ErikaMoen posts
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November Bullshit Round-Up
In spite of the days getting shorter and darker in November, I did, bravely (heroically!)manage to make some art. Here it is. No applause needed (but it iswelcomed)A Crowning AchievementOver the course of 24 hours I went from have noHalloween costume to having having suchHalloween costume! Including this real cool golden laurel that I threw together and then loved it so much I wore it almost every day afterwards. And now you can too, with this tu...
ESSAY: A Motherfucking Bad Ass
Content Note: This writing describes medical injury on my reproductive organs.----------------------I managed to wait until the clinicians left the room before I doubled over on the exam table sobbing.In the last dozen or so years I'd already gone through multiple IUD insertions and removals. It sucks, sure. It hurts! But it's not "the worst" and I was an old pro, I could handle it. This was actually a point of pride for me.An IUD...
PROJECT/ESSAY: A Stitch in Time
Oh dang, so archaeologists in Wyoming found 13,0000 year old sewing needle fragmentsand I am just marveling at their hypothesis that humans probably couldn'tmigrate into North America until they'd figured out how to sew"sophisticated" clothesagainst the cold.Once equipped with warm, close-fitting garments, humans had the capacity to expand their range to places from which they were previously excluded due to the threat of hypother...
October Round-Up
We're halfway through November so that's probably my cue to give y'all my October project round-up! Here's the stuff I made and did in the best of the fall months. 🔒 Letters From Space Camp 🔒 (Patrons/Buyers Only)Yes, I included this in my September round-up, but teeechnically I actually finished Space Camp in October so WOO-HOO, LUCKY YOU, I'm sharin' it again! My sample chapter from my memoir about going through th...
PROJECT: A Crowning Achievement
Halloween was upon us and I didn't really have a costume. But I didhave a hand-me-down technicolor swimsuit, black tights, a weird kind of mini-top with long sleeves, and stretchy gold fabric. My destiny was obvious:I am... a background character in a cheap sci-fi movie! I had used a leftover scrap of gold fabric to tie around my head as a kerchief, to cover up my far-too-earthly hair, but I felt like it was still lacking something. And then ...
Just a little
Over on the Comics Tier, I shared the full pencils for this comic commissionI'm doing for Dr. Emily Nagoski- adapting a concept from her newest book, Come Together, into some easily-digestible comic pages that she can use during presentations. I've been chipping away at inking my pencils the last couple weeks. It's a job that should really only take me one week, I think, but I keep... waiting. I wait till the end of the day before I s...
Project: MOMS ON MARS
As a comic artist-- one who specializes in sex education and autobiographical stories- I was honestly confused when two scientists approached me to design functional clothing for pregnant people to wear on Mars.What?Never one to let my lack of experience or knowledge hold me back from getting involved, obviously I said YES. Kelly Weinersmithand Cat Bohannon, it turns out, were figuring out how to facilitate pregnancy and post-partum on the big re...
September Bullshit
Here's what I made in September: a ton of comics, a revamped wagon, and a patched up jacket. 🔒 Letters From Space Camp 🔒 (Patrons/Buyers Only)🔒 Pages 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29🔒 (Patrons Only)IT’S DONE. I finished this chapter from my memoir about going through the mental hospital. Non-patrons can purchase the completed 29 page chapter and the entire 162 page rough draft for a one-time $5 payment.New Wagon, Who Dis?Matt and I in...
PROJECT: New Wagon, Who Dis?
Listen, I made a whole tiny (1 minute long) video about this which Patreon won't let me embed here but you can go watch it on my Instagram:Matt and I inherited this wagon from our neighbors. Obviously, it is part its prime, but it still technically rolled so I got some use out of it. Now, though, the wheels are flat and past the point of being able to retain fresh air pumped into them. We very nearly included it in our run to the dump last we...
PROJECT: A Patchwork Coat
My friend Ben Colemanhas a jacket that he wore daily for ten years. It served him well! But you wear something that much for a decade and it's just a matter of time before it accrues some battle damage. You guys already know where this is going. Yeah.I mended the fuck outta this coat. Coleman is a big fan and collector of VHS and LaserDiscs, so, naturally, he already had somevideotape-themed fabricpicked out for me to use.Since the fabric pat...
