Hi there, I'm Stef, a Toronto-based graphic designer and illustrator with over a decade of experience.

I'm the creator, writer, artist, web and graphic designer behind Sarah Zero: The Cinematic Art Novel.

As a kid, I loved cars... drawing and building models of them. But drawing gave way to computers by the time I graduated University with a B.S. Fine Arts Degree.

As an adult, I still love cars, but somewhere along the line, career kinda took over. While graphic design was my job, I'd still design and build my own custom model cars for fun.

My discovery of webcomics in 2002 finally got me back into drawing with the creation of SZ. And all at once, I lost interest in model cars as I found my voice, applying the same passion to SZ that I'd invested in building my career.

So while I treat SZ like a business, it's only a part-time hobby. I wanna make it my full-time job: several updates a week + books. With your support, you and I can get there.

Thanks to everyone...

UPDATE: SAT, MAY 03, 2008

SZ 0272-0273: On the contranet, the highest of standards we hold dear to us IRL mean absolutely nothing.

IRL, we still need to present at least a modicum of decency in order to make friends, get along with others, cope with difficult people and function in society. But in the virtual world, it's a total free-for-all where the lowest common denominator rules supreme.

Movies and comic books have always told stories of underdogs taking the high road, but real life doesn't work that way.

Online, who gets all the attention? It's the fuckwad that puts up an insipid, inbred, pop culture ripoff "homage" to every little thing he's ever consumed since childhood. Wow. That's a lot yer bringin' to the table, jizzhead.

Like webcomics that cull their material from video game review sites, then every other webcomic copies off that first webcomic.

The joke is a lie.

And so everyone blissfully copies each other, laughs at each other's same joke, FaceStalks each other, links each other then circle jerk politeness fights each other into submission, saying: "Aw man, you're awesome!" "No, YOU'RE awesome!" "No seriously, man, YOU are awesome!"

Oh Horatio, I art slain.

Doth not my mad skillz holdeth any weight?

I am totally 128% inaccessible.

And this emo soliloquy has epic failed to increase my bandwagonosity.

THUR, APR 24, 2008

SZ 0270-0271: C'mon. Sounds like your self esteem got the better of you.

Often times, our "confidence" is all bravado without core belief systems in place to back it up. At times like these, we feel the need to convince ourselves that we're awesome.con by attacking others.

When somebody tells us something about ourselves we don't wanna deal with, we tend to pass these little pearls of wisdom on to others, like some kind of Sociolympic relay event. Hoping to absolve ourselves of the responsibility to change, we drop mad psychology on complete strangers to make us appear more together.

Trevor's obviously said this to Sarah before.

Sarah passed it on to Spindlecakes.

Now I'm passing it on to YOU.

HYPER-WICKLESS-AWESOME.CON SZ PLUGGAGE!

Check it out! Last week, SZ got a really wickless koo review in the Webcomics Beacon Podcast #20! Thank you so much to reviewer Mark Savary, creator of Autumn Lake, as well as the rest of the WB crew.

FYI, The SZ review begins about 50 minutes into the podcast, and it lasts for about 5 minutes. Download it here. But listen to the whole thing anyway and be sure to support WB and AL.

Thanks again!
Sarah Zero is a character I created in the early 90s: she's a fiesty redhead spitfire malcontent who lovingly unstranges estranged relationships.

Debuting on the contranet in March 2003, SZ was a weekly webcomic that I faithfully updated for 184 consecutive weeks until ultimately trashing it in September 2006. The story and art were weak, unoriginal and unsalvageable.

This website is the February 2007 SZ relaunch, featuring an all-new story, all-new art and an all-new website. My mandate for SZ has always been and will always be about making choices to become more than we are.

But Sarah herself doesn't always make the right choice, so in her quest to be happy and feel loved, she's gotta learn to drop the pretense, the anger, and realize that she's NOT better than everyone else.

While the SZ storyline is scripted and storyboarded well in advance, new page spreads are completed one at a time and appear online 28 seconds after they're completed.

Sarah Zero IS RATED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES: mature themes, dangerous ideas, graphic violence, coarse language and overt sexuality.

Viewer discretion yourself.