I did some minor cosmetic changes to my site, namely adding some flexbox positioning-related stuff so it wasn't just 1 column all the time. This is primarily to prep my site for upcoming comic festival apps and make things look less garbo on desktop.

One the tasks included drawing a more representative image for SitM for how the comic will probably end up looking like (feat. Mesha and Mason)!

When I started planning SitM I aimed to simplify my style for it, but I failed HAHA (me, a person who perpetually wants to hatch more). Instead I applied the same inking I used in MKISA.

Figuring out how to render Mesha's puffy hair took a few tries. I opted to keep the outer surface less detailed than the interior, and have the bottom ends curl inwards. Overall she tries to maintain a more triangular shape (flatter on top, puffier on bottom) for work, but it's more puffy at the top for casual wear (though IDK if we'll get to see much of that in the comic itself).

Mason looks like any other guy I draw so not much to troubleshoot for him, HAHA. Though maybe I should revert back to a wider/rounder chin? IDK. Maybe I'll leave it up to fate/whatever my hand wants to do when it's time to draw. Faces and proportions are also so dynamic when in motion.

Other notes:

• I drafted some writing for a maid/vampire comic. WHAT IS THIS? Time will tell...
• I signed up for a new payment processor, Helcim. Will see if it was a good idea or the same as the rest (stripe/paypal/square); currently trying to figure out how to not dox myself as a sole proprietary with WFH situation
• for no particular reason TD Bank closed my debit/access card and now I have to chase them to hold them accountable (yell)
• Maybe I'll do Sketch Like an Architect again this year (Oct 27-Nov 1 2026) though part of me is also feels "I should be drawing comics because I have 100+ pages to draw before April 2027" which now that I've typed it out, feels less and less realistic, haha

OC bday: Mesha

The star of SitM! Using a new-to-me Krita brush, inkP 21 Flat Rake. I decided to leave this more loose/messy than my usual tendencies.

OC Qs by penbrydd

1. Were there any educators Mesha absolutely loathed? Tell us about them. Certain baddie coworker elders that were more ignorant and backhanded in their teachings.

2. What light level does Mesha prefer to sleep in? Can sleep in any light level because she's used to falling asleep on public transit.

3. Does Mesha consider themselves a religious person? Do other people? No to both! (TBH as a person/creator who has no religion, I don't really ever delve into this side of characters by default)

4. How many languages does Mesha speak, and which ones? AFAIK only English hahaha

5. What is Mesha's least closely guarded secret (they don't publicize it, but they don't mind if someone finds out)? She plays handheld console RPGs feat. old people.

6. Has Mesha ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? Yes...that's what the entire plot of SitM hahaha

7. Does Mesha sing? Are they any good at it? She wouldn't perceive herself as being good at it, since she is baseline high anxiety and low self-esteem. Unknown how others feel about it since she wouldn't sing in public.

Fishlips

Kiryu-chan!

Wao so cool 😎 (fishlips transforms into a werecreature during certain moon-related times...)

It was my dear Fishlip's birthday on Oct 15. Happy birthday to my beautiful precious child. To commemorate, it was time to bring Fishlips into the physical realm...

Though in game there is no pumpkin (as hat accessory) AFAIK?! And no knife like this. This knife was suppose to be straight but it became more curved as I sewed it on ahahaha. There's a safety pin attached to the back.

I put the pin on my very yellow/orange corduroy bag hehehehe. They're so cute!!!!

Listening

BTS by Boooka.

Watching

No Time To Die: Daniel Craig is my fav Bond, but I wasn't really into this movie. I didn't really understand the motivations of the villain even with the monologue explanation?! And also don't remember what happened in Spectre, which this film is a heavy continuation of. I felt like there was never chemistry between Bond and Madelaine since Spectre. Did not like the child actor for Mathilde either: there's a really weird moment where she just stays put after commiting a violent-act, which was really awkward. I was so sure the mosquito bites were something more dramatic?! Red herring.

Also did not believe Rami Malek's chara was so much older than Léa Seydoux?! IRL they are only 4 years age diff HAHA.

Paloma was a great few-minutes-Bond-babe though. Whoever applied the boob tape to her + the dress needs a raise. Felix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoppers: so cute!!!!!!!!!! I am biased because I love animals HAHA. I think the film has similar theme/heart-notes as most pixar/disney stuff. The emoji-mashing scenes made me shake from laughing (while I was on the plane).

