About

Viewfinder Comics is a visual stories hosting platform dedicated to accessible, independent, and story-first narratives. Owned and operated by Emilie Kelly.

Let’s talk accessible, independent, story-first. All the projects shared on Viewfinder can be accessed in their entirety online, without a paywall. By hosting these projects on a dedicated, creator-owned website, we keep them available for longer than if they existed solely on a third-party platform. By posting and publishing through third-party platforms like YouTube or print publishers, we give these stories a wider circulation. By creating print as well as digital media, we ensure they’ll exist outside of a contactless, online space.

Viewfinder is a product of the digital age – it’s never been easier to find new stories, but it’s also easier to lose them. Diversifying how stories are circulated keeps them alive for longer, so people can enjoy them for longer. In a camera, a viewfinder is the tool that lines up the shot—it’s up to the tool’s wielder to find it and take it.

You can support Viewfinder by finding us at conventions, buying print media, or giving to fundraising campaigns for new projects.

Emilie Kelly is a writer, illustrator, and filmmaker currently based in Portland, OR. Her background in anthropology and media theory influences her work by encouraging her to explore mixed-media, audience perspective, and the power of the story. Her current project is Things Are Afoot! (2024-present), a mystery/horror graphic novel about the ‘Most Isolated Town in America’. Her feature-length student documentary, The Grand Trans-American Cornhole Quest (2022), explores what it means to be an American, and received an honorable mention at the Student Independent World Film Festival (SWIFF).

As a character designer and concept artist, she has completed over 250 pieces for a variety of clients, including album covers, pitch deck art, tattoo designs, murals, and children’s book illustration.

I started making webcomics in 2012 on MS Paint, with my middle school dream project The Firewood Chronicles. During the 8 straight years that I worked on it, I amassed over 400 pages and 3 animations of story all posted DeviantArt and on my personal website, Glitch Comics. The comic never really gained an audience – because it was conceived and created by a teenager – but I never lost love for the world of accessible, independently created, artist-owned works that first inspired it.

Contact: emilie@viewfindercomics.com