15 min of art a day keeps the slop away
Welcome to the newsletter, wonderful people I met at the Two Marys’ Makers Market last weekend! Here’s a few new things going on.
Eldritch-may and new pins
Sadly I did not make any additional prehistoric mermaids for MerMay, but in an attempt to make a mermaid self-portrait, I created an eldritch-may self-portrait 😅 I envisioned making a mermaid version of myself where the baseball cap was the “true” head, but I didn’t really have a vision for the rest of the body, so this is the result. Maybe I’ll color this, I’m not sure, but imo it goes hard.
Having a button maker is a dangerous thing. It’s easy to make buttons that say whatever you want, and it’s cathartic to press down on the lever and crush the pin into existence.
I decided to lean into my frustration with the genAI hype cycle and make some button pins. LLMs can be useful for code generation (if you know what you’re doing), but I loathe how much of the economy is propped up on them, how they’re built on stolen art, and how they extend colonialism into a new era (to put it mildly).
To celebrate the human creation process, all of the text on these button pins is handwritten by me, where each pin’s text is written individually (i.e. nothing is photocopied or printed out). Therefore all pins are a little different, and some might have slightly wonky placement of text. If you like these, you can order here! More colors than hot pink are on the way. Contact me if you’re interested in colors besides hot pink or orange.
Art show: BUY GAY ART @ Sour Cherry Comics
I’ve swapped out my art at Sour Cherry Comics (shout out to whoever bought the original “Bunforce Tower” a couple weeks ago!) and have new stuff debuting at the reception for BUY GAY ART on June 27, 6-9pm at the shop (3187 16th St. in San Francisco). I have three pieces, two of which are collages and one is an oldie I unearthed while going through my framed art bin.
This will probably be my last event until August or September, depending on my acceptance in a couple of zine fests. Tbh I am feeling quite tired of running around and making promotional material, and I’d like more time to create new things.
Latest inspo
Icymi, the comic great Marjane Satrapi died a couple weeks ago. Her seminal work Persepolis was what showed me that comics can be more than escapist cartoons, and needless to say her work has inspired countless artists around the world.
The viral poem “Please Use AI” is a wonderful ironic take on this genAI moment in which we find ourselves. This is your sign to call your friend to ask for a recipe.
Speaking of Sour Cherry, they have a summer reading challenge where if you read one of the books linked in the challenge announcement and submit a book report, then in return you can get credit towards ANY book, graphic novel, manga or $15 worth of comics/toys. (Millennials, there are no pizza prizes but it’s still worth it!) Slightly more info: “Book reports must be at minimum 150 words, not written by AI (you will get to explain the book & your findings when you come in to get your reward), and permission granted for us to use in the zine if we like it!” I’m working on a short report of The Viral Underclass by Steven W. Thrasher, which I finished last weekend.
