Artist Juggles Comics, Storyboards and Web Design

Turns out, marine biology is as tough to get into as the comic book world.

That's what Debi Hammack found out after getting her degree from the University of North Carolina.

"I had always loved drawing and comic books and stories, and so after college, I decided to teach myself art," she said.

Starting in 2000, she took the autodidact's route to an art career, a process she said involves "a lot of yelling at yourself."

Now, the Einstein High School graduate has published her own comic book series, storyboarded numerous films and commercials, designed local websites and taught her pupils how to draw everything from cats to superheroes.

Her comic, A'pertua, follows a group of misfit aliens who are forced to band together when humans come around to seize their planet.

"I was doing all these tiny independent comics that would never see the light of day, and I got frustrated with that," Hammack said. "No big comic company would take me on, so I just decided to do my own."

Published in 2005, A'pertua is available online and at .

That experience helped her segue into storyboarding, Hammack said, because laying out a scene on paper is much like telling a story in panels and talk bubbles.

Some directors provide rough sketches of what they want to see in a scene, and some "just hand you the script and say 'draw,'" she said.

After picking up HTML in college, Hammack has also designed websites for Smiles on Wings, the Day of the Book and J&J Photography, among others.

On top of all that, she also offers art lessons to pupils of all ages. Through "Padawans with Pencils," Hammack teaches perspective, graphic storytelling and all the other tools needed to create a comic book, she said.

"With teaching art, I enjoy seeing a student improve and start to understand some of the concepts in drawing and storytelling," she said. "Also, I enjoy seeing them get excited about visual storytelling and wanting to create their own comic."