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July 1, 2025

Issue 36: Summer Fun OUT of the Sun! 😎✨

Summer Camp plans, new art, and a throwback!

Jessi Eoin's logo repeated in rainbow colors showing a speech bubble with a pen, a paintbrush, and cane in it next to the words, "Jessi Eoin. Comics. Illustration." in a handwritten font.

The Cartoonist Co-op's mascots Inkling (an inkwell) and Nibford (a dip pen) roasting marshmallows over a campfire at night in the woods. Fireflies and stars dot the scene.

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 😂

Brightly colored one page comic of Jessi and their partner in the same room, experiencing the same sixty-eight degree fahrenheit temperature. Jessi, a fat white person with their hair up in a clip, is on the lift, illustrated in tones of hot pink and neon yellow, wearing short sleeves and a skirt, sweating profusely. They fan themself with one hand, looking distressed as they say, "I'm fucking melting." Their partner, a tall thin Asian man with short hair that spikes up in the front a bit, is on the right, illustrated in tones of blue and cyan as he shivers violently despite being clothed head to toe in warm clothes. He stammers, "S-s-s-so c-c-cold." Behind them, a series of window panels indicates each of the four seasons, showing this happens every season. In the foreground, a fan pushes cool air toward Jessi and a portable heater pushes heated air toward their partner. At the top of the page is a thermometer heated to sixty-eight degrees.

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.

An illustration in progress at the line art stage with pink, teal, and purple lines. The piece is of a fat, disabled, Black dragonfly fairy with Crouzon Syndrome; her hair is braided back, and she looks back over her shoulder directly at the viewer with big beautiful eyes. She wades in a pool of water filled with water lily pads and framed by a variety of luscious plants. A dragonfly perches nearby on a fantastically large leaf of a plant.

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:

An illustration in progress at the flat color stage. The piece is of a fat, disabled, dark-skinned Black dragonfly fairy with Crouzon Syndrome; her purple gradient hair is braided back, and she looks back over her shoulder directly at the viewer with big beautiful eyes. Her wings are iridescent. She wades in a pool of water filled with water lily pads and framed by a variety of luscious plants in various shades of green. A dragonfly perches nearby on a fantastically large leaf of a plant, and tadpoles swim near the fairy in the foreground. The colors aren't complete, and most of the line art remains in the original shades of pink and teal.

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:

A colorful graphic announcing the Cartoonist Cooperative's first Summer Camp 2025 Calendar with the Co-op's mascots Inkling (an inkwell) and Nibford (a dip pen) roasting marshmallows over a campfire at night in the woods. Fireflies and stars dot the scene, and a rabbit and squirrel look on in curiosity. Two giant clipboards announce the events slated for each month, and a tall sign post in the middle indicates that the following events are ongoing throughout each month: Critique Group A, Art Huddle, Critique Group B, AccountaBuddy DrawJam, Monthly Pro Mixer, and Critique Group C. The events scheduled for July are the following: Mini Co-op Orientation, Art Fight Meetup all throughout July, Toning Your Art to Match the Tone of Your Story, Time to Make Your Comic! every Monday through the end of August, Poetry Comics Workshops One and Two, Critique Group Info Session, and Understanding Your Craft with Comics Devices. And the events scheduled for August are the following: Coloring Lecture, Coloring Workshop, Alt Text for Comics, NIF 2026 Info Session, Coloring Portfolio Review, a mystery event with a pending title, and the Closing Ceremony and Awards.

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 💖

A graphic designed by E.M. Fields announcing the Co-op Summer Camp event titled Mini Co-op Orientation with Adrian Alvarez, whose social media handle is @mawfko, and Jessi Eoin, whose social media handle is @jbeoin. The event is being held on July 3 at 11 AM Pacific Time / 2 PM Eastern Time on Zoom. The event description reads, "Wondering how to get more involved in the Co-op? Curious about committee work? Confused by the intranet? Come join Adrian and Jessi for a mini Co-op orientation with a Q+A!" An illustration to the side shows Co-op Mascots Inkling (anthropomorphic inkwell) and Nibford (anthropomorphic dip pen) are roasting a marshmallow over a campfire at night in a forest scene. Nibford is ready to squish the marshmallow between graham crackers and chocolate to make a s'more.

