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mo | she/they | comic artist Instagram · INPRNT · #my art

[imacone]

Hi there, hope it's ok to reach out! Just wondering if you take art commissions or anything like that at the moment?

Hi, thank you so much for reaching out! I don't take personal art commissions at the moment, only commercial ones. x

[imacone]

Hi your artwork is genuinely so amazing and gorgeous and i love it with my entire being. Would you ever post what your process is or make a tutorial?

Thank you so much x I get very self-conscious and tense up when I'm being recorded and it affects how I draw, so maybe in the future when this is no longer a problem for me. :)

[imacone]

"Passingly, I think that this might always have been inevitable, that perhaps she had always known it but had wanted to hold on for me, for as long as she could."

-Our Wives Under the Sea

[imacone]

Some thoughts after New Spring.

Say it's a pair of ter'angreal Siuan found in the White Tower that leads to this open space, some point during the first couple of years she was raised to the stole.

[imacone]

How I made a zine in 3 weeks (do not recommend)

A babbling long post on how I turned this:

into this:

Full process under the cut (making-of videos, photos, gifs and an infinite amount of text):

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First of all. I didn't study anything bookbinding-related at school, so if this process looks amateurly longwinded please bear with me. If there's a better approach to some of the steps please let me know, I'd love to learn more about it :)

While I had professionals to do the printing and binding in the past, this is the first zine I self-printed and hand-bound. The limitations and the freedom of it extended the whole process at least 10 more days than what I had planned. As someone who gets very easily stressed out over the tiniest things, this was a fun and fulfilling learning curve but also very hellish (not too bad for my brain but bad for health).

---

1. Initial design:

I wanted to make it a coptic binding, because, just thinking about all the pretty yarns I could choose made me forget how much I suck at sewing. I can't sew. I once bound a guestbook with an electric drill. I can't sew.

Look at all my glorious plans for a beautiful coptic-bound zine and the intricate page setup to have three different yarns for three individual comics.

My head spins just from looking at these photos.

And this is when my 15-year-old printer started misaligning all the comic pages when I tried to print duplex. As I checked the misaligned pages I also realised that, even with a paper weight of 150gsm, the ink from a home inkjet printer is still see-through on the back of the uncoated paper I chose.

Hence the final design that saved me from another round of self-loathing spiral:

I referenced bindings of some art zines and brochures I owned; among them, eyelet and screwpost seemed like the best options for me. They're relatively easy to assemble, and, when paired with French-fold binding, they solve the see-through problem.

2. Cyanotype cover:

I did a crash course in cyanotype before this. The reasons I wanted to use cyanotype are simple: it works with the fickleness of sunlight, is blue (the generally agreed colour of siuanraine), is new to me which means more things to learn, and seems really fun.

This is a print with an exposure time of 7 minutes at around 13:30 on a partly cloudy day:

And this one is of 2 min 30 sec:

Starkly different results:

The 7-min one is closer to what people think of when they think of cyanotype. A very gorgeous shade of blue. But sadly doesn't work with the design I had in mind; it risks turning the whole cover into a noisy mess where every component tries to overpower each other. (There is, after all, an actual lace ribbon on the cover)

2 min 30 sec has just the perfect colour and details:

delish :)

I can't think of a better way to transfer the tactility and intimacy of fabrics onto paper.

Timelapse of the solution reacting with UV light, and you can spot the colour change in the span of 2 min 30 sec:

Here's the entire process from preparing the fabrics to rinsing out the paper (in about 5 days):

Results (perfect pallid lighting paired with my perfect 4k ultra hi-res phone camera):

(My friend, an expert on everything film-negative and photography-related, taught me the importance of hang-drying them. Only I asked her too late because since I started making this zine I dropped off the face of the earth completely. So if you bought the zine and saw some faint blue blotches, I'm very embarrassed but that's probably from me drying them on a glass door; it requires airflow on both sides to settle. Or maybe it's because I used the wrong type of watercolour paper. We'll never know. I don't have an answer for you. But if you know the mechanism in this please comment I desperately need to know.)

