Hello and happy new year! 2025 sure was something, and by “something” I mean a series of escalating horrors. I had a rough year, but I did some art, met some people, made some plans!

The piece I’m most pleased with is my 40 page inkwash comic You’re So Cool. I wrote about its development and posted a bunch of process images and rejected pages in my December blog post.

I’m really glad that you’ve all chosen to follow me here, I know instagram is a nice central way to keep up with people’s work - or, it was. Not so much these days. But still, I’m happy you’re here.

I’ve been cutting back digitally over the past few years, changing how I exist online. Some of it was easy to delete/avoid; I never used Amazon, only had Facebook for messenger, and US Netflix didn’t have anything I wanted to watch. Getting rid of my eleven year old Spotify account was harder, but I bought CDs and maintained MP3 libraries before it existed and I will do it again. All that remains is my Tumblr, my website, and now this newsletter.

I made my website in 2024 as an archive, a place to see my work for free, no account needed, no rules for what I could post, and with the idea that it should grow. I know the rule for portfolio websites is to have ten pieces of curated work and some info on a single page for the convenience of potential employers, but I’m not interested in being convenient. Click on things, take your time. I want to make and share and sell my own work, on my own terms.

My goal is to be a full time artist again. I’ve been using a tech writing job for insurance to get six surgeries over the past three years, now that’s done and it’s time to move on. When I was in school, I dreamed of working long-term in a studio as a storyboard artist or 2D animator, but the industry isn’t like that any more and I’m happier making my own work anyway. I love comics because I can tell an entire story all by myself.

What I’ll probably do with this newsletter is send out an end-of-month recap, with pictures and links and sneak previews, artist recommendations and other interesting things. I think you can leave comments on the Buttondown archive page, and you can always email me. I might do polls on what to work on next, or what tutorials people would be interested in. I’ll send an extra update when I post a new comic on my website, you’ll have the link before it goes on the main page and can read it first.

If you’re in New York, I’m in the yearly Postcards from the Edge charity exhibition/auction for VisualAIDS. The exhibition opens on January 23rd at 6pm, you should come!