Happy June + Happy Pride! 🏳️🌈🥰🏳️⚧️
Hello, hello, friends, and HAPPY PRIDE!! 🏳️🌈🥰🏳️⚧️
Whether you're queer, trans, cis, or het, I hope you have a wonderful month and get some time to enjoy some wonderful queer art and literature these next few weeks and beyond!
If you're eager to support some queer creators this month, I recommend checking out We Need Diverse Books' Addressing Book Challenges resource guide on the many ways you can get involved in protecting your community from racist and anti-queer book bans happening around the country.
If you'd like to financially support some queer comic creators this month, check out Bookshop's Queer Comics list (Bingo Love is an especially endearing one I recommend!) or head over to the Queer Comics Database to find a plethora of artists to follow. There are so many wonderful queer comic creators and comics out there!
And one more fun thing to share before the newsletter: Virtuous Con is back with their Summer Creators Workshop for 2023! I've really enjoyed Virtuous Con's events and definitely recommend checking this out if you're into comics and writing! I'm particularly excited for Vashti Harrison's workshop Techniques for Visual Storytelling.
If this is your first time reading the monthly newsletter, I try to include plenty of detail in here for your reading pleasure, including victories and failures alongside goals, upcoming plans, sneak peeks, and resources, to give you a well-rounded look at the work I do. That does make it longer than some newsletters, so I encourage you to read it in chunks or get cozy and settle in to read!
Now let's dive into the monthly newsletter!
May Recap
I realized after the first week of May that I was already a little behind schedule for my plans, and I realized that if I continued as I was, making those shorter comics I'd set a goal for last month wasn't gonna happen. So in order to free up some solid chunks of time this summer to work on them, I decided to pivot from my normal my schedule into a totally different one: batch drafting all of June, July, and August's posts for the website lol
This means that, in the last three and a half weeks, I've drafted 12 posts for the website, and I plan to finish up 2-3 more plus a few Patreon posts (like the monthly Q+A and comic posts) very soon so I can get started on those other comic plans. This means I have lots of previews I can share with you here!
But first, let's do a recap of the month 😄 Last month, I
✦ published Behind the Design: MerMay 2023, where I talked a bit about the creative process that went into my watercolor MerMay
✦ researched a ton of new comic releases for this summer and decided to break down the quarterly release list into a monthly one because there are just too many great looking comics out there to narrow it down to four posts a year
✦ redesigned the format for these posts, which I'm excited about! I decided to go with featuring a list of those that have caught my eye for one reason or another, and further spotlighting 10 of those to share the details about them and their creators
My hope for this series (and others!) is to encourage more people to check out the huge variety of comics being made by incredible artists, writers, and creative teams as a whole. There's literally a comic for everyone, regardless of what you're into, and I love to share my enthusiasm for this accessible medium with people in the hopes that it'll rub off on you and encourage you to give some a try!
✦ planned all our meals for June through August (I'm serious about concentrating on these comics! lol)
✦ published the first issue of the Artists' Field Guide: 10 Labor Resources for Artists in honor of May Day
✦ gave my graphic design skills (or lack thereof lol) a good polish to create a template for the graphics of each post, including some vertical, Pinterest-friendly images for each post for the blog. I'm particularly proud of myself for this because graphic design can make me cry quicker than almost anything else in running a website. 😂 I'm also relieved to have some decent looking templates I can use moving forward so I can make these posts quicker and focus more time on making art!
✦ attended some great OCLS writing workshops that I definitely recommend you check out if you're interested in the craft of writing or are working toward publishing a book. They have a lot of great workshops coming up this month for traditional publishing, and you don't need to be a Florida resident to attend!
✦ I was voted in as a member of Callen-Lorde's Community Advisory Board as part of their Patient Advocacy program! So excited about this one! I attended three meetings this month to advocate on behalf of my fellow disabled and trans patients and to work with the wonderful and dedicated staff of Callen-Lorde to improve the services provided there for all patients of this community-minded health clinic
✦ published More Comics Please! Issue #3, reviewing three new comics from various sources! As usual, I've featured one physical copy that I have, a digital comic, and a borrowed comic from the library via Libby
✦ tried and failed to correct a recurring issue with my website caused by one of the plug-ins; I'm gonna have to add fixing that to my to-do list because while it's not critical for the website to run, it does make life easier for me, so I'd like to get it back
✦ I know I mentioned this already, but I want to talk about it again because it's SO. MUCH. WORK! It feels strange to boil down nearly a full month's work into a single sentence in this newsletter since I really did spend this entire month diligently drafting posts for the blog. That means hours and hours of researching, reading, reviewing, rough drafts, proofreading, editing, proofreading and editing again, interviewing, emailing, follow up emailing, researching and brainstorming multiple designs, typing up alt text, and creating multiple graphics for each and every blog post.
