Welcome October!
2025

   I am not immune to a good pumpkin. I love pumpkin pie, I think the autumn aesthetic is cute. Why not? Why not enjoy as many things as we possibly can? Autumn used to hold a lot of heavy worries for me, since it used to be when I had to go back to school (stressful) and it meant winter was coming (seasonal depression, head colds, and in Michigan just cold, cold, cold) but things change. It became the season of the Renaissance Festival and Comic Con when I lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and now it’s the season where you can finally go outside again soon here in Tennessee.
   October is the month of the drawing challenge originally made famous by the inktober craze, now morphed and co-opted by many names like drawtober and cozytober, etc. (Also alas yet another… individual... kind of made an ass of himself and a mess of inktober so we try not to use the name anymore.) Basically artists lose their minds trying to do a drawing every day around a daily word prompt. I believe I’ve participated maybe 5 times? Six? It’s a bit hard for me to keep track…

 This year I’m giving it a go again! In all honesty I get partly motivated by shame. I see ALL THESE ARTISTS DO IT, so I should be able to, too!!! I must try to be as good as them! Though I have no idea how some of them make an actual paint-on-paper-painting every day. I’ve had to turn it into my own version—I pick a prompt list, I do everything in procreate, and I start the week before it starts (if not sooner) so everything is done ahead of time. And I skip days, allowing myself weekends off where I just don’t do prompts that I can’t come up with anything for.
   It protects my sanity while still getting me a bit shaken out of my ruts. I’ve been beating my head against the same project for months now, trying to force myself to work only on the stories about Faun. But I don’t feel inspired anymore. Taking a break to draw “grandma strawberry” and “sleeping mountain” from the list by artist Kawafi for their kawafitober feels really good.
   It’s a pain in the butt to have to Glaze every piece before posting for my peace of mind, but here we are. (Glaze is a free program that protects images from being readable/digestible to AI.)
   I’m also preparing some original paintings on wood for my upcoming shows this month! Saturday October 4th I’m in downtown Clarksville TN for Artsville, and Sunday the 19th I’ll be at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center for the Halloween Market!
   September went fast. I know, the horrors persist, but let’s allow ourselves some small spaces where they are not what we focus on, eh? The horrors persist, but so do I. So do you. Bravo. And there are little wins and big wins too, if you look for them! Lots of little joys.
   Speaking of joys, I have another friend to introduce you to this month.

   Though I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Ash in person, I very much count her among one of my good friends! We, cool kids that we are, met via tumblr years ago, and became snail mail pen pals as well as artist buddies. Yes, some people really do still send each other paper letters. You should try it, it’s good for the soul.
   Ash has created a cozy little universe that is a balm in these trying times. She paints wee little animals who would feed you and house you and read to you till you fell asleep safe under a quilt. She also crafts beautiful tiny clay things, books, cookies, mushrooms, you name it, it’s tiny and you can wear it on a chain. I’ve been obsessed with miniatures since I was miniature myself (in fact I once stole a tiny book from Frankenmuth when my parents told me I couldn’t have it because I was a goblin of a child and I needed it). And if you’ve ever loved pigeons, you’ve found a friend in Ash. How could you not love pigeons????
   The world is in desperate need of creators of whimsy and cozy peace, and Ash is out there making it for us. Take a look!

Please have a look at Ash’s SHOP and give her a follow. As always, the best way to support artists and small businesses is to DONATE, to BUY, or to SHARE!!! You know you need something tiny that sparks joy in your life.
 
   Gentle reminder again that we’re nearing the zone of holiday gifting! I won’t be able to take on last minute projects, so if you wanted a pet portrait, a family portrait, or a custom piece to gift it’s important to contact me before mid November. After that I can’t promise I’ll still have time or availability!
   I hope to see some of you at my coming shows! Thank you for being here friends, I hope you enjoyed my friend’s art as much as I do. I hope we’ve brought just a little bit of joy to your day!
Wishing you well and warm,
Lara Jean
Here’s a peek at my wood slice art!