August Bullshit
The month was primarily focused on comics but I also made some time to reupholster my couch and get emo about the end of summer.Letters From Space Camp🔒 Pages 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22🔒 (Patrons Only)I’m aaalmostdone with this chapter from my memoir about going through the Intensive Outpatient Program at the mental hospital! In these pages I get jealous of another inpatient who gets a more enthusiastic to her anime drawing than my far superi...
PROJECT: Couch Makeover
Sometime around 2010ish, Matt and I bought our most expensive piece of furniture- a brand new couch from Ikea. This noble steed has served us well. In addition to normal couch duties, she's also served as a guest bed to many a visitor over the years, as well as an impenetrable fortress when cats need a secret place to hide underneath. She is: A Good Couch.Matt and I have really been feeling our ages, lately. Our hairs our graying, our faces a...
What if I wasted it?
Hey so we’re like at the end of August. My friend’s twins started school this week (Not even September! I think it should be illegal to have school start before September) and I’m like lowkey panicking because the summer is almost over and I’m scared I haven’t Made The Most of these sweet hot months before the rain and the gray starts up again. I didn’t go on trips (the few we had planned were canceled due to forest fire smoke) and I ...
July Bullshit
Gotdang, July was a month of COMICSing for me!Letters From Space Camp🔒 page 13,pages 14 & 15, page 16, page 17🔒 Patrons OnlyNot one, not two, not three, but FIVEpages of Space Camp got done this month! Only 12 more pages to go to finish this chapter - I’m really making progress on this sum’bitch! These pages are all about the inpatients sharing their coping mechanisms in our group class, and the instructor teaching us the TIPP Skills- a...
COMIC: How to repair your broken boot zippers (DONE!)
In December 2023 I decided to make a six panel comic explaining how to replace a busted zipper on your boot. From documenting my own boot repair, I had dozens of reference photos from which to draft up my comic outline......and a mere 9 months later- voila!-a fully collaged comic emerged!You can see how each panel was constructed by checking out my previous posts.I absolutely could not have done this without the emotional support of Tig, who beli...
COMIC: Zippity-do-dah! (p. 6)
Ho-hoooooooo! DONE! The boot zipper repair comicthat I started about eight months ago is now, at last, completed!As before, I started with a digital mock-up of what I wanted the panel to look like:Then I cut out each individual shape from my paper stash.I realized the original title banner ("Zippity-do-dah") just... didn't look right. I'd freehanded it without looking at reference, so this time I went back and painstakingly attemp...
COMIC: Sew Through Pre-existing Holes (p. 5)
You know the drill: I'm making acomic out of collage to explain how to replace the busted zipper in your boots. Great news, I'm up to panel 5 out of 6! This is the part of the process where you secure your new zipper replacement into place, sewing through the pre-existing holes from the lastzipper.Using the above photo, I drafted up this panel layout: Surely there is a more efficient way, but I've been tracing each separate element of...
COMIC: Position New Zipper (p.4)
Panel 4 of my Boot Repair Comic! To recap, here's the first three panels:Panel 1 : How to Replace Your Broken Boot Zippers.Panel 2: You will need: Thread, New Zipper, Binder clips, Seam ripper, Sewing needle.Panel 3: Rip out the original stitching.Now on to... positioning the zipper in place with binder clips!I turned my photo in to the layout that would guide my cutouts and text placement: Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of my origin...
COMIC: Rip Out the Original Stitching (p. 3)
A million years ago (December 2023) I starteda comic on how to repair the busted zipper on a boot. Because comics don't take nearly long enough to make normally, I decided to do this six panel project in collage. Well, I'm happy to report that that choice is paying off because it takes me foooooreeeeeeverto make each panel of this comic. To recap, here's the first two panels:Panel 1 Text: How to Replace Your Broken Boot ZippersPanel 2...
