Drawing Cats and Comics – A Live Stream Replay

Today at 6 pm EST, feel free to lurk while I work on cat art for a new Crowdfundr AND draw more comics.

I’m running a Crowdfundr campaign for CATS: The Sketchbook, a collection of cat sketches I drew during Inktober last year. You can check out the campaign, but it’s not live until Friday. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to get the first notice of when it opens!

You can also play my cat witch tabletop RPG, Toe Beans & Broomsticks, by downloading the rulebook from my ko-fi shop.

To read my genderqueer pirate adventure comic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts, you can read the free version online, or you have the option to get the print version of volume 1 with remastered art and behind-the-scenes content like sketches and bonus comics. Volume 2 is coming to my online shop soon, I promise!

That’s all for now. Thank you for watching and for your support!

You. Are. Awesome.

LIVE STREAM – Let’s Draw January 2024’s Club Rewards

On Jan 4, 2024 at 6 pm EST, feel free to lurk while I work on rewards for members of my Fan Clubs! While I have some phone wallpapers and coloring pages free to download, Fan Club members get exclusive digital rewards, sneak peeks at my webcomics a week early, members-only comics, AND discounts at my store and for commissions.

Also, I PROMISE I’m working on a livesteam bingo card. Have Patience.

If you would like to join the Fan Club, you can do so on Ko-Fi (or if that’s not your thing, you can join directly through my Fan Club page).

To get free phone wallpapers and other goodies, join my email newsletter!

I have a new project coming out next week on Crowdfundr. Stay tuned for further developments!

And if you’d like to check out my other videos, check out this page or head to my YouTube channel.

That’s all for now. Thank you for watching!

You. Are. Awesome.

2023 – What A Year!

two cats look up sleepily at the viewer. One is a gray older cat, the other is a younger tabby kitten. The tabby is blanketed by a purple crochet blanket

What a year 2023 has been! But I’m glad it’s over.

A lot happened this year, so let’s get into what we made happen together. That’s right, your support helped make these things possible…

4 Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns!

In 2023, we raised funding for Vanita and the Demon King; The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 2; BE NOT APURRED Keychains; and Mr. Dino and Friends Keychains! We also had a Holiday Pop-Up Shop that raised $493 in support of Ohio-based indie creators.

I’m also including Ko-fi and Fan Club memberships here. While membership did shrink a bit, we still held together and made a lot of exclusive rewards.

Journey of the Mystery Won 3rd Place in the 24-Hour Comics Challenge!

This happened in January of 2023 but is still worth mentioning. The 24-Hour Comics Challenge, hosted by The Comic Book Jamboree, was INTENSE and had over 15 artists from around the world participate! And my comic, Journey of the Mystery, won 3rd place!

(By the way, you can download the coloring book version of this comic by checking it out on Ko-fi).

I Got A Short Story in an Iron Circus Comic Anthology!

I got accepted in Failure to Launch, a comics anthology from Iron Circus Comix. The anthology is all about ideas of the future that never panned out. 

The short story I made is called Ninit’i, or The End, and is a story told in two lines: one line follows my class trip into Navajo Nation, the other follows the Christian extremist panic around the Harold Camping Doomsday Proclamation.

The release of the anthology did get a bit delayed but should come out in print in spring of 2024. More details are on the Iron Circus website.

I Quit My 9 to 5 Job!

(Technically it was a 7 to 3:30 job but it still sucked).

Thanks to support from readers like you, I was able to leave a toxic office job. 

It took several months to unpack a lot of the crap from there, and it made me realize that my neurodivergent, genderqueer butt is too radical for “traditional” work. Also, half of my wages were taken by the temp agency that put me there and they wouldn’t let me leave because they “had no other work openings.”

Hot tip: don’t work with a temp agency.

Excuse me, I’m still very salty about this experience. On a more positive note…

I Moved To A New Apartment, Sold My Car, and Paid Off My Debts!

I sold my car for a lot of reasons – for one, I’m fortunate enough that my roommate and I moved to a new neighborhood that’s got a LOT within comfortable walking and biking distance from our home. We also sit on a major bus route in the city of Toledo, (and the bus is amenable to bikes like mine), so I can get wherever I want to throughout the city. We also have an Amtrak and bus station that I can get to in 30 minutes by city bus, so I can connect to a LOT of major cities across the US by those means. (Like, during SPX weekend I went by train and Metro everywhere).

Also, I was REALLY FREAKING TIRED of spending money that I didn’t have to repair a hunk of metal on wheels that already lost a large chunk of its value when I drove it off the lot back in 2019. And I was tired of my money being sent off to car companies and oil companies that don’t have the people’s best interest at heart.

So I sold my car and used that money to pay off debt, including my remaining student loans and the debt I accrued on car repairs.

In the end, I traveled further AFTER selling my car. Seriously, after the car sale, I went to DC (for work) AND Florida (for visiting family. It’s fine, I can pass as a woman. No one in Florida but mom knew, wink wink).

The Legend of Jamie Roberts, Volume 2 Came to Print!

It got mentioned up top, but I’m SO happy that y’all love this genderqueer pirate adventure so hecking much. Not to get too into the numbers, but The Legend of Jamie Roberts has now raised more in crowdfunding support than Validation did. And The Legend is still ongoing!

2023 was a VERY packed year for Fantasyville Productions, yo. For 2024, I want to keep building on what’s working and keep making comics, especially The Legend of Jamie Roberts. That story has a LOT to share in 2024 and I can’t wait to get into it with you.

Also in 2024, I want to do new things, like offer free downloads for my newsletter peeps. The first downloads are available this Friday, so sign up for free to get it when it’s ready.

Keep an eye on that newsletter, too, because I’m announcing more crowdfunding campaigns for 2024 – including one coming soon for CATS: A Sketchbook!

That’s all for now. Thank you for your support! You helped make all of this happen.

You. Are. Awesome.

Featured Artist Friday: Ark Revner

I first saw Ark Revner’s art in passing at Interventioncon in 2014. I wasn’t able to get a super long look at their art at the time, but I grabbed a business card to check them out later.

I’m so glad I did, because it turns out their art is spectacular.

ark revner digital art

Digital painting is not easy (I have tried, and failed, many times at it). But Ark’s paintings don’t just make it look easy. They are wonderful to look at. There’s almost a delicate touch to their textures, and with one stroke, their lines can look either airy and light, or heavy and bold.

ark revner pulla magi madoka magica digital art

ark revner steven universe digital art

Ark doesn’t just work digitally, though – they also work with Copic markers. I’m jealous of their skills, but in a way that inspires me to try new things with the tools.

Just look at these sketches they do with Copics!

ark revner copic marker sketch art

ark revner copic marker sketch art

ark revner copic marker sketch art

They have also made one of the most inspiring short comics I have read in a long time. It got over 1000 notes on Tumblr, and I feel like it was deserved.

If you don’t follow Ark on Tumblr, you should. They’re also on Instagram if that’s more your speed. Either way, they’re worth following, and I hope to see more art and stories from them soon.

Know any cool artist I should feature next week? Drop a comment!

Thank you for reading, and I will see you on Monday.