Latelies #4
heartache = new minicomic
Lately
I’ve been thinking about heartache.
I’ve been quiet on Substack these last couple of months because I left a six-year relationship and moved into an attic bedroom with friends in another part of town. There’s been a lot of change, and a lot I didn’t see coming.
I started SAW’s Year-Long Cartooning Certificate Program (which I’ll just call cartoon school) in September, then had back-to-back work events for my day job and Zine Club. And finally, Zinecinnati! I’m winding down from the whirlwind of it all as the year comes to an end. I have one last workshop on November 6 (see the bottom of this post for more info), and then I’m taking a much-needed break from leading workshops to focus on cartoon school and my grief.
I’m grieving imperfectly. Unfortunately, I’m a workhorse, and I don’t really know how to stop. My work doesn’t feel like “work”; it’s just part of who I am, part of my practice as an artist and teacher. It never stops. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t maybe over-functioning to avoid feeling :/
Yup, that’s right. I’m human! I’m scared of being seen, known, and facing myself. Ain’t that disappointing and inescapable.
New Minicomic
I made a new mini to table at Zinecinnati a few weeks ago.
Ways to Say Goodbye is a collection of the tender, awkward, and often quiet ways we part from people, places, and versions of ourselves. Through quiet reflection and poetic imagery, this mini explores what it means to let go.
I made this because I wanted to give myself and the people I’ve had to say goodbye to some grace. Saying goodbye is so hard. My gut always knows before my head when it’s time. When that feeling of certainty creeps in, I plead with it. I don’t want it to be true. But when I hug them goodbye and they say, “I’ll see you soon,” I hate being the first one to know that’s the last time they’ll say that to me. That the next time we say goodbye, it will be our last.
Making this minicomic was my way of making sense of it all. I just wanted to turn something painful into something gentle and kinda funny. Well at least I had some laughs while making it.
If you’d like to see what that looks like on paper, Ways to Say Goodbye is available in my shop! You can also purchase it at Prologue Bookshop, The Laughing Ogre, and The Wex Bookstore if you’re local to Columbus.
Process
I wanted this comic to kinda feel like you’re looking into an Mutoscope with credit frames. The first time I saw a mutoscope was at the Musée Mécanique in San Francisco two years ago. The Musée Mécanique is, hands down, my favorite place in the world! I must’ve spent $50 in quarters and 4 hours studying every single machine from the wooden puppets to the mutoscopes. It was the best thing I did in SF.
For the credit frames, I used pink vellum. It’s a nod to the saying “looking through rose-colored glasses.” I love the design of old movie frames; it just adds something so romantic to the reading experience. I’m going to play around some more with what I’m calling “old movie aesthetic” in my comics. I don’t plan on straying away from the topic of heartache anytime soon haha so maybe there will be an Act Two to this mini!
This season of my life kinda sucks, I won’t lie. Heartache is painful and there’s nothing glamorous about sobbing and shoving days-old cake into my mouth while watching The Muppet Show.
The only way out is through. And maybe drawing through it is just another way of saying goodbye.
talk soon - rebecca xoxoxo
Zines 101
Columbus friends! It’s your last chance in 2025 to join my Zines 101 workshop! There’s 9 spots left!
November 6th 6-8pm at Upper Arlington Public Library Lane Road Branch
Learn what zines are, how to make them and how to use them to engage with your local community, in this hands-on workshop led by Rebecca Richardson from Zine Club Columbus.
Discover the power of self-publishing in this zine-making workshop! Explore the history and creative possibilities of zines while learning essential techniques for layout, sequencing, and storytelling. Using simple tools like scissors, copy paper, and a stapler, you’ll create your own zine from start to finish. Perfect for teens and adults looking to express their ideas in a tangible DIY format—no experience needed!
Supplies provided. Open to adults and teens (age 12+)
Uuuhhhgggg breakups are the worst. Sending you love