June Project Recap
Letters From Space Camp🔒Page 9and Page 10and Page 11and page 12🔒 Patrons OnlyHoly moley, four whole pages in one month! This chapter is going to be 29 pages long and I am stoked to be closing in on the halfway point. (For Newbs: This is my memoir about going through a mental health program)Book Chat with Lindsay Ellis / Embroidery PostLindsay Ellis came to town and I gave her the embroidery fan art I’d sewn of her first book’s cover. We...
Wisdom at Forty-One
You know what?Four days ago I turned 41 years old (June 25th!) and, while I do believe I am still a wide-eyed idiot baby, I do alsorecognize that I doknow a thing or two about a thing or two.I'm such a sucker for birthday essays from people who are like "Here is what I have learned in my 30/40/50/60/etc years on Earth..." because, like, yes, please, tell me the cheat codes to being a fully developed human being. But they almost always...
High School Art
A selection of my art from the high school years, 1999 - 2002. Actually, I think these may have all been around 2001, when I was 17-18? The featured image above was an image map I drew for one of my hand-coded-in-Notepad-with-HTML websites. Each word bubble was a clickable link, with Peachy Keen the title of my small kingdom of sites. This most likely was for the bio page of the afore-mentioned website. "I'm going to slap you with a fish&...
TONIGHT! Book chat with Lindsay Ellis in Cedar Hills Crossing, OR (Also an embroidery post, I guess?)
Tonight I have the immense honor of chatting with Lindsay Ellisabout her newest book, Apostles of Mercy-- and I'd love to see you there! Book + event info, 7pmPowell’s Cedar Hills Crossing3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd,Beaverton, OR 97005Facebook RSVPThis is a delight for me not only because I've enjoyed Lindsay's video essays for years, but also because I'm an Actual Factual Fan of her sci-fi, alternate history trilogy, The Noumena S...
COMIC: Space Camp, page 10
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).➤➤➤ Catch up on the entire chapter-in-progress so far here.Another page where all I did was re-draw over my smooth, crisp...
May Post Round-Up
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver... defends our book???So, uh, John Oliver praised Let's Talk About It on his show? He called our sex and relationship book for teens "...a long, thoughtful discussion..." & "...good advice!" and his graphics team illustrated a line from our book to show as a joke card so that is a thing that happened and I definitely did not dream it O.O🔒 Magic Wand Illustration #10 🔒 Patrons OnlyMatt a...
COMIC: Space Camp, Page 9
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).➤➤➤ Catch up on the entire chapter-in-progress so far here.The only change I made between the second draft and this third...
Rip Out the Original Stitching (comic in progress)
Oh-ho-ho! I got some more work done on that Boot Repaircomic I started last year! (Recap: Panel One and Panel Two)Three panels down, three to go! Here's my photoshop mock-up what the whole comic will look like:Here's the first three finished panels together:Here is Tig respecting my Artistic Journey:
ART: Magic Wand Illustration #10
Matt and I spent the last couple months working with Magic Wand (Yes,that one) to illustrate ten of their product testimonials into... well. Illustrations. The client assembled a spreadsheet of full quotes, like this one:"Huge power in a tiny package!! Honestly, my wife and I did not know what to expect when we first saw this toy. It is adorably small, but that does not mean it doesn’t have enough power to know your socks off (if they arenâ...
"Draw me like one of your French girls..."
Wow, my health has been super not good! It's making me real sad! Yesterday I dragged myself off the couch to go sit on a differentchair for a few hours, but in my garden instead. I am enjoying letting myself be messy with these last few garden sketches. You saw these ones in the last post, but here, let's keep 'em all together. Just letting my hand move, approximating the curves of the stems without actually trying to make them 100% ...
Listen. This post is a whole lotta bullshit but there are some garden before-and-after photos, so you might like that.
Now, to be honest, my brain is really fuzzy right now. Fuzzy and distracted, like in a chemical-y way. Oh, the above photo is from January this year.This photo is also from January, when the snow was almost all gone.So, my brain. I think (I hope) it feels "weirdsies" because my body is still acclimating to my newestmedication, "Pro-" something. I think. Progesterone! It's for my menopause. They started me on an Estrogen patch,...
