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ARIES SEASON (kind of sucked!)

ARIES SEASON (kind of sucked!)

24 Apr • This will only take you 5 minutes

It’s my birthday, be nice to me

This month felt super strenuous. Maybe it’s because the PNW has had the longest winter, maybe it’s because work-plus-book has been a stressful balance to manage, maybe it’s because I had to pay taxes even tho it’s literally my birthday??? But April just didn’t hit for me.

That’s not completely true. My girlfriend did spend my birthday weekend going around thrift/plant shopping with me, and that was a much needed reset. I also finished my thumbnails for How Could You and am now moving on to pencils!!! While I waited for my editor’s notes on my thumbs, I finished penciling Heave and Thaw and began inking the first couple of pages.

Ugh, okay, but even those milestones are work stuff. Where’s the fun, I ask you!!!!!!!!!! Here’s to having more fun next month.

This month’s Autostraddle comic also shows off my current frazzled state for the month. Here is a cat who is not Peepee, and a person who is not me. I totally didn’t take her in to the vet for a boogery eye. The good news is she’s fine. You can read the whole comic here.

Here’s April’s mail club rewards!

And if you want more Heave and Thaw, this month’s 18+ art features Char and Emery (below). The full image is up for Pin Up, Love Letter, and Lucky tier members.

RISO NEWS

This month I reprinted Boyish Girlish and Evening at Ushigome prints, along with more copies of Lesbian Gender Outlaw, and now I AM CLOSING MY SHOP!!! The shop will close next week on May 1. This is your last chance to get an order in from me.

After next week, I’m turning over the keys to my online shop management to White Squirrel. So the next time you see my shop open, it’ll look much nicer and have much more efficient tracking and shipping management.

So yeah, get your orders in! A huge thank you to everyone who has supported my shop this past week, and honestly, the past couple years. It means the world to me. I’m so happy that I am at the point now where I’m able to outsource shop management to someone outside of myself. Being a self employed artist means you have to do a lot of different jobs (like, accounting?? what the-), so any opportunity I can get to take off some of the hats I have to wear, the better I’m able to focus on making art and comics and, hell, having fun.

Here’s some sweet treats for you to check out:

Webcomic rec: you like lesbian werewolves, that’s why you’re here. Are you reading RUN WOLF RUN by Jo/Kiddycup? I’m such a fan, and you will be too.
You also might like the scary woods and scary women in the scary woods. Olivia Stephens, another auteur of sapphic werewolfery, released Hyssop on itch.io, and oooooh it’s chilling.
This month’s hike is… TBD! As of writing, I haven’t done April’s hike yet. I’ll let you know what it is in the next newsletter.
Kaylee Rowena wrote a really good blog post about ditching social media and prioritizing your own slice of the internet.
My bestie Catskullery reopened her gay little Etsy. And my other bestie Fawnduu is doing a limited time plush sale of her lesbian dragon Dani, of My Dragon Girlfriend fame. Go get your Dani plush so then when Louie gets made you can make Dani and Louie kiss, cementing the Dani x Louie shipper faction forever. Only 9 days left as of this writing!
Other things I’m putting into my brain this month: Yellowjackets, this essay about the inherent horror of having a body, and Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America. If you’re a wrestling fan, please read this book. It’s absolutely FASCINATING. I’m a slow reader so I’ll probably still be reading it next month too, but I haven’t abandoned it like my attention deficit Aries ass is wont to do with non-audio long form writing. So that should be a resounding five star review.

Cheers!

Ren

PS: If you want more content that isn’t in this newsletter, I recommend joining my Patreon for some exclusive work every month like comics, sketchbook pages, spicy drawings, and some mail rewards!