May 2026 Sketchbook

The past month was a slurry blur as I roamed through May experimenting with new tools and finessing ongoing illustrations.

a digital illustration of three anthropomorphic animal characters wearing golden bikinis having fun at the beach: a lithe female jackal wearing a gold eye patch, gold prosthetic leg, and standing with a cane also of gold, a tall female maned wolf wearing round glasses with gold frames, and a pink towel, and small male raccoon, dancing in front wearing his own bikini.

I drew my sexiest OC for Golden Week. I even included the Captain Rhodes and Dr. Delgado to hang out with Cole behind him too! 

Blackmask Progress

The rest of my month was spend getting ahead on pixel art cutscenes for Blackmask. I got a solid amount of detailed scenes done and getting a good reception from all the people I show them to.

Monochrome green pixel animation of an anthropomorphic male raccoon standing on top of a boat railing with his long coat blowing in the wind, as an anthropomorphic female jackal wearing an eyepatch and long coat, observes the raccoon from behind the railing smoking a long pipe.

My programmer, Adam, changed up computers, troubleshooting, and reorganized files enough to finally get Blackmask on a proper developer platform! With version control finally working, and I have more access to builds and can test and look out for visual priorities. I got some more hands on tests with other trusted friends, and we’re on our way to real progress on Blackmask.

Monochrome green pixel animation showing an anthropomorphic raccoon at a lakeside surrounded by brick ruins, rocks and towering trees across the horizon. The scene is overlaid by black bars with placeholder dialogue text.

After more time polishing a bigger scene, I’m taking a break to re-look at my script drafts, then get more cutscenes done. I’ll even give myself personal fist pump for getting a nod from LucasArts Games Legend, Ron Gilbert.

Free Comic Book Day

Throughout the month, I tabled some small comic events such as Forest Park Library Fan Fest, but a personal highlight for me was the Free Comic Book Day Event at Zone Comics in Homewood, IL!

Not only was I talking about the ups and downs of selling my self-published comics, but I also took many blank comic cover commissions! After shaking off the mental rust drawing with markers, these commissions rekindled my love of drawing on paper without internal pressure to perform at a high level.

These shows went well, selling out of popular stickers like the Wheatley’s Bread Cat head and collected Pastry Cat Sticker Sheets. There’ll be more Sticker Packs and Sheets of popular stickers in the future so stop by my Store for an exceptional, buy one get on free deal of large stickers.

VC4 Crusader Con: THE LARGEST COMIC, CARDS, AND COLLECTIBLES CONVENTION IN NORTHWEST INDIANA

JUNE 13-14 | 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
PORTER COUNTY EXPO CENTER

JOIN US FOR A FULL WEEKEND
OF SHOPPING, PANELS, GUESTS, ARCADE GAMING, TCG TOURNAMENTS, AND MORE!

The next event, I’ll be tabling at is Crusader Con in Volapariso, Indiana. It’s been a while since I got out of state so I’ll make sure this goes great.

Wacom Moveinkpad 11

Photograph of the illustration on the Wacom Moveink Pad 11


I bought a Wacom MoveinkPad 11 because I wasn’t happy with my iPad and Procreate never feeling 1 to 1 with my general drawing hand. I could never get my brush settings as precise as I wanted it to be like my Cintiq 13HD. Because of all of this, I didn’t feel compelled to sketch in the tablet like I could with my sketchbook or desktop set up.

Digital illustration of a black woman with a ponytail fancy hair braids that end at large hair spheres, wearing a white t-shirt, green and yellow shorts and black, green, and yellow shoes. She bends forward accentuating her chest as she indignantly wags her finger at the camera, saying "Stop thinking about sex!" Her t-shirt has writing on the chest saying,"What did I say?"

One day, I encountered one of Brad Colbow’s videos on the Wacom MovinkPad 14 in my YouTube recommendations and was intrigued by it’s offerings. The tooth of the matte screen would make a difference, giving just enough resistance to feel good to draw for me, and not depend on buying nibs or a screen cover to draw with. After watching other videos comparing the general features, I gave my iPad to my mom for Mother’s Day and purchsed the MoveinkPad 11!

Digital illustration of an anthropomorphic female great white shark wearing a yellow bikini with white spots. She wields a colorful retro sci-fi laser rifle.
Pencil sketch of an anthropomorphic female shark in a 60's era bikini and black hairstyle pointing with a laser pistol
Pencil sketch of an anthropomorphic female shark in a 60's era spotted bikini, small laser headbands on the top of her head, and carrying a laser rifle in her left arm. Written text reads: "Laser Shark Army, Foot Soldiers of evil spy org(anization) with semi-aquatic skills."


The first few weeks took some onboarding, but I got started doodling around Wacom Canvas and it’s been decent for what I was looking for! Despite being a lower end Android 14 tablet with 8gb of memory and 128 GB of storage, I was fine with the downgrade. I rarely used the other features in my iPad and have a desktop computer for anything heavier. The Android 14 OS can be a deal-breaker for some with the lack of useful drawing apps. However, I’m making due with Clip Studio Paint, Autodesk Sketchbook, and Artflow Studio. I even found Resprite, as my pixel art app of choice.

Digital illustration of three anthropomorphic female raccoons running on screen. From left to right: Left is a dark furred raccoon with glowing red eyes, wearing a long studded black leather jacket and black boots wrapped with a large amount of belts. She carries a long sword with a skull designed crossguard. Center is a raccoon with a bob cut and wearing a pink and purple diamond sweater dress with sleeves over her hands. Right raccoon has long unkempt hair, wearing a long tattered green coat, over a yellow tank-top with words that say "Eat Trash and Scream" while also wearing patched jeans.


But at $399, I got what I paid for: a portable Cintiq that feel better to draw than my iPad. It even can connect to the computer if you have Windows 11, so that’s a plus for someone looking for a cheaper Cintiq.

Other Sketches and Art

Pencil sketch of a line up of three anthropomorphic fennec foxes in desert robes walking in line carrying various objects. Left fox holds a large sack, middle fox holds a large sand shovel, right fox holds a spear tipped with a severed scorpion tail.
Two pencil sketches a anthropomorphic female fennec fox in a gem encrusted dancer outfit and sunglasses. Left sketch is a general standing pose showcasing the details of the dance outfit such as the cross necked halter tip and gem string lion cloth and tail ring. Right sketch showcases fox lounging on her own coiled tail like a large pillow.
Three pencil sketches a anthropomorphic fennec foxes. Left two foxes wear a large cape and a bead wrapped turban that covers their ears, while carrying a large knife at the hip. Right fox wears arc patterned desert robes, with a tassled fez on their left ear.
Two ink and pencil sketches an anthropomorphic fennec fox. Top drawing is of a fox holding a tiny dagger with a wall-eyed stare. The Bottom sketch compares the size of an anthropomorphic raccoon wearing a long coat holding a sword, and the smaller fennec fox holding two daggers, half the raccoon's size.

Moving Forward

Despite May being a smaller month of art, I still do the work. I fight the world to get in more creation time, so I can’t compare my work to someone more established. Despite my personal frustrations about working on a longer term passion project for a gamble of compensation, I gotta keep hope that the effort isn’t an entire waste.

When ever I fee personal doubt in my art skills, I watch a video from one of my current favorite YouTube channels, Painting Therapy. I watch his landscape painting videos for tips on not getting too deep focusing on inane details, embracing the mess of the canvas, and pepping me up to not be as concerned with my worth as an artist.

I make plenty of other illustrations that you can browse on my website. You can also commission me to create artwork for you and catch me drawing live during my weekly art streams!


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