Biographical Information
A Short Biography And Self-Portrait
Born with a decidedly different name and assigned gender near Saint Louis, Missouri and saddled with various aliases throughout her career, Piper Bly is a storyteller by trade and vagabond by nature. She started her career by picking up a pen at the age of eight and drawing her first comic book, and – despite the world’s valiant attempts to stop her – that’s more or less what she’s been doing since. Her work deals with trans and queer issues, her own battles with mental illness and homelessness, and the psychology of trauma, politics, loss, and religion.
She is the cartoonist behind Clippings, Our Lady Maven, Tabula Rosetta, and many others, and has provided illustrations and cover art for multiple record labels, publishers, and magazines the world over. She is also a member of the Graphic Artists Guild and the National Press Photographers Association, and her work can be found in the permanent collection of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in Columbus and the Butler Library at Columbia University in New York, as well as many other public and private collections.
Sonically, her voice can be found as the lead vocalist and main composer of the post-black metal/jazz outfit Cinderella Suicide, the experimental noise purveyors Coma Roulette, and numerous other musical projects as well. As a radio host, she can currently be heard weekly as the voice of The Jazz Program and The Talkie Time Radio Hour on datafruits.fm. She is also known as the former voice of extreme music program The Forest At Night, which was heard on Radio Dark Tunnel.
When she’s not busy plowing away at her drawing board, singing dirges in the moonlight, or wandering throughout the United States with a camera in one hand and a sketchbook in the other, she can often be found tending to her ivies, frying up some biscuits, spending unreasonable hours in the gym, or floating above the Mississippi River at midnight, waiting for the tide to wrap her in its loving embrace and take her away.
She currently resides in a safehouse in an unknown location with her fuzzy companion Polyhymnia and frequent collaborator Autumn Redacted; although, as with everything else in life, this is subject to change.
A Slightly More Concise Bio And Somewhat Professional Headshot, Should You Need One For Print
There are times where space is at a premium, or when clients insist upon a somewhat professional headshot. I’m not exactly good at the latter, but the image to the right should hopefully suffice.
As for the former, I have provided the following short bio for copying and pasting if you need to do so for interviews, press copy, or the like:
Piper Bly is a professional graphic journalist, illustrator, and storyteller. She has spent her career spinning tales and penning works of art for magazines, record labels, publishers, and readers around the world. Her whereabouts are currently unknown. You, however, can find her at piperbly.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I refer to Piper, and what pronouns does Piper use?
My gender identity is complicated, and can be best described as “feral talking cat who thinks ‘gender’ is something she had for lunch once”.
At this time, I goes by she/her (and no other set of) pronouns. This does not mean I want to be included in your year-end list of “women artists”, because I don’t consider the label of “woman” to apply to me any more than I would the labels of “man” or “nonbinary” to. I’m none of those three. She/her just happens to describe what I’m on about better than any other available option, so it’s what we’re going with.
(You’re welcome to put me in with your list of year-end “trans artists” list though. I’m pretty visibly trans.)
What does Piper use for her work?
Currently, I use the following:
- Cameras
- Nikon D750 (Miranda) and D600 (Frank)
- Nikon F4 (Betsy) and various F-501/N2020s (un-named)
- Panasonic DMC-LX7 (Lady)
- Olympus OM-D E-M10 (Chase)
- Comix/Inking
- Whatever 2mm lead holder and eraser I have lying around
- Deleter Neopiko Line 3 Pen, 2.0 mm
- Zebra Disposable Brush Pen, Extra Fine
- Uni-ball Signo White gel pens
- Princeton Aqua Elite Brush Round 1
- Speedball Superblack
- Kuretake Comic White 30
(If you would like, you can read more about my weapons of choice for creating sequential art here on this article over on my blog.)
- Painting
- Caran D’ache watercolor crayons (for preliminary sketches)
- Golden liquid acrylics (for most of the layering)
- Montana Gold acrylic spray paint (for fun!)
- Typewriters
- Brother WP-3550 (Wilma)
- Brother WP-760d (Valentine)
- Computers
- Various Thinkpads, all running Linux Mint
- Huion Kamvas 12 tablet, simply because it was the cheapest I could find
- Gnu Image Manipulation Program (for illustration)
- Darktable (for photography)
- LMMS and Audacity (for making noises)
- Mixxx (for DJing and radio broadcasting)
I am currently not sponsored by any of the companies who make the products I am endorsing here; if you happen to run one of these companies, like my work, and would like to change that, please reach out.
I understand many folks may have other questions about myself and my work, usually of a more personal nature than I would be willing to answer via email or on my professional portfolio. Please see the FAQ section at truckstop.coffee for answers to some of the more infrequently asked questions.
Do keep in mind that the answers will be in a somewhat more conversational tone than the professional nature of this website.
Contacting Piper
If you would like to hire me for your next project, please click here to view my rates and policies.
You can also email me here or send letters, packages, and other physical mail (no pipe bombs or arsenic, please) to my handlers via The Blackwork Organization at the following address:
BLACKWORK, LLC
4343 16th St #166
Moline, IL 61265
Please note that the above information is explicitly intended for inquiries relating to my work. Please, no personal inquiries, missed connections, confessions of guilt, pleas for reconnection, demands for reconciliation, love letters, hate letters, pipe bombs, arsenic, or offers to join the Columbia Record Club. Thank you.