I’m going to be sticking to this comics schedule of Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So that means there’s a new comic up today!

I have also recently set up a shop on Etsy. There’s not a whole lot on there just yet, and everything that is on there is also available on the site here. But it’s good to get everything consolidated into one easy shopping destination! Right now there’s prints for sale of my recent ‘animals wearing clothes’ drawings, copies of my graphic novels, and also options for ordering custom art commissions.

But the real news of the day is that I received confirmation yesterday that a publisher in the UK wants me to do a trans themed graphic novel for them!!! This will be an original story, completely unconnected to my webcomics.

I’m very excited, but also very nervous. I know from experience that writing a graphic novel is a huge undertaking. And as of now, I still don’t know if my publisher is able to give me an advance payment to live on while I produce this book. As I mention pretty frequently, I work a full-time job in addition to doing these comics. Add writing a graphic novel on top of that and… there’s just not enough hours in the day.

Right now I have some truly wonderful people giving me support on Patreon, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that. What I’m hoping is that, should I not get an advance to do this book, enough people will be able to step up and support me further so that I’m able to at least reduce the hours I work and have enough time to do all this other, much more important stuff.

I should mention that all Patreon supporters of $25.00 or more per month are entitled to a copy of every single book I put out. That includes this one. So if you are able to help support me through this process, in addition to helping keep the site going and knowing you helped a potentially important new piece of art become available to the community, you WILL get something tangible out of the deal.

Help keep Life of Bria going and support trans voices in media!

Also, at the end of every month, I will be releasing a special ‘thank you’ comic to those who have supported the site, either through Patreon, PayPal, or ordering art commissions, custom cards, true-self portraits, or who have had voice lessons with me. If you have had done any of these things in the past month, you will have access to the bonus material as my way of saying ‘thank you’ for going the extra mile in helping support the site.

And, as always, thank you from the very bottom of my heart for reading! I never dreamed I would make it this far drawing cartoons on the internet.

Love,

 

Bria

Screw the schedule! Everybody’s so pissed about that transploitation movie, (Re)Assignment, that I just couldn’t sit on this comic until Monday. It’s clearly just the screen-writer’s teenaged forced-femme jerk-off fantasy come to the big screen, but what could have been done to make it… not awful? Well, this bonus comic attempts to address that. What do you think? Could that movie have been salvageable?

 

Usually Fridays are when my dinosaur comic, ‘No Other‘, updates. But hardly anybody reads it in comparison to my regular webcomics. So I may just put it on the back burner for
the next while.

In the meantime, that means more webcomics! There’s one up today  in place of the usual dino comic, and likely I will be sticking to the usual schedule of Monday, Thursday, Friday. Though I may add Wednesday into the mix as well.

How do you feel about this? Would you rather I keep going on ‘No Other’? If I get enough interest, then I will. Otherwise, it’s gonna be webcomics as far as the eye can see!

Once again, this all comes down to money. Right now, I basically live a skeleton of a life. All I do is work, and I still barely make ends meet. I have no leisure time and no money to spend on non-essentials. I also barely eat and I sleep five hours a night. Such is to be expected when you’re an artist. But that means any art I do that isn’t proving to be too popular is essentially a luxury I cannot afford.

But the fact that people come here and read my comics and send me messages about how they affect them, it makes it all worth while.

Thank you so very much for reading. I mean it.

– Bria

There’s a new comic up today. I’ve been trying to stick to a regular schedule, but in the wake of all the ridiculous statements and articles I’ve seen coming up in my newsfeed, I just didn’t feel like sitting on this one another day. There will, of course, be another comic on Thursday.

How do you feel about that? Would you like three comics a week instead of two? Let me know, and if there’s a lot of interest, I’ll make it happen (lifeofbria at gmaildotcom).

An even better way to make it happen is to support the site directly, either via Paypal or Patreon. You can also support me by commissioning me to make art for you.

I know I ask this of people a lot, and I know that a lot of us trans folks have troubles of our own and don’t have a lot of money, so any and all support is beyond appreciated. Right now, like most artists, my time is divided between this and my minimum wage ‘normal’ job. That takes up almost literally all of my time. I don’t get days off, I don’t get free time, I have even given up exercising. All I do is work. And I’m happy to do that – I love making art and I love doing something that I feel is making a difference, and so that’s what I want to be doing. And if I get enough support from people, I would quit my day job and do this FULL-time.

So if you would like to find yourself living in a world with more pro-trans art and comics, maybe consider spending some of your entertainment budget this way. I promise I’ll make it worth your while!

– Bria

 

Monday’s comic is a day early. Why? Because today, August 14th

, is my brother’s birthday. And I guess it’s become a bit of a tradition (two whole years!) that I draw him a Tintin themed birthday comic. You can see last year’s here. It’s the least I can do for him.

