ErikaMoen posts
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"Ew, she looks so old" (ESSAY)
Wow, this cartoon really hit me in the heart.Intellectually, I reject the white-thin-young-cis-etc-etc beauty standards and I do see the human beauty that exists outside those restrictions. In my teens and twenties I remember judging the women who paid for surgery to create an artifice of youth. "I'll embrace my age!" I thought smugly. "I'm so much more enlightened than these self-hating women! These poor, brainwashed victims of the patriarchy!"And now, here I am.As my bo...
Letters From Space Camp: Day Two - Full Chapter
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).This post will collect all of the scheduled 29 pagesof this chapter into one place as I finish them, for easier reading.Next page coming soon! (probably. what even is time?)Page...
COMIC: Letters From Space Camp (Day 2, page 2)
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 mental hospital program. This is my third draft, you can read the first draft and second draft to see how it's changed (and it has changed).🔙 Catch up on the previous page, page 1 🔙Ok, BIG transition from page 1 to page 2.After talking about it with Matt, I felt the story would be stronger if I fully rende...
COLLAGE: When no one is around I...
What She Knows is an art practice by Lucy Bellwood that prompts you with a daily statement and I am answering in my native language of collage. My previous responses are collected here. The prompt today was:#9: When no one is around I...When no one is around I practice French.I pop in my earbuds and I fire up some audio lesson* and I repeat out loud the most basic French sentences in the most American accent and whenever my attempt at conjugation or grammar matches with the recording I think pro...
You Will Need (comic in progress)
Remember that time I decided to make a simple six panel comic explaining how to replace your boot zipper and then I was like "Let's make this take one million times longer by illustrating it with collage'd paper and fabric"? There's no need to remember it like it's in the past because, baby, IT'S STILL HAPPENING. With the art for the first panel done, it's time to tackle Panel Two!Here's my sketch:My original idea was to make the cursive title and curlicue bor...
If the Shoe Fits (comic in progress)
Remember how I replaced the zipper on my boots? It was surprisingly easy and I wanted to show other people how to do it, too! The only way I know how to share information is to put it in comic form, so I made a mock-up with photos from my earlier documentation:And then I was like "Uhg, this is waaaaay too easy" so I decided to make the illustrations out of paper and fabric collage, because why not make this simple project take exactly one million years longer to finish? Content Warning f...
COMIC: The Cannibal Club in The Greatest Treasure
"What ever happened to that sci-fi Twinkies parody comic Erika was making with David Levine?" I can tell you're asking yourself- and I have good news! IT'S DONE.After the pencils I shared with you all in the last update, I went on to the inks:Then it was time for Matt to work his coloring magic:Matt did such a good job giving it that vintage newsprint look to emulate the original Hostess Twinkie ads. Oh, and he also fucked around with my basic font choices to make them sing.I esp...
November Posts Recap
What did I get up to in November? I'm so glad you asked!COMIC: Letters From Space Camp (again) 🔒You thought it was done, but it ain't! I'm creating brand new pages to pad out the sample chapter for potential publishers of my graphic memoir about going through a mental health program at the hospital.There butt for the grace of god sew IThings get a bit cheeky when I wear a hole in the butt of my favorite shorts. But no worries! I have leftover shiny gold fabric! My husband says the...
The Kuiper Belt Job - comic in progress
In addition to his incredible behind-the-scenes support of Oh Joy Sex Toy, author David D. Levine has just released his newest book this month- The Kuiper Belt Job. To celebrate, we are collaborating on a parody comic of the classic Hostess Twinkies ads starring the main characters from his space caper story.It was honestly such a pleasure to sit down and illustrate just a bunch of different faces last night. Like, the joy of putting pretty lines together. It's a unique little happiness.
There butt for the grace of god sew I (Patch Sewing Project)
My favorite shorts have a hole in the left butt cheek zone, BUT--I have leftover shiny gold fabric from a previous project, THEREFORE--I no longer have a hole in my shorts.As the old proverb goes: When life gives you holes in your favorite shorts, turn the other cheek.
COMIC: Space Camp, Day Two (again)
This third draft is hopefully the final revision* of the Day Two chapter from Letters From Space Camp, which will be the sample pages I send to potential publishers. The very first version can be read in its entirety here and the second pass of it can be read here.A big problem with the last version is that I began the chapter as if the audience had already the first couple chapters before that one, which established who the characters are and what the scenario is. However, the submissions scree...
