Hi all!
What best to do in the new year than start a newsletter that I may not follow through with because that’s what happens with new year’s resolutions?
Except this was last year’s resolution, so perhaps it will hold. Perhaps.
(The last word made "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” play in the back of my mind, and now I can’t stop it. Good job, Claudia.)
To begin with, I would like to thank you warmly for subscribing and staying with me through three episodes of wobbly drawings and weird dialogues of The Last Day of Rain. I can’t promise that it will get better, but at least I can say that it will continue.
This update will be brief, and so will all the subsequent ones. No one has the patience to read these days: TikToks is where it’s at, they say.
Here’s to a year where too many things happened
(and also not enough)
If you have been following me or spending time with me, or something in-between, you know that last year I decided to learn how to create stories for a living. And somewhere in the middle of the year, I realised that “for a living” would take much more time than I thought initially and might not happen at all.
Still, I have not given up on making things because it's always on my mind. But it’s not a hobby. Not really. It feels like much more than that. I know you’re hoping for me to describe what it feels like, but I’ll let you fill the gap because I can’t be bothered. :P
So at the beginning of last year, I told myself I’d finish The Last Day of Rain. Little did I know that I’d still be working on it a year later.
Between starting a new job, buying a flat and redecorating said flat, with a lot of dust and building in the mix, it was too much cognitive load to be able to focus on finishing an entire project. As a matter of fact, I’m writing to you next to a pile of water-damaged IKEA boxes ready to be assembled:
(he’s not going to do it for me, unfortunately, regardless of how many biscuits I feed him)
💬
But not everything was unproductive! During the year, I learned all about printing and self-publishing and released chapter one of The Last Day of Rain, as well as an illustrated science-fiction short story. I also started a webcomic version of LDOR on Zestworld, which has been good fun; the panels adapt very well when converted to a vertical format.
Thinking about it… It was… a lot.
Although I might have, huh, neglected self-promotion while I was in the flow, so now there's a pile of ownerless printed books sitting in a corner. 📦 Ouch.
Anyhow, here’s my favourite transition from chapter one!
I didn’t plan it in the first draft, and that’s how some of the best things happen, more often than not. If you’re interested in seeing more, here’s my little clumsy online shop that is definitely in need of better photos:
What about 2023?
I’m continuing with The Last Day of Rain, using every single bit of free time that I can find. It’s been challenging to focus on a single thing because my brain keeps going haywire, but staying on track with this graphic novel has been extremely rewarding! I sometimes want to murder my characters because I’m tired of drawing them so much, and yet… rewarding!
To ensure I stay on track, I rallied Emily’s help, who is mentoring me every so often. Her advice has been invaluable. If you’re looking for a mentor, she’s taking new students at the moment:
Zine Review
“Words and I Have a Complicated Relationship”, by Flynn Z. Q. Klein
I’m aiming to review a comic or zine every month, and hopefully, you’ll see more of that instead of my aimless ramblings about what I did and did not.
Without further ado, for this month, I chose a small zine that I purchased from a booth mate at a comics fair that I’ve been to recently:
This little zine spoke to me, and it sounded perfect for my first review. Through beautiful, poetic prose and colourful, evocative drawings, Flynn takes us through his complicated relationship with words and how they often take a life of their own. When he suggests that he doesn’t possess the gift of words, what I’m reading tells me otherwise.
A big part of the zine describes the challenges of speaking a second, a third and even a fifth language while trying to maintain the essence of one’s native tongue. The last page captured the bleakness of it all and left me thinking, being a borrowed speaker of English as well. Do we lose skill by speaking our mother tongues less? Or do we enrich our vocabulary and experience?
Something for you to reflect on. Quizás.
The beautiful chaining of drawing, text and colour keeps returning to this zine every once in a while. It’s just that satisfying. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Flynn’s work!
This zine and another one, Broken for You (which is also thoroughly wonderful), are available to purchase as a digital download in Flynn's Ko-fi shop:
What’s on the following Supporter newsletter
To finish this long update, I’m tentatively starting a paid subscription on Zestworld, where in addition to the free content, you’ll receive a 50% discount in my online shop, as well as a semi-regular newsletter with sketches or work-in-progress.
In the next paid supporter issue, I’ll speak about what’s been on every artist’s mind lately: AI, the ethics of it and how I spent last month demoralised, writing prompt after prompt and watching MidJourney create better art than me every single time. And how, eventually, I decided to try generating some rough ideas I might use when sketching out The Last Day of Rain.
If you can’t beat them, join them. Infiltrate and defeat them from the inside? Who knows.
But risking giving away too much, I’ll let you wait for it.
You can subscribe to my comics and ramblings for free or become a paid supporter @ https://www.zestworld.com/claudiamatosa.
Disclaimer: if you decide to become a paid supporter, please do feel at ease to move back to a free subscription at any time, whether it's because your circumstances changed or because you feel you're not getting enough content. No need to justify yourself! I'll be happy that you have even considered supporting me for a while. 😊
Did you say this would be a short update? 🧐
Soz. Thank you for bearing with me and my dry writing. 😅 😳
See ya very soon!!
- Claudia