We're a queer interracial artist couple in the PNW. Choi is an expat from Seoul, South Korea and Izzy is a reformed hick from Southern Idaho. We're also an Aries / Virgo pair, and somehow it works?? We are animal lovers, horror and erotica fans, and big giant game nerds. We started creating stories together in 2008, and have been developing Cosmic Garden Creative since 2019.
We believe stories about love and erotic exploration can have a huge impact in a time of rising intolerance, when expressions of identity and sexual freedom are being objectively shut down. These stories help us examine ourselves, see what others have experienced or want to talk about, and even help us deal with real-world anxieties. And of course, take us on little vacations to fantasy lands - of both the bright and ~very dark~ variety.
In addition to love and romance, most of our work is fantasy / scifi and involves dark, mature, or outright horror themes. We do not shy away from explicit visuals and ideas, including sex, violence, drug use, trauma survival, unconventional / fantasy kinks, and a very wide range of other mature topics. Discretion is definitely advised!
For anyone who likes the sound of that: we're here to share queer joy, talk about light and heavy subjects (not always perfectly), and have plenty of weird freaky fun.
More details on our current projects under the cut~!
Last updated 03/10/2026.
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What we're creating right now:
1️⃣ "Sweet Nightmares" is an urban fantasy project led by Choi.
This story centers on a very fun bi-throuple of MCs -
MyungJin the half-imugi witch ran away from her family's expectations (and her two boyfriends) 5 years ago, and now returns needing their help;
Vance the artistic dream spirit has never met another of his kind, and is just getting through life the best he can working for the human mage court;
And Bidan the six-tailed fox is working as a dragon's hitman while scheming to finally get himself, MyungJin, and Vance into a real relationship - for good this time.
They're each goofy hot messes in their own way, forced to navigate the responsibilities of a broken world and unfinished destinies left to them by older generations. Plus, there are one or two cosmic-level threats trying to undo everything, but they're getting to that, okay?
The story delves into queerness / nonbinary-ness, passing, social power and personal loss, magic and witchcraft, and being Korean-American.
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2️⃣ "The Judge" is a near-future dark sci-fi project led by Ismaire.
Ashe Sable hopes to make something of his messy life by joining a monster-hunting company to work under the "guy of his dreams" -- never suspecting he'll be aiding people more dangerous than any monster, and that his dreamy commander, Darr de Reine, is slowly turning into something… else.
Ashe and Darr are a pair of heart-sick nonbinary men who fall in love when they find in each other what no one else could give them - real acceptance. It takes place on a world where monsters have been known to exist for some time, but are now starting to become a bigger threat to humanity, and no one knows how deep the danger goes or where these creatures came from:
This project deals with cosmic / eldritch beings and demons, darker themes of past hurt and growing through it, love gone wrong (and learning to do it right), and of course queerness, nonbinary representation (with a slight twist) and sexual freedom.
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*If you are interested in reading / supporting these stories - thank you! Along with pics, character sheets, and other goodies on our socials, the comic pages will be free to read on Comic Fury (full uncut version) and Webtoon (tamer cut version), depending which version you'd like to peep. We'll be sure to announce on our socials when pages start to go up!
Your thoughts, time, or even support would mean the world to us.
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Thanks for reading~ If you'd like to find us elsewhere, links are up at the top of this post - (soon) including our Patreon, where comic pages go up several weeks early, along with TONS of other goodies!
❗Please note that certain links are only intended for adults❗
Man, thinking back to the days where older artists I followed would say they're going on hiatus. 13-year-old me couldn't even fathom what it meant to just take a break from art. And yet, here I am but not because I wanted to intentionally take a break from art -- I'm just swamped under a big ol' pile of lemons lol...
