iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Just remembered I had this account. I also have a blog, if you want to see more Chicago sketchbook pages and also hear about comics and children's books: substack.com/@juliejarema...

sketchbook pages opened to watercolor sketches of georgia o'keefe's sky abov clouds iv and magritte's the banquet

sketchbook spread of pastel clouds and a greenhouse in colored pencil

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Galloping into the new year! 🐎🎆🧧

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Books read in 2025 (picture books not pictured)

books I read in 2025 (pic books not drawn here): Run for the Hills A Film in Which I Play Everyone Apple Crush ¡¡Manu!! The Wondrous Wonders I Love Hearing Your Dreams Hothouse Bloom The Road to Tender Hearts Pathemata, Or, The Story of My Mouth Witches of Brooklyn 3 Witches of Brooklyn 4 Sour Cherry elseship Skim Plain Jane and the Mermaid Lucky Penny Next Stop Ghostroots Cyclettes Sato the Rabbit, Morning Light Spent Things Become Other Things Hotel Balzaar The Unforgettable Party If You Cry Like a Fountain the past is a jean jacket Little Shrew The Unfortunate Lives of Worms You're a Poet: Ways to Start Writing Poems A Song for You & I Alphabetical Diaries John the Skeleton The Orange and other Poems Atavists Flamer Huda F Are You? Into the Bewilderness Biologicity Dyke (Geology) My Lesbian Novel Belly Full of Heart Checked Out How Far the Light Reaches Babysitters club gn Creaky Acres Overstaying The Faraway Forest: Wally's Route Cornbread & Poppy The Year of Blue Water Never, Not Ever The 5 Misfits Bear and Wolf The Snail The Snail with the Right Heart Make Meatballs Sing The Unmaking of June Farrow Angelica and the Bear Prince Free Piano (Not Haunted) Charlie and Mouse Are Magic The Bear Out There The Apartment House on Poppy Hill This Place Kills Me The Third Hotel Young Hag and the Witches' Quest Hilda and Twig Lunar New Year Love Story Out of Left Field Mixed Up Club Microbe The Deep Dark First Kiss with Fangs Triple Sec This Was Our Pact Big Jim and the White Boy Blue Opening Sugar Shack Night Chef Stop Me If You've Heard This One Lullaby for the Grieving Flip Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands Saint Catherine This Country The First Cat in Space and the Baby Pirate’s Revenge Broken Cannon Silverborn Land of Mirrors The Chromatic Fantasy Nigel and the Moon Several People Are Typing French Milk Someone You Can Build a Nest In Words with Wings and Magic Things Small Talk The Time of the Novel Stone Fruit Amelia, If Only Wendy, Master of Art Inciting Joy Thir…

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

so true, she’s too good 😭🖤

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Got my preorder too and the art is too good. I love these weird, wild sisters

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Cats really are so hard to draw!!! they have no bones! These are so fun tho

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Picked up Júlia Sardà‘s latest and can’t wait to dive in!

Holding a copy of The Witch in the Tower by Júlia Sardà

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Books I read in July (preorder CANNON!!! It’s one of my favorites I read this year)

BLUE OPENING by Chet’la Sebree
SUGAR SHACK by Lucy Knisley, colored by Whitney Cogar
NIGHT CHEF by Mika Song
STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE by Kristen Arnett
LULLABY FOR THE GRIEVING by Ashley M. Jones
FLIP by Ngozi Ukazu
EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF OTHERWORLDS by Heather Fawcett
SAINT CATHERINE by Anna Meyer
THIS COUNTRY: SEARCHING FOR HOME IN (VERY) RURAL AMERICA by Navied Mahdavian
THE FIRST CAT IN SPACE & THE BABY PIRATE’S REVENGE by Mac Barnett & Shawn Harris
CANNON by Lee Lai
SILVERBORN by Jessica Townsend
LAND OF MIRRORS by María Medem, translated by Aleshia Jensen and Daniela Ortiz

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

My preorder of AGGIE AND THE GHOST by @mattforsythe.bsky.social came in, but I am following the rules and not purchasing till it’s officially out on Tues. But I did take a peek, and somehow I’m both Aggie and the ghost.

Page with ghost wearing socks from AGGIE AND THE GHOST by Matthew Forsythe

Page with Aggie having an idea from AGGIE AND THE GHOST by Matthew Forsythe

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Yesss!! I loved both of these (as well as your upcoming graphic novel!!)

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Happened to get 2 nonfic snail books from the library (on Emily Hughes & Enchanted Lion kicks). Both were beautifully made. The Snail is about Noguchi, & it continues to reinforce my love for pic book bios (which are concise, poetic, & highlight both the biggest & quirkiest details about a person).