3. Printing:

I was reading up on screenprinting for an experiment in my personal project before this, so naturally I thought of it when I started preparing for this zine. Only I didn't have immediate access to a local screenprinting studio at the time, so in the end I resorted to home-printing my files with digitally processed screenprinting halftones.

I think it came out really well!

While laser printers are great for printing text, an inkjet printer is superior to a laser one when it comes to printing images with tiny detail. (Even though the print queue was 40 hours long. It was worth it.)

Here are two tutorials I find useful: Colour separation | Halftone print effect

(both in Photoshop, but the mechanism works on any software that allows channel separation, and if you've prepared files for silkscreen/risograph before, this is basically the same thing; you just need to finish the printing part digitally)

And here's a video of the full printing process, timelapse of assembling and trimming the pages:

The comics were printed on 100gsm uncoated paper instead of 150gsm, as I settled on French-fold binding.

4. Binding:

I wanted to tie a real ribbon on the cover. So I did.

(did you know lace ribbon can also mean lesbian in mandarin :) )

Gradually figuring out each component:

Did I mention I can't sew? But I'd had my hands on 4 different types of yarns beforehand, and I just couldn't let them go.

As the screw post protrudes from the cover once installed, it will eventually dent the belly band that goes over it. I had already decided to bind the belly band altogether anyway, so it just became a perfect excuse for me to fix the ribbon to the zine as well.

Just a tiny little bit on the spine. Nothing too conspicuous.

Four yarns side-by-side comparison:

By the time I was done with all of the zines, I cried at least twice because I couldn't thread or tie a knot correctly, and it just kept coming apart.

I ordered a whole bunch of super cute paper samples and made them into little thank-you cards, sprayed on some fixative so the writing doesn't smudge too much. This was attached to the last page with the screw post.

And here's the final bookbinding video:

You've reached the end, wohooo! If you've made it this far, thank you. I hope it was entertaining to read and watch. And that if you're thinking about making a zine, this was somewhat helpful to you, even though it's just one of millions of ways to make a zine, and rather a convoluted one.

[imacone]

The zines are all dispatched, hope you'll receive it soon :) (tracking number in email)

The net proceeds have now been donated to the Khartoum Kitchen 🇸🇩, please see below the excel sheet and donation receipt. You can also verify the donation here, or in the 'recent donation' list on their homepage.

Thank you so much everyone for the support, I really appreciate it. x

[imacone]

Siuanraine fundraiser zine drop

(EDIT: Please as there are only this many copies available the purchase limit is one copy per person. My apologies for not stating this clearly beforehand.)

It's here! Popup shop opens this Saturday, May 16, 19:00 BST (i.e. 11:00 PDT, 14:00 EDT, 20:00 CEST) on my website:

A collection of my three Moiraine Damodred/Siuan Sanche fan comics, in chronological order.

Due to physical and time limitations on my part, there will be 12 copies available for purchase.

All proceeds after cost will be donated to the Khartoum Aid Kitchen in Sudan.

Even if you're not getting this zine please consider donating to them. Sudan is currently experiencing one of the worst man-made famines in modern history but there's barely any coverage about it. If you're able to, please consider donating.

Detailed info and photos under the cut:

Front and back:

Screwpost & French-fold binding, cyanotype cover on 300gsm cotton watercolour paper; CMYK-halftone-style inkjet printing, 100gsm recyclable uncoated paper; 20 pages; £14.

All printed and hand-bound by me.

(The cyanotype image on the cover varies slightly as each one was developed individually by hand.)

