That’s right, it’s time already for the December newsletter… and this one’s a special edition! If your mail app of choice decides to cut off this email, just know it’s available in full in my archive, as are all of my past newsletters!

A YEAR OF COMICS! (AND UPDATES)

My most exciting bit of news is that I am officially inking Inoscularum!! Inking is probably my favorite part of making a comic, and I’m having a real blast with this.

I like to do all of my lines and solid black inks, then go back and add marker tones later. It’s a lot easier for me to not constantly switch between “pen mode” and “marker mode,” personally. And I’ve smudged enough lineart that I thought was perfectly dry to know… it needs to sit for a long time before getting hit with a marker!

I used to depend a lot more on marker tones/colors in my art while keeping the inking pretty light, but now I’m all about inks. You can really do a lot of fun and dramatic things with them!

YEAR IN REVIEW!

I did more cartooning and brought my comics to more events this year than all of the previous years of my entire life combined! That sounds absolutely wild to say, but it’s actually true! 2025 was my year of being young, dumb, and full of determination. So, here’s the rundown:

• The Sun & Moon Sisters - I finished this one up in February as my contribution to Two-Sided Tales: A Triangle Comics Creator Network Anthology, which compiles the work of a local cartooning group I’m a part of. You can read the entire anthology for free at this link! I made a separate print copy of just the Sun & Moon Sisters a couple of months later, and you can see a post detailing my process for the cover art here!

• Polo Shirt Angels From McMansion Heaven - This is maybe one of my favorite things I’ve made… ever? I have another post about my cover art process right here. (I should mention that if you click on the images in these posts, they have a more in-depth explanation of each step.)

• Inoscularum No. 1!!- I mean, I think it goes without saying, this was where the majority of my comics-making time went this year. 46 pages of thumbnails and scripting, 46 pages of pencils, and as of right now, about 12 pages of inks! I’ve really been cranking away at this at every opportunity I have, and I’m so excited to bring you guys the finished book soon. And I’ve got to give a big thanks to my fellow cartoonist Andrew Neal for the incredibly helpful feedback he’s given me while I’ve been working on this chapter. It’s great when people who are established in a craft share their wisdom with whippersnappers like myself. Andrew makes hilarious comics, and you can check ‘em out here!

2025 was also my first full year of tabling, and I think I did a decent job pacing my “time making comics” with my “time getting ready for events.” I had the good fortune to bring my comics to the Chapelboro Zine Fest in April, Free Comic Book Day at Atomic Empire in May, The Works on Paper Roundup (also in May), the Greensboro Zine Fest in July, Zine Machine in October, and the flART market in November. Phew! I’m hoping next year to branch out into an out-of-state show or two! I’ve got some applications in, so, we’ll see! Fingers crossed!

Other than that, on more of the Admin side of things, I started a Bluesky account in April of this year to share my comics. It’s honestly going better than any previous social media platform I’ve tried, so that’s nice! And, of course, I started this here newsletter! Now all that’s left to do is some maintenance on my website… (lightning flashes outside the window while sinister organ music plays)

A YEAR OF MOVIES!

As you may or may not know, I write movie reviews in a casual and just-for-fun capacity. Of all of my reviews for this year, this one was definitely my favorite one to write. It’s equal parts movie review and Tripadvisor post. Of all of the new to me movies I saw this year (as in, they could come out any year but I saw them for the first time), these were my 5 favorites, in no particular order, with links to my reviews of varying length and quality:

• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - Yeah, I actually hadn’t seen this until this year. I’d been specifically putting it off because I knew when I watched it, it would ruin my whole week, which it did, and I loved it.

• The Night of the Hunter - Some of the most incredible uses of light and shadow in any piece of art I’ve ever seen!

• When Harry Met Sally… - This was a year of firsts for a couple of Rob Reiner films for me, purely by coincidence. He made movies that feel like a warm, hearty soup and a big hug.

• 28 Years Later - I go into pretty much every new release feeling pretty skeptical, especially if it’s part of a series or franchise, but this really blew me away!

• The Decameron (miniseries) - Absolutely hilarious while still feeling sincere and heartfelt. I really enjoyed it!

SONG OF THE MONTH!

December’s song of the month is that version of Jingle bells played by someone who just discovered the “barking dog” preset on their Casio. Nothing makes me happier than this annoying-as-hell song— okaaaaaay, I’m joking. December’s real song of the month is Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton. I don’t know anybody who didn’t have an absolutely hellacious year in 2025. And while I don’t really believe that, in the words of this song, “everything’s gonna be alright,” I do know that at least something’s gonna be alright, and I’m hanging on tight to every precious something.

END OF DECEMBER NEWSLETTER

Alright everyone, thanks for reading! I hope you all have a nice and safe holiday season. If you get some time to go outside and look at the moon, it may feel like you’re looking at it by yourself, but odds are there’s someone else looking at it with you somewhere. The next full moon is January 3rd.