Close to a year and a half ago, when I had first returned to this country from Thailand, and was just starting out in my transition, my brother, without hesitation and without being asked, took me into his home and let me sleep on his bed, while he took a mattress on the floor. He allowed me to live there for some months without paying rent, and allows me to live with him still (I pay rent now) despite my messy artist’s lifestyle and my frequent dysphoria freak-outs and bouts of depression.

He’s been supportive of me right from the beginning of the process of transitioning, and growing up, he was (and still is) my hero and inspiration. His dedication to his music is nothing short of awe inspiring, and a good portion of what keeps me working so hard on my art is knowing that every single day he’s spending every single spare moment he has practicing on his guitar. He actually has many music projects on the go, including playing in the killer progressive metal band, Opus Arise. They actually recently recorded their first not long ago, and you can find it here.

He also has an adorable little dog, with whom he has a wonderful, loving relationship. That and he always used to wear a Tintin and the Black Island t-shirt just made it the obvious choice that I make him a Tintin birthday present.

So happy birthday, bro! Here’s to another year getting to witness your greatness!

There’s a new comic up. Also, a lot of people have expressed interest in ordering prints and T-shirts of my recent owl drawing. Right now I’m searching out my printing options, but if you haven’t chimed in your interest for a print or shirt, e-mail me @ lifeofbria at gmail dot com. Or would like to pre-order one, you can do so here, and that will help ease the financial burden of getting these things printed:

 

Pre-Order Owl Print – $20.00 + $5.00 Shipping & Handling 

Pre-Order Owl Shirt – $20.00 + $10.00 Shipping & Handling

I’m also kind of into this Saibaman drawing done in Thoth style from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure being a shirt (I actually already made one for my brother and it’s rad).

So if you would like that or some other drawing I’ve done, or would like a custom design made up for a shirt, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Finally, I’m so grateful to everybody who has supported me recently. So, as thank you, later this month, I will be making an exclusive comic available only to those who have recently ordered (or pre-ordered) books, prints or shirts, supported the site either through Patreon or donating directly on Paypal, order custom cards, commissions, or True-Self Portraits from me, or had voice lessons with me! This is something I will do every month, as way of thanking everybody who goes that extra mile in helping keep this site going.

But, overall, I am so thankful to everybody who takes the time to read the site! Please don’t ever hesitate to message me to leave feedback. And, don’t be afraid to share comics you like on social media or to ‘like’ the Life of Bria Facebook page for updates on your newsfeed!

– Bria

There’s a new ‘No Other’ page up today. I’ve been waiting for this one to come up, though I don’t think it has the same impact online as it does in printed form. If you read the site regularly you’ll notice I featured the black and white version on here a few months back.

Making this story is really important to me because I think it’s important that I keep making non-trans related work. It’s easy to get caught up in the issues that effect us because of our identities, but we can’t forget that there’s more to who we are than being trans.

Me, I like dinosaurs… and the apocalypse.

It’s still technically Thursday, so the new comic up today is still technically on time! I decided I think drawing people is boring. So now there’s just, like, animal people in my comics as well. Go ahead, make your furry jokes! I don’t care!

I’ve also started designing T-shirts for a few different companies. Here’s my most recent design:

So how about it? Would you wear a ‘Bria shirt’?

I first met Carmen Bright over 10 years ago on our very first day at Art school. And since that moment I’ve been in absolute awe of her art prowess!

Since around 2012, Carmen has produced her ‘On the Bright Side Doodles‘ (I believe they were originally titled “The Bumbling Bee”). Part Sumi-I painting and part New Yorker cartoon, Carmen’s doodles display relatable Slice of Life moments and nuggets of day-to-day wisdom through smooth, confident brushwork. That’s right; she draws em’ all by hand in the real world with a real brush.

Sometimes lighthearted and fun,sometimes dealing with intense struggles with anxiety, and sometimes both, Carmen’s doodles follow the rhythms of real life. And keeping the drawings looser and less ‘finished’ gives them that intimate sketchbook quality – which can only be emphasized and enhanced by reading them in the form of one of her handmade zines!

Seeing Carmen’s doodles show up on my newsfeed is often a highlight of my day, and really, I’m trying to spread the word about her so she’ll get enough support to start drawing them more often. So ‘Like’ her Facebook page and… do whatever it is you do with a tumblr page, and help show her how awesome her work is!

Once again I’ve done a little fan art. It really is a travesty that I drew it digitally instead of with a brush, but I’m pleased with the amalgamation of my style with hers.

There’s a new webcomic up.

It’s looking like the natural schedule that’s forming is Life of Bria strips coming out every Monday and Thursday, and No Other pages being released every Friday. I hope to add an additional No Other page on Tuesday to that mix, but between my freelance work and my day job and working with publishers to release a book next year, the workload is already a little heavy, I suppose.