iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 24/01/2026

Grateful for my freelance clients who allow me to draw catgirls professionally 😤

Cropped sketch from a larger illustration, depicting a Black catgirl sleepover party. Three characters are shown in this crop: two of them are braiding the third woman’s hair while she happily looks at her reflection in a handheld mirror. Parts of the environment and other characters are also visible

Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 21/01/2026

final art test for Cress & Petra while I wait for notes from the publisher on my pencils. (not final ofc, more tests will be conducted)

three textless comic panels drawn and painted in a somewhat loose, textural style. the limited color palette is moody and disquieted, using mostly subdued greens and dark blues with green-yellow accent lighting.

panel 1: two teenagers stand on a sidewalk in a residential neighborhood, having a tense conversation. it is snowing, and it is nighttime. light from a nearby window illuminates the characters.

panel 2: one of the characters, Cress, looks down with eyes closed and brows furrowed.

panel 3: seen from Cress’ eyes, looking down at their feet casting long, textured shadows on the sidewalk.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 12/12/2025

a little sculpture-jar that I got back from the kiln this week!

photo of a ceramic sculpture-jar resembling a cute dog or bear creature with a little face and a knitted hat for a lid. the hat and face have been painted with underglazes, and a clear glaze has been applied on top.

photo of an unfired ceramic sculpture-jar at the greenware stage. the bowl of the jar has a cute face and the lid resembles a knitted hat. brown underglazes have been applied using the mishima technique

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 12/12/2025

catastrophe teen and winner of the #1 worst backseat gamer award 🏆

limited color drawings of Marik, Yami Marik, and Namu Marik from yu-gi-oh

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 11/12/2025

slowly putting together a silly Marik/Bakura playlist *and* talking about it on main, because I've achieved spiritual and emotional freedom from the notion of cringe 😤

screenshot of five songs in a spotify playlist with title omitted. the songs are: 1) Problem by Natalia Kills, 2) This Hell by Rina Sawayama, 3) When I Grow Up by The Pussycat Dolls, 4) Toxic by Britney Spears, and 5) My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark by Fall Out Boy

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 11/12/2025

today has been a “recline on couch and draw YGO fanart” kind of day

A page of line sketches with gray tones, featuring five characters from YuGiOh and their respective Millennium Items: Yugi, Bakura, Marik, Ishizu, and Pegasus

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 10/12/2025

troubled teens in possession of way too much dark magic (I adore them)

Line sketches of Bakura and Marik from Yu-Gi-Oh. Bakura looks moe in one drawing and is grinning malevolently in another. Marik is holding the millennium rod and also grinning malevolently. evil teens (tm)

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 27/11/2025

My spouse and I have been watching through Yu-Gi-Oh for (more or less) the first time, and I’m struck by how much Pegasus looks exactly like this in every other shot

Image of a crude line drawing portrait of Maximillian Pegasus from Yu-Gi-Oh. His nose is very thin and long, his mouth is tiny, and his visible eye is comically proportioned. He looks relatively on-model, all things considered

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 26/11/2025

A illustration for The Baltimore Banner, about government rollbacks on protections for abused/neglected immigrant youth, and the fear, unease, and instability that those affected are experiencing.

Wide illustration of a silhouetted young woman facing towards her imagined future, represented by a series of vignettes: graduating college, buying a house with a partner, and starting a family. The vignettes are depicted in bright, soft greens and oranges, while the young woman in silhouette stands in a dark blue, textural space. A sharp divide sits between the young woman and her future.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 19/11/2025

More thermal printer stickers 💫

Photo of my hand holding two small strips of thermal printer stickers. One design features shooting stars, the other features koroks from the Legend of Zelda game series

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 18/11/2025

Drew up a little sticker design and printed it on my thermal label printer! Baby.

photo of an illustrated sticker of a cute mushroom with a big booty. the word Baby is written on the mushroom’s cap. the mushroom has cute makeup on and has a tramp stamp in the shape of a heart

photo of my hand holding a roll of several thermal-printed stickers, each with the same baby butt mushroom as in the previous image

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 16/11/2025

Heartbroken to learn of Alice’s passing. I looked up to her immensely, and I was so grateful for her patience, grace, creativity, & insight as a collaborator. I will miss her fierce kindness & her sharp wit so very much. I drew this portrait of us in 2021 for CommunityAsHome. Rest in power, Alice.

