San Marcos cartoonist focus of new Comic-Con Museum exhibit

A scene from the Luann exhibit at the Comic-Con Museum Photo by Luis Monteagudo Jr Times of San Diego Growing up in Southern California Greg Evans dreamed of becoming a cartoonist and artist In current times the San Marcos resident has become an award-winning flourishing cartoonist whose comic strip Luann is published in newspapers His creation is the focus of a new exhibit that opened on Monday at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park For Evans it s an achievement to see an exhibit of his work in his hometown It s a terrific honor to be at the Comic-Con Museum revealed Evans He added jokingly The Louvre requested if I was interested but I noted no I ll be at the Comic-Con Museum Growing up Luann Years of Comics features panels of art and information about the strip which focuses on an insecure teenage girl and her family and friends Evans didn t expect the ongoing success of the strip when it launched in I just sought to draw cartoons and make a living and that s hard to do he recalled I feel very grateful that I ve been able to do this for years The strip was inspired by Evans watching his then five-year-old daughter Karen strut around their house in her mother s heels and makeup In current times that now-grown daughter is a co-creator of the strip working with Evans to flesh out the characters and their stories I tend to throw in more complex relationships and storylines stated Karen Evans who lives in Bonsall close to her dad These characters are very real mentioned Karen Evans They tell stories for us Father and daughter worked together to design the museum exhibit which includes an interactive activity where visitors can write punchlines or sayings for Luann and place them on a wall in the display room Sometimes people think about museum exhibits and think it s going to be serious declared Karen Evans Kawaii display at the Comic-Con Museum Photo by Luis Monteagudo Jr Times of San Diego It s not the first display of the popular strip A Luann exhibit was featured at the California Center for the Arts Museum in Escondido and California State University San Marcos both in There was also a Luann musical performed at Palomar College in Greg Evans has been honored over the years for his work including winning Comic-Con International s Inkpot Award in The Luann exhibit at the Comic Con Museum is scheduled to run through November of this year Kawaii skateboard display at the Comic-Con Museum Photo by Luis Monteagudo Jr Times of San Diego Meanwhile the Museum on Monday also opened a new exhibit called Years of Kawaii Chaos highlighting the bold streetwise fashion of Japanese-inspired kawaii cute designs on everything from shoes and handbags to toy figures and skateboards This exhibit is scheduled to run through May Both exhibits are on the bottom floor of the museum For more information visit comic-con org museum