SEPTEMBER. FINALLY. Already?
2025

   It is both amusing and embarrassing every single time the weather changes for the better and I’m Suddenly AY-OKAY. In a sudden miraculous shift, Tennessee has dropped the haze of constant 95F and 90% humidity that hit in mid May and it’s been 80F during the day, 55F at night FOR OVER A WEEK and I CAN BREATHE. Everything is fine. What was I so freaked out about all year?
   *remembers AI, tariffs forcing all the artists I follow to shrink their business, climate change, inflation, impending big life changes*
   ...
   Ah… yeah, that. So things are still scary, in the grand scheme. But I will lean into and take all the soothing I can get from having the windows open and needing a sweater to drink tea outside on my porch at 8am. It makes my capacity to handle it all expand significantly. I’m just a little animal, after all, though my big noisy brain tries to convince me otherwise. I tell myself I should be above being affected by the weather. Ha! And yet a 70F day with a blue sky cures me temporarily of just about everything. So cute. So humbling.
   In August I spent 10 days in Michigan expecting a blessed break from the heat, and instead, just in time for the week I was there, I got:  

 I've had bad luck with travel weather this year. My visit to Michigan in LATE May when it decided to be frigidly back in the low 40's instead of spring, my trip to Missouri where it rained and rained and threatened tornadoes, my camping trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains where it also just rained constantly. Well, at least I still managed to get in one swim in Lake Charlevoix. Maybe it can be enough until I get to try again next year.
   I was so hopeful that after being away from my routine I’d feel a renewed sense of productivity, but I came back just as stuck in Getting-By mode as before. Alas. I'm sure I've already said it and I'll say it again, 2025 has been such a hazy blurry fog, I can't seem to make myself focus on anything. Every day I've just watched myself somehow spend the whole day not making anything creative happen. It's this surreal, out-of-body passive gloom. I know how to be productive, I've done it before! And yet I can't find the energy to lift my lazy bones. There doesn't seem to be a point to trying. And I thought I'd finish another children's book this year. HA.
   Maybe my productive season will be fall/winter??? One can only hope. I have always hated winter and been a pure summer girl, but this year I can’t WAIT. I want everything in Tennessee to die so I can go outside again.
   And in the meantime, I’ll play Dragon Quest XI, Pokemon Friends (I finally got a bulbasaur plush the other day, so that's an achievement), read book after book after book, listen to What’s All This Then while I do the dishes, and keep practicing those pull ups.

 This month I am bringing in something new! (Well, new-ish, I did INTERVIEW REBEKAH when PENNY AND THE POCKET DRAGON came out.) (Which you can get in HARDCOVER now!) (So actually not new at all.)

   Since I'm not making any art and have nothing to show you (LOL) I’m interviewing an artist I love so I can share them and their beautiful creations with the world, starting with another one of my long time friends.

   I met Erica (who I struggle to remember to refer to as Erica because in my head she is just Kozz) somewhere around 2014 or 2015. A big grey area in my memory, as I was not very happy in those days. I’d graduated college, and my partner at the time was also a fantasy artist and much better at Meeting People than I was. I got to be along for the ride, for Artprize and Grand Rapids Comic Con in Michigan. Erica was one of the many talented people my then-partner gravitated towards, and BLESS HER she let me quietly co-opt her and make her one of my favorite people on the planet. She was with me through some really weird and difficult times, and those kinds of friends are the good, sticking kind.
   On top of all this she’s a crazy talented artist, too.
   I always want to describe her art as Deep Sea Fantasy Lisa Frank, but I feel like that still doesn’t cover what she creates and I’m not sure everyone understands it as the high compliment I intended it to be. What I love most about Erica is that, from my perspective, she has never let not knowing how to do something (yet) stop her. She dives into projects and experiences outside of her comfort zone for sport. With all the colors of the rainbow. And glow in the dark paint.
   This human never stops drawing. Ever. I used to find it infuriatingly envy-inducing, and sometimes still do. She’s a comic artist, a needle felter (feltist? feltsperson?), a cosplayer, a writer and an illustrator. She’s great to talk to about books and movies, she’s so very, very kind, so funny and so warm, and I’m really glad she and I are past the 10 year mark as friends, because I read that means they're usually a friend for life. Yay!
   I’m 99% sure she was the one who told me I would really like Over the Garden Wall, which I’ve said before was a huge catalyst in pushing me to shift into the style of art I make now, the style that suits me and feels like my real home. So we have that to thank her for, along with too many other things to count here. I treasure every moment we spent laying on the floor drawing together and being excited about Steven Universe. I say the time we met was a grey spot, but it had its bright moments too!
   Erica, I don’t call you anywhere near as often as I should, thank you for listening to me whine for ten years, let’s have a parallel play date soon.

