How We Met

In 2014, Cristina and Sarah met on the 6th floor of the Omaha World-Herald building, in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, where they both worked on the advertising floor.

Cristina worked with graphic artists and advertisers to make adjustments needed on their ads, and Sarah was one of the graphic artists. They quickly became friends and both connected about wanting to create art for the community and do something more meaningful. They would jokingly (and not) talk about "doing something together" and tossed around a few ideas, but nothing really stuck. They eventually left the 6th floor and became OWH alum (class of 2015 baby!), but the friendship exceeded the newspaper world.

A few years later, the idea of "doing something together" came up again. Cristina mentioned to Sarah, a comic series she had in mind about a dog and cat that go together. Sarah, a part-time dog walker and a pet owner herself, naturally gravitated towards this idea.

"So … are we doing this for real?" Cristina asked.

"YUP!" Responded Sarah.

And BOOM! Bread & Butter Comics was born.

Writer Cristina Byrne:

I was born in Virginia Beach, raised in South America, and went to college at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, where I majored in Broadcast Journalism. Since graduating in 2011, I have spent some time in Binghamton, New York, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Omaha, Nebraska, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and currently reside in Huntsville, Alabama with a laundry list of creative jobs.

Currently, I freelance in Photography, Graphic Design, and Production Design. You can check out some of my work here. 

I have received the only award is "Most Likely to Eat Everyone Else's Food," and I was the only girl in the 6th-grade juggling club.

I have a dog named Shea and a cat name Pan.

Illustrator Sarah JL Mapes:

I was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and moved around a lot during my childhood. I was predominantly raised in Nebraska, North Carolina, and New York. I went to college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where I majored in Fine Arts. After graduating, I worked for a few newspapers, and now I work for myself as an independent artist and dog walker.

In 2015, I established my dog walking business, which is great content for the comic! It also keeps me active, and being outdoors for a few hours a day is great fuel for my creativity.

Around this same time, I started working as an independent artist, first predominantly graphic design and photography, which over the years has evolved more into illustration. Recently, I have rebranded myself to push my illustration and now operate under the name of Sarna Darling Art. My goal is to offer resources to help the art community, and make art that fuels one’s soul, ambitions and fills the world, or your home, business with beauty and balance.

Check out Sarna Darling Art here

I was the only girl, not in a juggling club, but on my 5th-grade community basketball team.