Illustrated portrait of Alice Wong and Ashanti Fortson, surrounded by dreamy purple clouds and shooting stars.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 14/09/2025

Almost done with pencils… almost…!

Image of a sketch in light blue and black. A girl in a large coat twirls with her arms outstretched, sparkles around her.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 11/09/2025

I crocheted a cute tote for myself this summer! Adapted from a pattern in Crochet Crush, by Molla Mills, with acrylic chain handles added. My new favorite bag! ☀️

Photo of Ashanti holding up a crocheted tote bag with acrylic chain handles and a white-and-yellow geometric colorwork design. The pattern is by Molla Mills, adapted slightly by Ashanti for this bag.

Photo of Ashanti wearing the same crocheted bag over their shoulder.

Overhead photo of the same crocheted tote bag lying flat on a table.

Detail photo of the stitching and the acrylic chain handles. One handle is yellow and the other is white, to match the colors of the bag.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 09/09/2025

Finished my mom's birthday basket, complete with a mother-of-pearl button to secure the hinged lid. Love how it came out and so does she 🥰

Photo of a handmade basket with a hinged lid and button loop. The basket is crocheted from undyed raffia and a soft gray linen cord, around a raffia core. The button on the front is flower-shaped and made of mother-of-pearl.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 30/08/2025

A recent #illustration for The Baltimore Banner, on young people using chatGPT as an anonymous personal diary & confidante despite knowing the risks and consequences of using it

Illustration of a silhouetted person lying on their stomach in front of a laptop, smiling, twirling their hair, with their feet kicked up. Chat bubble shapes filled with emojis, checklists, and punctuation flow outwards from the laptop. The laptop screen has a "typing" chat bubble with an ellipsis

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 30/06/2025

I've worked on various graphic novels, including Printz Award winner BROWNSTONE. Below are two of my color keys and @marjulia.bsky.social's final colored pages. Every collaboration is different, but I always love to see what changes and what stays the same from color keys to final color!

Image of graphic novel color keys, labelled: Color Keys, Brownstone, pages 12 and 25. The color keys are scaled down from the full page size, with my color plan blocked out underneath the line-work

Image of two non-sequential pages from the graphic novel Brownstone, with art and final colors by Mar Julia. The final colors are largely based on my color keys, though Mar has made certain adjustments to the final colors

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 25/06/2025

Happy yuri day! I would be remiss to not mention LEAF LACE, my award-winning fantasy/romance comic. 🌸 25 pages 🌸 Mortality, knitting, and a goddess' grief 🌸 Digital edition is $2, wrow PDF: ashantifortson.itch.io/leaf-lace Print: seatoad.bigcartel.com/product/leaf... #yuriday #yurisky #YuriDay

Cover illustration for the comic titled Leaf Lace, by Ashanti Fortson. The title takes up half the composition, hand-lettered in a cursive style to evoke thread and yarn. Beneath the title, a dark-skinned woman kneels over, tenderly and sadly clutching an older woman’s pale hand. Tears fall from the central woman’s face, echoing her teardrop earrings. The older woman is not visible aside from her hand. The central woman’s dark, tightly curled hair sweeps upwards from her form, becoming the backdrop for the title and pressing down on the woman visually. The illustration is done in soft linework and painted purples, with an emphasis on color and light.

Comic page from Leaf Lace by Ashanti Fortson. Through second-person narration, the goddess who spins mortals’ life threads reflects on the time she has shared with her mortal wife. A flashback sequence, framed by intertwining threads of yarn, shows the two meeting when her wife was still young. In the last panel, the mortal woman points out her newly-flowering orchids to her immortal wife, but the mortal woman is now old. The page is illustrated in lush, warm colors.

Comic page from Leaf Lace by Ashanti Fortson. Narration at the top of the page reads, You deserve to live forever. Mnimi, the old, mortal wife of the life-spinning goddess, shakily prepares a pot of tea. She shakes as she carries it to her wife, who is in her studio. Mnimi cries out for Ananke, her wife. She falls, dropping the tray, teapot, and teacups. The panel layout echoes this fall: the panels become irregular, tumbling down the composition. The page is illustrated in purples, hot pinks, and dark teals.

Comic page from Leaf Lace by Ashanti Fortson. The page is mostly black, with angular, bright pink panels cutting through the darkness. The panels show a delicate teacup falling down and shattering on the floor. White narration text trails down the page alongside the panels; the narration communicates confusion, denial, and grief.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 22/06/2025

Some flowers from the garden this morning: our first zinnia flower, our first visible tomato flower (still just a bud), and our lavender. May flowers bloom under blue and peaceful skies for every human being in the world.