Dark City (Director's cut): didn't know what to expect and definitely didn't expect what was served. The characters in this film are all...very subdued/restrained/concise in their dialogue? A lot of different and often creepy speech patterns. It's very ambiguous! I always like watching the commentary features hehe. Why is Kiefer Sutherland lasso-ing people hahaha. Loving the note about low budget = greater ideas. I starting wondering if they extracted my memories, would they just be shrouded in darkness with zero imagery HAHA.

The Forbidden City: a chinese gal who know martial arts travels to Rome to find her sister and basically goes berserk on everyone and beats up a lot of Chinese and Italian mafia. This was a random thing I watched with my mumz on Tubi (free). It is not a good movie HAHA she gave it a 1/5 star rating and 0/5 for story logic. I'm surprised it had higher ratings online. It feels really "straight guy action movie" formulaic with the extremely contrived 0 chemistry romance that they tried to stuff in. IDK if I have ever watched a movie with this much Italian in it, but I realized that I find the way that Italians say "no" quite fun because it sounds very similar to English pronunciation but more definitive intonation.

In the movie there's a gaudy fountain pen that the chinese gang boss calls "an antique" and I'm pretty sure it's either a Jinhao or Hongdian-branded modern fountain pen that costs less than $100. YOU CAN'T FOOL ME (a fountain pen nerd)!

Shoplifters: found family of shoplifters. Recced by Jocelyne because we were talking about Lily Franky. I thought the cast really delivered on an understated performance where less is said and more is either seen/interpreted/read between the lines (positive). Though some of the mouthed inaudible words would've been totally lost if not for the subtitles. I wonder how those moments landed for Japanese audience w/o subtitles.

Reading

It Starts with a Square: sewing book where all the patterns start with a square (usually resulting in less waste). So much math so I haven't tried, but more suited for ppl who want loose boxy fit.

Medalist #1-9: UGH this dokidoki girl and her gross worms LOL but I still support and cry. Also the drawstring worm comfort is so good...and the gestures and anticipation are so well depicted/beautiful! Why is Jun Yodaka such an edgelord weirdo?!!!! Hikaru is also a weirdo and I'm not sure how I feel about her...def has off vibes (dangerous and mal-adjusted?! Should not be with the edgelord to encourage this). I heard the series is on perma hiatus now though?!

I'M ONE OF THEM!

Really taking me back to my figure skating-watching era back in the...90s/00s haha. A NEW FAV SERIES.

SAME TSUKASA, SAME...

SAME INORI, SAME...

Smoking behind the supermarket with you #7: I often get confused with what's a flashback thought and or reality...

Billy Bat #1: conspiracy confusions...

Snow White with the Red Hair #27: Obi!! What is going on!!!!!!!

Firefly Wedding #7: !!!!!!!! HMMMM A REVEAL !!!!!!!!!!!!

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun #2: Given how unsmart Nozaki is I'm surprised his series is doing well (is the editor doing the heavy lifting? haha). I laughed at the comic-making moments again.

Very good drawing!

A+ inappropriate tone use

Fool Night #10: more unhinged characters appear...many gories...

ysym brainrot

They canceled the Tamura Yuto photobook that I was looking forward to... and every Yamaguchi fan is emotionally devastated. I had to go look at his other fashion photoshoots (e.g., 1PIU1UGUALE3 RELAX ~ONFF~ 2024 spring/summer, 2024 autum/winter, +phenix; Back Channel 1, 2, 3, ) to recharge. Why isn't this guy plastered all over Leon?!

Since the photobook was the main thing I was waiting for release date on, I decided to go ahead and try proxy ordering from Japan for the rest of my brainrot. I'm trying buydoujinshi service this time because they have 1 fee per non-Mercari shop VS per item, which was better for my scenario (and I am a pure Buyee/DHL hater). Will report back to see if it was a good or bad experience!

Like a Dragon rot continues

Related to proxy buying, I also shamefully bought 10+ Shishido + Tsuruno doujinshi HAHA (every in-stock one that I could find on Tora no Ana and Booth). Some of them are all-ages and some are not. It's nice to support indie comic/zine makers, OK!?

My ShiTsu brainrot continues to grow, and I'm sure that some of you are laughing/shaking your head/enjoying watching my descent into what is best described as, fujin'in out.

Misuse of resources My beautifully drawn unrealistic post-gaiden/pirates plot. SPOILERS!

