That Exciting Stage In A Painting Where It Looks Like Mud

Some sketchbook pages.

If anyone is interested in getting these as a print or something, just let me know and I can add it to my society6 account.

My Etsy: LINK / My Ko-Fi: LINK

considering Etsy’s recent policy changes regarding allowing the sale of AI-generated works and the ban on selling sex toys, I will probably deactivate my Etsy store in the next month or two.

Eventually, I will look for another platform on which to sell my art, but there might be something of a hiatus inbetween. So if you want any of my stuff in the near future, you should probably go order it now

I was posting art online back in the days of Elfwood, before Deviantart, so I’ve been around to watch the internet social rules of interacting with art posts shift over time.

Lemme tell you: Reblogs make me happy, but comments fill me with JOY. Whether it’s on the reblog or in the tags, even if it’s as simple as “I like this,” that means so much to me.

I can imagine there are a lot of artists in a position similar to mine: Working a full-time non-art job, with little time or opportunity to interact with IRL art communities. I was in art school for many many years, and I didn’t realize how important it was to receive feedback on my art until I wasn’t getting it anymore.

One of the things I’m trying to do, over on my bsky and my sideblog, is to leave a comment of some kind when I reblog another artist’s work. I know it means a lot to me, so I want to give that to artists whose work I enjoy.

To everyone who leaves comments on my art, even goofy stuff in their tags: I do see it, I do read it, and thank you so much!

To people who leave comments in the tags that say stuff like “this is so weird” or “why did they make the characters so ugly”: Please go look at more art and develop a broader palette. Maybe watch Simon Schama’s “The Power of Art” miniseries, as a fun way to learn some art history and theory.

More warm up contour drawings

My Etsy: LINK / My Ko-Fi: LINK

Hello dear.. Please don't skip my message My name is Mohammed, from the afflicted and destroyed Gaza Strip, where life has become impossible and tragic, and where we see death and pain every moment and every day. Our children suffer from hunger, pain, deprivation and lack of medicine. The war deprived them of playing, school, and their most basic rights. They are now suffering from woes and tragedies. 😭😭 During the war, my wife gave birth to a child and I could not find any milk for him Our conditions are tragic, and we live in a shelter that lacks the minimum requirements for life and is plagued by diseases and epidemics Please help me save my children from the hell of the Gaza Strip and provide them with a decent life 😔 Your assistance, no matter how simple, is enough to ease the burden on us and help us overcome our crisis. Please sympathize with me and donate to me or contribute to sharing the campaign and spreading it widely

please give if you can and share

replying to messages!

there are a lot of them, so they’re going under the cut...

Anonymous said: Your comics are great, I really love your art style and your sense of humor.

Thank you!       

Anonymous said: Therapist Bobby Hill sounds a lot better than my therapist tbh. (Hey there love your art you are amazing!)    

Thanks!

If your therapist is NOT working for you and you have the option/ability -- get a different one. Some therapists are shitty, some therapists are good therapists, but just not for you. I know it can feel shameful, like you’re “quitting,” but the right therapist can make a big difference. I’ve seen 5 therapists over the years. 1st therapist was awesome, but eventually I had an issue she wasn’t versed in, so she helped me look for a new therapist. 2nd therapist was cool with me, but my parents hated her... and it was family therapy so that wasn’t working. 3rd therapist was AWFUL, I saw her for 4 sessions and then never went back. Therapists 4 and 5 were also awesome, and I found them by “shopping around” and making sure I was seeing someone versed in the issues I had.

But I totally get if you’re not in a place where you can do that, and you have my sympathy.

Anonymous said: hey your art is just super wonderful and soothing and it makes me cry and I love it so much please keep on doing it

Thank you! And I plan on keeping it up. When I’m not being steam-rolled by grad school. lol.

Anonymous said: for a sec while I was reading the sequel to the first comic I was like "Noooo.... but... CONNIE", then I thought "Oh well, this is ok too, no big deal", but surprise! also Connie! ha ha, anyway awesome job, thank you  

You’re welcome! There’s no way I could leave out Connie, she’s so cool. And I feel like she’s the kind of person who would be pragmatic and chill about being in a poly relationship.

Anonymous said: So I was a little confused by your cartoon marriage counseling comic at first. I hadn't seen a comic about abuse and relatonship problems populated, completely seriously, by cartoon characters. But I actually really like it! Keep up the good work dude. (also, i saw on an old response that you deal with compulsive skin picking? i totally know that feeling.)  

I’m glad you liked the comic! And good luck with the skin picking. It is NOT fun. I’ve had some luck with keeping a fidget toy at my work desk so I have something to do with my hands when I get the urge.

@kdotjay-draws-and-reblogs said: mr. panic, can i call you mr. panic? how do i become... cool?

Well... be an incredibly anxious, neurotic high school student with no social life and really good grades, go to art school for a year, drop out, go back to school for a psych degree, go to punk & metal house shows but still be a neurotic, anxious, grade-grubbing mess, realize you’re trans, start HRT, move to the other side of the country for grad school, make a comic based on an idea you had in a class on family systems therapy, have the comic go viral and then... that’s how you... become cool?

@angstyboi said: "Clients names have been omitted." Holy fuck that comic was awesome.       

Thank you!

I don’t think many people get the original caption I put on the comic tho... It’s not meant to say you’re not supposed to know who the characters are or act like I did a good job disguising who they are (lol), it’s meant to reference psychological literature/studies, where you remove/alter identifying information of clients.

Anonymous said: That Therapy comic you made was beautiful. I literally cried and I haven't stopped because it's so good. That was amazing and I hope you have plans for more in the future. It really spoke to me personally.  

Thank you so much for taking the time to write me.

@hannahology said: I came across your Therapist RJ Hill comic again after a long while, and it still hits me hard. Then I explored the other things you've published. You do amazing work. Have you ever considered doing a series of Dr. Hill's sessions with other fictional characters?         

Thank you for taking the time to go through my stuff! That actually means a lot.

I don’t have any specific plans to return to the comic. I might in the future if inspiration strikes. I’ve been wanting to get back into sci-fi/fantasy stories, like I used to do in middle school, and I’m finding it surprisingly difficult.

You may have noticed that parts of this painting are done in different styles/with different techniques. This hand is painted similarly to a “grisaille,” base shadows painted with color built up in thin layers of glaze.

Revisiting my "Alien Moon" idea because I'm not satisfied with how that image looks as digital. May re-do the whole thing in paint or color pencil.

My Etsy: LINK / My Ko-Fi: LINK

Doodled this in between seeing clients.

I’ve been in a weird place with my art lately. Feeling like there’s no point if it doesn’t “do” something, and then doubting the ability of art to “do” anything in the first place.

But it was cool to draw this and think “Man, if 10 year old me knew they’d be able to draw Sailor Moon this well, their head would explode.”

Howdy! I’m still alive.

I’m fortunate, in that my day job is being done remotely, but it’s a very difficult change and I really don’t like it, so the stress has been getting to me. I was invited to be part of a really cool thing but it may have completely fallen through due to the stay at home order, I have no idea, so that kind of kneecapped my motivation, art-wise.

Hard copy version of my comics aren’t in my etsy store at the moment, as I’d been sneakily printing them on the printers at my office and I don’t have a printer at home. PDF versions are still up for sale.

At this time, I struggle to see the point of making art that doesn’t “do something.” Here are two tapestries I’ve made (I’m working on getting the edges even and reducing the amount of hour-glassing before I go totally nuts and invest in a rigid heddle loom) and some socks I darned for my boyfriend.