Carissa Jean Mares

Earliest memories involve flipping through picture books and pointing at characters, telling them what to do - inventing my own stories. Since then, it feels as if life has cultivated itself around this notion. After a quick stint with photography, I eventually ended up in the cartooning and illustration mediums, continually wanting to tell stories with pictures. After graduating from the Independent Publishing Resource Center with a degree in Comics and Graphic Novel, the drive to tell stories has only increased.

As a founding member of Soft Skills - a celebrated cartoonist collective in Portland, OR - I am well oriented at juggling the needs of the group and how they interlace within the scope of the project. I have also been a Venue Manager for BendFilm Festival in current and previous years, and have contributed to several local short films. Most recently I am finishing up an advanced screenwriting class through the Northwest Film Center and am excited to continue to gain more knowledge and experience as I plunge into the great, wide open.