Issue 29: Spring Revival
New art, a bunch of comics read, a survey with a gift, and critique groups!
Hello hello, friends and good folk!
A very belated happy New Year to you all!
I had fully intended to resume the newsletter in January, but once the new year arrived, I had a strong urge to change my approach to work and decided to let my ideas for the newsletter percolate in the background as I worked on a bunch of Co-op plans for this year.
My motto this year is “Go slow to go fast,” and I think it’s working out quite well based on what I’ve been able to get done so far! I’m very pleased to say I was able to get pretty much all of my plans launched, as well as onboarding several new members to both the Newsletter Committee and Events Committee.
We’re planning a very exciting year, including an online Summer Camp for Co-op members this July and August! I’ll be sharing more details about that later this year, but our lineup of workshops and events is already looking so fun!!
I also wanted to take some time to update the graphics for this newsletter and provide a bit more solid (and colorful!) graphics. I really like the colors of them now!
2025 SURVEY!
It’s that time of year again— survey time! If you have a few minutes to spare and would like to anonymously share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear from you in my 2025 Survey!
I’m making lots of plans for this year and next, and your feedback will help inform some of what I offer here in the newsletter and in the shop. And to thank you for your time, I’m giving a free PDF of my mini comic the (tiny) friend to anyone who completes the survey before it closes on April 30 💖
IN THE STUDIO
I’m extremely glad to report that I’ve finally finished two pieces I started last year, the first of which is my gay Star Trek fan art that I turned into a mock book cover:
I’ve been intimidated by coloring my work for a long time, so this piece languished for about a year before I finally worked up the nerve to just try it lol 🫣 I’ve definitely got plenty of room for growth, but I’m really glad to finally have this finished!
Likewise with this second piece is this griffin piece which is now titled Rest Break. I struggled for a few days on how to color this— originally, I’d envisioned it as a piece done all in various shades of teal, but it wasn’t doing what I wanted it to, so I switched to a more fantastical color palette, and I’m so glad I did!
It’s nice to share this with spring just around the corner, too!
I have a couple of other pieces I’m working on right now, too, but I’ll save those for another day, especially since my main focus right now is working on my mini disabled horror fantasy comic Burden.
I’ve been sharing my thumbs and script with a few critique groups I’m part of and love (including with the Cartoonist Cooperative!), and it’s been incredibly helpful to get so much feedback on my work in the initial design stages! I was feeling a bit timid about it since it had been so long since I’d had my work critiqued and since I’d never shared a comic for critique with anyone before, but it was such a positive experience, I needn’t have worried!
I’m grateful to have so many thoughtful and helpful friends around me who can offer great insights on how I can improve my work— as well as who very kindly provide encouragement and support 🥹💖
It makes me all the more excited to share it here with y’all once it’s done!
IN THE SHOP
Well, unfortunately, billionaires are still billionaire-ing, so this sticker remains as relevant as ever 🫠
If you’d like your own, it’s in the shop!
COMMUNITY FEATURE
Today’s community feature is the web animated series Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to Be a Magical Girl directed by Kiana Khansmith!
Here’s the description:
“A story about a girl named Aika who, you guessed it, doesn’t want to be a magical girl! She’s fallen out of love with her work over time but gets the job done regardless. Will she be able to reignite her passion with the help of her magical sidekick, Hoshi and her new best friend Zira? Or will those pesky evildoers, Eclipse and Lady DeVoid continue to keep her down? Who knows!!!”
This is seriously such a cute show! I love the characters and the whole idea behind the series, and I’m hoping it gets picked up to make a whole series. Everything about it is so funny and charming, from the animation to the character personalities and the voice acting!
If you check it out, love it, and want to see it turn into a series, you can support the show by sharing it with your friends and talking it up online— that kind of support can work wonders in these stages!
CARTOONIST COOPERATIVE
I hinted at this a moment ago, and I am incredibly excited to share that we have three Co-op Comics Critique Groups that started up this year!!
I initially drew up plans for just a single critique group a while back, planning to start recruiting folks in December for it to start this month, when lo and behold, a whole bunch of people started talking in November about how they wanted to start a group, too!
Needless to say, I dropped everything (I’ve learned it’s best to strike while the iron is hot 😂), and we worked out the final details together surprisingly quickly. Within just a few days, we had submission forms ready, a loose schedule planned, and people ready to facilitate!
So if you’ve been thinking of joining the Co-op, this is a great time! We’ve got three individual critique groups for three different time zones (UK Time, Eastern, and Central), each with their own facilitator with our first group starting. I facilitate Group B which meets once a month, and I also attend the other groups, too.
I’m so grateful to be surrounded by such keen, proactive people in the Co-op who are all dedicated to helping each other out and working in community together on such cool projects like this 🥹💖
RECENT READS + FAVORITES
I started this year off strong with some renewed reading habits— I read 25 comics in January and February alone! I’m also proud to say I finally finished reading the entire InuYasha series! I’ve been a fan of Rumiko Takahashi’s work since I was a kid, but I never got around to actually finishing her manga series til recently. It feels so nice to finally know what happens!
As I type this, I’m also finishing up the second and final round of submissions for the Nib + Ink Fest coming up fast in May. I’m so excited to read more amazing comics (and also secretly relieved that we didn’t get 130 more 😅 I think I would have died lol)!
And here are some of my favorite things from the past few weeks (well, months lol):
Drinking: Jasmine tea
Watching (Movies + Documentaries): Longlegs (2024), All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), Dynasties (BBC Earth)
Watching (Shows): Season four of Abbott Elementary, Season two of Arcane, Dracula (2020)
Using: Milanote (seriously, this thing has changed my life lol)
Doing: Hand quilting in the mornings before work
How about you? What have been some of your favorite things lately?
Hope this week is kind to you 💖 Thanks for reading!
