False Knees Studio (and Life) Update

Hey pals, new and old!

I want to thank all of you who have put in orders for Life After Life–you are keeping Mélodie and me very busy! Inevitably, I will have forgotten to include a special print in some of your envelopes. If that is the case, please let me know and I will make sure to send you one separately.

As I mentioned in a previous post, False Knees Inc. has moved offices from our apartment into our first ever studio! I tried to remove all things illegal from these photos, but don't go snitching if you see anything uncouth.

It's a work in progress, but the key functional pieces are in place to keep the machines (arthritic hands) running!

It's long been a dream of mine to have a place separate from my living space to do my work. After about 9 years of making comics full-time, it's a reality. I have to thank my friend Alex for making me aware of the building this studio is a part of, and to Antoine for helping me lug a couch and Long Desk at 8am on a Saturday. Big thanks to my parents for helping out as well! My dad made all the shelves (and the beautiful table the piano sits on, but that was years ago).

Mélodie has a little corner of the room to pack orders during the busy times of the year. It isn't glamorous, but beats a storage locker! The majority of the time, she will continue to pack orders in our apartment, where all of our printers (and cats) are.

We even moved the piano into the studio so I would have a healthy distraction from work. Also here you can see Long Desk, which Mélodie found used. I've always wanted Long Desk! Together at last.

 I hope you liked the little tour! I will perhaps do a follow-up with this once I've actually hung up nice artwork and laid out the rug.

In other news... and I'm not usually one to share much about my personal life, but I figure I am among friends here.

Mélodie is pregnant!!!!!! 

Here she is fulfilling orders at 8 months:

Employee of the week!

This will be our first child, so we are equal parts excited and anxious about the huge changes that are coming our way in about a month... hopefully they'll like birds... In the very least, I imagine I will start to draw a lot more hatchlings in the coming months. The prospect of having a baby was a big part of why we decided on renting a studio now. Our apartment is comfortable for two people and a small, bird-based comics business, but adding another human to the mix threatened to throw off our whole vibe, you know?

Since I'm in a sharing mood, I'll also say that I had some minor surgery this week which went very well and was only done out of an abundance of caution, but has nevertheless shaken me up a little and also given me scars that look like I survived a knife fight. Quick details are that a mole I had removed had melanoma, so I had some lymph nodes removed from two spots. TMI, I know. Human bodies are bottomless chasms of both beautiful wonders and disgusting horrors. All this to say, look out for yourselves. Protect yourselves. In my case, that means living the shadow person life. Fortunately, comics are best made indoors!

Ok, expect another health update from me in approximately 35 years.

Love you all.

-Joshua