New Comic at Empathize This

Hi there! The 2nd comic I drew for Empathize This is available to read on the website. Writing credit for the story goes to the author (anonymous) and Empathize This. Thanks for reading!

Empathize This

Hello all! 
I am now drawing comics for Empathize This. This is a result of my taking time off from Sketchbook Shrink to focus on my freelance comics career (a good thing, as it means I am getting paid to create comics- woo!), and ultimately this is in keeping with the goals I set out to achieve with Sketchbook Shrink in the first place. 

From the website: "Empathize This is a place where people can tell their own stories about how prejudice and hardship affect their lives." I feel privileged and honored to be a part of ET's mission and to help others tell their stories. Thank you!

Something important to keep in mind, I drew the art for this comic but the script and story is not written by me. 

Read the comic at Empathize This

One of the Projects I've contributed to...TABULA IDEM!

Hi there! During my hiatus, I've been busy with a lot of freelance in addition to teaching. One of my freelance projects was an illustration for Tabula Idem - a Queer Tarot Comic Anthology. I provided a digital Wallpaper illustration which is being offered as a prize item for this unique Anthology's Kickstarter campaign. Please take a look at the anthology's kickstarter video below, and check out TABULA IDEM ANTHOLOGY for more information about how you can help make support the many talented artists who worked on this comic anthology and help fund it for production. We'd all love to see this work printed and distributed so that the artists can get the recognition they deserve and also so that positive representation for diverse LGBTQIA+ queer-central fiction can get into the hands of readers. This positive representation is important. If money is tight, just a $5 pledge to the kickstarter campaign gets you the prize tier with the digital wallpaper pack and your name on the contributor's wall. Even if you can't pledge any money to the kickstarter, just sharing the project and helping to spread the word about the Kickstarter would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hiatus Update

Sketchbook Shrink is still on hiatus as I focus on teaching and a freelance project for the next few months. I am still working on backlog updates, so when it returns there will be plenty of new material! Thank you all for your support! 

I can't say anything specific about my freelance project at the moment, but I am very excited about it. Taking this time off from the webcomic to focus on other areas of my career is ultimately a positive move for Sketchbook Shrink- in the future it will help me afford to work on more comics and bring you more original material. :)

I hope you will understand and look forward to Sketchbook Shrink's return! 

<3

Out of Hiatus for a Moment...

Coming out of hiatus for a brief moment to post this quick cartoon I drew last week. Sketchbook Shrink is not generally a political webcomic, but given the topics and issues that are important to me, I felt it was important to post this comic. Sketchbook Shrink will always be dedicated to the little guy- the one who feels like an outsider, the kids who are bullied at school for being different, the individuals who are afraid to come out because they are afraid they won't be accepted and loved, the women who are afraid to wear their religious garments for fear of being assaulted and threatened... To me, this isn't just a political issue- it is a matter of RIGHT and WRONG. Will you be understanding and compassionate towards those who are persecuted, or will you hide?

Sketchbook Shrink @ SCAD Mini Comics Expo!

Selected comics from Sketchbook Shrink will be available printed for the FIRST TIME EVER! Come to the SCAD Mini Comics Expo 2016 today from 11am to 4pm at Hayman Hall. 

Stop by and say hello. I've got plenty of mini comics, prints and sparkly things!

Adam Crapser is a TRAdoptee in need of help

Hello all,

My hiatus is still ongoing, but I wanted to spread the word about Adam Crapser, a transracial adoptee who is in danger of being deported to South Korea. He has been through a childhood full of physical and emotional abuse, and due to a variety of unfortunate circumstances, he's facing deportation to a country he is unfamiliar with.

You can read his story here on NPR.org

Please read and sign the petition linked below.
Grant Adam Crapser US Citizenship

As a transracial adoptee myself, this hits close to home. I've been fortunate to have a caring family but Adam has struggled his entire life. Please consider this story and the petition this week's Sketchbook Shrink update. Thanks!

Not Dead!

Hello all, here's another update for you on my continuing hiatus: I am settling into the 3rd week coming up of my new job as a part-time Professor at Savannah College of Art and Design. As a new faculty member, I've been pretty busy lately with adjusting to my schedule, class and curriculum planning, and grading. I am, however, still hanging on to my goal to continue building up more updates for Sketchbook Shrink. They're just being crafted around my #1 priority at the moment which is teaching. So please bare with me, as I must divide my attention and energies between teaching and manage my time well enough to squeeze personal drawing time in during weekends and nights. Thank you!!!! For now, here are a few snippet preview pics of what's coming up. A frazzled hamster.

