk (relatively speaking) to a perfect babydoll size. I started wearing it regularly, because it was still comfortable. People would ask me, "What's your shirt mean?" And I'd tell them my life's story. Or I'd just say, "It's meaningless gibberish."
It's in these two meanings that the phrase "nosve release" applies to this comic. You can see it as a documentation of the contemporary American college student's experience. Or you can see it as a completely meaningless exercise in amateur creativity. Either works.
How do you draw Nosve Release?
Unlike most of my favorite webcomics, I am pretty old school. No drawing tablet, no Photoshop, no fancy materials. All my comics (to date) have been drawn on regular ol' computer paper using a bunch of garden variety pens (Pilot V5s, regular felt pens, and Sharpies). I don't even use a ruler; my straightedge is the spine of Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks. Once the comic is finished, I borrow a friend's scanner and then fix errors in GIMP (spelling mistakes, misdrawn panel borders, other snafus). I do have an electronic drawing tablet (thanks, Mom and Dad!); however, so far I only use it for coloring and shading. This is less the result some Luddite conviction and more just my lack of experience with the tablet (and trying to not make my computer slog down or crash thanks to the questionable driver software).
About the author:
Karen is a "crazy loner from Minnesoter." She is currently a sophomore at Scripps College, where she studies media and politics. Besides drawing comics, Karen sings, plays piano, bakes cookies, does free culture, rocks out with the band The Speakers, stargazes, destabilizes foreign governments, and watches lots of movies. She is a Sagittarius and she collects postcards. She also really, REALLY enjoys talking in the third person. Ha.
If you want, you can contact Karen at nosverelease SPAMMITYSPAM at gmail dot com (sans capitals, of course).
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