Pet grief never looked so chic

A final Life On Paws preview, some kickstarter updates, and more

It's the final week of the Life On Paws Kickstarter campaign and I am truly flipping out over how far the project has gone since it launched. We’re nearing the third stretch goal, we’re like two backers away from 300, and the folks I’ve shown a PDF of the book to have had some absolutely heartwarming things to say… it’s been so positive and exciting!!

Here’s one of my favorite scenes in the book fully colored. I’m so proud of how I took advice from my friend Megan and turned it into a twisted fantasy sequence that fully captures the vibes of living day to day with a sadness that doesn’t go away. Morgan Nagler’s “Cradle the Pain” also snuck into the scene, because I was listening to that song so much when drawing these pages (and I realized I needed more back and forth between “me” and the bird so the sentiment about antidepressants was clearly explained before diving into the next thought). Anyway, take a read. Be sad. Enjoy!

I’ve been so grateful to be at this stage of the process. Two years away from losing Henry and able to filter all of the pain into white magic. I’ve said it before, but it always bears repeating: Henry forever.

With all of the white magic, gratitude, and excitement in mind, I decided to keep my foot on the gas and throw a few more cool updates into the Kickstarter right as we head into the final 48 hours:

First off, let's talk about Pet Portraits!

We expected these would be popular when we launched the campaign, but we didn't know they would sell out quite so fast! Based on this demand, I’ve opened up 10 more Pet Portraits in the reward tiers. If you missed out on these, but still want to grab one, upgrade soon as these will likely sell out again.

I think with the additional pet portraits, it's only fair to reveal ONE FINAL STRETCH GOAL:

We'll be adding a free art postcard to every pledge that receives physical rewards. We'll also be assembling all of the pet portraits into a digital zine and adding it to every pledge. This way every backer gets to see every adorable pet portrait!! IDK I just wanted to keep on giving back, and I don’t feel confident talking about what bells and whistles I can throw to the physical product beyond adding to its page count and the spot gloss, so a fun zine and a chic postcard shall do!

(The postcard art’s name, “honor him,” is a lowkey spoiler for the ending of the book… but how does one spoil grief, really?)

AUTHOR BLURBS

I reached out to some industry friends who have had some experience using pets to tell meaningful stories in comics, and got some lovely blurbs! Thank you so much Pornsak and Tony for reading the book, and spreading the love. Tony especially, he has been dealing with me and these pages for a long time and giving incredibly useful feedback to make Life On Paws what it is.

If you’ve made it this deep into the post, then you deserve some NON Life On Paws updates! I got to see Rilo Kiley do their first reunion show in San Luis Obispo last night, and it was nothing short of magical. I’ve lived with these songs for so many years of my life, and I did not think I’d be as overwhelmed with emotion as I was hearing “Pictures of Success” again.

I also went to QCon this weekend, and that was a total blast! I didn’t take many pictures, but here’s one of Josh Trujillo’s boyfriend Aaron as Yuna from FFX-2:

That’s all for now! I’ll save pics from Beyoncé and Kylie Minogue as a treat for when the Kickstarter is done and we have tons to celebrate! Thanks for reading <3