These Boots Were Made For Zippin' (REPAIR PROJECT)
Some years ago I bought some cheap boots on sale at my grocery store. They were either $40 or $20, I can't remember. They served me well but they were not made to last, so inevitably the interiors began disintegrating- which was fine, I could still wear them! Nobody but me knew that the insides looked like a literal rat's nest. But then each boot zipper's teeth grew progressively more mangled until they were finally unusable.Fortuitously, around this time I learned about Mending Bloc...
Getting a handle on it (Kintsugi repair!)
My excitement at successfully registering for one of Repair PDX's very popular and very difficult-to-get-a-spot-in Kintsugi repair classes was short-lived when the directions instructed me to bring in a broken ceramic to work on and I realized that, for once, I don't actually have any at the moment.Just a couple weeks earlier I had literally cut myself while washing an ancient mug that exploded in my hand but, like an idiot, I'd thrown it out (It was time. After a quindecennial of us...
One Day Sale
Today (Sunday, 11/5) only, Amazon* is having a massive bonkers sale on our sex and relationship ebook for teens- $1.99 for an ebook that normally costs $17.99.*For Amazon alternatives, check this handy link of other book shops. Unfortunately, they are not having massive sales on our books right now, sorry :(If you've already bought or read LTAI but still wanna do something, you could always leave it an honest review!(These all contain affiliate links where I was able to supply to them. That ...
October Projects Recap
Collages! Road trips! Seed bombs! Unearthing 20-year-old comics! Building a shipping station! Crying on a podcast! Fixing my husband’s ratty old jumper! Yup, October had a lot going on. Here's a recap of all the shit I shared on Patreon, plus a few extra places as well.What She Knows collages: The time of day I feel my best is… I Show Up for What I Love by...Space Camp: Making Pages 15-17 🔒 Patrons OnlyFor the process nerds out there (I see you), here’s another deep dive down the ra...
ART: Vulvapalooza
Matt and I were approached by an client who needed some vulva illustrations for a program they're developing around sexual issues that breast cancer survivors encounter. They'd seen my vulva drawings in Emily Nagoski PhD.'s Come As You Are (affiliate link) and requested more in my cartoony-but-accurate style.They specified they wanted a hand pulling back one of the labia minoras (labias minora? Or just labia minora as if it were singular? Question of the Cunning Linguists: what is th...
COMIC: The Star Sweeper (2003)
One million years ago (20), my gaggle of fellow teenage girl cartoonists put together a black and white zine of short stories to sell at a comic convention. The theme was fairy tales and I adapted a short poem I found in a book collecting the old weird stuff (You know, the kind of folk stories Disney would sanitize before turning into an animated classic safe for '90s families).Cover by Dylan Meconis. Anybody here been around since the Pants Press days? I was 19/20 years old in 2003.So anywa...
Space Camp: Making Pages 15-17
Recap For The Newbs: I am revising a chapter from Letters From Space Camp so my agent can send it as a sample to potential publishers to help them realize how much they want to pay me more than their competitors to have the honor of publishing my finished book which will obviously make them back tons of money and we can all retire early (lolsob). In this post I will explain some of the design changes I made between the first and second drafts!For reference: Day Two: First Draft (16 pages) 🔒 C...
Shipping Station
Matt and I made a shipping station!Back in the day, I used to fulfill all my orders myself- starting with my hand-folded and stapled black and white minicomics and then moving on up to the squarebound Real Books Matt and I started producing. Then our tiny self-publishing operation took off enough that we signed on with bigger companies to take over those distribution and delivery roles. (Thanks, Topatoco!)It's been years since we had to take on shipping job and, honestly, I miss it! I really...
Seed Bomb
🎵 Hello, daddy, hello, mom🎵 I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry NATIVE WEST COAST WILDFLOWER SEED MIX bomb🎵 Hello world I'm your wild girl🎵 I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry NATIVE WEST COAST WILDFLOWER SEED MIX bombYup, you guessed it: I took a class on making Native West Coast Wildflower Seed Mix bombs!This class by SymbiOp is for everyone whose ever walked by a vacant lot and thought "this could be full of native flowers and pollinators." Over an hour on a weekend we were given a ...
