Year of the BUG
Birthday, books, and being so very behind
Howdy friends!
Woof! I’ve been feeling really behind on things. This newsletter is one— it’s the end of February and I’ve been meaning to write one of these since the beginning of the year. A lot of things have happened. I turned 36. I’ve worked on some cool projects. I have upcoming events to promote. It’s been hard to carve out time for a lot of things that I like to do and care about. But hello for the first time in 2026. Let’s talk about bugs.
By bugs I mean the common definition, NOT the scientific one. Beetles, wormies, spiders, moths, snails, etc. I love drawing them. I mostly love seeing them irl (with some exceptions). I have made enemies at my job from bringing in a cool dead bug from the parking lot, thinking everyone would love to see it. I was wrong. I’ve always been a bug person, ever since I was little. My mom loves to bring up how, as a baby, I confidently picked up and bit into a big juicy green caterpillar and then, when I apparently didn’t like the flavor, cried. I like small things and colorful things and creepy things and, especially, noticing things that are easy to overlook. I love to add bugs to my horror stories, but also draw them cute and pretty. I just like ‘em!
In January, I had a joint birthday party with my friend Morgan. Her birthday is the day after mine. It was bug themed because that’s one of our overlapping interests. We’re both artists and we both often draw little bugs and critters. She’s more of a roach person than me. By a lot. (I do not like them.) I usually draw centipedes, spiders, butterflies and moths. We’ve both been really busy and overwhelmed lately so we wanted to do something very low key, that neither of us had to host. I’ve done some illustration work for the nonprofit video rental store We Luv Video, and I had a rental credit for their microcinema, so we ended up screening James and the Giant Peach. It was really fun and exactly what I needed.
James and the Giant Peach (1996, dir. Henry Selick) was one of my favorite movies as a kid. It has it all— humor and heart, dream logic, big bugs, banging original songs, and stop motion! Watching something made with stop motion is such a powerful reminder of the magic of craft and creativity. All those tactile little pieces that you know many hands labored over, brought to life. Also, nothing in film or in life has ever looked as delicious as that peach.
I really wanted a fun activity to pair with the film so I came up with this custom lotería. I spent a little too much time with it (lol) making 64 original card designs and then mixing them up to create like 30 different playing sheets. I was going to laminate them, but didn’t get the chance so I instead got second hand plastic sleeves and dry erase markers from Austin Creative Reuse. They were a hit. “Lotería” is one of those words that I find myself saying with a certain kind of emphasis, like I’m subconsciously trying to make sure no one, me included, forgets I’m part Mexican. Please feel free to steal this idea and make it your own! If you borrow this template, it’ll fit nicely on a regular sheet of letter paper.
I mentioned being really busy— I had this deadline that was absolutely kicking my butt. It was for full pencils for book two of the middle grade series I’m illustrating. I ended up getting pretty behind during December and January (holiday travel, birthday, visiting friends, etc) and had to grind all day every day (when I wasn’t at my bookstore job) for weeks. It was hard on my body and my mental health. I really want to prevent getting to a place like that with my work again.
Here’s a comic I drew at the end of it:
Being tired and busy while being constantly inundated with distressing news (US and “Israel” out of Iran!! Fee Palestine!!! Fuck ICE!!!) and dehumanizing messaging has me especially drawn to art and activities that feel childish. What that looks like in practice is a great need for “play.” While on deadline mode I probably said “I just want to play!” and “I can’t wait to play when this is over” about a hundred times. To me, the ideal is hanging out with my partner and/or some friends, drawing and crafting. We’re making things just for the pleasure of it, not to sell or be impressive. It’s also taking walks and engaging with nature, reading picture books, cracking jokes, and putting on a cd and dancing around my apartment.
These are all things I would have loved to do, and would have felt so second nature, when I was a child. When thinking about childhood pleasures, I have to reflect on that naive sense of fairness and safety that all children deserve to grow up in (but so many don’t get to). I had that safe childhood, and such a massive part of growing up has been learning how to navigate the dissonance from what I was taught from my parents and from stories, about fairness, balance, easy narratives, punishment for the bad and rewards for the good— all of that from my adult experience of reality, especially in these last few years as I’ve become more engaged in facing domestic and global injustices. It’s something I’ve been wrestling with as a story teller who wants to keep making work for young audiences. And as someone in their mid 30’s realizing how much of my core self is still just that weird little kid, drawing and catching bugs and crying easily.
Something I’m trying to do more of is make space for other interests besides comics. One thing that I’ve always been really drawn to is book design. I’m constantly taking photos of cool book covers, both new releases and vintage. So I decided to start a digital collection of them. Both in Substack notes and in a new side instagram ( at: genrefriction ), I’m posting a book cover a day for as long as I find it interesting/fun. Here are the first 15. Seeing them all together like this, I’m really noticing some big patterns to what I’m drawn to.
Before I go, here are a few of the events you can find me at this year:
I’ll be at MoCCA for the first time (my first time in NY!) March 28th - 29th.
Then CAKE in Chicago May 2nd - 3rd.
After that, at a local event— GAB Fest in Austin May 16th.
Also, the middle grade graphic novel I illustrated, in collaboration with writer Insha Fitzpatrick, comes out July 28th. You can preorder The Girl Who Loved Monsters here.
Thanks for reading. Take care, y’all!
Till next time—
I just finished working a 50 hour week, where I'm finishing up a comic + regular work and teaching. So I definitely feel you there, I wanna go rummage around and find bugs and play. Let's do that soon :)