What is your favorite medium to work with?

• In general- gauche is king, I can most closely achieve the vibrancy that I can with digital work. It's a forgiving medium too- even with decade old, dried out cakes (which is not how the paint intended to be used) it holds up. It's texture is also the best I've worked with. I do mix media - I mix gauche, acrylic, powder paints - especially if I'm painting on wood or 3D  surfaces. At shows I often use watercolors!

When did you start out writing/drawing? Have you been drawing forever or did it find you later in life?

• My whole life. That sounds cliché, but I have scribbles since I was three. It's always been a sort of form of emotional self regulation.

Can you pick a favorite color?

• For clothes I like, and décor in my house- I love an orange. If we are talking about artwork, I love magentas (my first color love as a child). There's a very specific, Magical Magenta that my body thinks it can taste. It can be found in certain petunia flowers, in hyper pigmented paint, or in neon lights. This hue lights up some sensory part of my brain. My tongue waters as if I were tasting a sour fruit.
  

Favorite animal?

• This one is too hard! I have a new favorite animal every week. Yet I will say that that heyenas will always hold a special little corner in my heart. When saw the Lion King when I was maybe 3, I became obsessed with them. I dressed up in a Shenzi heyena costume, and I never stopped dressing up as characters since then. I was very lucky to see heyenas in the wild this year and it was an emotional moment for me!

What's your work style like? Steady? Sporadic?

• I don't have healthy work style ! I have too many ideas, I've never suffered an art block. I mentioned that art has always been a form of emotional regulation and self soothing. If I'm feeling particularly anxious or overstimulated, I can sit down and work on something for 5-7 hours, unmoving. The process (rather than the result) gives me the most dopamine my brain chemistry sorely needs, and I'll often want to see the task through to the end in as few sittings as possible so that I don't loose the thread of interest. That's why if you follow me, I'll put a lot of art in very quick bursts- not one thing developed over a long period. To speed up the process, I'll usually jump right into rendering and coloring, which is the most engaging "fun" part for me.

What have you made that you’re the most proud of at this point of your life?

• Right now I'm wrapping up a fan project that's consumed my creative world for the last year and a half.  It's an autograph booklet for the anime: "My Hero Academia", except the characters are unique mythological creatures. The book is in the form of field notes (think Spiderwick), and it has a story if it's viewed front to back. It's extensively researched and painstakingly charted and doggedly easter-egged. It's one of the few, large, labor intensive endeavors I've pushed through to the finish line in years. The whole thing has made me want to desperately get back to my own work to see if I can make something like that with my own world.
  

What fictional character do you identify with most?

• I'm not sure if I can think of a singular character! However- I am always drawn to the comic relief types, and it's for a silly, personal reason. A part of my warped self perception is that I am just a quirky background persona in the grand scheme of others lives. So I find it to be a very satisfying to witness a 2 bit, sideline, even annoying character reveal an interesting depth to themselves. You might see that in some of the characters I chose to make costumes of!

Is there something you do that almost without fail gets you out of a bad mood?

• A good, long walk. Sitting in the sun, and napping in the sun. Generally being outside and in nature in any capacity. We take nature for granted.

Any big goals for your work in the future?

• I'm taking gradual steps to make my merchandise to all be locally sourced. I'd also like to offer mostly glowing, or UV reactive pieces of art. I want the things that I offer to sell to be less of an impulse commodity, and more of an engaging and interactive piece that lives with you- that you feel good looking back on for ever after. I also want to be able to proudly say that I'm creating things responsibly as I can.
  

What has brought you the most joy lately?

• Making cute bento boxes! It might seem like a lot of work to put so much effort into something that's just going to be eaten and no one else will see. I find that prepping them makes me eat better, and it's a little way of showing kindness to myself! I imagine it is like how some folks like to dress up to feel good, or put on makeup, even when no one else is around to see.

Where can we find your work? Whats the best way we can support you?

• I post regularly on TikTok and instagram. My link tree has other places I'll occasionally visit, and my online shop. https://linktr.ee/kozzdraws I do have a newsletter that I send out more in depth updates every couple of months if you prefer something more personable. 
  

 Huge thank you’s to those who reached out for commissions last month! As always, I am SO VERY grateful for your support of my work, and I am smitten with every single one of your darling pets you have me paint.
 