I think it's easy for us (myself included!) to forget that all the free "content" we enjoy online is the fruit of someone's dedication and labor, and I want to take a moment to acknowledge that while I enjoy bringing all of this together for you lovely people, it's also a LOT of work!
I'm really proud of the quality I put into my craft and the things I share, and I love connecting with people through it. It would mean the world to me if you would share any of the links, newsletters, or art I make that bring you joy with someone you think would also find joy in it 🥰
✦ I also prioritized resting better this month! That's not to say there were no late nights or a bit of work on the weekends from time to time, but overall, I did a much better job honoring planned breaks and rest times, as well as just taking time to rest spontaneously as needed 😄 I'm hoping to continue to do that this summer!
June Plans
Now for the June plans and previews! I am SO excited about the things I have to share with y'all in the upcoming months!
✦ my biggest priority for these next few months is to make some short comics to include in my portfolio; the first one is one I've had in mind for ages now-- a short horror comic featuring a bit of Welsh mythology mixed with modern day trans identity. I've had this WIP in my files for over a year now, and it's time to get it completed!
I'm still new to talking about my WIPs publicly, so I'm a little nervous to share this lol But I hope it's a fun peek for you! 😃 I'm thinking of possibly offering it up in my shop as a full PDF in the fall and maybe making it available to my Patrons as part of their Behind the Scenes rewards.
✦ I'll of course be working on the Patreon rewards as usual! Thinking about starting June with the comics for June through August.
✦ updating my portfolio to include a few other short comics I've made, then checking out and applying to be part of Cartoonist Cooperative
✦ publish the first of my artist interview series with Kameron White on June 20th!
I interviewed some lovely artists, including Kameron, for the website in May, and it was such a delight to get to know these wonderful people a bit more and to talk with them about their work in comics. I'm seriously so excited to share these interviews with you all!
✦ I also have a standalone illustration that I've been working on and off for a few weeks that I hope to finish by the end of June, too. This is actually a digital redrawing of a practice watercolor piece I made a few years ago that I liked and wanted to turn it into a full piece to offer in the shop in the fall.
I'm really struggling on what colors to use, though! Too many nice options lol I'm also considering removing the window and curtain entirely to just have a wall of plants behind them. What do you think? Window or no window? Let me know!
✦ stay on top of my social media schedule and maybe try to introduce Pinterest into the mix
✦ spend some time with friends (outdoors and masked)
✦ publish more comic book reviews, of course! Issue #4 of More Comics Please! will be out June 27th. While I tend to pick up queer and trans books regularly, I made sure that all three comics this month involved queer rep for Pride. These are also three of my favorite comics, too, so I hope you'll keep an eye out for it!
✦ I think I also want to send out the newsletters twice a month instead of just one mega one. I always think I won't have much to talk about in each month's newsletter, but when I reflect back on each month, there's usually a ton! So I think it would be great to say hi to y'all twice a month and share the latest news and goodies with you in shorter segments lol
✦ do more non-work hobbies! My hand sewing projects and my quilt coat have been lying neglected and staring at me balefully for months now, so I need to try to get back into it lol Especially that quilt coat, winter always comes faster than I think!
And I think that's a good amount to focus on for June's plans lol Actively trying not to assign myself too much so I can focus on these short comics!!
That's it for this month's newsletter! I hope you'll keep an eye out for those wonderful blog posts coming out soon! I share them on social media, and I'll also try to remember to email y'all mid-month or so with a few links 😄
If you came across and enjoyed this newsletter on the internet and would like to receive it in your inbox, you can follow me on Patreon for free or as a Patron or you can sign up for this free newsletter, Into the Bramble!
What are some of your plans this June and Pride Month? Is it looking busy for you, or will this be a laid back kind of month? Let me know with a reply! Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a safe and wonderful Pride! 💕
With love,
Jessi
they/them