ErikaMoen posts
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Frozen
I've been feeling really frozen the last few weeks. Just, kinda immobilized with indecision. I have a reasonable amount of career-related projects and general life maintenance stuff that would be do-able if I were... managing my time better(?) but instead I'm giving each of them about 10% of my attention and then avoiding them and my guilt just continues to compound until everything feels impossible and I'm in a ball on the couch scrolling on my phone, frozen. So I sat on the edge of...
(VIDEO) Last Week Tonight with John Oliver... defends our book???
So many heartfelt thank-yous to John Oliver and his team for featuring our book, Let’s Talk About It, on Last Week Tonight’s coverage of public libraries.(Season 11, Episode 10. Our mention starts around the 12 minute mark)As fans of John Oliver’s show for a decade now, it would be an understatement to say that we were stunned to discover our work on screen next to him. There mayhave been some tears while hearing him defend our work, but I’ll never admit it. (There were. There were tears...
COMIC: Space Camp, Page 8
Letters From Space Campis my memoir about going through a mental hospital program and for my pitch to publishers I am revising the Day Two chapter, which covers my second day in the program. This is my thirddraft of this chapter, you can read the first draftand second draftto see how it's changed (and it has changed).➤➤➤ Catch up on the entire chapter-in-progress so far here.The round-bottomed shape of the top panel is meant to remind the reader of a water drop.There was a lot of cryin...
This video has nothing to do with the post.
Once a week, my French Mother-in-Law (Ma belle-mere) helps me practice my second language over a video call. She's offered for years- the entire 19 years I've been with her son!- but I was always too embarrassed of my caveman-level language skills. I love French. I love the way it sounds. I love the way it feels in my mouth. I love putting together the puzzle pieces that is French grammar. I love how the grammar has formal rules except for when it doesn't and you just have to knowtha...
March Round-Up
Oh Joy Sex Toy 11th Anniversary(Comic)Not only did I draw up a giantcomic about OJST’s past and future (see above link)but I’ve also been scrambling like a mad person to maintain and update our birthday pledge drivewhich features at least three bonus comicsjust for our patrons.'Pausin' (Video)For the last 5+ years my health has been getting progressively worse and I finally found out why: MENOPAUSE. Yup, that’s right, this 40-year-old is ovaries deep in The Big ‘Pause! I’m also...
COMIC: Letters From Space Camp, Page 7
Letters From Space Camp is my memoir about going through a mental hospital program and for my pitch to publishers I am revising the Day Two chapter, which covers my second day in the program. This is my third draft of this chapter, you can read the first draft and second draft to see how it's changed (and it has changed).➤➤➤ Catch up on the entire chapter-in-progress so far here.In the original first two drafts of this page, I went from filling out the form to then diving into the the ...
COMIC: Letters From Space Camp page 6
Letters From Space Camp is my memoir about going through a mental hospital program and for my pitch to publishers I am revising the Day Two chapter, which covers my second day in the program. This is my third draft of this chapter, you can read the first draft and second draft to see how it's changed (and it has changed).➤➤➤ Catch up on the entire chapter-in-progress so far here.----------------------------------This was the page where I really, truly realized that my super-clean-line-...
'Pausin' (video)
My dad told me that as you get older, time starts going by faster, and I thought that was stupid because time goes exactly as fast as it does, but now it is March 2024 and it honestly kind of scares me how fast the months and years are flying right by while I'm standing here like John Travolta in a '90s gang boss mansion* looking lost and confused.*(Is that where he was? I haven't re-watched Pulp Fiction since I lived at home as a teenager and my family rented it on VHS)There's a...
Thready or Knot (Sewing Update - Double Whammy)
Oh jeez, you guys!I did volunteer work today???These are photos from last month, though, they have extremely little to do with what I did today, except that both involve sewing.Ok, so to explain the photos: These are from my last Sewcial Studies historical costuming group meet-up, wherein I worked on my stays. Oh! Big news there: We decided on naming the club Sewcial Studies, because we're being social while we sew, and since our unifying topic is historical costuming, we've gotta study ...
February Round-Up
Block Printed TextileMy friend took me to a block printing workshop and I remained extremely on-brand by producing a repeating beet print on fabric.Emily Nagoski, PhD, and Erika Moen Live at Powell's BooksWorld famous sex and relationship expert Emily Nagoski, PhD stopped in Portland to talk with me about her newest book Come Together, which is all about navigating your sex life with a partner once you start counting the length of your relationship in terms of the decades. I was honored to d...
