Catchy Blog Title

🎬 Bi The Way I Am 🎬

This pride month I’m happy to share that I recently worked on a full-colour slice-of-life comic written by Mae Grenade as part of Lifeline Comics’ latest LGBT+ comic anthology, "Bi Bi Bi"; which features more than 20 stories by queer authors covering all corners of the Bi experience! 🥳🎉 The Kickstarter is live until July 3 2026 and has a bunch of bonus perks to peruse including digital editions, print editions, pins, bundles, and more!

Official announcement!! Me and my friend @friedricecomic are making a teen romcom graphic novel with an asexual protagonist!

The Publishers Weekly blurb doesn't completely explain the vibes of the story, so:

Bee has never been asked out. Yet everyone around her seems to already be in relationship or is in the process of getting one. Though Bee loves all things romantic - the tropes, the thrills, the flairs and fireworks - she has never fallen in love, and has no idea how to even begin.

When one of Bee’s best friend asks for her help to secure the affections of the most popular boy in school, Bee finally has had enough of playing pretend and decides to get some real world experience to back her advice. Relying on her encyclopedic knowledge of romantic tropes, she randomly chooses a boy to crush on and undertakes a year-long experiment to win his heart, documenting it all on her Tumblr.

It works. Except Bee is slowly gaining feelings for her lab rat. When the relationship starts becoming physical, Bee begins to realise that there are some forms of romance that she cannot reciprocate.

Will Bee find her happily ever after, or will the fantasy come crashing down?

Bee is demiromantic asexual. I myself am demisexual, and my editor is a-spec. This comic is for us aces who long for the dream of love and to be recognised for who we are.

Most of the main cast is queer! Bee's best friend is aroace to balance out the sap, but the others... are B-plot spoilers. :)

The main cast is entirely AAPI.

Applied Romantics is inspired by late 90s - early 00s romantic comedies, and my youth pouring through teen magazines, blogs and shows. I really enjoyed the cozy whimsy of Y2K rom-com (my favourites: 13 Going on 30, Sleepless in Seattle, Pushing Daisies), and noticed how so many of them were epistolary i.e using the technology of the time, like e-mail, diaries. So I set mine during the hipster peak Tumblr era of 2008-2012, incorporating the ask box, MSN, text messages and blog posts.

Read the new TPoH Update here!

Read this free freaky comic called TPoH from the start here.

If you’d like to support me and my art you can buy BIG BEAUTIFUL BOOKS of TPoH and much much more! Head on down to Topatoco town and introduce yourself to my store!

Worldbuilding where being queer is normalized and queerphobia has no impact on the plot? THAT'S FINE. Worldbuilding that includes queerphobia and tackles the effects of it as part of the story? THAT'S ALSO FINE.

Low-stakes queer romcom where the characters are fluffy and cute? THAT'S COOL. Messy queer drama with toxic people who fuck each other over and clash repeatedly? THAT'S ALSO COOL.

Stories that center the characters' queerness, show a trans character's transition, and are about the queerness as much as the rest of the plot? AWESOME. Stories where the characters' queerness isn't treated as a big deal, and have trans characters whose transition happened before the story entirely? ALSO AWESOME.

You may PREFER one thing or another, but it is actually good to have all these things. It's about variety. It's about queer characters being allowed to exist without censorship. It's about queer artists getting to make things without being told we're a "niche issue" or "adult content." It's about having as many goddamn cakes as the bakery can produce.

So the Baleens do come in a variety of colors, influenced by diet and environment. Age can impact their coloration as well (infants and kids tend to be creams and yellows) and as they age, their colors to tend to fade and grey out.

These aren't hard rules when it comes to colors and markings, but more guidelines for myself. There could be more blues, more yellows, etc. As long as it's somewhere in the yellow-green-blue range for the most part.

They also do have some regional variations, populations who've adapted to their environments compared to their desert cousins.

The Shattered continent baleens are isolated from their Horseshoe continent cousins. Over time, their more volcanic environment has driven them to develop more tough skin and darker colors.

Tundra Baleen have adapted by bulking up and getting more "fuzz" on their body. They've mostly abandoned fishing with their arms and use specialized nets to catch the shrimps and other small marine life they subsist upon.