Earlier this year, while at a workshop at a local gallery, one of my New Years Resolutions was that I wanted to make more Original Art Pieces, and even possibly more Traditional Art (what a novelty!), to contrast with the previous couple years which have focused more on commissions and fan art. This has… not exactly been fulfilled, almost 8 months into the year, as most of my work has still been fanart or commission-related. But it’s also because, I have to keep reminding myself, I’ve been doing a CRAP ton of comics.
Art I’ve Made This Year:
- Made 7 pages of Personal Comics (on Patreon), “Fujo X- Ray Visions” (meant to be a series, but haven’t really continued it. Possibly when school starts up again. I may print into a zine)
- Finally finished my RiddleBat zine that I started last year, “This is NOT How it Was Supposed to Go!” which included 2 comics and several illustrations.
- Started and finished a 8 page historical-inspired short comic (or fan-comic, depending on context), “In Exchange for Honor” ,
- Started and finished a 3 page full-color short comic, “No Reason to be Afraid” as a partial commission for a friend.
- After lots of planning and brainstorming and hesitancy, thumbnailed about 20 pages and completed drawing 5 pages of my original webcomic story I’m working on, “God Shaped Hole,” which I am keeping mostly private on my Patreon until I feel I’ve made enough pages to feel comfortable posting and promoting more specifically.
- For original work: I finally made the Azulejo Angel designs!
- Once again still currently in progress, but compiling my Sarazanmai Zine with my friends, and hoping to be able to release the digital version by the end of the summer!
Other Things:
- Frenetically doodled a bajillion Historical-Adjacent 12th Century shipping and goofy doodles that don’t really coalesce into any specific single work, but were important and fun. to me
- Cobbled together (with the help of pre-made templates!) personal neocities website specifically for posting and housing my aforementioned medieval delusions
Good News!
- I got into SF Zinefest again! Looking forward to seeing people in person and being able to share my work. I plan on bringing some new stuff–my Riddlebat zine, possibly printing Fujo X-Ray visions, and hopefully maybe a mini zine collection of my silly medieval stuff. But we shall see.
- I am, currently, taking the Analytical Figure Drawing Course at CGMA, which. It’s only been like 3 weeks but I can already feel like is kicking my skills back into gear. I haven’t taken any specific art class in literal years, let alone one that includes feedback and critique on a technical level, so I’m super stoked for this.
- Slowly… SLOWLY doing the process of getting my Drivers’ License… Yeah I’m 27 what about it.
Meh News
- Last month, my Tumblr, which I’d worked on and built for over a decade now, got unexpectedly terminated. Needless to say, it was a pretty big bummer, and also a reminder of how ephemeral a lot of things can be. It’s been several weeks and I still haven’t received any notification on why this happened, or what to do about it. This also occurred after getting one of my twitter accounts sniped too.
- I’ve been SICK the past couple weeks (not covid, according to the tests, and not debilitating, but super annoying)
- Wrist Hurty. Afraid it’s some cubital tunnel nonsense but it really puts a dent into the things I wanted to be completing at this time of the month. I guess I need to take a break from the comic making, unfortunately literally all my hobbies and also necessary life things involve precise hand movements so while not super bad it’s also frustrating
I mentioned “Building up Treasures in Heaven” because it’s something I keep returning to, especially with the fragile state of the internet and social media.I’ve already made a couple posts last year focusing on my thoughts on the ephemerality of the Internet and all, and I’ve seen several friends but it is frustrating to have to deal with it personally, especially as an artist. The childish tantrums of billionaires aside, it makes me think of old Bible verse stuff.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
It could just as easily say “where Musks destroy” and it would mean the same thing to me lol. But it does make me think: Where is my treasure? Where do I want to spend my time and put my work? It’s not so simple as completely opting out of major internet infrastructure (I am still a Very Online Person. Embarassingly So.). But I do want to keep my priorities in order. It’s all very easier said than done, but I want to focus on making work that I like, that I want to return to, and that I can be confident and eventually enthusiastic about sharing with others. It’s why I guess I’m trying to figure out something with this site, even if it’s not really a “professional” site the way I originally intended.
I feel less comfortable with being personally “expressive” I find, even as someone who occasionally makes autobio/personal works–I prefer to focus on making things that I think are beautiful and intriguing or have Fun Drama Stories (separate from myself.). I’m a little frustrated that it takes so long TO make stuff, especially with (slowly) upcoming projects like God Shaped Hole which are different maybe than the comics I’ve become known for in the past. But my true heart’s desire, as it may be, is that people will read my work and share their thoughts and how they connected to it (or not.) I do it a lot with fanwork, but hope I can do that with original works too.
Tomatobird Art 