september updates: phrase 3 progress, new shop products, product improvement, and a halloween collab!
Happy October! September’s main milestones were…
Spooky Collab for Halloween and Webtoon Canvas!
New Shop Products
Phrase 3 Progress
Spooky Collab for Webtoon Canvas
I waited to publish this blog post until after the collab officially went live!
View full collab post on Instagram.
View full collab reel on Instagram.
View my solo artwork with variants and character close-ups on Instagram.
Below is the full 2:3 aspect ratio version.
Heavily inspired by the train scenes in John Wick 4 and KPop Demon Hunters + my own childhood-rooted fear of the Aswang, a creature from Filipino folklore 🦇🩸
New Shop Products
In my previous blog post ("august updates"), I mentioned that one of my goals for 2026 is to launch a Patreon, where the main feature is a quarterly stationary club. Part of this year's prep is to create more products to be included in the stationary packs, and during September, I created and ordered prototypes of new sticky notes! I will share the prototypes in the next blog post :)
These new designs are character-free but still aesthetically aligned with my work, as I felt it would be good to have a few products like this. During the month of October, my goal is to create three new bookmark designs with the same concept. You'll see those in the next monthly update!
Improved Prints and Bookmarks!
Probably my favorite shop update from this past month :)
Regarding prints, I wanted to improve them in two ways: 1) Give them a heavier weight and 2) Add a personal touch on the backside with the Bulgogi Punks logo. I love how my art looks on the photo paper I currently use, so the main challenge was figuring out if I could continue to use it.
Cons of The Paper I Use
First one: You cannot print on the backside with an inkjet printer, which is what I have; that said, in my research, I found that this is the case for most available photo papers. I’d seen some discussion about printing on the backside with a laser printer instead, but I felt investing in a whole other printer for this purpose wouldn’t be practical.
And in any case, the second con: its brand logo is on the backside, so even if it was printable, I would still need to figure out a way to remove what’s already there. (As a note, in general, a paper brand logo on the backside of your prints is not a problem. The front side is what truly matters, and there are plenty of artists in Artist Alleys or indie online shops like mine who sell prints on paper like this. Please do not read this and feel discouraged from using any particular paper if you love how your art looks on it 🙂 I consider this a con simply because my goal is to get my own logo on the backside)
The Solution
Given the cons listed above, I started looking into photo papers that were 1) a heavier weight and 2) with an empty backside compatible with inkjet printers. In the end, I could not find anything that fit this bill or that I liked for my art, so I immediately switched gears to thinking how I could use my current photo paper, but simply mount it to a thicker, inkjet printer-friendly material, preferably one with a matte finish.
And thankfully, I already had something in my inventory that fit this bill! So I went ahead and made my backside logos. Here are photos of the end results:
Verdict: I’m happy with it :)
The backside logos are the webtoon logo + chibi versions of the characters featured in the artworks. I have a few variants and I’ll be honest, it makes me want to create more art with different combos of characters so every possible variant can exist lol
I applied this method to the bookmarks as well, and paired with lamination, they now have a sturdy cardstock thickness that I am extremely satisfied with!
The Return of the Team Psi-II Bookmark!
I haven’t officially added it to the shop again, but you heard it here first :) Backstory: Last month, I put together a special batch of bookmarks to send to my friends who’ve bought from my shop multiple times, and many of them specifically own bookmarks of this design.
I initially intended to bring it back for just this special batch, but I have enough extras to let it have a home in the shop again! I’ll officially announce its return soon.
Another Mail Day in the Books!
I made a fun video showing a peek into my bookmark-making process on Instagram. You can view it here!
Phrase 3 Progress
I completed another elaborate environment panel and finalized a few overall sequences with previously completed panels this past month! Since I'd been working on the Halloween illustration and more time-consuming shop goals, only about two weeks’ worth of time was spent on the comic. Looking forward, my only non-comic creative work for the rest of the year is one more color illustration and a commercial deal that I'll discuss in further depth at a later date.
I’ve returned to sharing weekly sneak peeks on the Webtoon app. You can view them here, every Monday :)
Looking ahead…
Goals for September include:
Phrase 3 work
See you in the next update!
