Oodles of Doodles

Hi friends!  I’ve hit a (very brief) lull in my semester and personal life, so I’ve decided to clean up and update my socials just a little bit.  I also wanted to mention that I have several shops where you can get my art on prints, clothing, and other fun things!  

I also updated and added a 40-paged coloring book that’s available for purchase on my Ko-fi page (more updates to come)! 

🌟Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/renlodraws

🌟INPRNT: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/renlodraws/

🌟Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/alittleshop/

I recently misheard something my husband said and realized that I'm much more Sonic-obsessed than I thought. It's been a few years, and I'm still trying to figure out if Sonic Colors Ultimate is an improvement over Sonic Colors.

Finally had enough mental space to doodle something! 🌟

The last few weeks have been incredibly exhausting and stressful, largely due to work. It's nice to be able to draw something and like it somewhat.

My spouse and I bought a house! This is a privilege I don't take lightly. Moving has been tiresome, but I'm grateful.

Within a week of moving in, a trespasser appeared on our porch in the middle of the night. He was apparently taking pictures of our front door, and ran away and sped off in his vehicle when my husband noticed him. A lot of time has been spent researching security systems and tools. 🫠

A coworker caused an incredibly complex, extremely unethical, and potentially illegal problem at work, and I have been thrown into the center of it. I'm not in trouble, but I'm now responsible for fixing it with very little help.

The world has been incredibly harsh. Watching civil rights unravel in real time has been a heavy weight.

I am very, very, very burnt out, lol.

A semi-mindless doodle. A friend mentioned stargazing recently, and it reminded me of how enchanted by stars and constellations I was as a child 🌟🌙

Please have a really dumb comic based on a silly conversation(?) I had with my husband a few weeks ago!

A doodle inspired by sunsets! The days are getting slightly longer, which makes me happy.

To be honest, the last few days (or weeks?) have been incredibly stressful. On a personal level, work has become more demanding, and I can feel burnout creeping closer. The kind of work I do is impactful but can be emotionally taxing, and I'm watching the resources that my team and I depend on ebb away as grants and funds are slashed. On a macro level, the world often feels as though it is burning without stopping. I have been trying to find comfort in the reminder that there are still good people in the world who are fighting for change, and that we have fought (and won) against evil in the past.

After years of referrals, late-night Googling, and lurking on subreddits about autism, I have been formally diagnosed!

Flower girl. 🌸🌷

I absolutely adore peonies - my husband actually got a small bouquet of them for my birthday, and I have one being pressed in a book right now.

Happy Black History Month! Love, celebration, and the preservation of history are so important right now. As a child, I struggled to accept my identity, and I realized later that this was due to the harmful messages that surrounded not only me, but also other Black and Brown children. However, by encountering media that celebrated the Black experience, I learned to embrace my identity. I slowly learned to love my kinky hair, dark skin, and broad, button nose. This is what motivates me to create art that celebrates the Black experience - the hope that children will learn to love themselves rather than resent their features.

I recently started therapy again, and one of the things I mentioned was that it feels like there's a 'part' of me that stows away big emotions and refuses to let them out because it's afraid of judgment. She desperately wants to avoid being singled out for being sensitive or strange.

Its 'sister', meanwhile, patrols my behavior, trying to make sure I am as morally inoffensive and squeaky clean as possible. She carries the strict, regressive messages and respectability politics that I try hard to remove from my faith and personhood.

One of the things my therapist has illustrated is that these parts are largely protective, or at least try to be - they try their hardest to avoid the uncomfortable words and circumstances that were experienced in the past, though sometimes they can do more harm than good. My therapist also suggested that I meet these parts of me with kindness instead of criticism. So here we are!

Wanted to draw something cute and cheery to offset some of the emotional turbulence that came with the last two weeks. Drawing this was a lot of fun and brought some comfort. <3

I think it's funny that pink is one of my favorite colors, even though I never wear it. I should make more pink art...

And thank you to everyone who sent a kind thought or prayer my/my family's way. This week was hard, and I am still grieving, but I feel more assured that there are still good days ahead. I have some doodles that I managed to make in between everything that I'll probably share soon.

My grandma passed away earlier this week, and her funeral is this weekend. I have many thoughts and feelings, though I don't quite have the words for all of them right now. But it's been hard.

If you are able, could you please send something silly or funny via my asks? It can be anything, really. A funny story, a video, a meme. A good laugh would feel nice. My grandma was an effortlessly funny person, and I think it'd make her happy to know that some laughter was found even during this time.

And if you aren't comfortable sending anything, that's okay - please don't feel obligated. Please just say a small prayer for me and my family, and be certain to cherish your loved ones. Give someone you love but haven't seen in a while a call, or give someone a hug. Send a message to a loved one, or reach out to a friend to hang out. Every moment is a blessing. And if you're also grieving for any reason, please give yourself the space to process those feelings.