Until next time, I hope you enjoyed my friend’s rainbow world as much as I do,
Lara Jean

1. How long have you been writing and drawing? When did you know you wanted to make a go at it professionally?
   Ah, let's see, a long time. One time I turned in a math test with zero questions answered and the page full of squids. I failed that test. And that class. But they were good squids. So I'm not sure I ever really sat down and decided I wanted to make a go at it professionally but math sure wasn't going to be an option. 

2. What's your favorite art medium? Or do you prefer writing to arting?
   I think my favorite medium is story and I'm just trying to learn how to use words or pictures well enough to tell them. I would prefer to be able to draw 1000x faster than is humanly possible so every story I come up with could be a graphic novel. Alas I'm very slow. 

3. Tell us about Penny!!!
   Penny! Penny and the Pocket Dragon is a story I told my daughter. It's about a little girl who ends up with a very small (and very grumpy) dragon. It's a goofy fairytale with too much alliteration. There were multiple versions of it over the years and eventually I wrote one of them down. When it was finished it was clear that I'd actually written a story that existed in YOUR world of adorable mythical creatures and that you needed to illustrate it. So I begged you and you said yes and we lived happily ever after. 

4. Tell us about The Girl the Ghost and the Giant!
   The Girl the Ghost and the Giant is the first story I turned into an actual book. It's a folk tale about a giant who has to be killed to stop a harsh winter, but of course the legends are never quite right about the monsters, are they? It's strange, because when you publish you're sort of putting out a younger version of yourself, because usually there are several years between when you write the thing and when people read it. So it very much feels like letting people read my middle-school journal. My art and writing have changed a lot since then but I also wouldn't be the same person if I hadn't written that book. 

5. What project can we look forward to from you next?
   Besides Penny and the Pocket Dragon? What more do you want than tiny dragons in glass jars! Let's see, I have a really short book about Michigan salamanders that is *mostly* done. I like salamanders. I'm working on a comic about an Indian Boarding school in Michigan that I'm really proud of.  And eventually I'll be publishing the middle grade series that I've been working on for forever. That's probably the one I'm the most excited about. It's a series about a kid named Toby who's family are cryptid conservationists. So his family travels the world taking care of monsters. There's lots of sibling drama and awkward teenagers and it's my favorite thing I've written. But boy do series take a long time! 

6. Your top five favorite books! If you can. An impossible question, I know.
   That... is a rude question. only five?! Okay... I think I'll go for the top ones that have been the most influential, in no particular order. 

• 1. The Magicians Nephew by CS Lewis. This one really kicked the imagination into high gear as a kid. It's also dark and creepy and magical which is everything I want in a book. 
• 2. Till We Have Faces, also by Lewis. I remember learning as a kid that the Narnia series were the only books for children that Lewis wrote and being furious with him. How dare he write books for adults! Then I grew up and read this book and forgave him. I read this book every few years. It's a retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche and it somehow cuts to the core of what it means to be human. 
• 3. Howl's moving castle by Dianna Wynne Jones. I distinctly remember putting that book down and deciding I wanted to write stories. 
• 4. Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke, really any of his graphic novels.. I feel like Ben taught me how to make comics from these books. His way of showing characters emotions with body language, not just facial expression has been so formative for me. Whenever I get stuck with a drawing I flip through one of his books and find a similar posture to unstick myself. 
• 5. Buzzing by Samuel Sattin and Rhy Hickman. This is a graphic novel I think everyone should read. It's not only a wonderful story, but it does such a good job showing what intrusive thoughts feel like. Even though I don't have OCD like the character in this book, I struggle with intrusive thoughts from anxiety, and this book made me feel really seen. The illustrations are also fantastic. 

7. What fictional character do you identify with most?
   Fictional character I most identify with... hum. That's a great questions. Probably Jill from the Silver Chair. I'd risk getting eaten by giants for a hot bath. 

8. A piece of advice for aspiring writers and artists?
   Keep going! Spend more time working on your story than planning or talking about it. Take your story seriously enough you finish it, but not so seriously you can't take constructive criticism to make it better. 

9. If you could be a salamander, which kind would you be?
   I would be a cave salamander because it's quiet and then I'd be bright orange with spots.

10. Where can we follow you? (Below are links to her website and instagram!)
   You can follow me into a swamp. Or on Instagram and Bluesky.

Bonus question: Will you let me illustrate another book of yours, please? (Correct answer: Yes.)
Yes, but after you publish at least Faun 1. ​