Book Jitters & Podcast Fun

Catching up with June and July

Happy July to all you Sketchbugs out there! Sorry for the radio silence the last few months. Summer has been both sweltering and full of travel plans. I am back with a bit of catchup and some fun announcements to top off the hottest time of the year. So, strap in and wipe that sweat off your brow for some fun updates and Benbassat fiascos.

Juggling travel, podcasts, book stuff and the Summer sun

Yes my chair is tall, my desk is made for tall people

SO, I WAS ON A PODCAST!!!

First things first, I was on Tara Nolan’s incredible podcast, ABC Adoptees Born in China! This podcast provides a platform for Chinese Adoptees to tell their stories and Tara does a great job in facilitating a lively discussion. When I was researching materials for the Utile logo design I found a lot of inspiration from the stories being shared as well as catharsis in feeling a shared sense of loss. We originally recorded sometime in June and the episode went up on July 17th! You can find that episode HERE

It was such a pleasure to go on Tara’s show and talk to her about my own adoptee story. While it is cringe to hear my own voice play back (I’ve heard this is true for all people hearing their voice recorded), it was wonderful to bond with Tara on our shared identities as transracial Chinese American Adoptees. If you want to learn about some unique struggles adoptees go through or hear me talk about how good Kung Fu Panda is, consider having a listen.

NOW, WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

A glamorous portrait of current me

I have been traveling throughout the last two months to visit family, see friends, introduce my partner and pet some cats. Overall it was a lovely experience getting to reunite with beloved family members, explore different cities, eat lots of good food, and laugh with cherished friends. Plus I got to leave an ant infested studio right in time for vacation so it was all fitting together. (We were able to get an exterminator between trips so woohoo for Philly exterminators!) In the middle of traveling, I also got some intense migraines along the way and sprained my ankle! Got to love how life humbles you when you’re trying to relax.

A guide to our Summer travels

Some of the highlights of traveling during the summer is being able to catch up with my kid cousins. They love to draw and create vivid creatures with exciting backstories. One of the best things about being an older(ish) cousin now is that I get to see a whole new generation of family embracing art!
Here are some of the gorgeous creations we collaborated on together. Thank you Abbie, Simon, Lena and Cam for the wonderful inspiration I will be hanging on my studio wall.

Collab with Abbie

Collab with Lena and Abbie

Collab with Simon, Lena, Abbie and Cam

Another bonus of traveling is seeing all the cats my family and friends have. We got to travel and behave like cat aunties the entire time! And who wouldn’t be excited to meet all these cute cat nieces and nephews?!

The most essential record of our travels

COMING BACK HOME

Rest is good, especially without ants on your bed

While we all love vacation, my partner and I definitely had travel burnout by the time we came back to Philly. And my body was tired from battling pain in the ankle and mind. Luckily this wasn’t my first rodeo with spraining my ankle so I knew the right treatments to get back to basic mobility.
And after many frantic doctors visits and tests we determined my migraines came from a combination of looking at screens to much without interruption + stress (ant infestation in studio and work) + heat + lack of sleep, so woot for it not being a brain tumor! Now that the fear is gone, this past week has been me trying to balance new life habits with working on deadlines. Woohoo to trying to balance a healthy lifestyle!

OH, DID I MENTION I HAVE A BOOK COMING OUT SOON?!

Yay book time!

The Book from Far Away, a wordless book I worked on last year published under Minerva, an imprint of Astra publishing, comes out August 15th 2023!
PRE-ORDER THE BOOK HERE

The book is based off of author Bruce Handy’s manuscript and follows a human child who spots an alien family landing on earth for a picnic and the mysterious and wondrous moments that follow after. Thank you so much to designer/editor Amelia Mack, Octavia Saenz, editor Maria Russo, and Minerva publishing for making this possible!

If you know a child or adult who loves aliens, fantastical picnics, books, extra terrestrial pets, or glowing spaceships, this book is perfect for them!

Look forward to book event announcements in the fall!

WHAT’S NEXT?

August is looming

As you all know, August is a few days away and that means tons of upcoming events! (And deadlines!) While I’m so grateful to be busy I can’t share too much at the moment due to NDA and me resting the remaining days of July away.

I hope to have this newsletter go back to a regular schedule but please be kind with me as I’m trying to balance my screen time as healthily as I can.

AND JUST A REMINDER

If you have a child or adult in your life that likes wordless picture books and aliens, please consider pre-ordering this book we all worked so hard to create!
PRE-ORDER HERE

EXTRA

As an end of post bonus to replace the EXTRA RESOURCES SECTION this week, please enjoy some doodles I have been drawing in my planner. The first drawing is one I tried to do when I was in the midst of migraine pain (I get the fun aura migraines that disrupt your vision so I was just happy I could draw anything).

When you forget to fill in a day, just draw the space away

Made pre-migraines, NDA schedule things blocked