In the early eighties, Trici Venola was an early adopter and jumped into the digital art scene. She created fonts for Zap Comix artists including Robert Crumb. She got to know the comic artists she adored and was in the first issue of Juxtapoz Magazine.
I was introduced to Trici by good friends of mine, Rachel and Dan DiPaola, back when I was a young punk, fresh out of college working at Disney. Rachel was the project manager, I needed some help, so Rachel brought in Trici.
Years later, Trici abandoned everything and moved to Istanbul, Turkey to draw the architecture and the people there. As she will tell you, it was a very bumpy road. She has many colorful stories of the experiences she has had in Istanbul. She candidly describes her mistakes and the consequences she and the people she loved suffered because of her decisions.
It has been 17 years since she fell in love with Istanbul. She has published two books: Drawing on Istanbul 1 and 2.
Her obsession with documenting the culture and architecture continues unabated, despite the many obstacles in her way.
Other Artists Mentioned
Robert Crumb
Zap Comix
Robert Williams, founder of Juxtapoz Magazine