We're still working through some IRL stuff, which has been a big reason for the suddenly zero art drive. Despite that, we’re doing alright, but the energy shift isn’t without some frustration. I tried to write about this new phase of life as a way to process whenever I could. After so may discarded drafts and a couple private posts, it’s proving to not be an easy endeavor because recovery isn’t as straightforward as we’d like lol
As much as Izzy and I want to get back to drawing our projects, we get that there’s a lot of clean up that needs to happen. Both physically and mentally.
Yet even through the depression, we’re making progress and getting stuff done. Like booking an appointment for our 2nd car to address the mold that we can’t get rid of, while hoping to hear back from a tattooist and trying not to die of embarrassed anxiety. Even as an artist, we can't help feeling shy and vulnerable trying to convey our thoughts to another artist 😵💫 [[GOOD NEWS: I was just able to get the deposits in for our time slots so our couple's tattoos are a go <'3 so excite!!]]
Thankfully expenses are manageable as I'm finding stability with this new temp job. I seem to be in a good trajectory with it; not that I’d want to take things for granted, but I’m hopeful. Considering some recent IRL events, we’re actually doing alright for where we're at, even if we wish that we had made certain life choices earlier.
I couldn't help reflecting this during my train commute this morning. How we as a society seem to really pressure the youth into figuring their life out at 18 and into their 20s. And somehow we're supposed to get more "mature" through osmosis and start adulting with "real jobs." It's seriously a no wonder why there seems to be this dread of turning 30 and older…
Obviously we don’t want to feel like we wasted our time or missed out on having fun as young adults. But we should really stop thinking that it’s too late for us to do anything new or to keep seeking joy the older we get. It’s only too late if you give up. It’s only time wasted if you don’t use the life experience you gained to do more and better for yourself.
As much as Izzy and I want to go back to doing art again soon, I know that this period we're going through is much needed. Because otherwise, if we keep denying ourselves to live and that we must be constantly working productively, it's just going to cause a bigger burnout and self-resentment.
In the meantime, just gonna enjoy seeing whatever art comes through our TL and go back to studying anatomy after investing in some reference packs. No amount of prudish censorship is going to keep us from drawing our porn ✌🏻
I'm currently doing tutorials on How To Build Your Visual Development! If you're interested in creating your own visual development, feel free to follow along on my Patreon! :D
Hey everyone. There's an important survey happening that's being conducted by the Free Speech Coalition. If you're an artist who's been affected by debanking, or cowed into thinking that you'll never get support for your art because of the censorship imposed by payment processors, we recommend that you check out Free Speech Coalition. They are highly considering creating a credit union, which is a seriously big deal. Link to their survey is below.
There are plenty of pros for being part of a credit union, one of them being that they usually offer a free checking account, which means no monthly balance maintenance fee. If you're someone who's living paycheck to paycheck, it'd be something to consider. Big banks will impose administrative fees if you don't keep up some sort of minimum balance, even with direct deposits -- if you can't hit that $1500 minimum, you're cooked.
A past experience that still riles me up is how one BofA teller made it sound like it was beneficial for me to open a new checking account -- without considering that I was an overseas college student who didn't need to change their bank info. But she was pretty natural at spinning how this was clearly in my favor more than hers. One thing that I wasn't aware of at the time is that tellers like her are incentivized to open as many new checking accounts as possible. Go figure younger me didn't think to ask questions like, "If I close this account and make a new one, is it going to make it harder for me to receive my overseas parents' money transfers?"
So yeah, you can imagine the surprise between me and my parents the next month. One incentive-based move literally costed my parents more time and money to send me a check from Korea to Washington. All for the "convenience" of being able to remember my account number by having it be part of the debit card's digits, which yikes on security??! This was back in 2007, so I'd hope they stopped that program, but don't be surprised if you feel like your bank's teller is influencing you to make a decision on the spot.
And keep in mind, these are the same people trying to tell you what you can and can't do with your money.
Big name banks don't care about their customers the same way a credit union would with its own members. After our own experience in working with a local credit union, we don't regret closing our BofA and WF checking accounts. Not once were we ever pressured in opening more accounts or cards than necessary, and no dime was ever spent over maintenance fees.
