A few lucky people feel an early tug guiding them to where they belong in life. Instead of spending her childhood finding her niche in the world, by age 10, Laura Park applied to art school.

 

She was accepted to the California Institute of the Arts, but once the university discovered she was pre-pubescent, her admittance was reneged. Still, Park had settled on her place in life and grew up to become a Chicago-based cartoonist, illustrator and painter, canvassing her way to a national scene. 

 

With or without her parents’ approval, Park knew she found her passion. “I’ve always been so certain,” says Park, now 28.  “I think if you have a little kid saying ‘This is what I want to do! This is what I want to do!’ there’s no point arguing with it.”

 

Though she’s still not sure just where she fits in the big world of art. But who cares? Today, she’s an artist who likes to wear ruby red lipstick and believes that pretty pink eye shadow should cover the whole eye. An artist who orders vegan pancakes and will be politely honest if they’re too soggy. An artist who explains things to the interviewer by drawing on paper, as she believes she can show better than she can tell.  

 

Already, she’s adapted to working with locally renowned clients like Myopic Books and Asthmatic Kitty Records. For Myopic, she draws bookmarks advertising the store’s books, poetry readings and live music events.

 

Her first published cartoon ran in the alt-weekly Chicago Reader and was about her experience being shunned by one of her favorite bluegrass musicians.

 

She can do funny, she can do serious, she can do stuff in between. Her next project is a collection of strips about Park and her cat, Louis. (Think “Louis Goes to the Vet.”) It’s plain old life and it’s strikingly endearing.

 

After spending her high school years in Las Vegas, Park studied multimedia installation art at the Art Institute of Chicago, but couldn’t ignore the drawing bug that had infected her. While cartooning can be tedious, she loves that she’s creating her own characters, telling her own story and doing it all in her own style.

 

Four or five years ago, she began posting her work on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/featherbed), the online showcase for photos and drawings. Originally, her site was for her friends to enjoy, but after a mention on the well-known artist blog, Drawn, she’s been commissioned to produce album covers, bookmarks, flyers, T-shirts and other paraphernalia. Rarely does she seek her own work. It just seems to fall on her sketchbook.  

 

Earlier this year, she had 10-page comic featured in Superior Showcase #3, a compilation book centered on the theme of superheroes. Park wrote and drew a narrative about a latchkey brother and sister who stand up for each other in the cruel elementary world. The sister is constantly teased by other kids for having a deformed ear. Park says, though cheesy as it may sound, both of them are heroes.