AUDIO: Me singing to Lucy Bellwood
Buttstagram is the group chat that I share with my very serious, professional cartoonist colleagues, one Ms. Danielle Corsetto and one Ms. Lucy Bellwood. We use this as a space to talk shop, air our grievances with our profession, and share the gory details of our latest gastrointestinal disasters-- er. I mean-- provide each other moral support when faced with daunting pages.Today it was Lucy's turn to wail into the communal room of comics yowling that is Buttstagram:In response, I recorded ...
Darn it! (Mending Project)
I wear my clothing till it literally falls apart.Case in point, my bee socks that I've had for easily over a decade. I think they may have actually been a gift from someone? Maybe I bought them? Whoever paid, I definitely squeezed every last drop of dollar value out of 'em before retiring them to the mending pile a couple years. Unfortunately, I did not yet know how to mend socks back then, so really it was just a "hoarding literal garbage" pile. But! It's ok! Because now I&#...
Block Printed Textile
Last weekend, my friend Dylan Meconis took me to Wildcraft for a block print textile class!What do those words even mean?Basically, you carve out a design on a block, dip it ink, and then stamp it down onto fabric, leaving your beautiful design emblazoned across the surface.If you want a repeating pattern that continues (ideally) seamlessly across the length of fabric, first you draw your design in the center of a square paper, leaving empty space around all the edges.Then you cut that initial d...
COMIC: Space Camp, page 5
Letters From Space Camp is my memoir about going through a mental hospital program and for my pitch to publishers I am revising the Day Two chapter, which covers my second day in the program. This is my third draft of this chapter, you can read the first draft and second draft to see how it's changed (and it has changed).➤➤➤ Catch up on the entire chapter-in-progress so far here.Click through the gallery-carosel-thing to see the different drafts this page went through!
Dear January Erika
Dear January Erika,It's me, February Erika! I am writing from the future to tell you the good news: You are not depressed!Well, wait, no, you are depressed. Like hella depressed. You're tired and weak and are spending a worrying amount of time sleeping during the day, and your inner monologue is... kind of off-putting? Like: yikes. And you're comfort-eating a lot. You're not even hungry, you're just shoving good-tasting-but-not-nutritious things in your mouth to feel a moment...
PODCAST: Emily Nagoski, PhD, and Erika Moen Live at Powell's Books
Remember how I said I was gunna do a talk at Powell's Books with Emily Nagoski, PhD, about her brand new release, Come Together?Well, I did it! So everyone who doubted me? I sure proved you wrong. I proved you ALL wrong.Muahahahah!I mean, just look at me (on the right, with extremely normal eyes that convey my ability to be responsible and professional in public):This is the face of a woman who wasn't at all nervous to talk to a packed room with a brilliant NYT best-selling author who pe...
COMIC: Space Camp, page 4
Letters From Space Camp is my memoir about going through a mental hospital program and for my pitch to publishers I am revising the Day Two chapter, which covers my second day in the program. This is my third draft of this chapter, you can read the first draft and second draft to see how it's changed (and it has changed).➤➤➤ Catch up on the entire chapter-in-progress so far here.Hoo-ee, this page really went through an evolution and, crucially, it made me figure out a missing piece tha...
January Round-Up (+ Feb 7th Event in Portland!)
Guess what? I'm doin' an event next week in Portland!Emily Nagoski, PhD, is kindly tolerating me as her conversation partner at the Portland release party of her newest (brilliant) book on sexual relationships in long-term partnerships, Come Together! If her name seems familiar that's because she's written the bestselling books Come As You Are and Burnout- the former of which I provided the illustrations of vulvas 😏 So let's all Come Together for this great chat!Wednesday,...
Daily Photo: Week Five
I ended Week Four of my Daily Photo project believing that the month had concluded on January 28th.Ladies.January goes up to 31.I realized my error the next day, which I thought was February 1st, but was, in fact, January 29th. "Oh!" I thought. "No worries, I'll just take a photo today like normal." The completionist in me would normally activate and just finish out those last few days.But.I didn't want to.After writing my slap-dash faux-finale on the last post, I felt do...
COMIC(s): My First Vibrator
Ok, so I wrote up this big ol' post on the Oh Joy Sex Toy Patreon and then I realized... it'd actually be a fitting post to share here too? If you happen to be a patron over there, first: THANK YOU, and second: Uh, you already read this update over there. There's literally nothing new here.Everybody else? Get ready for some good ol' sloppy seconds!Ok! On to my double-dipping post!Way, way back as a 20 year old, I made a comic for the anthology True Porn. As the name implies, it w...
