Here’s what I’ve made in the last 2 months. Before that a quick preview of news for the next 2 months: I’m doing a residency at the SVA Risolab this summer… which means I’m taking a break from tabling for a bit which means I’ll open my online store again soon, stay tuned. Also have always been meaning to write a little more in these newsletters and so finally wrote up some thoughts about getting asked “are you making any new comics” at the end.
art ✎
11 / 25-04 / uncertain
ruin, upheaval, catastrophe, revelation, possibility. April's print, in 4 colors (light lime, fluorescent orange, cornflower, bright gold)
12 / 25-05 / ladder
Time unfurls. May’s print, in 3 colors (light lime, bright red, cornflower)
You can learn more about my monthly riso print club + sign up for it here.
Got the chance to design the cover for Friends at the Table’s new video game podcast, Side Story! Was a really fun project. Riso printed in sunflower, bright red, and blue.
other news etc ✷
As mentioned—I’m one of the summer artists in residence at the SVA Risolab! For a brief moment on this earth I will have access to two-drum riso machines that perhaps more importantly… can print from a computer and without weird ink coverage issues… wow. May send another short update in a month on how that’s going.
This also means I’m taking a break from tabling in June + July, so I’ll be opening my online store again for a bit. Unfortunately I did not get that ready in time for this… but hopefully within the next two weeks or so, I’ll send another email.
My next events so far will be:
Flame con (NY) - Aug 16-17
Small Press Expo (MD) - Sep 13-14
When I table I tend to get asked if I’m working on any more comics, and my answer is usually some variation on “not at the moment but I do want to make more eventually.” I’m touched that people do want to read my comics, especially as someone who kind of accidentally got into making them.
A major part is that drawing has become sort of difficult for me over the past couple years. I already work pretty slowly and have issues with focus and/or am not as disciplined as I could be, and adding many non-art-related reasons it really is a struggle at times.
The other part is largely pragmatic. I’ve joked that I sell prints to fund my zines, but to be blunt, the time spent drawing and material costs for a print are a fraction of those for even a short comic. Of course, I didn’t start making riso prints as a get rich quick scheme (and if I did it’s been failing)—I’ve genuinely enjoyed getting into risograph, and letting myself do some experimenting with my monthly print series is probably one of the few times art has felt less tedious for me. But I can’t be drawing 24/7, and so I’m going to be picking the projects I focusing on.
Anyway maybe the real problem here is that I don’t love comics enough. (jk I know the actual problems are many deep rooted structural issues…) I do have some ideas I keep kicking around and some plans that may or may not end up in anything, and I am being genuine when I say I do want to make more. It may just take a while…
As always, thanks to everyone for being here,
— a liang chan / formyths
read: Always Coming Home, Ursula K. Le Guin / Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin / Iron Council, China Miéville
watch: Việt and Nam, Trương Minh Quý / Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, Chor Yuen
listen: 别境 The Realm of Otherness, 林強 Lim Giong