Picture books: The Snail and The Snail with the Right Heart

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Putting bookshop cats on bookmarks and billboards this year

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Reposted by Julie Jarema

Maia Kobabe @redgoldsparks.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

I drew this for the Spring Equinox in March 2020 inspired by Madeleine Jubilee Saito's comics but it has felt relevant again every spring since then.

a square comic with text at the top reading "Spring is not cancelled" with four drawings- one of redbud brances against the sky, a closeup of daffodils, a path between trees under a cloudy grey sky and a closeup of a lilac branch. text below reads "inspired by Madeleine Jubilee Saito" drawn by Maia Kobabe @ redgoldsparks

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Reposted by Julie Jarema

C. Larsen @larsenproject.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Hey! I am still doing the @cartoonist.coop eSims for Gaza campaign. You can read about how to get a tiny painting from me here: cartoonist.coop/journal/cart... And, as the current link to donate is old, read about donating an esim/money for esims here: connecting-humanity.org Examples below…

Canine with glowing heart. Txt:esims for gaza c/o the cartoonist coop

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Where is he going (Obviously to his local indie bookstore)

Illustration of a mushroom reading a book

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

My parents let work friends borrow our dogs on the weekend. They would take them sailing (even had dog life jackets) and to agility. They had a key to let the dogs back into our house early on Monday morning. Didn’t realize this was weird until I was 23 and mentioned this set up to a coworker.

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Couple of bookshop comics from my one hour Friday shift

4 panel comic. Customer calling asking if the bookshop is set up like a b&n, if there’s a diverse section, ultimately asking if we have a copy of the epic of Gilgamesh

4 panel comic of a mom and her toddler. The mom repeatedly says Zora. I ask if her daughter’s name is Zora. She confirms and says she’s named after Zora Neale Hurston. I tell them the cat is also named Zora, also after Zora Neale Hurston. Zora the kid waves goodbye to Zora the cat.

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Reposted by Julie Jarema

Pip Wren @lollibeepop.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦🕊🌻

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

My second staff pick of the year! Read this GN last summer and immediately loved it. Was so thrilled to see it win the Printz Award this year!

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Reposted by Julie Jarema

Reuben Binns @rdbinns.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Every major UK newspaper - left, right, broadsheet, tabloid - is running a front page campaign against copyright carveouts for AI training. I can't remember the last time any political cause had such broad support, let alone one so anti-big tech and so economically consequential.

Newspaper stand with newspapers all carrying the front page Campaign 'make it fAIr'

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

First staff pick / shelf talker of the year: elseship. Oof. This book. Big Tree Abraham fan over here. Immediately snapped up Cyclettes right after. 🖤

Elseship with a shelf talker review underneath

Interior page of elseship that is visually heavy with collage and handwriting

Interior spread of elseship with handwritten “I love you” deteriorating

Holding up copies of elseship and Cyclettes together

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

The Sato the Rabbit books are pure dreamy playful magic. Through gorgeous vivid spreads, this one (out July 15) makes me want to wake up early, live in a lighthouse, drink sparkles, and let my imagination dance. If you need to feel some whimsy, pick up any Sato book.

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Went to the dentist today. Here’s tooth bat, who cheered me on.

Gouache painting of a tooth with bat wings

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Reposted by Julie Jarema

Madeline McGrane @madmcgrane.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Happy Valentine's Day! here is an accursed vampire valentine i made in 2023

Text: your blood is just my type, valentine

Image: Eztli, Quintus, and Dragoslava, three child vampires from The Accursed Vampire Graphic novel series, walk by. They are smiling mischievously and their hands and faces are covered in blood.

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

A reread, and ughhh how are Mariko and Jillian Tamaki this good?!?

Holding up Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Been a fan of @lucyknisley.bsky.social since high school when I found French Milk at the library. Most recently into her Stepping Stones books, which perfectly capture growing at different rates from your friends & juggling family obligations while being true to yourself throughout it all.

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

This cute friendship book that combines two of the best things (books and cookies evidently) and how they’re even better when shared. Thanks for the rec, @allielevick.bsky.social!

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Getting back into Taro Gomi. (I mean I was into Everyone Poops with every other kid in the ‘90s but I’m happy to be discovering his other work now! Just look at that plant!!)

Holding up book The Great Day by Atari Gomi

Taro Gomi illustration cropped to feature a plant painted in pink, yellow, black, white

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

2025 books 📚 🧵 Will keep updating all year to highlight favorites—picture books, graphic novels, lit fiction, all of it!

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

This entire thread is gold. I’ve got to make one too for the year!

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

I love this book! A favorite from last year for sure

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

So good! And yes!!! So weird eerie unsettling beautiful. Feels classic or at least evokes a similar feeling to some picture books my dad read to me as a little kid. Also I love everything Julia Sarda does. Have you read In the Half Room? (Carson Ellis, similar vibes)

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Film sketchbook: La Chimera. The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness. My Old Ass.

Open sketchbook with sketches in blue ink from the movie La Chimera

Sketchbook with drawings of the documentary The Kingdoms of Dreams and Madness. On the right side, drawings from the movie My Old Ass. Both done in black ink

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Reposted by Julie Jarema

Lucy Knisley @lucyknisley.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Oh hey it’s the year of the snake! Here’s a drawing of a snake I made.

Snake protecting a blue, white and pink flower from a shoe trying to crush it, with the text PROTECT TRANS KIDS

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Julie Jarema @rainbowfish523.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Lucy Knisley’s hourlies are always so good!

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