Nice to meet you! My name is Allyson Gonzalez, I’m a writer and artist from Chicago, IL. For the past decade, puppetry has been my main device for storytelling, with a focus on shadow puppetry, crankies and stop-motion animation. Concurrently, I’ve published a critically-acclaimed TinyLetter, three issues of my zine Save the Bees Worx and a few mini-zines. Recently I started making synth-based doom pop music, check out House of Egregious if you’re into that sort of thing. Curious to learn more about my creative practice? Check out my art blog - it’s where I upload my animations, since Substack doesn’t support gifs, and make announcements about new projects I’m working on. I try to update it every month-ish. My CV, photos of my work, reviews y mas can be found at allysongonzalez.com.
¿Por que Substack?
Very kind people yell at me because I don’t share my work enough, so this is my effort to do so.
Wristbands = Exclusive Access
For the first few months, everything I post will be free and publicly accessible, to give you a little taste of what FOOD over FUNCTION is all about. Starting this summer, my Chicago-style hot dog comics will remain free to the public but everything else (demos of music I’m working on, delicious essays, behind the scenes photos of art projects, sneak peeks at new zines, etc.) will only be accessible by paid subscribers.
Self-publishing as always been the cornerstone of my artistic expression. By sharing my essays and artwork behind a paywall, I’m able to build an equitable, self-sustaining platform that conventional publishing models don’t typically afford young BIPOC women authors.
Chicago-style Hot Dogs:
It’s been said that hot dogs are my bat signal.
I’m really terrible at drawing humans, but I haven’t let that stop me from sharing interpersonal narratives through an alternative lens. Chicago-style Hot Dogs chronicles the lives of hot dogs living their curious lives in the windy city. Remember: these will always be free to the public, even after the paywall is launched!
Here’s an example of what an average Saturday can include for a gal about town:
A big round of applause if you’ve already subscribed, I wholeheartedly appreciate your support! This wouldn’t sing without readers like you.
Be well,
Allyson
Wonderful! From now on I’ll code name my existential crises as “float sessions” ❤️
And thanks for the intro to substack, seems great!