This year I'm creating a graphic novel (working title: "The Yard Next Door") about a lost bird who teams up with a narcissistic opossum and holy turtle. Together, they journey through hostile environments of invasive fauna and flora to find a rare native ecosystem in the Eastern US. They have enchanting arguments and discover 'fun facts' along the way. For about 4 months (starting March 2023) I re-visited all of my story structure notes and sketched out about 90 pages of graphic novel magic. I'm currently in the process of refining those sketches (editing and such), and by becoming a member here on Patreon, you get to see bits and clips of that process I won't be posting anywhere else. I'm working mostly in Clip Studio Paint 2, and I will also be sharing some of my personal notes (for Clip Studio fans).

Making art in this world is ridiculously hard work both from a career-perspective and an internal/mental-perspective. Your membership will help this process go more smoothly (helps to cover other overhead costs such as marketing, researching, outreach for the book, afford me more time to manage invasive species, etc...).

On a more positive note, I am lucky to be gifted with a (self-assigned) opportunity to create a thing that has the potential to positively impact society for the benefit of both the ecosystem and humanity (and for me, that's pretty exciting.) The focus of this novel will be on Non-Native Invasive species (or NNI) because after a few years spent in the woods, I've noticed how destructive NNIs can be on an ecosystem. You can find the effects of invasive species all over the planet. The current economic costs of NNI's in the USA (as of 2020) is well over 21 billion in food crop and ecosystem destruction. The good news is that while humans are capable of creating devastating harm, we are also capable of creating positive change on a global scale. If you own a yard, you can be a part of positive change by simply gardening with plants that are local/native to your ecosystem.

For those wondering what I was doing in the woods for the past few years, I became certified volunteer, trained to go into the woods and help manage invasive species in public county parks. You can too! Just call your local jurisdiction/county officials or local parks system to find out if they have a similar program. Most of these programs are run on volunteer hours, but you don't have to volunteer to make a difference.

Here are all the other things you can do to make an impact:

Plant natives on your property
Learn to identify just a couple non-native invasive species on your property and do your best to eradicate them.
Don't buy plants if you don't know their invasive status
Don't buy plants with warning labels that say they are invasive - keep in mind that many plants are not labeled because your state and local policy might not yet require invasive species be labeled.
Help spread the word and support this project!

Prospective publishing date: sometime March of 2024, but after publication, I plan to continue posting here for members once per week (content TBD, but likely to involve home repair projects and managing non-native invasive species - possibly all done in cartoon form). Thanks so much for your support!

Here's my portfolio if you're interested in some of my other works: www.actsofpaint.com