2025 was… well. Not great. I’ve had worse years, but this one was definitely a challenge. But one bright side is that I increased my artistic output—still not as much as I’d like, but definitely an improvement on previous years!

You couldn't publish this today. You'd have to cloak it under several layers of metaphor.

1. Pitch a picture book to publishers (via an agent) 2. Pitch a graphic novel to publishers (also via said agent) 3. Create & license out surface design work 4. Revive some old personal projects from the back burner 5. Find a full-time job or be so successful with 1–4 that I don’t need to 😅

Hey all, Aspen has been dealt a series of bad hands over the last several years and could really use a bunch of helping ones instead ❤️

Healing from trauma is often very hard, but very worth it. Taking little steps in the right direction everyday

Hark! The herald angels sing 🎵 Merry Christmas! May the season be filled with joy and good cheer 😄 #illustration #Christmas #seal #greyseal #caroling

Hark! The herald angels sing 🎵 Merry Christmas! May the season be filled with joy and good cheer 😄 #illustration #Christmas #seal #greyseal #caroling

✨🎁✨ #illustration #fox #christmas #gift #winter

Every writer who generates a slop image for their work is a class traitor. "I can't afford a visual artist" So your solution is stabbing artists in the back? Stealing from them? Furthermore, slop-generated imagery suggests slop-generated writing. That's how you're presenting yourself.

✨🎁✨ #illustration #fox #christmas #gift #winter

Rob Reiner: “Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity. Speaking out is a patriotic act. Democracy doesn’t defend itself. It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people."

This entire weekend

Ornamentsssss (posca + bisque = 🥰)

This is like paying the guys that robbed your house to also burn it down.

Did a little sketch while selling my goods at a holiday art market 🦭

Did a little sketch while selling my goods at a holiday art market 🦭

This is something about "AI" that I have a hard time putting into words, but creators just love the WORK. It's just fun. Even when it's hard. All the thinking, and all the detail work, and all the struggle, it makes the things we make, I don't know... have weight and value for us.

All of the companies that make the software I use are increasing their prices, to account for an "investment" in AI. I'm sat here imagining how my clients would feel if I added 30% to each invoice, because I "really got into gambling".

I mean this with all sincerity, and I think I speak for a lot of others: we would rather see undisciplined, amateur art by hand than shitty AI "art" any day. You want to make fun of Pete Hegseth in a cartoon, but you can't draw? I would rather your stick figures than AI. Just draw.

It’s fun to think about the surgeon who will botch your surgery 20 years from now and what he’s doing at this moment. He just ran all his homework through ChatGPT. He just read that article about vaccines and autism at the CDC website. He just watched an Instagram video about the moon landing hoax.

Today, we honor and remember the lives of trans folks who have been killed this year. We must continue our work to ensure every Wisconsinite can be their full and best self without fear of hate or violence.

if you’re trans and reading this: thank you. thank you for being here, living your life as full as you can, and defending your right to live and be free. i love you all. i hope for a day we don’t have to keep fighting. be safe out there, please. 🩷🤍💙

Well put by @drrachelbarr.bsky.social

"one day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this"

this felt too informative not to share

50 year mortgage is so crazy. to put it in perspective, 2016 was 50 years ago

While I don't post art there anymore, I do still lurk on twitter to keep an eye on things... and watching the coke ad & fake "behind the scenes" video get absolutely eviscerated is giving me life. It's so bad the criticism has bled over to LinkedIn. AI criticism on LINKEDIN!! You love to see it.

Probably my favorite photo I took at the zoo. Black-footed ferret napping under a heat lamp! (I might also be a bit jealous... a cozy nap sounds great right about now.)

I went to the zoo today! Last time I was there was in 2009 when @geoholms.bsky.social was visiting, so it's been quite awhile. It was thankfully not too cold to do some life drawing, which was a lot of fun—definitely want to do more when time and weather permit.

The biggest thing i've learned as an artist who sells prints and merch is don't make what people ask for. They won't buy it. Make what you, the artist, want to see printed on the support of ur choice. I can't explain why but THAT'S what will sell. People who buy the most are the silent ones. 🫶

Freshly picked up from my local comic book shop— @matthewdowsmith.bsky.social’s new book! Can’t wait to curl up with it on a gloomy autumn afternoon 😄

Although... the incoming mayor of NY freakin' C being *younger than me* is definitely triggering some "oh god what am I doing with my life" feelings (I'll get over it)

Feeling hope for the first time in a long time tonight—Mamdani's victory is a glimmer of light in the darkness. Go NYC!!

May you have the happiest of Halloweens! 🎃 #SpookySeason

Surprising absolutely no one: seal witch! Happy Halloween, folks 🎃 #stickerdesign #characterdesign #halloween #seal #witch

Had an unused sketch of a little dragon wizard hanging around on my iPad for a while and decided it was high time to turn it into a print and a (glow-in-the-dark!) sticker. ’Tis the season for magic, after all! #dragon #creaturedesign #characterdesign #wizard #magic

Had an unused sketch of a little dragon wizard hanging around on my iPad for a while and decided it was high time to turn it into a print and a (glow-in-the-dark!) sticker. ’Tis the season for magic, after all! #dragon #creaturedesign #characterdesign #wizard #magic

New sticker design! Unfortunately I didn’t finish this little guy in time to have them produced for this spooky season, but I will have prints with me at the Appleton Halloween Eclectic Market this Saturday! #characterdesign #mouse #pirate #halloween #trickortreat

Heading to MDEV 2025 in a couple weeks? Or can’t make it but still want some cool merch to show your support for the midwest’s largest games industry-focused event? You’re in luck: yours truly designed this year’s t-shirt, and it’s available for purchase RIGHT NOW!

Heading to MDEV 2025 in a couple weeks? Or can’t make it but still want some cool merch to show your support for the midwest’s largest games industry-focused event? You’re in luck: yours truly designed this year’s t-shirt, and it’s available for purchase RIGHT NOW!

Happy Spooky Season! Which, in my humble opinion, is the *actual* most wonderful time of the year 🍁 🎃 #illustration #halloween #october #spookyseason #cat #bat #pumpkins

Also, speaking as someone with adopted family members, passing on your dna is an ultimately meaningless “legacy.” Raising your children to be good people who try and make the world a better place is a legacy that actually matters.

Heya, #PortfolioDay! I’m Carolyn, an illustrator and designer with a penchant for drawing fantastical folks & critters. I was laid off earlier this year, and am very open for full-time/part-time/freelance work! 🦭 carolynpaplham.com 🦭 [email protected] 🦭 www.instagram.com/cpaplhamdraws/

I'm in this! Not only drawing, but my non-self-pub writing debut with a little tale called "Lucia." Please share and get the word out! And of course - SUPPORT US! I really wanted to get your eyes on this! #WitchingSeason #Kickstarter #ComicsSky

Heya, #PortfolioDay! I’m Carolyn, an illustrator and designer with a penchant for drawing fantastical folks & critters. I was laid off earlier this year, and am very open for full-time/part-time/freelance work! 🦭 carolynpaplham.com 🦭 [email protected] 🦭 www.instagram.com/cpaplhamdraws/

Hi #PortfolioDay! I'm Kris, freelance illustrator. I love to draw animals and fantasy type stuff, and, once in a while, I like to make my drawings move. I'm usually open for new work. Feel free to drop me a line! Portfolio: mithmeoi.net Links: thegreykitty.com

Happy Spooky Season! Which, in my humble opinion, is the *actual* most wonderful time of the year 🍁 🎃 #illustration #halloween #october #spookyseason #cat #bat #pumpkins