Happy May + Shop Update!
Hi, friends! Happy May and May Day to you! I hope you're having a wonderful start to the month and that you can enjoy the season where you are 🥰
Shop Update
First things first-- the shop is open for business! 😃 Patrons should have received your Patron-exclusive discount already, so keep an eye out for that and let me know if any issues arise!
This update is the last chance you'll have to get any of my classic pieces, so if there's anything you've had your eye on, be sure to grab it while it's there.
I'll send out a reminder email later in the month, but once an item is gone, it's gone!
April Recap
Here are a few of the things I worked on this last month:
✦ updated the website and prepared inventory for the shop update today
✦ updated a few images for product listings like the one for the tattoo ticket (I love the way these colors came out!)
✦ finished up and published all my Patreon posts for the month, including the April comic for Dragons and Unicorns that I'm proud of 😁
✦ posted several blog posts: Behind the Design: Gardening, 2023 Spring Comic Books Wishlist, More Comics Please! Issue # 2, and Spring Shop Update 2023 which I think will interest y'all and encourage you to check out
✦ drafted a whole bunch of blog posts for May like this one coming out in a couple of weeks showing some watercolor and ink paintings I did for Mermay a while back but never got around to sharing, as well as one for May the Fourth
✦ figured out a nice new color palette and completed May's comic that I'm very excited to share with Patrons in a few weeks!
✦ officially returned to posting online for work! That's a big one, and it's been exhausting but also very nice to reconnect with people 🥰
✦ created an updated Book Art Commission Intake Form since I'm now officially open for commissions once again; if you're interested, fill out the form, and I'll get back to you!
✦ speaking of forms, I also created a form for starting another blog series called Small + Indie Spotlight where I'm hoping to do some short interviews of fellow comic creators for later this year 👀 Still deciding how to approach people about it lol
✦ watched a bunch of Star Wars stuff with Corg-- he hasn't seen a lot of the movies and shows, so it's been fun to watch them with him 😄
✦ I completely! failed! at doing my Camp NaNoWriMo work on my graphic novel 😂 My landlords were extremely disruptive the one week I had set aside to work on it, so I'm bummed, but I'm planning to give it another shot this month 😄
✦ finished up a portfolio piece I've been wrestling with the colors of for weeks now-- very pleased with that!
✦ and finally... Corg* and I went on our big trip to Maryland to check out a few cities to move to! It was a wonderful trip, and we both feel very comfortable with the idea of moving there in the next couple of years (hopefully sooner lol)
*Corg is my partner's internet pseudonym lol
We ate a lot of good food and checked out some fun places like Hobby Works and Shafa Blends in Rockville, Beyond Comics and Seneca Creek State Park in Gaithersburg, and Butler's Orchard and Mission BBQ (surprisingly good for a chain!) in Germantown.
It was so nice to be around so many trees and plants again 🥲 I also appreciated getting a break from my landlords for four days lol
I completely spaced on getting a photo of the Gaithersburg library, which was also just lovely and surrounded by trees. I really appreciated all the librarians' help at each of these locations! They had some great insights and resources for us to check out for our eventual move there.
May Plans
After all of April's goings on, I'm glad to say that May should be slowing down a bit for me lol Got a lot of the repeat images and templates for blog posts done the last couple months, and without any major events going on, I'm hoping to get a few works in progress finished, as well as some short comics for my portfolio.
Those short comics seem to keep getting pushed back for all the other admin and blog work, so I'm really chomping at the bit to get a few done!
✦ publish all those fun blog posts for May, like this Behind the Design one for my May the Fourth Star Wars fan comic of the Mandalorian
✦ draft all of June's blog posts in the first week of May so they're ready to go
✦ draft all of June's social media posts and schedule them to go out so I can focus on other things during the rest of May
✦ set up a tracking document for social media insights and look into new platforms to use since engagement has been a Struggle™ for many artists, myself included (sigh, such a "necessary" evil for work)
✦ close up the shop on the 27th and clear out any remaining inventory to make room for new works in the fall
✦ draft and schedule Patreon posts and make June's comic for Dragon and Unicorn Patrons; thinking of a Pride theme, of course
✦ hopefully spend at least a week working on my graphic novel
✦ work on some short comics and a couple of standalone illustrations for my portfolio
✦ reach out to some indie comics creators to ask for a mini interview to share on my website in summer (eep!)
I'm sure there other things on my to do list for May, but I think this is a good start for the time being lol I think the comics will take up the most time, and I really want to prioritize them this month.
That's it for this month's newsletter! Don't forget to head over to the shop!
If you enjoyed this newsletter 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 May? Are you also planning to slow things down a bit, or are you just ramping up? Let me know! Thanks for reading 💕
With love,
Jessi