Since Tsuruno's IRL actor (Yamaguchi Yoshiyuki) later plays live-action Majima in the Nihon Touitsu collab, I sometimes laugh at the thought of them talking to each other (talking to himself). I was obviously not particular about these drawings, except I tried harder to make Majima's goes-into-serious-mode-laser-dodging to look effortless in this scrungy form factor.

Musing about the ADULT continuation of mkisa, the fight that brought us together. The phrasing is meant to rhyme with mkisa title. There's also a 3rd title rhymes, the light is shining brighter. Why am I cursed with 2 other zine ideas...

Looking at this a later, I already see errors for later me to fix, and probably want to redo the design overall for a closer crop (later me problem if I actually draw this series).

Some smut is on locked on fedi because I can't upload here 😂, though I do have to learn anatomy + etc. to move forward.

Some slice of lifey pre-gaiden family moments. I want to draw more...

Sus drawings...

Recently, I've gotten tired of pattern transforming all the patterns so I'm manually drawing them again. Wahoo deloolooo! Expending a different type of effort!

I have too much Yakuza/LAD stuff now, floating in the ether.

Like Saejima with gators (this is my first time drawing less scrungo Saejima...), directly inspired by a photo by someone who posted a gator/croc figure on their Saejima plush's head.

I think baby gators and crocs are really cute (esp when they're just on top of their parents' head/back or in a group) but I don't actually know how to draw them (nor did I use ref for this haha).

It was a busy month of biz trip for longer period and higher stakes activities. I stayed at a log cabin resort. I wasn't really impressed because it felt like a huge pity to cover all this wood with glossy dark brown paint that didn't hide nicks nor fingerprints well.

They had this carved wood bunny next to a children's playground.

And set-up to do a bonfire (that costs money to rent).

Got another biztrip coming up too.

The sky recently has some pink in it! (My photo is really grainy).

Poss jacket

I finally made it, but it's completely different from what I drew before.

One sleeve says NO and the other says BYE because that's my aura. Self drafted by measuringn/drawing directly on the fabric, so it's mostly made out of rectangles. I only had a yard of some of these, so I had to patchwork stuff together and work the design from there. It's unlined but mostly french seamed, which caused a lot of bulkyness on some spots (and errors). A lot of skipped stitches but I didn't care because I wanted it to be scrungo scraggly possy! My regret is messing up the underarm seam again and not taking time to fix it...

Materials:

• Fabric: mercacized cotton canvas, andover quilty cotton (interior pockets)
• Thread: A mix of cotton thread weights from various brands; embroidery was done with Olympus gray #28 sashiko thread

Triangle fabric chickens

Fulfilling my destiny by making a triangle chicken that came onto my radar a few years ago.

The front view is also giving me eel vibes. The beak inspiration was Chickey...

I named them Chimothy, inspired by Jimothy.

Materials:

• Fabric: Japanese yarn-dyed scraps, felt (wool/bamboo blend)
• Filling: leftover pieces of cotton batting and dried lentils (weight)
• Thread: cotton 30wt, sashiko (eye)

Charmed by Chimothy, I decided they needed a family...so I pulled out more scrap fabric from old projects/thrifted scraps

I wondered if I could make a smaller one...and thus

The smaller one has linen thread eyes and a loop (to become a charm?!) from thread cut-offs I hoarded while binding MKISA. How satisfying...

They're currently singing in a row on top of my sewing machine, haha.

OC stuff

I drew Mason (SitM) as part of an informal OC collab with Leigh who draws the webcomic, Schism! They drew their comic's OC, Sly, and offered him as a higher res image for people to draw another chara to FIST BUMP with.

I picked Mason because of superficial visual similarities the characters. I marginally tried to style match their colouring/line style, but honestly failed hahaha. It was challenging for me to use a thicker line weight and an unforgiving anti-alias brush again.

This month had Austin's (HWA) bday! Of course treeman's bday pic has to be AUTUMNAL!!

Me: I should try to use more pastel colours

Me: incapable of using pastel colours

^ A scene Jake sees a lot.

OC Qs by penbrydd

1. Did Austin have many friends as a child? Do they still have any of those friends now? HE HAS SO MANY FRIENDS AND YES STILL HAS THEM this is the power of being an extrov hahaha.

2. What is Austin usually carrying in their pockets or otherwise on their person? Handkerchief in backpock, pocket field notebook and ballpoint, compact swiss army knife, and the usual (wallet, keys, phone).