Photo of a zinnia plant with a small, cute, light pink flower. Another zinnia behind it is getting ready to bloom

Photo of a cherry tomato plant in a large container. Its leaves are lush and one very small tomato flower is visible

Photo of my hand gently cupped behind the flowers of our lavender plant so that the flowers stay in focus

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 19/06/2025

Ever wanted some of my illustrations as desktop/mobile wallpapers, or perhaps social media icons/PFPs? Good news: I just put up FIVE wallpaper & icon packs up for sale on my Ko-fi shop, each for only $1. Check 'em out! 🎨 ko-fi.com/ashantiforts... 🎨

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 19/06/2025

Happy Juneteenth, also happy new profile picture! It me

Illustrated self-portrait icon of Ashanti Fortson's face drawn in a cute and cartoony style with cute pastel colors. Ashanti has light brown skin, dark curly hair, huge round glasses, and a cute glasses-chain with beaded flowers

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 13/06/2025

Just listed some new items on the ol' artist shop! ⭐ Creature glitter stickers ⭐ Oddish-ish sticker sheets by @binglin.bsky.social ⭐ Two new needle-felted little guys Check them out! Boosts appreciated. ♥️ seatoad.bigcartel.com

Photo of glittery stickers that depict the word Creature with various little hearts around and inside the word

Photo of hand holding a small needle-felted sculpture of a light-blue caterpillar-like creature, who is wearing pink lipstick and a purple hand-knitted shawl. Her name is Beba

Photo of hand holding a small needle-felted sculpture of a creature living inside a strawberry. Her name is Candy

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 12/06/2025

ABJECT FIRMAMENT #1 The first in a series of embroideries depicting the divine beauty of people whose forms and lives have been othered. P.S. Can you spot the yellowjacket who blessed this hoop? 🐝

Photo of an embroidery hoop held above a backdrop of lush greenery. The embroidery is delicate, stitched with one strand of warm-purple thread at a time, depicting a fat, nude, winged woman. She has six wings, tightly coiled hair, large breasts, a small penis, and clawed feet. She is beautiful and she frames her face with her wings.

A yellowjacket is hanging out on the hardware at the top of the hoop.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 11/06/2025

Neighbors don't let neighbors get eaten ✊🏽

Illustration of various people pulling other people out of a huge horned white snake that had eaten them. Large textured letters at the bottom read: Abolish ICE!

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 11/06/2025

Rolling a dewdrop around on a nasturtium leaf and being healed

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 11/06/2025

Feeling sad tonight due to my silly brain, but I have to remember that love is real, I saw pretty flowers this morning, my seedlings are strong and alive, and Miss Cheese is cute

Photo of bright orange flowers in cute textured clusters

Photo of purple and blue hydrangeas flowering on a bush

Photo of calico cat Miss Cheese having a lovely little snuggle on the windowsill, surrounded by frog figurines and plants. She’s in a sleeping pose but she is looking at the camera

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 10/06/2025

TALKING BOOKS, a picture book biography written by Jenny Lacika and illustrated by me, is now available for preorder! It tells the story of Dr. Robert B. Irwin, who invented the audiobook to increase blind readers' access to books. Out on 2/24/2026! 🎨 www.simonandschuster.com/books/Talkin...

Cover image of picture book "Talking Books: Audiobook Inventor Dr. Robert B Irwin and a New Way to Read" written by Jenny Lacika and illustrated by Ashanti Fortson. Inviting clouds, embroidered birds, and sweet vignettes of kids enjoying audiobooks swirl around the composition. Some of the kids are blind, wearing dark shades and holding their canes, and some of the kids are sighted. An embroidered bird on his shoulder, Dr Robert B Irwin holds his hand to his ear as he finger-reads a Braille book. The color palette combines pastel tones and jewel tones for a lush effect.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 08/06/2025

Spent some time today doing gouache tests, in preparation for my new webcomic project! I’ve missed analog painting so much… gouache comics gang where art thou

Photo of a spiral bound notebook with gouache swatches, color tests, and brush tests

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 02/06/2025

A recent illustration for The Baltimore Banner, about schoolteachers trying their best for their students, amidst burnout, low pay, and budget cuts under the Trump administration.

