drawing of the day #12 - a good time shared with friends
I got to go back for the usual comics jam for a pride-themed potluck! I brought along a friend that I haven't gotten to spend time with for a long while, which was incredibly nice. We talked a lot about what's been going on in our lives, and how we're coping with the realities of being chronically ill in more ways than one. I'm happy to see he's doing well despite both our difficulties. (he's an artist like me, you can find his portfolio here!
Anyway, one of the things I did was finish an illustration that I had sketched out. Since it was a pride event (As prideful as it can be in Malaysia), I figured what better (albeit gaudy) way to add to it than to draw my queer ship from FFXIV?
It was fun deliberately limiting the space I have to make this. Restricting myself meant I can experiment with how much detail and expression I wanted to add to it, and I'm happy with how it turned out.
On to the potluck. This is my first ever pride event, quite literally. Living in Malaysia you don't really get to do this very openly, so it's a very lowkey hangout, organized and joined only by the comics jam group I was a part of. Despite the rather discreet way we celebrated - to everyone else it just looked like we were a group of friends doing things - but it was incredibly satisfying, both body and soul, to be among fellow Malaysian queer people and sharing our queer art and comics together! It was such a wonderful experience, and really drives in the idea that I've somewhat known all along (but was wonderful to experience it firsthand regardless) - spending time with other queer people offline is a highly rewarding and healing experience that you just can't get online. If you're wondering what I brought to the potluck, I made garlic fried rice:
Our potluck happened in a mall quite known to be a geek/niche hobby hangout for a lot of different groups, and the second floor is dedicated to that hobby space. It's cool to see things like this as well as an entire wall dedicated solely for people to make their mark:
Also one of the stores have a life-size cutout of Zoya from Path to Nowhere and I'm so normal about it:
It's a good time spent with friends. Well worth obliterating my joints for, for sure!