Little Yellow Bird

A new bird for a new year! Hope 2024 has been kind so far, friends ❤

That's a wrap on Folktale Week 2023!! Many thanks to the organizers and participants for your work in making this possible (and already looking forward to next year!)

[Image: All seven Folktale Week images collected in a single panel.

Text: Thank you!!

Folktale Week Day 7: Found

[Image: Returned to full seal form, the selkie leaps away happily into the waves. On shore, the stranger waves goodbye; his footprints fade into the form of a wolf.

Text: Then, no matter how far the waves take you, my dear,

Folktale Week Day 6: Illusion

[Image: The stranger--a bearded man with shaggy gray hair--embraces the smiling selkie girl with a kiss on the forehead.

Text: Wrap yourself so tightly

Folktale Week Day 5: Underground

[Image: Bright-eyed, the selkie girl sits in a cave at a fireside eating a bowl of steaming soup; a golden-eyed wolf stands guard at the entrance of the cave.

Text: Sink down,

deep underground,

Folktale Week Day 4: Sleep

[Image: A strongly-built stranger with a blue shirt and fluffy gray cloak, face obscured, cradles the unconscious selkie girl gently in his arms.

Text: Sleep first.

Folktale Week Day 3: Sea

[Image: A red-haired selkie girl lies washed up on the ocean shore amidst seaweed and shells, wrapped in the seal's white hooded coat.

Text: (The sea is vast, my dear

Folktale Week Day 2: Ink

[Image: Amid heavy rain and crash waves, a towering wave looms over the frightened baby seal.

Text: You may meet a storm that stains the seas and swells

Folktale Week Day 1: Lost

[Image: A baby seal floats on the ocean surface, nervously watching a gathering thunderstorm in the distance.

Text: One day, my dear,

you may find yourself

I'm joining Folktale Week 2023!! Super excited for this new round of my favorite annual challenge. (Given the prompts, trying my hand at a selkie tale for the first time!)

November 13-19

Prompts: Lost, Ink, Sea, Sleep, Underground, Illusion, Found

[Image: A beach at ocean's edge with seashells and seaweed. Wolf paw prints prowl on the upper left, and a seal's tale slips into the waves on the lower right.

Text: I'm joining Folktale Week!

Lost, Ink, Sea, Sleep, Underground, Illusion, Found]

*******

#FolktaleWeek2023 is hosted by a group of extraordinary artists from around the world. Many thanks to:

@tanja_stephani

@anazenun

@kalyquarles

@sirjanakaurart

@debrastyer

@louve.draws

@kellyannedalton

@matejalukezic

@jennifermpotter

@deborah.j.stein

@beingmargauxkent

Hello friends! It's been a while since posting in this season of life, but I had a blast this past weekend taking part in Madeleine Jubilee Saito's "Create a Poetry Comic!" workshop.

We made two-panel comics pulling together recently-encountered images, text, and feelings from our everyday experiences.

Thank you, Madeleine, for guiding us with such gentle, thoughtful, and generative expertise!

[Image 1: Revised poetry comic, blue background with gold border. Two panels: a grinning jack-o'-lantern with moon and autumn leaves, then a golden-eyed silhouette with furry ears and curving tail. Below, paw prints join the leaves leading off-panel. Text: Spooky season again... and the monster waits for me in the mirror. Breaking through...

Working on a 24-page issue through the Storytelling Collective's six-week "Write Your First Comic" workshop! (Not my first comic, but my longest graphic fantasy piece in development so far--the pace is definitely expanding my comfort zone!)

[Image 1: Promotional Banner--"I'm creating a comic with the Storytelling Collective." #wyfc 

Excited to have a new piece ("Ashen Cadence") out today in the Storytelling Collective's "Collective Panels, Volume II" in honor of Free Comic Book Day! 

It was a lot of fun to develop this 1-page, 5-panel piece from the ground up through the 8-day StoCo Comics Challenge in April. 

The full collection is available for "pay what you want" through the weekend via DriveThru Comics: 

https://www.drivethrucomics.com/product/436566/Collective-Panels--Volume-II?affiliate_id=3026970&fbclid=IwAR0JhLxzgScW8kyykmaHLNcAEfjJ_Dt1bONpsPtJROPFDOBttSsyE6SIAvc

[Image 1: Full comic: Ashen Cadence, reflecting on a phoenix's life cycle transition. 

Image 2: Brainstorming map, exploring ideas around stories, adventure, coming home, grief, and shadows, culminating in an idea around a phoenix in a temple featuring ashes and rebirth.

Image 3: Script for 5-panel comic.

Image 4: Black-and-white vector thumbnails. 

Image 5: Photo backgrounds under black-and-white vector thumbnails. 

Image 6: Full-color comic.