tender hooks

I almost didn't bother buttttttttt it would make me cranky to have a year missing bc NEXT YEAR WILL BE GODDAMN BETTER. IT WILL.

2023 was the year I accidentally fell in love with Stray Kids, which I didn't have on my bingo card but they are truly just so hard to resist. So I made a sticker. :)

Reworking old art is such a funny thing. It's sort of like trying to clean a sketch layer and managing to destroy the part of the piece that gave it life. Something something the lack of refinement/life experience is the thing that makes it work and reeling it in wrings the spark out.

But anyway. I was invited to show some art at a favorite local haunt and I knew I didn't have the spoons to whip out new pieces that I'd be happy with, so I took these old faves and tried to do something with them.

I ended up going through two years worth of your art and decided I needed to have some prints of yours. However when I went clink the link to store envy, it just goes to the main page. And when I entered your info into store envy it says you don't exist. :( Any chance you still have a store going? If not, no stress! I just wanted to show some appreciation for your gorgeous work. :)

Hello! Thank you so, so much. This is the latest reply in the world and I am so sorry; life has been kicking my ass for a while and I knew I needed to actually take note of what my stock actually is before reopening my store.

But now I have my Storenvy completely up to date and and open for business! A lot of things are marked as pre-order, but that's just because a shipment is on its way. I expect I'll have everything in hand by next week, at which point things will get shipped really quickly. There are some brand new things and some old classics and I'm happy to get things moving. :)

I don't have a pithy shiny wrap-up for 2022 and I'm okay with that. It's not that I didn't draw anything this year....keeping track just doesn't feel like it matters the way it used to. Also I don't have access to some of the stuff from earlier this year because my external hard drive that holds all the things died and I haven't gotten it fixed yet because it is so expensive.

So, a recap:

I made a lot of things I'm proud of. I started teaching. I knitted a LOT. I got covid and proceeded to draw nsfw stuff like it was the end of the world. I struggled with work-life balance because that's how I'm built and also my workplace is basically on fire all the time now. I went to SPX and found so much joy and inspiration. I forged some of the strongest friendships I've ever had. I had to do a lot of stupidly expensive adult things. I found strength in my boundaries and voice.

Basically, I'm spending the end of this year practicing kindness with myself. I'm still here and I'm still making things. I hope you can also approach the end of the year with kindness for yourself. Do what makes you happy. Strive for better things but forgive yourself if you aren't there yet.

𝒹𝒶𝓃𝓍𝒾𝒶 His Highness Who Pleased the Gods

Another redraw for @shousetsubangbang's Coming Around Again issue, this time of the very first piece I ever created for the zine in 2014 [removed from Tumblr bc offfff everyone's favorite TOS].

A new issue of @shousetsubangbang is out and the theme is Coming Around Again, aka remixes, aka a chance for me to redo some of my old art!!