How did I go through the entirety of February without writing a new blog? Wait, I think I know why: I never stopped working on things.
First off, issue 6 of Slimepunk is COMPLETE. Half of it, the first 10 pages, is online to read, with the full issue available to $5 Patrons on my Patreon. The next big step is getting the whole thing print ready and figuring out how to release the collection out into the world. Should I give crowdfunding a try? My audience is so small that I don't have high hopes for that, but it could also potentially mean getting more people to see what I've made. I want to also serialize the volume on Webtoons and/or Tapastic as another way to expand the audience. All the while, I've nearly got the outline for volume 2 done and issue 7 is almost fully written and thumbnailed. So...that's a lot of Slimepunk stuff to work on. It's a bit hard to think about right now, having just finished issue 6, but I should have a plan for all of this soon.
I also spent the entire month working on this:
I bought this giant purple Alien Queen toy at Walmart at the end of January, and thought it'd be awesome to paint her to sell as a print. I was foolish enough to think she'd only take a week to do. Of course, I have little digital painting experience, and the Queen is quite a daunting subject for a first attempt. I quickly realized how difficult it'd be, and felt like I'd really bitten off more than I could chew, but I just...kept at it. I chipped away at her nearly every day for 30 minutes to an hour at a time, and after weeks of work she was finished! I think it was worth the effort, and it was an incredible learning experience. I now have other things in mind that I'd like to try to paint, things that are uh, hopefully a little easier, we'll see.
(If you want to see process shots of her, you can find nearly weekly progress updates over on Patreon at the base $1 subscription level! Plus lots of other stuff! I uh, lost a patron not too long ago, so please consider supporting me!)
I also started a new painting series that's loosely connected to Debris Field and my Entropy paintings:
Along with two self-portraits, one with my figure drawing group, that can be seen on my NSFW Instagram account and on Patreon.
The next dream comic with Ninel has also started. I don't have anything I can show just yet (except, once more, on Patreon), but the finished product will be three pages and should be up by the end of the month. Until then, you can reread Other Sleep in its entirety for free and look at Mutual Friend if you missed out on it back in January!
And finally, I hosted figure drawing on the 23rd and modeled for a couple poses after drawing on myself too! It was a lot of fun. You can follow our Instagram to see sketches from everyone who was there, and of course Patrons at the $3 level get to see everything I drew that night!
I took a break last week after figure drawing, finishing the Alien Queen, and Slimepunk, but this week I'm already back it. I learned about a daily art challenge for this month called Monster March, where each day you try to draw a different kaiju, following a list released last month. The 1st was, of course, Godzilla, and I busted this illustration out pretty quickly:
I made a *PUBLIC* Patreon post about the making of it, including my really awful first attempt, if you need a laugh! The others are all on Instagram and Twitter as well.
It's nice to be really on top of things right now, consistently working on different projects. This sort of thing doesn't happen often, so I'm just enjoying it and rolling with it while I can, staying inspired and busy. Hope you all are doing well, too!