June was not a particularly good month, but it’s over and there’s summer fruit. Thank you to everyone who stopped by at 3 Rivers Comic Con or Princeton Zine Fair.

I’ve been working slowly on my current 12-page short. Despite intending to do an ink and watercolour look, I just didn’t like the end result and switched to pencil and watercolour after doing the cover.

The pencils look livelier and warmer, they have the texture I want. I’ve done so much ink and watercolour over the years and liked the look, it’s been my main medium almost since I started drawing in 2003. I know that combination works for me, I just can’t seem to nail it down for comics.

I’ve never used an underpainting with ink lines before - the inks always went on first colour on top. I’m not sure how much I like the process and the finish.

I wanted to try this to see if I got looser with the inks the way I did with the pencils, but it doesn’t work. I’m a lines artist.

The solution to this is probably to make another short comic in a slightly different style. Maybe go more Quentin Blake.

This is the first summer since 2022 that I’m not spending recovering - I spent three years having major surgery every six months. The closest I’ve ever come to Pride-related artwork was a short and somewhat unpleasant zine I did last year called Life’s Two Faces, which was sort of about that process. I took my current job to pay for it, and now that it’s over it’s a lot harder to take. I’m trying to move on. Unfortunately, the market is bad and building freelance takes time and luck.

A friend (who is quoted in that zine) recently told me a story about artists in NYC in the 80s who’d work three days a month at the flower market and the amount they earned would cover their rent and bills for the whole month. Can you imagine how much else you could do?

Making small changes because you’re blocked from making larger ones feels like continual acts of desperation. I got an old clock radio to use as an alarm clock and now I charge my phone in another room and try to look at it less. I took up running again, which I hate but is free and I will do it consistently. I’m ignoring burnout as much as I can because if I stop trying, my life will remain on the same downward slide forever. The only thing that feels worse is not making these changes.

Beast of the Month

Sketchcards

Website Updates

I’ve been working on my online store, which is finally done. In addition to the shirts, I’ve listed all my books and stickers and prints. Original art will be next.

Upcoming Shows

Flamecon - August 15th and 16th - Manhattan, NY

Recommendations

Rafer Roberts - I ran into Rafer at 3 Rivers Comic Con this month. I think last time we saw each other in person, I was a girl. Rafer’s done a lot of comics, including writing for other peoples’ IPs (like Rick and Morty) and writing a short called The Immortal Time Traveler that I drew in 2018. As an enjoyer of the more unusual and strong individual voices, I really like his Nightmare the Rat series, and what I’ve read of Plastic Farm so far. He’s got that olschool gonzo feel without it tipping over into shocking/weird/etc for the sake of it. There’s style and substance.

Station Model Violence - an Australian post-punk band I’ve been into recently.