Help out someone deserving, get some art

Apologies for lack of a post yesterday. Life happened in a rather abrupt fashion, but it's shaping up to be okay now.

Also, tomorrow's liveblog of the new pony episode will happen as normal, 2 p.m. EST.

Above is a self-portrait by my dear friend Viga Gadson, who you may recall designed the logo for this site, my book covers, and the pony version of me I posted a while back.

Viga, to put it mildly, has not had an easy life. She grew up poor, the child of a neglectful, alcoholic single mother who then died, leaving her an orphan. She has struggled in this economy to find steady work, scraping by on art commissions and help from friends. But a few weeks ago, she finally got her big break: she was not only accepted to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but offered a hefty merit scholarship.

This is a huge deal. SAIC is one of the top art schools in America, and a degree from there could open a lot of doors for her into the graphic design world. Unfortunately, it is colossally expensive. Even with the scholarship, federal financial aid, and student loans, she's still a few thousand short of paying for it. She's tried applying for private loans, and been repeatedly turned down. She has no family to help her, no college fund set up when she was little; there is literally nothing to get her over this last hurdle.

This is where all of you come in, by way of her gofundme site. It works much like Kickstarter: make a donation to help her get to school, and you get a backer reward, ranging from sketches for small donations all the way up to full comics, logo designs, and book covers.

Viga's perseverance and dedication to her dreams have been a constant inspiration to me. I am in awe of how far she has come from such beginnings, and I want to see how much further she can go. Please, if you have a little to spare, consider helping her out; it is an extremely worthy cause.