iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

The horror of realizing that I'll eventually have to re-letter this entire book because I couldn't get my macrons to work for the first half is just hanging out in the back room of my brain, occasionally coming out to make microwave nachos.

Screenshot of lettering comic panels in Illustrator

130

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Aw. Illustrator is having a meltdown.

Adobe Illustrator has malfunctioned and is only showing frameworks

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Discussing costumes vs clothing: www.patreon.com/AbrianC/post...

Sketchbook showing a drawing of the Ribbon Hero

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

UGH, my Content Manager (read: me) uploaded the wrong scene to the public comic page! I should fire her (again, me). Read the proper scene here: www.bluecatco.com/janus/episod...

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Your monthly Janus in Tartarus update has arrived! In which there is subterranean travel and weird physics. Read here: www.bluecatco.com/janus/episod...

011

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Rolling my sleeves up and tackling the rough lettering pass for about 200 pages of comics. What else is happening in the world this weekend?

Screenshot of Adobe Illustrator, featuring blank comic panels and multicolored blank word balloons.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Project test video! Just watched the Odyssey adaptation and want to explore more of the ancient world? Janus in Tartarus has you covered! Read here: bluecatco.com/janus

000

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Introducing your next favorite nerd project: An Illustrated Card Database of Oz! More here: www.patreon.com/AbrianC/post...

An illustration of a punch card with a mountainous landscape drawn on it. Text reads: "THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ, Including an assemblage of the fantastical regions within and without Oz, compiled by Abrian Curington, a cartographer of Oz."

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Want more of the story that's been out for 2,000 years?

131

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Case study #5,789 of why artists don't have to make anything up because nature is already awesome. Just look at this dude!

011

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Candid of me editing comics today. (Jk jk, it's going just fine)

Rough sketches of comic panels. A character buries her face in her hands and says "BUH," then flops on the ground

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Clang clang! Hot, fresh comics! Your monthly Janus in Tartarus update! Get your hot, fresh comics in full here: www.bluecatco.com/janus/episod... In which we visit the surface.

Comic page, featuring characters contemplating a distressing letter.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Making my way through, jotting down things to change or ideas to add to strengthen the end but who wrote this?? Did I write this??

Two comic panels, one of hands signing "monster" in ASL, text: "Janus has done so many awful things. And I know I've... Y'know I've also... I'm not always great but... I... I'm not a monster. At least I don't think I am. I need to prove that I'm good. Thant I'm not just another beast of chaos."

Second panel shows a close up of the signer's face, words off panel: "*That* you are certainly not, Marima."

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Doing The Big Graphic Novel Readthrough using my @supernote.com and a trusty horizontal notepad. Let the edits begin!

Photo of a comic on a SuperNote screen and horizontal notepade

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Oh man... It's finally happening! The illustrated Oz Database layout is finally coming together! They will be devised as Notched Edge cards (saying it the other way just seems grammatically mysterious to me), which can be used as an analog search system.

Screenshot of Adobe Illustrator, in which there are dotted index cards being set up

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

We, as a society, need to bring back "darkle." @merriam-webster.com is doing The Good Work, as always.

000

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Even though I've drawn a character a billion times, I don't always nail portraits on the first try! Trying to get a few reference pages in today, thinking about jobs, edge-notched cards and drawer organization. And you?

Messy character portrait page with a few scribbled out

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I JUST realized that this is a Button, and I can switched from Advanced (which uses AI to "help") back to Classic and it functions SO MUCH BETTER. I cannot stress how much better classic is. "Advanced" does not translate over LINE BREAKS

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

In case you missed it, the next installment of Janus in Tartarus is ready for reading! In which there might be a panic attack: www.bluecatco.com/janus/episod...

000

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Today on Patreon: What's next now that the comic is roughed out?? Featuring: - What are roughs? - New character sheets - OZ MAP NEWS Read here: www.patreon.com/posts/starti...