3. When Austin was a child, what events going on in the world were the adults around them most likely to talk about casually when they got together? When I first started HWA it was considered current/modern time, but since it's been on pause a while (DON'T LOOK AT ME!), it's becoming more of a story set in the past...so now I don't even know, but it wouldn't be anything surprising for anyone currently in their 30s+.

4. Does Austin have any children? Do they live with them? None. But he probably expected to have them, but things didn't turn out that way.

5. Is Austin introverted or extroverted? EXTROV!!!!!!!!

6. What does Austin do to relax or unwind? Is it effective? Hiking/camping/walks with trees/staring at the sky and reading with coffee. Yes!

7. Is Austin in a romantic or sexual relationship with anyone? What is their partner like? Or, why not? If you don't already know, then you have to read HWA 🤪. Austin wants to share his life with someone special, so he's v romantique monogamique...

Kamuro shipping week + MKISA behind-the-scenes

There was a Yakuza/RGG/LAD fan ship event online. I decided to spread Shishido/Tsuruno propaganda for it. I'm not really an illustrator or fic writer, so I made a 1-page mini comic vignette (?) per idea (so seven total).

Read em all here (+ my unhinged freetalk)! I had to pre-draw everything because I was traveling that week. The first and last pages went through the biggest edits (compared to the finals) because my toxic-comic-mentality loves to create more work and does not allow me to draw standalone illustrations...must add more panels to depict lead-up/aftermath.

The energy I entered KSW with:

The other thing on my backburner is doing a creator commentary zine for MKISA about thoughts/choices that happened across steps. Why? IDK. I also have a toxic-documentation-trait?

Though I don't really have enough space to go deep into initial paneling choices (which I did for ch.1 only). I thought about doing more in web format so I could have INFINITE FREETALK space but my current feeling is "I don't want this stuff to get scrapped" (sob).

Fishlips

Apparently they kissed this candle in a dream...

Amigasa hat during a dancing festival.

Reading

How Far the Light Reaches: this was recc-ed by someone and it was also mentioned in The Book of Eels. I listened to this one (narrated by the author) while embroidering poss jacket. I didn't read the summary/description, so I was not expecting how much queer biracial trans feelings and extremely personal stories it was had (incl. mentions of sexual assault). It was interesting to see how they used animalfax metaphors to draw comparisons with personal life experiences.

The book mentioned Immortal jellyfish. Importantly the wiki says of the person who has been able to keep them in captivity:

Kubota regularly appears on Japanese television to talk about his immortal jellyfish and has recorded several songs about them, often singing them at the end of his conference presentations.

I had to go find these songs...THERE'S A COSTUME

There's a frog genus named Mini and there are species called Mini ature, mum, and scule!!!

Sebright chicken: which someone else described as "lineart chickens" so I had to go confirm it with my own eyes, and yes, it's true.

Stray: it's a one-shot volume about a yakuza who was released from jail and ends up helping the kid of the guy he killed. Cue mystery/investigatory plot. I found the story to be fairly anticlimatic?! Also had a completely unnecessary-to-plot ladyboob touch, indicative of its target audience. I liked the one-shot baseball story more than the main plot...

Witch of Thistle Castle #2-4: dangers abound.. Their relationship is really ambiguous. There are a lot of unhinged characters. The pacing in this comic is very strange to me. Unfortunately the library's e-book copy was not in the correct order (pages were displayed L to R) and the tones were super moired, so that didn't help with understanding what's going on. I like the style and fashion of the characters, at least?!

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun #1: It's been a while since I've seen a comic have comics printed on the interior covers. I wonder if it will always stay in this short koma format or if there will be a more involved plot?

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity #11-13: I love Rintaro's whole fam............why are they so good and supportive!! UGH!!!!!!! Yorita friendshipp UGHH!!!!!! ALL THE SHYSHY BLUSHING.......!!!

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth #1-2: Someone told me to read this after finding out that I randomly watched the 100 Meters movie! I feel like they described it as "the most BL story that isn't BL" or something like that HAHA. As usual, I didn't know what it's about, but as soon as I turned to the first page I realized it was way more real-talk and gruesome than I expected given the hints of Astronomy on the cover. The art was more scrungy than expected, but I don't think it detracts from the story. It has a strong contemplative, philosophical vibe to it. A lot of unhinged people doing sinful things. I'm interested in seeing what they get up to and how it plays out. It did take some time to displace my own foundational knowledge about Earth/Sun/etc. in order to get my mind into the comics' context.

Default Mode Network: I heard about this concept from Maiji's SpiderForest creator interview! I do feel like I spend a lot of time thinking about fictional characters or working through ideas/plots/etc. in my own brain (because I don't go outside much, haha), which falls under the "thinking about others" category in the article. As usual I don't have much autobio thoughts/memory. I wonder if I have to consciously do it do have it stick in my mind, but TBH I probably have more fun thinking about silly and saucy fandom and OC plots than thinking about myself.

The Fediverse for Cartoonists (or: Slow Posting for Freaks): Nero wrote up a guide! Very good, also go read his comics and join Cartoonists United if you're interested in improving cartoonists' rights (even if you're a hobby comics person)!

Games

I reopened ParaLives again and made my OCs for the majority of the time. Later on I realized that making 2 characters in the same household was a mistake because that means I have to watch 2x ppl do things and have 2x goals/needs/wants/jobs and I can't even handle doing that for 1 character?!?! I also saw that they age and I'm too afraid of what will happen.

It's still in early dev so everyone has sorta, vacuum suctioned clothing fits HAHA (which makes sense for Jake, not for Austin). A lot of shirts had really WIDE necklines too (like boat, which is less commonly used in masc fashion design).

The character creator is fairly customizable when it comes to facial features and some body traits. It's slightly more realistic than how I draw, so I had to think about what shape their lip outlines were haha.

They're currently house mates and there are 2 beds, but sometime they sleep in the same bed but really far apart HAHA.

If I'm going to play for realsie, I will make a new household with a rando single character...

Brainrot

Gokudo Sweets #4: they went to a dashi broth (??) place, Yasumaru Asakura (浅草やすまる), and fluffy/fuwafuwa pancakes at Benizuru (紅鶴) in Asakusa. They're so used to feeding each other, haha.

(I'm sorry these are all birdsite links). I like how the mangaka for Match Monde met Yamaguchi (presumeably at the movie stage greeting?) and realized they had to draw Yamaguchi as fish shop keeper art.

I rewatched Tamura Yuto: Isolated again, since there were ENG fansubs that could be timed to the DVD. Though there isn't really that much dialogue, haha. I kept an eye on the action choreo this time. The actors are all too cool. I feel like Himuro's entrance looked extra bossman this time around haha.

This image didn't turn out how I thought it would at all, so it will be interesting to see what others see in it, haha. Visual art can exists in so many ways and be unforgivingly precise and interestingly amorphous. This time I didn't do any overt smudging and let the paper texture show. It feels more like a drawing than a painting, though I'm unsure of where the line is drawn between those words.

• Pastels: Marie's colored chalk pastels
• Paper: Nobel pastel paper

The appeal of scrungy scrungo is that they have range. Cute, feral, fiesty, pathetic, disheveled, terrible, amazing.

Some stunning scrungo scrunglerinos

• opossums: someone called opossums "scrungly scream bean" and I couldn't agree more. Perfect name
• nearly all rodents, like rats
• nearly all shrews
• moles
• raccoons
• skunks
• so many more

If you have a favourite scrungy please tell me, I am always looking for more scrungles to admire.

The fuzzy-leaved plants that I thought were Lamb's Ears were actually black-eyed susans!

OC bday: Ladi

I didn't intend for all of the SITM character bday pics to be "characters in their off days/personal lives" but mysteriously it turned out that way. Tho too bad...no glasses...

OC Qs from penbrydd

1. Is Ladi's current job what their parents or guardians expected them to be doing at this point in their life? Her parents don't understand her job and she also doesn't bother to explain it other than "talk to people and see what they think about [topic] and write reports."

2. How often does Ladi fantasize or daydream? What about? She vividly (and violently) mindfights corporate bozos.

3. What is the most physical thing that Ladi does regularly—exercise, walk, dance, clean the house, have sex, play a sport, fight? She walks her cat at night.

4. Does Ladi have a 'type', a personality trait or physical appearance that they're often attracted to on some level (could be romantic, sexual, or platonic)? She is platonically attracted to googly-eyed things. For coworkers, she likes independent and hard workers.

5. If Ladi has ever had a nickname, how did they acquire it, and how do they feel about that? Lady (derived from mispronunciation, dislike) and Lala (childhood friends / family only, feels like it is very childish).

6. What kind of vehicle does Ladi travel in/with, if any? A regular compact car.

7. If Ladi could forget one thing, what would it be? Her office badge/access card, which is why she still uses a lanyard even though it is horrible for fashion.

Like a Dragon fanart

Last of the LAD bdays~ lion boy Shishido. I liked the idea of having gifts/snacks in his big puffer jacket hood. A palm-sized lion plush to keep around, hehe. I own a mallet for hammering wood somewhere, but I couldn't find it to use it as reference, so I improvised with a Marker stabbed into a toilet paper roll, hahaha.

As for how such a thing turns into an accordion plastic toy hammer...it's a lot of trial and error.

Listening

Cicada's 神木之島原聲帶 The Island and the Trees Original Soundtrack

Omg the The Raccoons (a Canadian cartoon from the 80-90s) music is on Bandcamp.

Reading

DIY Printable, paper mini zine holder: template for a stand, for letter and tabloid-sized paper!

Baby's Dream Tamaverse ticket: I can't believe that there's a Chama-sensei...is it older Chamametchi!? Her body looks longer!? Kuchipatchi with soother is too perf. I've always been impressed at the upto-date-ness and output of whoever runs Tama-Palace account. The tamagotchi x KAWAISOUNI! LAND collab drawings are so bendy funny. Tamagotchi has really gone hard into collabs and merch and branding (I feel like there have been no pauses for the past few years).

Fool Night #9: so many layers of conspiracy and espionage...

A Bride's Story #10-15: approve of golden horse rider bride-to-be. I love how horse-crazy many of the characters are hahaha. I liked how Nikolo and Ali had nice closure. Of course I also approved of all the cute sheeps...and Kaoru Mori's drawing skills are truly amazing.

Witch of Thistle Castle #1: I support witches who have to wear glasses to reduce their exposure to spirit visions

Pink Candy Kiss #5: these gals are in danger mode now

The draft of this illo was actually more circular blobs, but as I smudged things around, they turned more cloudy, so I rolled with that and it has become a sky and cloud-like illo. My first time really using chalk pastels. What a messy medium (I haven't figured out a good way to store this picture...), I grimace when I see how much pigment just falls off. As I result I didn't capture any WIP shots because my hands were covered in pigment dust. This is one of those mediums that requires high quality paper and/or fixative...

• Pastels: Marie's colored chalk pastels
• Paper: Nobel pastel paper

Slow life

A few months ago I had a meal with an older person. They were confused/bewildered by my lifestyle...that I wouldn't drive, esp these days where everyone wants to do and go around and do more. This reminds me of the sort of fast-paced productivity expectation that is placed on us.

But if time permits, I do like being slow and savouring moments and exploring where I can. Doing things by hand. Actually using my eyeballs to observe something closely and slowly. Seeing that the little flower peeking out from under melting snow. Reveling in the breeze that's keeping me cool. Wandering around because I'm not worried about getting honked at or crashing into someone. Doing things where I mostly have control over my body and pace. Forced to go slower because I'm just a slowpoke.

(this makes me sound like I go outside a lot, but I'm a homebody)

It's interesting that the general opinion of living life is about doing more and traveling and seeing the world. Very...external-focused? And spending money? Being social? Though I do like the premise of expanding your experiences and horizons.

I wonder how it became that way, maybe there's some wealth/performative-rationale to it (I recently read about USian jello-encased food from the 50s and its roots in demonstrating post-war wealth.

I guess I live well doing stuff indoors and using my brain and hands. I also get to save some money and commute time. While person X is having a blast somewhere outside of their home, I'm having torturous but differently fulfilling times churning out weird indulgent arts and comics that take a long time.

Slow zines

I wrote up how I made MKISA physical zine, a very slow process. 

It's very in line with my tendencies to want to cater to my heart's fancy. I made 18 books~ I'm not sure what will happen to most of them, but I figure that if I do go to some cons in 2027, they can be displayed there! Or you can do a zine trade with me!

Looking at the comic itself, I don't really remember the experience of drawing it, save for one moment that I thought was silly:

I was inking and walked away from my monitor to do something else, then I came back and was surprised to just see a giant butt on my screen; it's Shishido's napping pose in ch2.

Other than that it feels like this comic just suddenly appeared without much connection to me (not in a bad way, I intellectually know I drew it...). It's bewildering to hold this thing and flip through it and know that it somehow came from my hands/brain/etc. I'm surprised at how bad autobio-memory really is, since I finished the drawing part not that long ago. Gotta love (self-diagnosed) SDAM. I'm always tempted to go find a neurology researcher and be like come study my weirdo braino that I didn't realize was weird until recently.

