Happy March!
Hi, friends!
Happy March! I'm in denial that we're already into March, honestly lol
Spring is just around the corner, although it felt a lot like spring here in the city for much of February. We had a lot of 60ºF/15ºC days here and almost zero snow. It's very unnerving. Did you get any snow where you live if you're in a place that typically gets it?
February Recap
If you read my last Behind the Scenes post about the 14 day migraine, two subsequent ER trips, and lack of thyroid medication for over a month, you know that February was a trying month for me, for sure 😅 I'm on the mend now, and getting back into the muscle memory of working while also trying (and often failing lol) to be mindful not to retrigger any migraines and back pain.
Luckily, I've been able to mostly catch up to where I was thanks to some good ol' fashioned disability adaptation and prep work I did in January in case of any situations like this arising lol
I was also able to post my first blog post to the revamped website! It's called Ghosting and Returning to the Internet and Public Life as a Disabled Artist, and it's part one of two. The second part will be out sometime in the next couple weeks-- I'm still figuring out a posting schedule. That's also where the illustration for this month's newsletter is from!
Here are some of February's highs and lows for me:
✦ High: Participating in and completing my very first Hourly Comics Day! It was completely exhausting, but I also learned a lot from it and felt so pleased and proud to have a four page slice of life comic to look back on at the end of the day! I hope to do more of those in the future so I can look back at them in the future as little snippets of my life like a journal.
✦ Low: Definitely the 14-day migraine from hell and all that came with it lol
✦ High: Watching The Last of Us with my partner Corg. We watch it on Monday nights since the Sunday night release time is kinda late for me these days lol My favorite part is when we discuss it together after and share our thoughts, analysis, and comparisons with each other. It's so fun!
✦ Low: Having to chase down payment for a published piece of mine from a supposedly "progressive" online magazine. I had to dedicate a lot of hours of work for a comparatively very small amount of money, and it was frustrating to be treated as a nuisance simply asking for the terms of our contract to be honored and for some insight when their magazine literally couldn't exist without contributors' content.
✦ High: Attending Virtuous Con online! It was a really fun event, as always, and full of wonderful creators sharing about their personal and collective journeys in their various fields, nerding out together, and sharing insights, and I loved it. There was so much joy! Thank you to everyone who made Virtuous Con possible again this month. I truly appreciate you 💕
If you weren't able to attend last month, they usually do a second con in June, and their website hints at doing several events this year, so keep an eye out for tickets and sign up for their newsletter to make sure you don't miss it!
You can also check out the vendors from February's event, too. They have everything from comics to apparel to games to quilts!
Another lovely thing about this month was reading more comics! I really love using the Libby app to borrow them from the library, especially for manga which can really take all my money if I'm not careful 🥲 A favorite this month was a manga series called My Love Mix-Up! by Aruko and Wataru Hinekure.
Image credit to Viz Media.
The art is so lovely, and the story is very sweet! It's also refreshing in its approach to communication between characters-- plenty of tension and plot without the annoying refusal to communicate at every turn. I really enjoyed this one, and I'm looking forward to reading more.
March Plans
Since the demon spawn migraine kinda took over February, a lot of my goals for March are really just the same ones from February as I continue to heal lol
^The March illustration in Lianne Pflug's 2023 wall calendar
Here's a little of what I'm hoping to be up to this month:
✦ continuing to post regularly to my blog, hopefully getting into fun stuff like comic reviews
✦ slowly returning to being active on social media again
✦ working on a short, multi-page project for my portfolio or perhaps to offer in my shop in May's shop update
✦ reading more comics
✦ continuing practicing my new habits and schedule
✦ working here and there on my longer form graphic novel
✦ helping my partner as he goes through the first of a series of surgeries this spring to implant dental prosthetics and repair his jaw bone
✦ celebrating the spring equinox
I think this month, I also really want to focus on getting some art made to share on social media and for the shop update in May in particular. I'll need to do plenty of prep work in April like making prints, photographing them, setting them up in the shop, and so on, so I need to get a move on with that!
I feel odd trying to restart my social media accounts-- well, mostly instagram, without a lot of newer work to show. Instagram's algorithm demands so much from creators, and I just don't have enough new stuff to post regularly yet. And my old work isn't something I'd like to continue to showcase since it feels so different from my current goals.
It would help me tremendously to share the old stuff, though, while I continue to build up my stash of newer works. I'll try to keep in mind that my social media is for fun and reaching out to people, and my portfolio is for my latest work and professional opportunities.
I definitely want to spend less time and energy stressing over social media this time around.
I'm also looking forward to doing the comic reviews on my website! I think that'll help me to have content that's not just my art on social media, and I'm really excited to geek out over the comics I love. My hope is to one day be able to interview some creators about their processes, their experiences, and such 👀 We need more recognition and accolades for comic creators! 😄
And I think that's all for today!
Oh wait! I just remembered one more thing: I wanna recommend a couple of fun looking Kickstarter projects that people I like are working on! Hairology and Onti: A Sapphic + Martial Arts Webcomic are both comic projects you can check out, and I highly recommend you consider backing one or both of them if you can!
You have 8 days left to back Hairology and 13 days for Onti, and I would very selfishly like to see these backed so I can enjoy them 😁
Image credit to Ana Hinojosa, via Hairology's Kickstarter.
Okay, now that's all lol
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What are some of your plans this March? Are you looking forward to spring (or fall if you're in the Southern Hemisphere)? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading 💕
With love,
Jessi