Kate Beaton

Kate Beaton (born 8 September 1983) is a Canadian comics artist, and creator of the comic strip ''Hark! A Vagrant''.

Early life
Originally from [Mabou, Cape Breton, Beaton graduated from Mount Allison University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and anthropology. She began drawing comics for the university newspaper, The Argosy, during her third and fourth years at school. Previously she worked in the maritime museum in Victoria.

Career
In 2007, at her friends' insistence, Beaton decided to publish some of her history-inspired comics on the Web. She posted comics to a new website, katebeaton.com, and to a LiveJournal blog. In December 2007 she published the first of two popular batches of history-themed comic strips; the subject of each comic was one that at least twenty of her readers suggested. She moved to her current website, ''Hark! A Vagrant'', in May 2008.

Beaton publishes her webcomic, ''Hark! A Vagrant'', occasionally. Its subjects are usually historical figures or fictional characters from Western literature. In several comics, Beaton caricatures herself, past and present. All were drawn by Beaton using MS Paint during her breaks at work. Beaton has a simple artistic style, with great importance given to characters' facial expressions; her skill at comic pacing has also been noted.

Her work has been profiled in Wired, Macleans, and Comic Book Resources. "The Origin of Man", a comic strip by Beaton celebrating Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, was showcased by MySpace Dark Horse Presents in March 2009. In June 2009 she released a book titled Never Learn Anything from History. Two of Beaton's cartoons have been published in The New Yorker. Drawn and Quarterly released her newest book, also titled ''Hark! A Vagrant'', in September 2011. Time magazine named it one of the top ten fiction books of the year, with Lev Grossman calling it "the wittiest book of the year."

Beaton's self-published Never Learn Anything from History won the 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent. ''Hark! A Vagrant'' won the 2011 Harvey Award for Best Online Comics Work, having been nominated the previous year, and was also nominated for Joe Shuster Awards in 2009 and 2010. Beaton followed up her 2011 Harvey win by taking home three Harveys in 2012, for Humor, Online Work, and Best Cartoonist.

Beaton has also contributed to Marvel Comics' Strange Tales anthology.

Awards

 * 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent
 * 2011 Harvey Award for Best Online Comics Work
 * 2012 Harvey Award for Best Online Comics Work
 * 2012 Harvey Award Special Award for Humor in Comics
 * 2012 Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist