#might still make the zine! just won't be shared online

[thetrashyflower]

was so locked in on gay i forgot to eat dinner

[starkittyzines]

zine review #1

Ada / @theowllien

my first zine review post - read more ! 👇

starting longer, actually blog-like blog posts to talk about the zines i read! my plan is to do it for every new zine i acquire and have enough thoughts for a post about it, but i also plan to go back and do reviews of zines i've already read. i have 150+ zines in my collection so that might take a while 🫣 so i won't pressure myself to do all of them, of course. but there's some i'd like to share in particular. all love to the zines i won't share maybe i just don't have enough to say but i love them all

these posts will also have some ramblings so be prepared for that!! they'll be under #zine reviews on my blog

i'm starting with zines received in a recent zine trade with @theowlien 🌟

Ada sent me zines of different formats printed on white and green paper. I loooove a zine printed on colored paper it's fun and changes things up a bit

three of them are art zines with drawings and sketches, i love the frogs but maybe it's biased by liking colored paper zines because all of them are great. i like zines that are collections of illustrations and art, i want to make more of those myself so it's always inspiring to see someone else's.

i was also intrigued by their "annoying bottle caps" zine, about those bottle caps that stay attached to the bottle. it's supposed to prevent bottle caps from getting separated from the bottle and get lost in nature and injure animals that might eat them or something. but yeah I don't know how effective they are for that purpose and they make drinking a little awkward. one reason i do like them is at least i can't drop or misplace my bottle cap. great zine subject to ramble about

also check out that cover!! the hand movement of opening a bottle cap is such an awkward thing to draw. i'm always so confused at drawing hands anyway, but this one in particular i wouldn't have attempted. and look how cool Ada made it :)

ok sidenote, mid-writing this i came home and poured some soy milk into my tea and. the new bottles have these caps. the old ones did not. NOOO

i really liked the mix of drawing and text in these next two zines specifically. not sure you can read the title of the boots one super well in the picture on mobile, it says "boots and why it's the only punk thing about me"

first i was interested in the one about kokeshi dolls because i was quite into those when i was a kid and completely forgot about them! i think i first came across them when i won a book at a reading comprehension contest, and picked one about the dolls. i was quite interested in everything to do with japan (up until being a young teen). my older cousin was very into manga and drawing characters from anime and I started learning how to draw with her, although i had always been drawing, i gained more interest through that. so anything related to japan peaked my interest.

i found the book!!!!! it was this one

i did go by yumi online + sign art with that name for a few years (i know, french white girl using a japanese name for no reason, classic, i was young yikes) but i can't remember if i was already doing that and that's why i was drawn to the book, or if i picked up the name from the book. anyway, i learned some japanese words from it and started drawing these dolls, and eventually was gifted one (from some mass produced trash store most likely).

kokeshi dolls were a bit of a lost memory so it was fun to read this zine :) i had actually never learned much about them at all as i had more of an aesthetic interested in them (and was a child) so i know a little more now

back to the zines - "boots and why it's the only punk thing about me" was a fun read too, it also reminded me of some memories. teenage years memories this time. i wanted to be edgy so bad but wasn't doing much that was defying the rules in any capacity. i got my first and only pair of dr martens boots when i was 13-14yo (i still have them today! over 10 years later. the soles are so thin i feel the gravel i step on so I can't stay they're in good shape, i very rarely wear them nowadays and have new boots). at the time i hated being a "girly girl" and felt socially pressured to wear dresses, but had a very hard time finding ones i was comfortable wearing. my compromise was to wear them with my boots, which luckily my mom supported and thought was really cool. Ada talks about wearing boots with a wedding dress, that was the idea for me then. and if i were to get married in a dress, i'd probably do it in boots. but i'm most likely wearing something closer to a suit if that ever happens anyway.

i liked all the drawings of boots, like this one on the cover is so cool

i better learn how to draw boots this cool bc i'm going to be drawing people's outfits for a collaborative zine project, and it's about queer fashion so i know these people will all be wearing boots #not stereotyping my own at all

i think i'm starting to be actually a little more punk myself, aside from boots and all. well there's probably a lot i'm doing that would be considered punk depending on your definition but i'm actively trying to learn to break pointless rules. so that's something

Ada also sent me one last zine titled IZMA, which i'll make a separate post about; this is already quite long and i can't find the time to write more so i want to just post this and give it a dedicated post!

i really like zines that include sketches and drawings, receiving and reading those made me want to draw more in my next ones again. and maybe pick up more sketching in general, i'm starting to miss it.

thank you again for trading zines with me!!

you can find Ada here on tumblr and on ko-fi :) here's a carrd.co too

[xxmissarichanxx]

✨XMACX Monthly✨ | April 2024

lol i hope u enjoyed the silly update yesterday~ here's the answers to the lil game:

2 TRUTHS • i did draw the line art with my left hand c'''': • may's cover model MAY in fact be a yummy mommy. it's up to youuuuu~

2 LIES • i'll never stop drawing hunks. who would i be without them sobs • i am dropping a BL comic this month, just not on April 20.

you may read this month's update on PTRN for free or below the cut~ you can also view the previous issue here.

I cannot believe we are four months into 2024. What have I to show for it :''''D Anyway, a few announcements:

I got accepted into Citrus Con's Artist Alley this year! I had the honor of sharing my wares during the online BL convention last year. I'm excited to do it again this year! I'm hoping to debut physical copies of some BL comics, and if not, digital copies will be fine too. My bootiful patrons will be the first to read them. Starting this month, I'll be dropping pages. Whatever I finish, it's going up.

You might have also noticed that the banner on the top of my Patreon page changed. It's to reflect the transition I'm making from one project to the next. :^)

Schedule

April 1 - The Fool's Cover

April 2 - XMACX Monthly Update

April 5 - May Cover Model Polls

April 12 - April Cover Model Process

April 19 - Kiki's Sakura Date Part 2

April 26 - Cover Story, Ippon!

April 28 - FBDC Update

April 30 - Sketch Dump

Cover Story Preview | Ippon!

I think I am ready to take on a slightly longer comic than the short ones I've worked on the past few months. SO, I'll be dusting off this old project that features Masa sparring Ken in a judo match.

April OC Birthdays

April 1st is Satoru's birthday because he's a silly goose. He was featured in my short comic last month, Kiki's Sakura Date Part 1. He'll also show up in Part 2.

VN Development Update | FBW

This month I'm picking up where I left off in developing Froot Basket White! I'll be starting with Sutoro's route, which means his will be the first to release!

I've also decided that for Froot Basket White, I'd like to have some pals onboard to help me create assets, so I'll be hiring peeps to draw the background art, food items, and other things I need assistance with. I'll still be the sprite, CG, and UI artist and writer.

I'd also like to properly have the script proofread before I hand it off to our cast members. And when it comes down to it, I'd like to have the episodes tested before release. I'm excited for this project and I hope I can wrap up the story well!

Other Stuff this Month

I'm sorry, but I am STILL catching up on commissions orz. And because I am an Ainosuke and SK8 simp, I'll be partaking in another Adam Zine. I simply enjoy being in the fandom and seeing and supporting peeps who create in the fandom. And I think Ainosuke is an amazing character and if given any opportunity to support him and other Adam lovers, I WILL BE THERE.

In other news, I'll be on a teeny tiny vacay around mid-April. I won't be taking my tablet or laptop with me, so I won't be able to work on stuff. I'll do my best to build a buffer for May because...

Next Month

I'll be gone the first half of May. I'm peacing out. I'll be spending some time with mi mama. I don't wanna even think about projects or work. In fact, I wanna catch up on a backlog of playing some friend's games and reading some friend's comics and novels.

And then I'll cram everything in the last half of the month (like I usually do) LOL.

WATCH BRAVE BANG BRAVERN AND CRY WITH ME SOBS

Mahalo nui, Ari

[lycandrophile]

I'm super pumped to see your transmasc centric theory but people ignore us so much and simply don't care about us that I'm worried you're going to be accused of talking over transfems/being transmisogynistic. I hope all goes well.

honestly at this point i think it's pretty much inevitable that at least a few people are going to say that, so i just keep reminding myself that no matter how much they want to call me transmisogynistic for talking about transmasc issues, the literal inventor of the word transmisogyny said that "we need additional language" specifically so that we CAN discuss the specific issues that transmasc people (among others) face

also, an important note about the theory for anyone interested in reading it: since i do want to maintain my anonymity on this account, whenever that theory is published i'm not going to explicitly say that it's mine, BUT i will still share it on here so you'll still have access to it whenever it's finished

i'm thinking i might make it a sort of collection of essays in a zine format, because that lends itself well to future additions if there's more i want to say once it's published without making it hard to find all the pieces (because they'd all be published as different issues of the same thing, so they'll be easy to find all together)

and just to be clear, it will be available for free online, i'll probably have an optional "pay me if you want to support me" option but it being in zine format doesn't mean you won't be able to access it for free, i want As Many People As Possible to be able to read it

[citrus-cactus]

Citrus' Art Summary 2021!

Here it is, my year in art! Overall, I did more digital art this year than any other year previous, managing about one major piece per month. Finally a year when I can fill in all those squares (and then some!)! That's a-bonkers-lot for me :O

Some more reflection 'neath the cut:

I set out with the goals this year of Doing Lots of Art Digitally for practice/learning purposes and also working with deadlines in mind, kinda maybe sorta... like a real professional might? Just to try it out?? Of the stuff I finished, two were for a zine (hmm, never did post those, though you can see most of the full-color piece in February!), three were paid work (blurred/not pictured, I don't really feel comfortable sharing those), one was a t-shirt design (not pictured), one was for an art giveaway (June), 10 were sketch requests (March-May), 7 were for Tumblr events (all digimon-related; July-October), 7 are for a personal project that I really won't be giving many details about (Nov), and 10 were index-card-sized pen-and-ink practices. Oh, and if we're counting ALL creative/fandom stuff, I wrote a fanfic and made a fanmix. Phew!!

I'd like to say I enjoyed every minute of it, but some of it was sort of stressful, actually ^^; I DO have a full-time job; my self-imposed artistic workflow made it feel like I was working two jobs sometimes, and that DEFINITELY took a toll on me (particularly since I was trying to meet all those deadlines!). I also tended to get wrapped around the axle being a perfectionist a lot of the time, which led to me to spending a LOT more time fiddling with not-actually-that-important stuff than I probably should have (this is a constant struggle for me!). TL;DR, there are still TONS of things I could afford to learn about being a more efficient/less neurotic artist, and, in hindsight, I think I was teetering on the verge of burnout several times throughout the year (oops).

One positive thing I did was upgrade from MangaStudio to ClipStudio this year, and while there there are things I miss about my old setup, I really like that you can download new brushes directly from Clip, as well as some new functionality I discovered that I had never figured out previously (or maybe it didn't exist?). I also realized I need to make major improvements to my posture, break-taking, and overall drawing setup. I tend to hunch over a lot and that has made my back and shoulders pretty unhappy a lot of the time, particularly when I'm in deep-focus and work-hard mode :P

I'd also like to... draw more for myself next year? Taking requests is a lot of fun (and I still have several in my inbox that I'd like to finish, WHOOOOPS), but sketching for myself used to be something I did to relax and unwind, and I realized it's not really relaxing if I'm drawing with the intent to post for an online audience. I also really want to make more progress on my Personal Project now that I've started it properly! So I'm anticipating my perceived art output will be a lot lower next year, for all these reasons, and that’s OK! Art goals for next year involve a) working on self-care and recovering from what-very-well-may-be burnout, b) jamming as much as I can on Personal Project and things I will probably never publish on the Internet, c) WORRYING LESS about small details & audience when I DO draw/post goofy fandom stuff, and d) remembering how to draw spontaneously and for fun. Fingers crossed these are achievable goals!

In terms of my personal favorites for the year... well, that's tough! I like them all for one reason or another. I REALLY liked how my December piece turned out; I think I nailed it (I really wish I could show it!!). And I'm also really proud of how the Daisuke Kaiser comic turned out. I got to play with some fun screentone brushes, and it's an ACTUAL (short) MANGA-STYLE COMIC that I finished, for once. Finally makin' comics!! Secretly, THAT'S THE DREAM!!! My teenage self would be so proud.

It'll be interesting to see what 2022 brings!