Daily Photo: Week Four
Monday, January 22Just'a girl, trompin' along in her yellow chicken boots in her winter garden at dusk.Tuesday, January 23Lemony Snicket (my lemon tree) has a moderately bad infestation of scale. This happens regularly, and normally I stay on top of cleaning her leaves when those sticky blobs appear, but the this time I just... didn't. For weeks. And now all her leaves are coated in residue which will attract mold or something and some of the insects themselves are big enough to see....
COMIC: Letters From Space Camp (Day 2, page 3)
Letters From Space Camp is my memoir about going through a mental hospital program and for my pitch to publishers I am revising the Day Two chapter, which covers my second day in the program. This is my third draft of this chapter, you can read the first draft and second draft to see how it's changed (and it has changed).➤➤➤ Catch up on the entire chapter-in-progress so far here.In my notes I had only written down, "I'm ready to get better" but for the narrative of this pag...
Oh, just hanging out with Dan Savage, talkin' 'bout dildos, like one does U_U
Hey Hey!Dan Savage had me hop on to his podcast to dish about dual density dildos!Because our chat went so long (13 mins!) it didn't fit on the shorter version of the podcast that they publish for free, so it's on the extended Magnum version that people have to pay for, starting at the 51 minute mark....but not for you.Oh-ho, dear patron. You, my dear, can have that extended interview served up to you hot right here on this, my weird little Patreon art room of bits and bobs.I have to run...
Daily Photo: Week Three
Monday, January 15As is habitual, I forgot to take a self-portrait today. OR DID I? Because I did take this picture of my hand in the hole of our busted grocery bag in order to emphasize the extent of the damage and- last I knew- my hand is technically part of me so really I guess I did take a self-portrait after all. Anyway, accomplishment of the day: stitched up this busted-ass grocery bag.Tuesday, January 16My Mother-in-Law and I had a French phone date today! She is French and has always gen...
Red Fern Coral (paper sculpture thing? also an accidental diary entry)
I was gunna start with a disclosure admitting that I made this paper sculpture(?) "a year or so ago" but it turns out that 2019 was five years ago?????? So, uh, FULL DISCLOSURE: I made this paper red fern coral five freaking years ago.To guide my wire arrangement, I first drew out the main structure of my fern coral at full size on paper and then physically bent the wires on top of it, binding them together with floral tape, but you know what? I still can't get over the whole "20...
DARN it! (Mending)
For the last ten years, I've been saving our worn out clothing in a basket under my home studio desk. Tig likes to shove her little paws in it up to her armpits and methodically pull out the top layer of clothes to make herself a little nest, exactly where my feet should be, and then nestle herself in like Smaug on his hoard of stolen treasure.The basket is literally overflowing, even without Tig's help, and finally- finally!- after a decade of ignoring it, I've decided, darn it, it&...
Daily Photo: Week Two
Week Two of my January Daily Photo Project! Bonus pictures can be seen in the image carousel-thing at the top of this post.Monday, January 8First ride in the rain of the year! Biking in the rain actually isn't so bad once you get going, but it's all the suiting up before and peeling-off of wet slickers afterwards that I dread. Over my regular biking clothes I put on my (slightly too large) rain pants, neon ankle straps (to hold back the excess material of the rain pants so they don't...
Daily Photo: Week 1
Once a year or so, I like to choose a period to take a self portrait every single day as a kind of photo diary. I just set my camera down with a self-timer and do whatever I was already in the process of doing before I remembered "Oh shit, did I do my daily photo yet?" Like last year, I'm choosing the month of January to document this time- so I guess this is starting to become a bit of a tradition. Rather than bombard you all with a fresh post every day, I'm compiling the week&#...
December Round-Up
Ok, so I have news that is exciting for me: Patreon finally enabled annual subscriptions on my account! Yup! Buy a year and save 16%! For instance, a year of the (mostly locked, private) Comics Tier is just $50.40 instead of $60 now! I've definitely got more than another year's worth of projects and comics and essays and bullshit to share here and I've really been enjoying the sweet, creative vibe in the "community chat" thing with you guys. So, if you're planning on stic...
2023 in Review
I thought I would do a year-in-review type post to recap my projects and experiences. ButJanuaryman, I woke up bone tired. This whole last week my brain has been absolute mush. So I thought I'd go through my photo archive and that would prompt me to remember this year which would inspire me to start writing. ButFebruaryI think this is the best I can do right now: a year of my garden.March2023 was a good year.AprilI had some adventures with friends. I made a lot of cool art. I made progress o...