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Guess who's going into the weekend with a FULLY ROUGHED OUT GRAPHIC NOVELLLL 🎉🎉🎉 Oh, sorry, that was a hard question... IT'S ME!

031

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I just found the Patreon sitemap and I feel like I've unlocked a superpower.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

On the light table this weekend: Just a gal and a divine being that resembles her future self making their way through this crazy world together 😂

Thickening line work on a comic panel featuring to young women who look alike

040

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Sometimes "inks" are "pencils!"

030

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Painting a Gundam because I'm almost down with the latest batch of comic pencils and I need more screws in order to put up shelves, long story, anyway, I'm very proud of the brackish blue I mixed for the cape.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

It's apparently #WebComicDay! In this, the Digital Era, it seems that one has to be burdened with the powers of an old god, then banished to the Infernal Pit of Tartarus and form a rag-tag rebellion to learn what's really important in life... Kids these days. Janus in Tartarus: bluecatco.com/janus

Icon of a girl in a red hood looking ahead, while a statue looks to the left and right behind her.

Comic page, featuring the transfer of god powers and two babies

Comic page, featuring many children and a stage performance

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

This is my fourth time failing. One of them involved an AI dolphin with two tails. I was supposed to decide if it would like the thing in the picture which was... candy? A spinning orb? Anyway, now I'm looking at AI bedroom sets I guess.

110

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Oookay CAPTCHA is getting ridiculous.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Me: UFF. I don't feel like cooking lunch tomorrow. Brain: ...you know what we could do? Me: Don't. Brain: We could hand-roll some gluten free udon noodles. SIGH

A cutting board covered in gluten free udon noodles

030

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Candid of me still being smug (until I count the number of pages I get to rough and letter)

Pencil drawing of a teen girl with short hair looking smugly triumphant

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Going into the weekend with a COMPLETELY THUMBNAILED GRAPHIC NOVEL.

Character sketch, person with a joyous expression, words: Finit

160

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Pasg Hapus! To celebrate, I have made eggs. Haha they're actually board game tokens for Fox and Geese! Playing with a friend later today.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Finally have a lil moment to work on character sheets! Important to note that these aren't design sheets. These just remind me of what I've already designed and used in the comic 😅

Character sketches of Queen Helene and the Prince Consort from my graphic novel Janus in Tartarus

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

You're not gonna believe how many times I redrew this bottom hand... Nor the size of the speech balloon that's about to cover it up...

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Quilting (poorly with one hand for the camera) for National Quilting Day!

050

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Everything within me is avoiding drawing these stairs again. Yes again.

011

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

I mean... yeah me too, but this page 100% exists, Browser.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Betraying Pi Day in classic Ides of March fashion this year.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

In other news, I adapted a fancy scallion pancake recipe I to gluten free and it worked well!! Yes, my fingers are blue. Occupational hazard.

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

This weekend, I remembered to post the Janus comic update to Substack, only to realize I might have skipped one of the inserts, which seems kind of impossible... If you're wondering how that could possibly get crossed up, it's because Janus is modular and odd! Read it here: www.bluecatco.com/janus/

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Your monthly Janus update is hot and fresh out of the oven! Read here: www.bluecatco.com/janus/stasim...

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

I will be turning my Lunar New Year's pomelo into a bowl. I do not know how to do any part of this, but I'm guessing I've cleared at least step one here.

000

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

This week on Patreon: A fat stack of thumbnailed comic pages! Yes, @comiclab.bsky.social I am the 2% of people still doing thumbnails and roughs! Read here: www.patreon.com/posts/writin...

Top of a mini binder with red tags sticking out

000

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Doing my annual flipping through of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicca and this smoke trail jumped out at me for the first time. Love the design choices in this series.

A photo of panels from Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicca comic

021

Abrian Curington @abrian.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Aaaand that's a wrap! The last moments of the day will be on thumbnails/comic roughs, and getting tidied up for work tomorrow. #HourlyComicsDay