So the fact that the FSC is really considering a credit union especially for those of us in adult art and entertainment, this is incredible! NSFW creators are constantly at risk getting debanked by a financial institution, and it's worse now more than ever. Let's show FSC how extremely needed this is!
Yesterday, we said goodbye to our little rescue Bucky, the long-haired teddy bear hamster. We estimate that he was about 3 years old when he passed in his sleep.
It was late last night when I got around doing a little art in honor of his memory. Yesterday was such a busy day, I didn't really have a chance to just sit and process… I cried enough to ease some feelings once I started the sketch. It sure made it easier to then appreciate the time we got to share with our littlest pet ♥
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I found him in a Petco in June 2024 while I was out on a run for pet supplies. I happened to notice a few handwritten signage on some tanks saying how there were surrendered pets that were looking for a new home. I got curious about "Bucky, the senior teddy bear hamster (age unknown)" so I asked if I could see him, since the adoptees weren't allowed to be on the sales floor officially.
I was taken to the back room where they kept pets that needed some extra care and rest. Off to the corner, several fish tanks held the surrendered pocket pets in each of them. I was shown Bucky and I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He was full grown, likely over a year old. When I asked the employee what was Bucky's story, it turned out it was all because the previous family changed their mind in taking care of him. It could've been anything between the hamster got bigger than they expected to they just didn't want to have the responsibility anymore. I was rather surprised; he was pretty cute when I first saw him, and didn't mind me handling him as a stranger.
When I asked how much the adoption fee was, the young woman said, "Only five dollars."
I was conflicted because right then and there, I knew it was going to be one more responsibility that we'd have to juggle on top of our three cats. I knew I couldn't allow my impulse buy get the best of me. I took a couple snapshots and drove back home, thinking whether we have the space, if we'd even be able to take care of a hamster well when we only ever had cats... Once I arrived, I told Izzy about Bucky, showing them the pictures, and how much the adoption and supplies would cost us. Before I could even say, "I know we probably shouldn't --" they immediately said, "Yes."
It was a pretty eventful drive to and from the store. The Petco employees especially seemed happy that Bucky was going with us because they were familiar how we cared for our cats. On our way back home, we joked about Bucky's name and thought it more apt to call him "Captain Bucky Rogers." What better way to welcome a new addition to the family by appreciating the first sci-fi hero known in American comics. Besides, it was fitting to give him an old-school moniker being that he was already the oldest in our family (a one-year-old hamster is equivalent to a human in their mid-40s to late 50s).
So yeah, it was an interesting year and a half with Bucky. We invested in a Bucatstate cage because the 30L x 12W x 13H was way too cramped for the 6in. hamster x__x We worked on getting other quality of life improvements like getting him a bigger wheel that he absolutely loved running with, and even a sand box to help him stay tidy. Even though we didn't know how long he'd actually stay alive with us, we were more than willing to make sure he had a comfortable time. It was only fair that we'd treat him as well as we strive to with our cats.
Aside from the one vet visit because of a health concern, he was a pretty hardy hamster. It surprised me to think how much time must've passed for him when I noticed a few months ago he moved a little slower. Comparing to how he was then to now, his fur thinned as expected, and he was more inclined to stay still in our palms rather than move about he like was on a treadmill. Thankfully he didn't show any other signs of discomfort as time went on, and we at least got to hold him one more time last week before he really kept to himself.
The temptation for a replacement hamster did cross my mind, but in the end, it made more sense to just appreciate the experience we had with Bucky. Even a small pocket pet like him was an investment in time and money. Between caring for Drift, Trevor, and Cereza, all at various life stages, it was only appropriate that we didn't spread ourselves too thin as we moved towards our goals for the next little while.