I think this is part of why I like documenting what I do, because otherwise, there isn't anything in my brain. Another slow and time consuming thing to do, haha.

Slow organizing

I went feral and manually (even though there's an export function haha) went through my library history to create my own offline reading list records. I haven't really figured out a good system for tracking (across mult libraries and physical/digital), beyond a standard spreadsheet. I know there are online trackers, but I don't have a need for the ratings and social elements. For me, I mainly need "which volume am I at with this series again?! When do I need to remember to check for new continuation of the series again?!"

For now these records are in in a massive note. It took long to make but it was nice to look through my reading history deliberately and slowly. I like having the cover visual because it's helpful for recall, but I currently have no sorting function. In the future I want to be able to hide stuff that's "complete." Maybe I do have to move this to a spreadsheet...but embedding images in those is always annoying (and sometimes the scroll becomes less smooth).

Savouries

My recent small joy is using this mammoth/mastodon tiny plate and pouring just enough chocolates on it for a lil treat/snack.

I don't have much a sweet tooth (I'm more savoury/salty) but if it's dark choco I can enjoy it. IMO white choco is a S I N.

Looking

I didn't do much reading because I was too busy bookbinding, haha. But Melanie Richards started a directory for Makers Who Blog.

Brainrot

I had a really weird "semi-awake but not entirely conscious" dream where I was sharing a hotel room with Motomiya because we both flew/travelled to Toronto to attend a hockey event (?? we were both players ??).

Somehow a toddler (stranger) had gotten into our room and was doing advanced math problems on one of the beds, which bewildered us, but they snuck away before we could make sense of it all.

Then Motomiya was contemplating whether he should fly back home a day earlier, because he got into an argument with his wife before leaving for this trip. I told him to leave earlier to reconcile with his wife, hahaha.

ANYWAY it so such a nonsensical dream that it makes me laugh, as I don't think I have ever played ice hockey in my life (??). The closest I got was being forced to do floor hockey in elementary/jr high gym class. I haven't skated in decades either (and was never good at it either). I am -1000% athletic.

I was looking at the Nihon Touitsu Tokyo Hen (I haven't watched it) website and SNS and I'm really enamoured by TV Tokyo's dog mascot. What's extra endearing is Motomiya (a hulking guy) holding this tiny dog plush that looks like they have 0 brain cells up to his cheek (photo is ~midway down the page).

What do you call that? Revealing some of my local lingo...

I'm sure there are more but I just can't remember them!

Speaking of flowflows, I HAD TWO POPPY FLOWFLOWS!!!!!!! The seed germination rates (iceland mix) are dismal so this is a rare success story. Matchymatchy with the chamos~

The other one is more orange. The white one already lost its petals by the time this one came out. The petal translucency is so lovely~

On the topic of languages, I get mixed up with words and don't know how to spell and pronounce a lot of things. Perhaps the simultaneous learning of 4 different languages while growing up (note: I have retained none of them) added to this confusion.

Canada uses a lot of similar words and spelling and pronunciation to UK (fun colonial history) and US counterparts, but not always. Similar story with Canadian vs France French (more colonial history).

HTML code uses "color" while I use colour (neighour, labour, rigour, etc.). Most of my clients are based in the US, so everything I write for them usually has to use US-spelling.

Yet there is still some stubborness to revert back to non-US spelling when I can, but more often than not, I forget which spelling is the Canadian one, like specialize (US) vs specialise (UK). I default to using the "z" version more but sometimes it's an aesthetic choice.

Some of my other Canadian friends were talking about the old ABC alphabet song, and how the Canadian pronunciation of "Z" (zed) does not rhyme in the song like Zee (tee, you, vee, double-u, ex, why and zee) so I use Zee more often.

Some US clients could immediately tell that my white Canadian colleagues spoke very Canadian.

With me, they usually say that they only clue in when I say specific words, like Proh-cess vs Praw-cess.

I think due to my work, I got used to using variations interchangeably, and it just depends on the context and what flows out of my mouth (mouth...feel?), haha. Also, my parents' first language isn't English, so most of what I know came from TV and others in my class. A lot of TV in Canada was from the US as well. I feel like the average USian doesn't realize how much of the rest of the world has bent backwards for them due to $ economic and war power $.

