AUG'26 - Midwest Furfest '26, Swirl&Rabu, and Patreon Update! (Patreon)

Howdy, all! First and foremost, thank you for your patience with me and your continued support. With that in mind, despite being sick for four straight days, I've written up an update for y'all to cap off August. This one's a bit lengthy but rather important, so strap in!

Why I've Been Quiet

I've taken on a great amount of work for MFF, over 10 unique projects including the con badges, dance graphic, banners, pins, etc. and gratefully, I've been paid fairly for all my work (which I'm working hard to complete within the next month and a half). But in addition to those responsibilities, MFF represents a lot of things for me: an acknowledgement of success, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and a dire last chance. Although my imposter syndrome constantly nags me "you didn't earn this, you don't deserve this," I carry on despite and let the role of Guest of Honor wash over me like a wave: it will come and go, and the delight of partying for the weekend and pretending I matter will fade into memory and photos like a typical birthday. MFF serves as an opportunity to meet my following and newcomers in the biggest way possible, and to establish myself in the furry zeitgeist in a way I constantly question "what kind of artist do I want to be known as?" and "how will my practice change within just a year's time?" Lastly, this convention serves as a way for me to make enough money to keep going. Transparently, moving from my dad's a couple years ago was a great temporary solution: however, staying where I have was not. My funds quickly dwindle despite my efforts. I work constantly, drawing every single day of the week with no respite, just to barely make ends meet. Dealing in the Dealer's Den is one of my biggest chances to sell a lot of my work in the hopes of recouping some of the enormous costs of mild comfort. So you can probably imagine why this role is so important to me, emotionally, psychologically, financially. Other stuff I'm working through includes a small backlog of commissions, as well as Swirl&Rabu, which I'll tell you about in just a moment.

What's Been In The Works?

While I try to figure out what designs are worth making and selling at MFF, I've been working very hard on Swirl&Rabu. This is a sort of semi-sequel/prequel, taking place during the interim of Swirl&Cake in which, without giving everything away, Swirl has to contend with his impulsivity and his approach to polyamorous relationships. Originally I was going to approach this comic like Swirl&Cake: an opportunity for patrons to weigh in to determine the general shape of the story by picking events from a plotline tree, but after sitting with the concept, I realized there's an important story I really want to tell. I am Swirl, and I want Swirl to suffer to learn. And this comic will help me get there, and I'm confident you'll enjoy it.

The production of this comic started in a rather unique way: I looked up on YouTube something along the lines of "how to make an analog comic" and one piece of advice I saw was "take 5 hours to make a proof of concept, quickly drawing out the whole idea: afterwards, you can make it better." I immediately LAUNCHED into that idea, threw my phone down onto the table and picked up printer paper and a pencil and within just an hour had written the whole plot in 5 sentences, then thumbnailed ELEVEN PAGES OF COMIC. The remaining time was spent loosely transferring those thumbnails to bigger paper. It was an amazing success, and upon showing my partners, they told me that it was not only completely legible but engaging (and arousing!). Then I continued to approach the comic in several 5-hour stints, taking breaks every 45 minutes, taking that sort of 5-hour rule in my own direction. As of writing, I've manually (with a ruler) drawn out the panels and gutters, started drawing more serious, fleshed-out sketches on tracing paper to later by transferred then rendered back on the pages, and drawn some rough refs and clothing for my three main characters. Experimenting also with using gray markers instead of hatching for every value, as that'd save my wrist and time.

What's to Expect in the Coming Months?

In an ideal world, I'd like to finish this first leg of Swirl&Rabu to be shown off at MFF, as well as shared here on Patreon. I will give you updates as soon as I can, and the only reason I hadn't mentioned my progress until now (nor posted the pages themselves) is because I don't want to blow the load too early! Thank you for your patience - it'll be very worth the wait, I think. I will continue working on Swirl&Rabu between other obligations and post whatever I can here. With that in mind, I've had to make the difficult decision to pause monthly polls/rewards in favor of everything else, until January 2027. As a reminder, my Patreon is first and foremost a way for you to support me and my work, and I am eternally grateful for every bit you've chosen to give me. Hopefully I can return to you with unique monthly rewards next year, but for now, Swirl&Rabu and MFF are on the horizon, and I sincerely hope you can join me for this adventure. Thank you again for everything and please feel free to leave your thoughts or questions if you have any - it's the least I can do!

Besty,Zesty