a lot of holidays have passed since i last wrote, so here's a blanket belated happy hanukkah, happy new years, happy valentine's day, and happy new paramore album day to all who celebrate any of those!
• haunt your own house! •
my patreon has returned from the dead, and with that, the monthly ouija board mail tier is back! i'm really excited about march's reward for that tier — i've made sticker sheets of pieces of haunted houses & prints with blank house bases on them, so y'all can mix and match, paper doll-style!
• projects! •
i'm reuniting with mark o stack, who i previously worked with on the scent of may rain, for the relentless lark #2! i meant to update this newsletter before the kickstarter wrapped up so i could remind y'all to support it, but it's been an unexpectedly busy month and i didn't quite get around to that — but the kickstarter did succeed, which means we officially get to make this comic! stay tuned for more about this gothic masquerade ball (and show some love to the other artists on this series as well — max pinelli & becca kubrick — who both do fantastic work!!!)
you might remember that around this time last year i did a haunted house illustration for trang thanh tran of the house from their book she is a haunting, which is about a bi Viet American girl searching for a place to belong & the house in Đà Lạt that never wants to be abandoned again. the book officially comes out next week, and i'm really excited to get to read it!
i did an enamel pin design of the house as well, and you can get one of those pins if you preorder the book before february 28th — and i recommend ordering the barnes & noble exclusive edition, which may have some familiar art as the endpapers. (by which i mean: my haunted house art is the endpapers for that version!!! aaaa!)
• art! •
i've mostly been working on stuff for a new project that isn't quite ready to reveal yet (i know, i know, that's been pretty much every update of this newsletter for the past 6 months — i promise someday i'll be working on things that don't have to wait a year to be shown to people!) i did do hourly comics day this year, though, and used it as a chance to play around with format in some ways i'm really pleased with.
• recommendations! •
music:
the new paramore album, this is why, is really, really good. i've been in love with this band since middle school and they truly never disappoint.
i've also been listening to gawain and the green knight's a sleeping place ep lately, and a lot of ezra furman!
podcasts:
still on a friends at the table kick.
i finished their season twilight mirage a week or so ago and have not stopped thinking about it since. (fourteen fifteen is my absolute favorite character from it, in case anyone was wondering.)
books:
i devoured grady hendrix's newest book, how to sell a haunted house, pretty much immediately after it came out, and it did not disappoint — i think it's the second scariest book i've ever read (second only to the only good indians by stephen graham jones).
i'm also rereading shirley jackson's the haunting of hill house (for the... third time? fourth time? i've lost track), which is, somewhat predictably, my favorite book of all time. i've got color coded highlighters and annotations, which means i need to get a second copy to lend out to my friends and make all of them read it, because my copy would now be insufferable to read for anyone who isn't me.
videos:
i haven't been watching a ton of tv or movies lately, but i have been watching a whole lot of bernadette banner's youtube channel. if you like historical fashion and/or sewing, highly recommend.
also, i haven't necessarily been watching this, though i'm due for a rewatch soon, but — i've been (once again) thinking about pacific rim pretty much 24/7 for the entirety of this year so far. did you know the best movie humanity will ever create has already been made, and it was made a decade ago, and it's about how you can save the world through the power of love and sick giant robots? if, somehow, you haven't seen pacific rim, go watch it. blow a kiss to mako mori for me.
for all you gamers in the crowd: a few friends of mine wrote articles for uppercut's 2022 end-of-year letter series, and they're really good. i haven't played either of these games but i loved reading these articles! (
the one who pulls the sword out will be crowned king: an allegory for my issues with MMOs and why i liked it anyways by emma shannon
unpapering the past: jewish history and the cast of pentiment by marn silverman (spoiler warning for pentiment!)
misc:
hey, did you know if you're drawing in pen in a sketchbook and you mess something up you can just put a post-it over it and redraw it and it'll look real cool? my friend jade reminded me of this with her gorgeous sketchbooks, which have inspired me to use my own sketchbook more!! look at those gorgeous pages!!!
i think that's all for now! i'll be back next month with more art, hopefully. i hope you have a lovely day & i'll talk to y'all soon!
💖,
kaylee