Fuck'it and Chuck'it
I chucked flower seeds into the neglected patches of my garden.People gift me flower seeds because they know I like gardening and I mean it when I tell them I'm so excited to plant them but then they (the seeds, not my friends) go in my drawer for gardening tools and ephemera for "later" and later never comes because they're FLOWER SEEDS and, for some inexplicable reason in my brain, FLOWERS need to be treated "RIGHT". Flowers are not hardy like vegetables! Those fuckers ...
Road Trip! A Trip on the Road!
I tricked my friend Clare into flying across the country (from Maryland!) to go on a week-long road trip with me even though I am For Reals A Bad Driver!She won't be making that mistake again any time soon!On October 10th we departed from Portland to Eugene to the Terwilliger Cougar Hot Springs back through Eugene again to Waldport to Tillamook (Cheese factory!) to Astoria up across the state line into Seattle, Washington, and then back down into Oregon again, arriving back in Portland on Oc...
COLLAGE: I Show Up for What I Love by...
What She Knows is an art practice by Lucy Bellwood that prompts you with a daily statement and I am answering in my native language of collage. My previous responses are collected here. The prompt today was:#8: I Show Up for What I Love by...I show up for what I love by creating a space to hold my loved ones when they are overflowing with... everything. All the shit that makes us human. The good and the bad, the stuff that's fun and the stuff that sucks.God only knows I'm not perfect at ...
September Project Wrap-Up
Ok, if I were listing my projects chronologically, then this one would have to go at the bottom of the post because it’s the last thing I made in September. But. It’s my favorite thing I made that month and I am the Queen of this Newsletter Domain, so who’s gunna stop me from showing you this first: I TURNED MY BOOK INTO A TEENY TINY BOOK.Like, there’s a whole-ass post explaining why and how I made this, along with links to the tutorial and printable template I used, and what teeny tiny ...
COLLAGE: The time of day I feel my best is…
What She Knows is an art practice by Lucy Bellwood that prompts you with a daily statement and I am answering in my native language of collage. My previous responses are collected here. The prompt today was:#7: The time of day I feel my best is…The time of day I feel my best is in the morning.Don't get me wrong, I rarely want to wake up and get out of bed, but once I muscle through my initial internal bargaining to just let myself sleep in "just today" and I begin my morning routin...
PROJECT: Honey, I Shrunk the...
I made something a little bit ridiculous.Just a teensy weensy bit!As so many things in life do, this tiny tale began on Instagram when I discovered The Ultra Tiny Little Free Library. It is one of several front yard art-sharing projects by the creator of PDX Dinorama, which can be found near SE 78th & SE Morrison. There's actually a whole coalition of creators and curators in Portland who put up little repositories in their front yards where people can swap themed objects or books, and they&...
August Project Round-Up
I keep myself busy! Collaging, comicking, obsessively diagraming- Here’s the bullshit I made in August:What She Knows is an art practice/experiment that my friend, Lucy Bellwood, is developing, which prompts you to make art in response to a daily question. I am participating in my native language of collage, which you can see in the following links: COLLAGE: I Want to Return to… COLLAGE: I Feel Held When… COLLAGE: I Want to Dress Like... COMIC: Quarterly Tradition 🔒 Patrons OnlyFresh au...
COLLAGE: My mundane superpower is...
What She Knows is an art practice which prompts you with a daily statement and I am answering in my native language of collage. My previous responses are collected here. The prompt today was:My mundane superpower is...My mundane superpower is my ability to talk to strangers and make friends with them.I regularly make friends on the bus and hang out with them on an ongoing basis long afterwards. I have a whole category in my phone’s address book for Bus Friends. This feels completely normal to ...
Space Camp: Fudging the Timeline
Here's the thing: writing a memoir is different from reporting an accurate timeline of events like you would for a police report.Yes, a memoir or autobiography is about someone's unique, real life that actually happened... and it's also a story. Stories have guidelines that help keep the reader interested and understanding of what's happening, let alone entertained. Real life doesn't always unfold with a linear story structure, so when you're translating your experiences ...
COLLAGE: I am nourished by...
What She Knows is an art practice which prompts you with a daily statement and I am answering in my native language of collage. My previous responses are collected here. The prompt today was:I am nourished by...I am nourished by my relationships.The teacups of people are my various communities.They may not necessarily overlap, but they’re all tethered to my heart, as represented by the golden thread tying them to each other.The floral background illustration shows the organic growth and diverg...