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I set up the files for my inkjet printer to print in halftone, so that the texture mimics screenprinting:

Book spine (the ribbon is sewn onto the belly band, which is also screwed to the zine so I'm not sure if it still qualifies as a belly band but a flap, but it's convolutely cute and I'm proud):

There's also a random pufferfish at the end, on a little piece of art paper (paper and pufferfish both vary). I sprayed fixative on them so the pencil shouldn’t smudge too much:

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Ship to anywhere in the world; you'll see an estimate for your country at checkout. Should be around £6-8.

The copy number on the last page starts at 6 and does not correspond to your order number.

Orders will be shipped after the sale is finished or within a week of purchase, whichever comes first. Follow-up on the donation will be posted here and on Instagram.

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*Please note the cyanotype lace & fishing net image on the cover is made by hand individually with direct sun exposure. The colour might look darker or lighter than the one in the product photo as sunlight is a variable I do not hold power to control.

The brand of the watercolour paper also varies, hence the tint of the cover itself may look warmer or cooler than the photo. I am still pretty new to cyanotype so you might see blue blotches or brushstrokes on the cover; please know I am very embarrassed about this and hope you’d find the imperfections somewhat acceptable.

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Making-of posts coming soonsss :) The zines were very fun to make, really fussy to design for an amateur like me and I cried twice because I kept breaking the threads while sewing on the ribbons.

At last, a very random but cheeky TMI: lace and lace ribbons are neutral, non-derogatory slang for lesbians in Mandarin. It’s only fair that this zine is covered in lace. And I’m glad I found one with a pattern that is, at least for me, very Siuanraine-coded.

[imacone]

I got a few weeks off so I’m making those 3 wot comics into a zine for fundraising. It's all hand-made by me so it'll just be a few copies.

All proceeds after costs will be donated to the Khartoum Aid Kitchen in Sudan.

(Will also be posting some design process and making-ofs because i’m dying over colour-grading my 15-year-old printer so yes you should absolutely see me crying blood on the floor inksoaked.)

More info coming soon once I figure out shipping options. Also if you're thinking about getting one please let me know where you're based. I'm travelling between EU and East Asia for the next few months so it'd help a lot to know where I ship them from. (No commitment at all I just want a general idea)

[imacone]

how not to ride a horse by Siuan Sanche

My hc is that Moiraine used to slip in apologies here and there to whichever horse Siuan was riding at the time when she wasn't looking and Arrow just watched her mom do her little thing.

[imacone]

I finally made my INPRNT page! People who asked thank you so much for your patience I'm really sorry it took this long.

All my works on this blog that I find printable are up, along with some of my other stuff. Anything upcoming will be added soon as I post it.

I don't think I will make the three comics into a zine anytime soon, but if I ever do I'll come back with a little poll; it's most likely just gonna be some ten handmade copies for fun and archiving. For this reason I did add a few pages that I personally really liked and would still work as a single print to the shop.

Thank you thank you xxx

[imacone]

arrow and her mom

[imacone]

Did you know she sutures me with kisses and when she does I'm bruised swollen inflamed yet no longer excruciatingly miserable.

[imacone]

helloo,, what program amd brushes do you use?

Hi! I use CSP with this pencil and the lasso tool most of the time, plus this brush for additional texture.

[pien-art]

Hey so what if the books ended differently and they survived together and healed together and could love and comfort each other through the aftermath. WHAT IFFFFF :''''))

Prints available here :p

Close-ups under the cut

[imacone]

Some thoughts after New Spring.

Say it's a pair of ter'angreal Siuan found in the White Tower that leads to this open space, some point during the first couple of years she was raised to the stole.

[imacone]

seconding anon I Adore your art, I literally share every piece you post with my friends online and irl. They bring me such joy

STAWWWP IM GONNA CRY

[imacone]

I make a sound every time I see you made a new art of moiraine and siuan, thank you so much for your services really

oh oh my first ask thankyu anon *arms flailing

I started drawing them bc I needed to do something to heal myself after s3 and wasn't expecting this much support from others, so thank you so much for liking my work!!

I'm glad I decided to post them instead of burying them in my hard drive and that they were able to reach you xxx