Illustration of a schoolteacher hunched over a small scene of her classroom, protecting it from raging winds. The teacher looks wary and concerned, but the kids are happily learning and playing in the pocket of safety their teacher has created

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 31/05/2025

Had the lovely opportunity to make art alongside dozens of other artists, musicians, poets, etc, for the “Health Is Life” Creative Jam! What can the world look like if we have health equity? If we don’t have to produce in order to survive? If our basic needs are met? #HealthIsLife #CreativeJam

An image combining lines of text alongside whimsical doodle-illustrations of people resting, talking, reading, and dancing. Illustrated clouds, stars, birds, and trees frame the text.

The text reads: If our basic needs are universally met…we can have space and time to be sick, to be in recovery, to be slow, to live full lives outside of measures of productivity.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 30/05/2025

THE BROKEN HEART AT THE CENTER OF COMICS: a collaborative essay zine about comics, burnout, and capitalism. What is the root of burnout? How does exploitation manifest in the comics industry, as a branch of capitalism? Why do we still keep making comics? nif-shop.cartoonist.coop/products/the...

Cover for the essay zine titled The Broken Heart at The Center of Comics. The image is black text on a highlighter-yellow background. The title is all lowercase, fitting snugly across the left side of the image. Each word is on its own line. Some of the letter-forms connect down to letter-forms on the following word’s line.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 30/05/2025

It's the last two days of the @cartoonist.coop Nib & Ink Fest Marketplace, and I have some work available! LEAF LACE: The goddess of thread-spun fate falls in love with a mortal woman. The rest is history, until history reaches its end. 25 pages, ages 13+ nif-shop.cartoonist.coop/products/lea...

Comic page from Leaf Lace by Ashanti Fortson. Ananke, the goddess who spins mortals’ life threads, sits in her studio and spins her yarn. Mnimi, her mortal wife, picks vegetables and tea leaves from her garden. She brings a tray of tea and treats to Ananke, and the two share a kiss. Mnimi looks like an old woman, but Ananke ruminates on meeting Mnimi when Mnimi was young. The page is illustrated in lush, warm colors.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 19/05/2025

Got some stickers printed from StickerApp as part of their collaboration with the Cartoonist Co-op @cartoonist.coop! They came out so nicely, I’m really happy with the quality. Thanks StickerApp! ☺️

Photo of die-cut stickers on a patterned desk mat. The stickers show a cute drawing of a sea toad, with text that reads: sea toad studio. The stickers also have a link to my shop, seatoad.bigcartel.com

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 16/05/2025

TONIGHT: I’m hosting a FREE virtual comics workshop with the Sequential Artists Workshop. The theme is REBELLIOUS JOY! 7pm Eastern on Zoom, no prior experience needed, bring your own materials! It will be very chill and fun. ☺️ Register here: bit.ly/SAW-AshantiF...

Illustrated flyer for my Rebellious Joy free comics workshop. The flyer has all the same info as my post, plus a drawing of a tiny me standing proudly underneath a sprouting tomato seedling. There’s a cute earthworm, a cute bee, and a cute butterfly too

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 14/05/2025

Had to say goodbye to both Dr Pepper and Sunny D this past week. They were both my babies, just the sweetest rats imaginable. My besties. I’ll miss them forever. ❤️

Photo of my tuxedo-colored rat Doctor Pepper, eating a forsythia flower in my arms. We’re outside and the afternoon sunlight is shining on her

Photo of my rats Doctor Pepper and Sunny D, snuggling in a cubby on my desk. Doctor Pepper is tuxedo-colored, and Sunny D is a soft gray with white socks

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 13/05/2025

A recent piece for The Baltimore Banner, accompanying an essay about finding comfort and stability in listening to audiobooks.

Editorial illustration of a white woman wearing headphones, floating in a peaceful bubble, surrounded by floating books. The books create a barrier between the woman and intense fires and burning palm trees that fill the rest of the image. The woman is in the fetal position, and the headphones’ cord weaves through the floating books like an umbilical cord.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 13/05/2025

coming out as bipolar using this meme

meme image of two Gundam screencaps with subtitles. the first reads, I am a genius! the second reads, Oh no!

