Donna Druchunas Maven5Q

Pivots to comics

Kim Druker Stockwell

and

Donna Druchunas

Aug 13, 2025

Donna Druchunas

Bio in her words:

I’ve recently retired from a knitting design and teaching business that I’ve run with my husband for almost 25 years. I’m the author of a pile of knitting books, several of which I’ve illustrated myself.

Today I’m making comics, exploring polymer clay, and knitting for fun. I live in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in a 150 year old farmhouse with my husband, our cat, four angora rabbits, and 8 chickens. Ok, the rabbits and chickens have their own houses.

I asked Donna to tell me a little more about her comics pivot….

I started doing some doodles and small drawings in my journals and that lead to my trying out a sketchbook that was mostly visual note taking. I enjoyed it so much I decided to keep drawing and I took an in-person class from Cynthia Morris and then several classes in Urban sketching from Sketchbook Skool.

I was traveling a lot at the time and I found it a very fulfilling way to record my trips. I actually do not remember how I started thinking about comics or how I discovered Sequential Artist’s Workshop but after I found them and got an iPad I really got busy making comics. I had lost my writing voice after the 2016 elections and I find that now it is more natural for me to express my ideas with more drawings and fewer words.

What is the most surprising part of being in this stage of life?

I started making comics in my 50s. I'm just now starting to work with polymer clay. I keep finding new things to do.

What’s one new thing you’re trying to embrace in mid-life?

I'm trying to embrace uncertainty. I always knew things change when you're older, but I though the post WWII stability would outlive me and now with the craziness happening in US politics and the world, I am having to look back to my grandmothers who lived through two World Wars, the Great Depression, and more for inspiration on how to be resilient.

If you could give yourself a piece of advice 20 years ago, what would it be and why?

Move and exercise more but in a very relaxed and comfortable way. I used to walk a LOT with my mom and now that she lives far away, I struggle to convince myself to go out for a walk. I also miss living near an indoor pool. I love swimming but the lake here is only warm enough for a couple of months a year.

What’s something that our generation had access to that you’d like to bring back?

Physical toys and street games. We had so many fun things to play with -- hoola hoops, yo-yos, jump ropes -- simple and inexpensive ways to entertain ourselves.

If the next 20 years of your life had a theme, what would it be and why?

Croneville Carnival! That's what my comic series is about. Making aging into an adventure instead of something to fear or try to avoid.