Aliza Layne

how to draw Kat Hollowbone from Beetle and the Hollowbones

Thank you for your support! I had the chance to make a video that was not going up on my publisher’s youtube channel, so I wanted to include all current patrons in the credits. Some kids who have sent me their fanart had trouble drawing Kat, so I wanted to make this video for them.

Chimera Carnival

Designing and color styling for book 2’s climax. Many of the pages I’ve finished to color ahead of time are very big spoilers, so I’m excited to show this! The dragon parade balloons are super fun to design.

Beetle 2 Progress

a small recording of my process inking this page can be found here.

Essay from scrapped anthology: A Place You Can Really Go

Note: This essay was written for an instructional writing anthology that unfortunately could not move forward so its organizer could focus on their health. I am excited to share this unpublished work as a blog post with all of you! This is an essay about writing and drawing places that feel alive. 

A Place You Can Really Go

Some characters are alive. They have a voice, a way of standing, they have things that only they would say or do, they have blood and guts and ...

paint-at-home pride art and library presentation

Hey all! A lot of this month was spent preparing for my first ever indoor in-person event with real live kids, which was both an interview/book signing and a class about comics I taught at my local library. I’ve included some slides of my only assignment for that class. It went really well! The kids took it very seriously and i met some young geniuses, like an 11 year old who had made over 20 of his own books. I read one of them and was super impressed with it, it was very funny and well ma...

Chimera Carnival Preview!

Working on the title drop for Beetle 2 today! Thank you for another month of support and happy pride month!

As for Demon Street, I’ve had to focus in on Beetle recently as we’ve had a lot of intense medical situations with my family lately & I needed to go get a part time job. Still, if you’re waiting on DS, thank you for waiting! I would love to finish the entire comic in one update because the entire scene is so intense and I truly hate leaving it off for such a long hiatus ...

Bedroom design part 2: Beetle's room

Lots of thought went into Beetle's room and how she would live in it, I wanted it to be idealized without it being unrealistically big for their small house. It's the room of a kid who isn't rich but IS doted on by her grandma, and who has made a few additions to the room herself. She has lots of stuffed animals that have been pushed up out of the way now that she's a bit older. The huge spider on that low shelf is her favorite because it's huge and because Gran made it herself. Beetle also h...

BEETLE & THE HOLLOWBONES SPOILERS! Bedroom design part 1

Hello all! This is a public post, the first of several behind-the-scenes peeks into how I think through designing rooms in a character-first way. The rest will be patron-only. 

Text retyped below for ease of reading:

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I wanted Penny's room to have a unique setup that suited their talents: they can float and phase through walls, so a cool attic bedroom would be easy to access.

Penny's room is an ideal hodgepodge of hand-me-downs that Gran isn't using e...

Beetle location

One of many locations I've designed for BEETLE AND THE CHIMERA CARNIVAL: Kat's Parents' home. Thank you all for your support this year. That this book is happening at all is due in large part to your generosity. 

Book preview: Kat

It's a new month! Another finished early panel from a moment in book 2 I'm VERY excited about, as well as the concept art that I started with for this costume. There's a lot more of this to come. I asked my publisher last book if it was ok for me to post early content to patreon and they never answered me so I'm just going to do it until they tell me to stop. 

THIS post: https://www.patreon.co...

Process for “Freak of Nature”

Available as a print: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/alizalayne/freak-of-nature/

And more details on twitter: https://twitter.com/alizabees/status/1461385645558013957?s=21

Big Secret !

We're announcing BEETLE AND THE HOLLOWBONES BOOKS 2 AND 3 this Saturday, the DAY BEFORE HALLOWEEN! You're the first to know in the entire world. Shh! <3 

animation preview & new patron welcome

Something I'm in the middle of making for promo. I never formally learned animation so I'm fiddling around and teaching myself.

I really appreciate everyone who joined me last month after I linked the patreon in the demon street author's notes. I'm comfortable talking about it a little more here in this more private space. The wheels of publishing, and therefore my entire livelihood, are moving very slowly in the pandemic, and as a result it's been about half a year without a "real" pay...

concept development

more visdev for an upcoming project

digital sketchbook chimera

full illustration wip for beacon characters

Hello all!

Since coming up with these characters I’ve been wanting to do something more with them, and I finally decided that an illustration was the right thing with maybe a short bit of prose to accompany it. So this is the work in progress version of that illustration!

background for unreleased project

Another small piece of the behind the scenes work that I'm doing! You'll NEVER guess ;) 

character sneak peek

Character design sheet for an unannounced project. Look forward to seeing a lot more of her...!

original watercolor script for Beetle

this was the original watercolor script in my sketchbook for the Beetle and the Hollowbones climax. This was back before I changed Kat’s design to have hair. I would love to do a book in watercolor and pencil someday but it would take so long!

The Cat Queen's Beloved

I'm branching out, or maybe just going back to my roots from before I was a webcomic artist. This version is a patreon exclusive, although I'll be trying to find a home for this story at a magazine or in an anthology in time. 

Cat Queen is a fairytale-horror for adults only, and is pretty different to other things I have published. I hope you enjoy it. 

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Prose, 6804 words

Content warnings:

Issues with parents, death, animal death
explores toxic ...

pumpkin paintthrough

Hey there! This is a little process video of a recent illustration, it has some fun stuff in it, I add or discard various elements as I think about how the final piece will look.

Send me haunted items!! (that is, pictures, not real ones)

 Hi everybody! I'm doing a big beetle push this october, and I'd love to have your help! Have you ever been in a thrift store and found just, the weirdest thing you've ever seen? Look at Demon & Souls Lamp. I saw this in real life.  I loved seeing this. Anyway! I want to make some original Beetle & the Hollowbones characters this month, and I want to base them on your submissions of real weird items you've seen. This is gonna be a bunch of free art and it's only open to patr...

Extremely serious author photos

I was pleased to be able to get out into nature with my roommate and traded off taking halloween costume photos for each other. These are mine! Eventually they'll go up on social media for book promo, again probably a little closer to halloween, but you get them now. I'm really pleased with the implied narrative of "pumpkin creature escapes from abandoned basement to ride bikes"

Early access to "Goblin Month"

Hey all! I'm gonna be doing a lot of Beetle and the Hollowbones promo in October featuring a lot of original art. Since I'm making most of it ahead of time, Goblin month comes early for patrons! More forthcoming! 

Free 16-page all-ages TTRPG

Hi everybody! Thanks for being so patient lately, especially those who are waiting for demon street updates! In the past little while I've been writing a 16-page tabletop roleplaying game from the world of BEETLE AND THE HOLLOWBONES, my book that's coming out in stores in less than a month! I made this ttrpg available for free for people who preorder, and it's free for you all too! 

THE HOWLHOLLOW HOUSE is a 16- PAGE tabletop roleplaying game for 2+ players where you and your frien...

Rootshade Nest YA exploration

A few little doodles and character concepts for if I took Rootshade Nest farther into YA, which is what I'd do if I were to make something longer with the concept!