What I love about cartooning is that I have access to two different kinds of communication. There is verbal language. I love writing. I love putting sentences together. But language remains symbolic. It has to be filtered through our brains, whereas drawing is right there. It’s immediate, you just assimilate it without having to think about it. I love having access to both kinds of communication when I tell my stories.

— Cartoonist and Graphic Memoirist, Alison Bechdel, creator of ‘Dykes to Watch Out For’ and 2014 MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant Recipient. In two video clips, she discusses her motivations and the affirmation of the MacArthur Foundation award (3:23) and she shares her creative and technical process (5:05).