Back to back cons takes it out of ya! 💦

Hello to any new subs from Squatchcon, Reed Zine Fest, Mid Valley Comic Art Expo, and C2E2! MVCAE and C2E2 shows were back to back weekends, and boy am I pooped. It was so good to see so many of you— new faces, familiar ones, friends and colleagues <3 My goal this year was to prioritize going to conventions and shows, and I’m figuring out my tempo. I might not be able to do back-to-back shows like this very often, but I always have a good time!

Chicago was unlike any city I’ve ever been to. I’d love to do it again, if you’ll have me. I brough bookmarks for my new book How Could You. Check them out 👇

And here’s our table from C2E2!

Now quickly, I have two weeks to completely recuperate before going to my next show, VanCAF. I’m going to rest as fast as possible. I love VanCAF a whole bunch. It’s basically up there with ECCC as far as all time fave shows that I want to kiss on the mouth.

So if you’re in Vancouver or the BC area, please come to the Roundhouse on May 18-19! It’s my only Canada show for the year and my final show for spring, and nothing is more beautiful than Vancouver in May.

“Invasive Species” is in Succulent

The sexy park ranger x invasive plant girl comic I made with Mel Gillman is coming to print! The Kickstarter for Succulent is on now. Succulent is a trans inclusive sapphic comics anthology with twelve tales which are hot, humid, and above all, dirty. Go get your copy!

Basic Money Guide

I made a zine for comic artists and other freelancers who need a starting point on financial literacy. This zine introduces some basic concepts and is best put to use for any US citizens who are self employed. Learn about a Roth IRA! It’s good for you!

You can read it for free on my website, and the PDF is also available on itch.io. The print copies will be on my shop later this spring! Patreon subscribers will be the first to know.

The Shepherd’s Sword has returned!

Now that my graphic novel is complete, I’m back to working on The Shepherd’s Sword. Chapter 4 is another flashback chapter, featuring Shep (aka: [redacted]) and her physical embodiment of spring gf, Nieve, as they set out on Nieve’s first big adventure! You can read TSS pages early on Patreon, or see a new page every Friday on Tapas and Tumblr. Webtoon is a bit behind, but it gets updates on M/W/F while it catches up :^)

Read Blind Wolf Bleeding Lamb and Boon of the Beacon Maker

I made some fan art for my friend’s debut webcomic, Blind Wolf Bleeding Lamb. If you like The Shepherd’s Sword, you’ll really like this one! Look, here’s the main character:

I also made fan art for my girlfriend’s lesbian pirate comic, Boon of the Beacon Maker. You can read that one here! This character is Kim, and they’re my favorite. I have a type, ok?

Heartwood

For my sister. You can read my latest Autostraddle comic here, and check out the archive of all my comics here!

Mail Club and 18+ Rewards

I’m working on making stickers for all the How Could You girlies, and postcard prints to match! Maybe I’ll even print the postcards bigger. First up is Anjali. Some facts about Anjali:

• Aquarius

• Gamer

• Double majoring in English and psychology

• Her parents are totally cool about her whole gender thing as long as she goes to law school

• Jackie’s ex 💀🙊

The 18+ illustration, available for Horn Dog tier members and up, is Shep and Wayne. Ohhh I missed drawing them in a big way. Join my Patreon for my entire NSFW backlog and/or the mail club!

What else did I do this month, hmm…

I celebrated my 30th birthday this month! En and I had a whole week of birthday fun. We went hiking, saw a wrestling show, had a day of thrifting (I got sunglasses). It was really nice. Being 30 feels so right. It was also pizza week this month! I got a shawarma pizza and now I want pickles on pizza for the rest of my life.

I’m spending less and less time on my phone, which is cool and sexy. Being on my phone is definitely more job-like, and I’m finally identifying my feelings when I reach for my phone. I pause and sit with myself for a bit, and I realize that my phone will only make me anxious instead of fulfilling the need I have. Not bringing my phone to bed is really cool. Taking an edible and then zoning out on the couch with some slime and cartoons? Now that’s the pre-bed routine I can get behind.

I’m also thinking of using my Patreon more regularly for free subscribers to get updates on things that I normally post on Instagram and Tumblr. Just as another way to make sure people who follow me get to see my stuff without being beholden to the algorithm, y’know? Just a thought. Social media burns me out, so I’m sure that’s true for y’all as well. If I can post my TLT fan art to Patreon and just have you see it without you having to open Instagram, that’s probably good right? (Shout out to Fawnduu for this idea.)

I’ve been mulling over my next book and playing around with the idea of a pitch. Wildfires and turning 14? Yikes!

Ok, this newsletter is getting long. Sorry about that. I feel like there’s so much more that has happened, but like I said at the top of this letter, I’m totally burnt out from travelling so much. I’m going to take an edible and play video games now to unwind. Catch u later! LOVE YOU BE GOOD!

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

• Pre-order my book! How Could You comes out this December.

• I got to meet James Spooner at Reed Zine Fest. He gave an amazing talk with some great advice. I picked up The High Desert and read it the very next day. Highly recommend!! 

• April hike: Triple Falls; I got lots of wildfire drawing inspiration and reference photos here.

• A great guide on eco friendly packaging for small business owners!

• I’ve been trying to get better at adding alt-text to my images. Here’s a guide on writing good alt-text (this is the part I struggle with the most) and here’s a tool I use to help me organize my alt text on frequently used images.

• Free Palestine https://cartoonistsforpalestine.org/