Rest easy, Bucky. May the next adventure ahead of you be towards a fulfilling cycle 🙏🏻
Getting my boy Drift back online with a few redesign tweaks 👍🏻
Some character lore's in the works for him, but one thing for sure is that Drift's no longer part of the Dominion. It's tough staying loyal to a faction that wants you dead ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Something's a-brewin' lately, and boy, it's taking a lot of willpower to not go feral on the stupidity that's going on.
Still, trying to have a "clean" TL doesn't make sense when I keep seeing people get caught in the crosshairs of moral policing.
It's one thing to starve the purist-machine that's being fed like a woodchipper, but it's real maddening to watch queer artists get sniped at for FICTIONAL taboo and FANTASY sexual/kink terms in the last couple weeks. No amount of "block and move on" is helping because everyone is mad at everything.
I remember back in the 90s how we'd joke about an explosive conflict be described as World War III, not ever thinking that fascism would creep upon the younger generation into the 21st century, all cos the history books said, "The good guys won - racism, Nazism, Fascism is in the past! USA ftw 🦅"
And yet, we're living through another round of censorship and discrimination, and we're sorely lacking the media literacy and critical thinking -- no thanks to the enemy that literally dumbed down each generation as civil rights and technology advanced (though not at the same speed for one of them).
No matter how much we try to compartmentalize, our very existence is political. People's creativity and exploration will always challenge another perspective. The real difficulty is that we're all faceless entities to each other behind digital screens, so it's easy to assume the worst of the other.
We shouldn't act like empathy, nuance, and intent are ideal theories. We need to continue to learn to develop these qualities, instead of taking down an erotic artist because someone said they're getting too popular with taboo subjects, or criticize a marginalized creator for misogyny.
I know in the end we're all concerned about safety. We don't want to perpetuate harmful mindsets and stereotypes, but lately I'm seeing a lot of internalized misogyny and sexual repression in people's criticisms. Reactions are normal, but to act out on them without evaluating does more harm than good.
It's nothing new, but I can't help feeling sensitive since we're frequenting bsky lately. Unsurprisingly we've got a more outspoken TL than other socials concerning NSFW content. Maybe it was only a matter of time that I'd finally say my piece on it.
Regardless of a platform, oppression is everywhere and masks itself as propriety. Fate forbid that an artist who draws fictional incest gets the same ire as a literal Nazi who draws flashy porn.
You are on a path in the woods.
At the end of that path is a cabin.
In the basement of that cabin is a princess.
You're here to slay her.
If you don't, it will be the end of the world.
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Yeah, nah, nope. I didn't do that. Mission critically failed. Fell in love and rescued her. Oopsie.
It's a love I would end the world for a thousand times, no question.
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Today I was hankering for this excellent ship again, so I dug up one of the fan arts I did that never got posted.
Choi:
The nice thing about Lunar New Year? It's actually celebrated for at least a good couple weeks -- goes on till March 3rd this year 💪🏻
Although we can't participate in all of the festivities (there'll be a Lion Dance in Downtown Seattle tomorrow), I still wanted to do something special for both mine and Izzy's projects ♥
Sweet Nightmares:
Bidan (silver hair with fox ears) and Vance (blonde) appreciate the little fire-pony show put on by their gf MyungJin.
The Judge:
Darr (blond), Ashe (brunette), and Bradie (redhead) raise their glasses for the new year, unperturbed by the nightcrawler wearing a disturbing latex horse mask that it found in a dumpster.
Unsurprisingly, 2025 was a difficult year, but we're just as grateful for the life experiences gained from the Wood Snake last year. If it weren't for the trials and tribulations, I don't know if we would've had the fortitude to go forward with the energetic Fire Horse, honestly. It's been interesting to muse between ourselves how far we've come, and how much further we'll go this year.
It's been a real blast to draw not just my Sweet Nightmares crew, but also finally being able to show off Izzy's own main three characters from The Judge with a side of dark/crack humor (i was surprised that my husband approved, but thank goodness they like my sense of humor 😅)
