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How Could You has a release timeline!

How Could You has a release timeline!

02 Oct • This will only take you 8 minutes

I finished my pencils!

I’ve been working on penciling How Could You all summer. Originally my goal was to finish pencils by mid-August, but end of September is also good. I had a lot of other projects going on at the same time, and pencils are hard! The hardest part!! If you don’t know, the comic breakdown is like this:

Script (hard) —> thumbnail (harder) —> pencils (hardest) —> ink (EASY!!) —> color (less easy, but not hard)

So I’ll be working on inks this autumn before moving onto colors over the winter. The tentative release date is December 2024. Get ready!

Tell me more about How Could You

Okay, so I’ve been hesitant to talk about my book for a while now. I’m a little intimidated about making something so big, so time consuming, and then just putting it out there for everyone to read. Everyone? Anyone? If you have like $20 you can get access to something that has taken me an entire pandemic to make?

Like, I compartmentalize it a lot so I don’t get too attached to what I’m making, but at the same time, I have to love it. After all the time, the love is what keeps me going. And if I don’t love it, how can I expect others to?

Well.

How Could You is about Molly, a college student in her third year of undergrad. She’s 20, she’s newly heartbroken, and she wants to rebound. Her best friend Lou is by her side, in a similar broken hearted situation, but it’s her final semester before graduation and all they want to do is spend time with Molly. At the same time across the Atlantic, Molly and Lou’s ex-girlfriends are on a semester study abroad in France, where they’re learning more about themselves, but not enough about each other.

How Could You is for everyone who thinks back on their young adult years with guilt and cringe. If you are carrying the burden of those tangled up guts, apologies never said, the curse of decisions made under the rule of a still-growing frontal lobe, I hope you enjoy How Could You. Love you.

I’ve been sharing some of my pencils during monthly Patreon sketchbook updates. If you wanna see what’s going on in the book so far, I recommend trying to find my pencil pages scattered throughout those sketchbook posts.

And They Were Monsters

Here’s the inks for my contribution to the newest Nova and Mali anthology project, And They Were Monsters. It will be an art book full of monster lovers <3 It’s coming to Kickstarter on Friday, Oct 13, so stay tuned!

Invasive Species

I’m working with Mel Gillman on an 18+ comic as part of the Succulent anthology organized by Discord Comics. I don’t have much more to say about it right now, but here’s a look at the main characters, Harper and Garlic Mustard! This project will be coming early 2023.

Remember how I said I just finished pencils for How Could You? Well, now I have to do pencils for this. The grind never stops.

Mail Club & 18+ for October 2023

Nya~ Cat themed rewards for Patreon this month! Also available on Patreon for the 18+ tiers, a collection of all the horny illustrations I’ve made in the past year (and then some). PDF also available on itch.io <3 but Patreon get extra access to other horny comics and such :3c

What else did I do this month, hmm…

I tabled at Rose City Comic Con, my hometown con! It was fun, with a lot of improvements made since last year. I got to debut some new riso prints, which will be in the shop soon. I love talking to people and getting the chance to say hi! Cons are my favorite part of this job. I also got to be on a panel for Geeks Out, alongside some amazing comic pros. We talked about queer comics and what it means to draw people who look like us. It was such a fun event, and my first ever time on a panel. I feel all grown up.

The next event is Portland Zine Symposium. I’ll be tabling on Saturday Oct 28. Then a little break for the holidays before it’s back at it again. New for 2024, En and I will be tabling at Fan Expo Portland, just to see what it’s all about. We have more cons coming up for the winter/spring of 2024, and we’re very excited!

Some things are sold out on my shop because during the month of September, I was featured in Tumblr’s Artist Alley and WHAM the Tumblr audience wiped out my stock. It was kinda awesome and cool! I’ll have restocks and new things up soon, but in the meantime, you can find some of my goods at Sonny’s House, both in person and online.

I also want to shout out my gf En for taking care of things around the house while I’ve been working on my book. I seriously couldn’t do what I do without them. Anyone who is a creative person with a significant other, or parents, or whatever! We’re all so lucky. En is working on chapter 2 of their lesbian pirate comic, Boon of the Beacon Maker. Check it out, and then check out their shop, which has zines and TLT stickers!

I’m participating in Repostober this year, an idea by Marlowe Dobb to share art that you’ve made previously. Since social media is so fast, and our memory isn’t getting any more resilient, I think it’s a nice chance to collect things I’ve made in the past year! I have a bunch of art queued for my Tumblr, and I’ll be adding them to my Instagram from time to time.

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

ShortBox Comics Fair is on! Lots of amazing comics are available for you to read for the entire month of October. My recommendation is Baptism in the Mud by my friend Cam McCafferty!
Good Writers Are Perverts by Domino Club, free to read visual essay.
A Personal Website vs a Portfolio blog post by Reimena Yee
This interview with the mysterious Mixie and Munchie, the two TikTok girls who make cocktails inside of fast food restaurants is sooooo good. They’re everything to me.
Who Do You Intend To Be? by Vanessa Friedman has a few points I’ve been thinking about recently, about separating your craft from your work, and what it means to be an artist and make money and have a day job.
Here’s a single TikTok for you. Enjoy.
September’s hike: Lake to Lake Trail Loop in Camas WA. I’m still getting my groove back after catching covid :( So we went on a nice, mostly flat hike. I know you’re not supposed to overexert yourself after you get covid, but it’s also good to be kinda physically active.
HAVE YOU REGISTERED TO VOTE????????????? Check here for your state’s registration deadline. It’s never too late to be a guy who votes :) Cool guys vote local and hold their city officials accountable. There’s a bunch of state and local elections coming up in November. Check the list here!

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!