A long time ago, I also had a harsh transition between being in French immersion, then going back to English studies. What do you mean , in math are now . but , are still used to denote THOUSAND numeric unit? Where are all my extra letters for scientifique and gouvernement? What do you mean apostrophe isn't pronounced la-pohs-trof? Yes, I have uttered "a-pohs-trof" in an English sentence and people thought I didn't know English. Our food/product packaging here is also dual language, and I constantly commit these pronunciation sins💅🏻.

(I have retained very little French and am just an anglophone)

Anyway, when I meet multi-lingual people, I am always impressed. I can't keep things straight in one language, let alone multiple. There is something so neat when a person can switch their language/speech rhythmn/tone in the same breath. I often wish I had kept up/retained all those languages from my youth, but I have too much learning on my plate already!

The heading image vibe I was going for was something that seemed simultaneously in conflict yet harmonious. I guess that's how I feel about words and languages.

• Outlines: Mitsubishi prussian blue
• Paint: ShinHan PWC Premium Watercolour (probably, they're halfpans a friend filled for me from tubes)
• Paper: Stilman and Birn alpha
• Brush: Escoda versatil 6

Tarot readings

Maiji offered to do some tarot card readings in exchange for pifo donations, so I jumped on to ask about what stuff I might include in future comics/zines!!

Can't wait to figure out stories with a rider delivering a baby, which is the key to the OTP's success 🤣. 🏇🏻🔑👼🏻🫂💰💰💰💰💰💰❤️

Fanarts

As noted in MKISA I became even more of Akame and Watase friendship (headcanon) fan after drawing my comic, so when I found out their bdays were 2 days apart, I knew I had to draw both...! It's fate!!

I don't draw gals super often (let alone colour drawings them!?) so adding makeup is always a bit surprising to me because it makes a big difference (I'm more familiar with the big difference from zero to full facial hair drawing, haha).

Akame has a good relationship with unhoused and encampment folks, so I wanted her to celebrate with them. My thought was that they'd pool money to buy a lot of conbini desserts and then feast together after the bday -haver picks their top choice! Her hat and the confetti are made out of aged newspapers (texture from a public domain image)!

Watase...was hard to draw too. I looked up CIGAR and BUTANE LIGHTER stuff for this. SOFT YELLOW FLAME? BLUE FLAME?! $1.5k + lighter? No big deal!

Ok I did actually spend too much time thinking about whether to use a standard bic-style lighter (because presumably a Watase family member is using it and is not made of money) but eventually I landed on the fact that they probably keep a fancy lighter around for fancy occasions and guests. It took me a really long time to figure out how to draw that flip-hinge cap in "perspective."

I felt like no underling would dare mess up Watase's hair or play tricks, so he doesn't get a hat, haha.

I didn't intend to make a series outta these bday fanarts but it has sorta become one. Shishido's bday is at the end of Aug so I think I'll end it there...

Fishlips

They're level 42 now. Their bday is in October! I put them in the chess tournament for a several months in hopes that they'd get more intelligence points, but they're still baby...!

Reading/looking

There's Yuri Comic Jam Itch event coming (April 1-June 1 2026). I wanna draw some YURI!

Fable, a guessing game for living creatures (somewhat similiar to Anthropeum) but there's a timer and a progressive "zoom out" from micro-macro zoom out of a photo.

Hoopoe, one of the birds that were mentioned from playing Fable that I have never heard of. Such fun plumage and head feather shape!

A tool that measures your digital line drawing accuracy and speed. I am very bad at this. It also gives you a summary of which angle/directions of line you are best/worst at...

Akane-banashi #16: I now have some of the Shiguma lores...!! I like that the whole school really loves their master (sob), reminds me of Yakuza fams, haha...

10 Dance #8: I lost the plot, but ok, we're back to the actual main relationship and the actual 10 dance competition...

Hirayasumi #9: too many lovely and relatable small moments in this comic

Nina the Starry Bride #18: the Beast God situation...felt rather anticlimatic. I didn't understand...

I tried Kraft Dinner cheese ramen.......as a person who enjoys both of these separately, the combination they created, is not very good.

Brainrot report

Yamaguchi is playing a fresh fish shop owner in Match Monde, which is a live action movie adaptation of the comic (same title) by Horiuchi Shogo. I like the slightly unhinged knife-wielding bloody uncle energy he's giving in his role, haha. So confident in his fighting that he's taking a smoke break partway through hehe. It's having its North America debut at Big Bad Film Fest in California.