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 01/02/2025

Taking inspiration from @oliveoilcorp.bsky.social, I've added two new tiers to my Patreon page. These are reparations tiers, with no additional benefits past the $5 Bee Fly tier. These are simply for people who want to redistribute their wealth. Tier art coming soon! patreon.com/ashantifortson

Screenshot of Ashanti Fortson's Patreon page, which shows three differently priced patron tiers. Bee Fly is priced at $5, Millipede Bus is priced at $25, and Millipede Train is priced at $50. Millipede is spelled wrong once, which I will go fix right now haha

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 31/12/2024

My spouse @binglin.bsky.social made me a beaded glasses chain as an early birthday present (1/4, not today) and I have never felt so cute 😭

Photo of Ashanti Fortson wearing a large thick-framed pair of glasses, which have a cute hand-beaded glasses chain attached. The chain is colored white, turquoise, pink, and purple

Photo of Ashanti Fortson, more zoomed out, smiling at the camera and wearing a cute glasses chain on their glasses

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 30/12/2024

#artvsartist for 2024. I made a lot of book/GN art that I can't share yet (some of these are sneak peeks). I've been trying to repair my relationship to my work, amidst a globally and personally catastrophic year. I can only hope that 2025 will be better...or at least, that I draw for fun more lol

Photo and illustration collage of Ashanti Fortson's 2024 art summary, in the format of art versus artist posts

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 17/12/2024

Just added new bead embroidery pins (all by my spouse @binglin.bsky.social) to our shop! Perfect as sweet little gifts 😉 The 🇵🇸 pins will have proceeds donated directly to Gazan GFMs. ($5 of each goes towards recouping material costs, the other $10 of each will be donated.) seatoad.bigcartel.com

Photo of four small bead embroidery brooches. All four brooches are of the Palestinian flag, but each has small variations like border color and the type of beads used. They are labelled A through D

Photo of a bead embroidery brooch in the shape of a yellow strawberry with red seeds

Photo of a bead embroidery brooch in the shape of a gingerbread man. He is smiling with rosy cheeks, two red and green buttons on his torso, and white arm accents. He has a white border around him. He is propped up on the side of a wicker basket

Photo of a bead embroidered brooch in the shape of a blueberry cluster. The berries are various shades of blue, with a little green leaf poking out from them

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 02/12/2024

"Froggy Hobby" ...or "a self-portrait of the artist" 🐸🎨 (2023)

Illustration in soft colors of a chubby, stylized frog-person happily painting brush-strokes onto a small canvas. Thought bubbles above their head hold ideas of more colors and more brush-strokes.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 29/11/2024

Tabling with @binglin.bsky.social at the Baltimore Birch and Pen Holiday Market (in the retail space next to the Fitzgerald) today, tomorrow, and Sunday! 12-6pm each day. Baltimore peeps, stop by!

Photo of Ashanti Fortson sitting behind their vendor table. The table has books, zines, stickers, prints, and more

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 23/11/2024

Just wanted to post a quick update that this donation pin has SOLD (thank you!!!), so I have donated the proceeds to my friend @mahaabed.bsky.social’s fundraiser (linked below). The pin cost $50, but I donated a bit more, so that it was an even €50. gofund.me/957c446f

Screenshot from a GoFundMe receipt email. It shows a 50 euro donation by Ashanti Fortson on November 23, 2024. The donation is to Maha Abed Omar’s fundraiser.

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 18/11/2024

More magnets by me— but these are needle-felted mushrooms! seatoad.bigcartel.com/product/mush...

Photo of three needle felted mushroom magnets on a purple fabric background. Each magnet is a little different.

Photo of my hand holding up a pair of metal scissors, with the three mushroom magnets stuck to it. This is to prove that they’re magnets

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 18/11/2024

Embroidered felt fish magnets by me! I love making these. They’re all one-of-a-kind. 💖 seatoad.bigcartel.com/product/embr...

Photo of three hand-embroidered felt fish magnets. The fish have different designs, shapes, and expressions. The felt color for each is a light blue with contrasting embroidered accents.

Photo of my hand holding up a pair of metal scissors, with the three fish magnets stuck to it. This is to prove that they’re magnets

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Ashanti Fortson @ashantifortson.com · 18/11/2024

This watermelon bead-embroidery pin is by @binglin.bsky.social, and all proceeds ($50) will be donated to the fundraisers of families in Gaza. Binglin is currently working on some 🇵🇸 pins too. This is a great way to make a real difference AND get a cute pin. seatoad.bigcartel.com/product/wate...

Photo of a bead embroidered pin in the shape of a watermelon slice. There is a price tag attached to it that reads $50 and has a drawing of the Palestinian flag.

Photo of the same watermelon pin from the back. It has a brooch pin backing on a black felt backing, with Binglin’s signature beaded onto the back as well.

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