Hiatus Update

I've had some big changes in my life recently and I wanted to give you all an update! I've got some additional responsibilities this fall coming up and I'm working on preparing for that career change. I also want to thank you all for your patience as Sketchbook Shrink continues the hiatus I began for my vacation. 

I am currently catching up on my Sketchbook Shrink buffer after a much appreciated vacation. I was feeling mentally and emotionally burnt out, physically my wrist and hand were hurting, and I was dry for ideas. Then vacation came along and I got a bunch of new material ideas that I sketched out. My hiatus will run for a couple of weeks longer as I ink all of those but I'm excited to be working on it again and I feel refreshed!

Summer Vacation!

Currently I'm visiting my family and taking a little break to relax and focus on some other projects at the moment. Sketchbook Shrink will update again in a couple of weeks! Thank you for reading- this webcomic has now been going for one year. Please browse the archives and see you again soon.

(Pictured below is me in my summer convention costume and my beloved Loki cat)

Multi-task-er-ing.

Right now I'm preparing for vacation (so cosplay!), doing my best to keep up on comics work, job things, and other day-to-day things. My mental image of all of this is a Dr. Seuss illustration of some sort. ;) 

Parts of the whole picture

In many ways I'm grateful for even the negative experiences of being an outsider, because I realize that without it, I never would have felt so driven to stay true to my own interests and to stay true to who I am. 

ALL BECAUSE OF HOT DOGS...

I know I can't be the only person who has these sometimes random, fleeting internal freakouts because suddenly you realize you exist and you're a thing. 

My Transracial Adoption Story Part 10 (of 10!)

And finally, pages 19 and 20 of my autobio comic... at least, for now. I'd like to expand this comic and collaborate with other transracial adoptees to tell their stories. Thanks for joining me as I share this comic project. Next week Sketchbook Shrink will return to one-off page updates! :D

My Transracial Adoption Story Part 8

 Continuing with pages 17 and 18. I created Sketchbook Shrink and decided to create this comic for the purpose of confronting issues that are difficult to express with words only. I can rant and rave until the day is up about self-image, but the image in the 2nd panel is something I've created from my mind to express how I saw myself as a younger person. I still tend to wear sunglasses as much as possible because I sometimes struggle with the paranoia that everyone is staring and judging me for the shape of my eyes. On the flip side, I thought it was extremely important to discuss how anime and anime conventions had such a positive impact on my perception of Asian cultures, and ultimately how being included at those events made me feel proud of who I am.

My Transracial Adoption Story Part 7

Continuing with pages 14 and 15. Finding the right visual to express how I viewed myself after this incident was a challenge, but I looked at Korean folklore and demons for inspiration. The fact that there are some racially-coded elements to the way I drew the monster isn't a coincidence...

My Transracial Adoption Story Part 6

Continuing from last week's update with pages 12 and 13. Drawing these pages in particular brought up some pretty intense emotions, due in part to the fact that my way of dealing with it (pictured here) might not sit well with everyone, and thrashing someone physically regardless of what hateful things they say is a morally gray area. That being said, these incidents in childhood can have a lasting impact on how we trust other people. Drawing this particular incident from my middle school years, and having to physically draw and plan out the panels containing images from my memory of this guy and hand-lettering the words he said to me gave me a disconnect that was somewhat therapeutic. Reading the script beforehand out loud was a different story. ;) And in case you are wondering, this kid never talked to me like that again...

My Transracial Adoption Story, Part 5

Hi everyone, Sketchbook Shrink is back from hiatus! I've just graduated with my MFA in Sequential Art and I'm working on more new material to post weekly. Thanks for your patience, and thank you for reading!

Picking up this week with Pages 10-11 from my autobio comic. Superheroes (and Villains) have always resonated with me as representations of misfits and outcasts of society. They have gifts or curses that make them unique, but often at the expense of feeling at ease with who they are. At least for a while.

Mini-Hiatus!

Hello, readers!
Thank you all for checking up on Sketchbook Shrink over the past year. I'm currently in the middle of a very busy crunch period and will be taking a short break until after June 4. I'm planning something really special for Sketchbook Shrink's 1 year anniversary later this summer, so please stay tuned for more updates at that time!! Thanks!

My Transracial Adoption Story Part 4

Continuing this week with pages 8 and 9 of my TRA comic!