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.

A graphic designed by E.M. Fields announcing the Co-op Summer Camp event titled Time to Make Your Comic with Leon Crozier, whose social media handle is @earacorn and Jessi Eoin, whose social media handle is @jbeoin. The event is being held on  at 3 PM Pacific Time / 6 PM Eastern Time on Zoom. The event description reads, "Join Leon Crozier (he/it) and Jessi Eoin (they/them) for a weekly comics-making session where we'll work on our comics together for an hour, then share our progress at the end. You'll also have access to a group progress tracker where you can share your status and show off your work all throughout Summer Camp!" An illustration to the side shows Co-op Mascots Inkling (anthropomorphic inkwell) and Nibford (anthropomorphic dip pen) are roasting a marshmallow over a campfire at night in a forest scene. Nibford is ready to squish the marshmallow between graham crackers and chocolate to make a s'more.

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!

A graphic designed by E.M. Fields announcing the Co-op Summer Camp event titled Critique Group Info Session with Leon Crozier, Gleam, Louisa Danquah, and Jessi Eoin. The event is being held on July 12 at 9 AM Pacific Time / 12 PM Eastern Time on Zoom. The event description reads, "Curious about the Co-op’s three critique groups? Want to check out, but unsure of how to join or worried it’ll be a bad experience? Come talk with our facilitators to learn more during our info session! We’ll discuss what critique is, share the method our groups use, answer your questions, and more!" An illustration to the side shows Co-op Mascots Inkling (anthropomorphic inkwell) and Nibford (anthropomorphic dip pen) are roasting a marshmallow over a campfire at night in a forest scene. Nibford is ready to squish the marshmallow between graham crackers and chocolate to make a s'more.

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!

APPLY TO JOIN THE CO-OP —>

IN THE SHOP

A bright yellow graphic with gour squares in the middle showing select scenes from Jessi's various comics available on itch.io. Text reads, "Available on itch.io: disabled fantasy and fat, queer, trans art" above the url which reads, jbeoin.itch.io.

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!

CHECK OUT THE COMICS —>

COMMUNITY FEATURE

Project image for The Traitor & The Wretch - An Illustrated Novel. It shows a person with short hair and a scarred face holding up a dagger and glaring at someone out of sight and another person underneath with long dark hair holding their hands up with a frightened look. Text reads, "The Traitor and the Wretch, a queer fantasy romance. Can a couple of two-bit henchmen lie, steal, and kill their way to a happy ending?" A stamp from Kickstarter is overlaid on top reading, "Projects we love" ringed around a heart.

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!

CHECK OUT THE CAMPAIGN —>

RECENT READS + FAVORITES

A blue graphic showcasing five comics from Issue 36's Recent Reads section. The titles are Shadow Life; Lunar Boy; After God, Volume 4; Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon and Mu, Volume 1; and The Hills of Estrella Roja. The titles Lunar Boy and The Hills of Estrella Roja are both created by Cartoonist Cooperative members.

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 🌟

READ RECENT READS 2025 —>

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!

A graphic shows an illustrated self-portrait of Jessi Eoin with a rainbow and colorful stars next to text. They are a fat, white person with wavy brown hair and blue eyes, furiously scribbling on their tablet. The background is an abstract pink and yellow. Next to their profile image is text that reads, "Jessi Eoin (they/them). Jessi is an illustrator who loves making, reading, and talking about comics, and they have come to accept that this is probably how they would be lured by a kidnapper." Their website is jbeoin.com, and their email address is hellojbeoin@gmail.com. They can be found under the handle @jbeoin on BlueSky.
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