Issue 36: Summer Fun OUT of the Sun! 😎✨
Summer Camp plans, new art, and a throwback!
Hello hello, friends and good folk!
It’s officially summer here by me, and whew, I am feeling the heat! Summer is always difficult for me (heat and humidity are not a great combo for my asthma and overall functioning), but this year, I’m very excited to say that I’ve got things to look forward to this season! 😃
My friends and I on the Co-op’s Events Committee have put together a nine-week program chock full of events for Co-op members and volunteers, and I’m over the moon as we kick things off today!
I also recently got some super exciting news that I can’t share here yet, but I promise I won’t forget to share it once everything is ready. So keep an eye out for that hopefully coming soon!
There’s a lot happening this month, so let’s dive right in!
THROWBACK
With A/C weather here to stay for a while, it’s time for a throwback to this comic of my partner and me! Poor guy, having an ice bear for a partner 😂
Can you tell this piece was inspired by Spider-verse? lol
IN THE STUDIO
There are some pieces I really love to just linger in for a while, coming back to time and time again to add more details here and there, then take a step back to think about it before returning to savor it some more, and this is one of those pieces.
Naming pieces isn’t my forte, so for now I just think of this as “the dragonfly fairy” work in progress of a fairy with Crouzon Syndrome. I’ve been working on this in between other things for a while, and it’s brought me a lot of joy 💖
I love working on all the little details in here, and I’ve finally entered the coloring stage, which makes me very happy! Here’s a look at the very much still-in-progress flat colors stage:
I’m practicing alluding to shapes with color rather than just line art (at least in the background for now lol), and I gotta say, it’s a helluva lot easier than all those teeny tiny ferns I was attempting in the original line art 😂
I haven’t decided yet if I want to just stick with flats or if I’d like to render it a bit more with shadows. I think both would look really nice, so I’ll have to give it some thought and play around with it.
Who knows when this piece will be finished, but I can’t wait to share it here when it is!
JULY EVENTS + ONGOINGS
I’ve been waxing on about it nonstop for the last several weeks, and now Summer Camp is finally here!! We’re so excited to be doing this nine-week program for the Co-op, and I’m looking forward to using this time as an intensive of sorts for working on my comic Burden, with the goal of hopefully finishing it in time for a couple of fun fall deadlines coming up 👀
Take a look at our packed events calendar for July and August:
It genuinely brings me so much joy to help coordinate events like these for our membership— it means more than I can say to have access to a space where community is so prioritized and where we have the opportunity to share our collective skills and knowledge and help each other grow and learn.
We on the committee also made a Summer Camp Orientation video to help folks know how to join in on the fun, and I’m excited to say I can share that with you!
We have captions on the video, and we also have a transcript if you need it 💖
I’m not only helping with events behind the scenes, but I’m also running a few of them! I’ll be presenting an orientation on July 3 with my friend Adrian Alvarez to help folks both new and old in understanding the Co-op a bit and finding ways to get more involved.
My friend Leon Crozier (fellow Critique Group facilitator) and I will also be hosting an event I’m very excited for called Time to Make Your Comic! We’ll be meeting every Monday through July and August to work together on our comics for an hour, then we’ll share our progress for another 30 minutes and cheer each other on. It’s gonna be so fun!
Leon and I are also hosting a Critique Group Info Session on July 12 with our lovely fellow facilitators Gleam and Louisa Danquah in the UK where we’ll talk about what makes our critique groups different, how we critique, and how to join one (or more) of our groups.
So if you’re a member, be sure to check out the Members Hub for your local dates and times! Many of the events will also be recorded and archived in the private Co-op library if you can’t make it live 💖 And if you’re not a member and would like to attend these, apply to join the Co-op today!
IN THE SHOP
With my shop still closed for the moment and with NIF officially over, my comics are currently available only on itch. So if you’ve been wanting to grab a digital copy for yourself, head on over there!
COMMUNITY FEATURE
Remember the delightful Jasmine Walls from our NIF event Beginning to End: A Creative Process Conversation? Well, she and Rowan MacColl have paired up to bring you an illustrated, queer, dark fantasy romance adventure novel, and it’s running as a Kickstarter right now!
The Traitor & the Wretch is already almost 70% funded, which I mention because I have a selfish reason for sharing this with you now, which is that I very dearly would like to get this book in my hands when it comes out this fall and hope you’ll consider backing it with me so we can both read this awesome book 😁 (Omg, a thought— a read-along on Zoom or Discord?? 👀 Reply to this email if you’d be interested!)
The campaign closes on July 10 at 3 PM ET, so be sure to check it out soon!
RECENT READS + FAVORITES
I finally got to check out some comics I’ve wanted to read for a while now, and I wasn’t disappointed! Check out the Recent Reads 2025 post for links to each of these wonderful comics 🌟
And here are some of my favorite things from the past few weeks:
Drinking: Cold peach white tea
Eating: Burnt ends, ripe mangoes, and fresh corn on the cob!
Watching: PBS’s Walking with Dinosaurs (2025)
Listening: Pop Muzik (Art Fight chose this as this year’s theme song, and it’s so catchy!)
Reading: These gorgeous comics by Sonaksha
Experiencing: Hanging out in-person with my friends 💖
Doing: Putting together the Summer Camp Orientation video with my EC friends 💖
How about you? What have been some of your favorite things lately?
Hope this week is kind to you 💖 Thanks for reading!
