Hello there Reader!

It's Nighten, writing to you from the train! It's a bit of a late issue today as you can tell :)

I usually send my Newsletter at 9:00 on Tuesday morning, but this week I was out of town and spending a few days with my family! That's why I couldn't spend that much time writing the weekly issue; hopefully you understand.

This week we will go over a preservation project that was very close to my heart, as well as a few sketches I did over the weekend! I'm excited to share this with you!

Book News and convention!

Ah! Damned! This book is not yet released!

Like I told you last week, and sadly as I expected, the physical proof I was expecting to review the print quality didn’t arrive on time before I left for my weekend trip.

I however was able to review and adjust a digital version of the book; there were still some mistakes left that I was thankfully able to address (those margins again!), but now I’m extra confident that the physical proof will look great!

Although, one thing I’m happy with is that I was finally able to show my family what I was working on :)

I handed them the previous print proof I had received, and despite the flaws they were happy to flip through and look at the illustrations! I’m super proud, and getting their reaction in real time was a great experience.

Most have trouble understanding why I made a book or what my goals are (because I’ll not make a ton out of it), but they all liked the illustrations and the cute story. This experience makes me extra frustrated that I didn’t have the final book to give them.

Next time it’s gonna be ready, that’s for sure!

Another source of frustration is that I’ll not have all the copies I want for the upcoming convention!

In case you missed it, on Saturday 12th I’ll be in Targi Unikatów in Krakow to present and sell my work with some talented friends. But I’m really looking forward to it! It’s gonna be a good challenge!

My plan is to have the zine available, and I could maybe open preorders for the book if people ask about it. My next convention will be in June, so next time for sure it’ll be ready!

Next week be ready to see a complete overview of how the convention went, and I’ll also introduce you to the work of my friends :) There is a lot to be excited for!

Documenting a Japanese Calendar from 1988

Now, here is something I was really excited to do during my visit in my hometown: rediscovering one of my favorite items from my collection!

It’s about an anime you probably haven’t heard about before: Dirty Pair.

It's a show from the 80s featuring Kei and Yuri, two badass women in a futuristic world fighting crime as mercenaries, and sometimes blowing up a planet in the process (I’m not exaggerating). It was somewhat popular at the time from what I can gather, but is not talked about much these days.

This is a stark contrast to the Polish artists I usually share with you, but I couldn’t help but to tell you about it this week!

First of all, I’ll let you enjoy the opening; probably one of the most 80s things ever:

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(I even have the song on Vinyl!)

A few years back I made an order on a Japanese auction site, and I was able to find a lot of cool items; and amongst them a calendar from 1988.

It caught my eye because it contains exclusive illustrations from that era that I never saw before. It was my pride and joy for some time, then stayed in a cardboard box for months before I realized that no clean scans of this calendar exist on the internet: apart from low resolution pictures from eBay, no images were available. Until now.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and scan the whole calendar. While I’m no professional digitizer, a scan is always better than no scans!

I was aware of other calendars from 1990 that were preserved, but not this one. So you are the very first to be able to see them! I will later post those scans on my website, but you get to see some exclusive previews before everyone else.

I’m relieved to have it done now, and to be able to share my love for the series.

Mostly because this show is a lot of fun: it has a great balance between not taking itself seriously while being engaging and creative. It was ahead of its time too!

Let me tell you for example about episode 7: ​
a young man is being kidnapped by a tall woman at his own wedding, and the duo is tasked to save him.

But it turns out that this woman, Joanca, was actually his true love, and their union was forbidden by the man’s father because Joanca was born a man - and the duo becomes supportive once they learn this! And the couple is still in love and (technically) alive by the end of the episode!

Even the bad guy respects her pronouns!

It’s mind-blowing by anime standards, but even more so in 1985. And I’m only scratching the surface of the shenanigans that are actually going on in the episode.

Like I said, it’s great fun!

The show is not always that progressive (the movie is the worst offender at it), but has so many great moments like this one.

Anime of that era influenced me a lot aesthetically: I love their beautiful backgrounds, simple lines with plenty of details… It’s part of the reason why I do lines with only a round brush!

I also love their clear shapes, softer colors and cell shading; more recent anime such as in the 90s and early 2000s are way more “graphic” in comparison, and they are just less my thing.

I could go on for a lot longer, but I’m gonna stop now! I really wanted to take the chance to share this show which I’m really fond of.

(as an aside, why is it so hard to make a scanner work in 2025?? It took me longer to connect to it than to scan the whole thing)

Smol sketches

Since I was on the move this weekend, I didn’t had a moment to continue my digital illustration; but I brought my sketchbook, and was able to make a mini-series of small drawings!

They are all based on pictures from Pinterest, and my goal was to capture as much detail as possible in the tiniest of spaces.

I love to do things like these: having the time to engage longer with a single image, to dive deeper and pay attention to the details, it has an almost meditative quality to it.

It also unlocks a deeper appreciation for the original image and subject; something I wouldn’t get by just looking at it through my feed.

This actually prompted me to look into cameras to rent or buy, because I would love to be able to capture my own references in the future.

For example, there are a lot of roofs in Krakow that I find fascinating, but my poor phone camera has trouble giving them justice.

I’m also planning a very big trip in the future, and I will definitely like to capture as many details as possible :)

I’m excited to share this with you when the time comes!

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This is it for the week!

Once again, my apologies for the late issue; things should go back on track on the next one! I'm excited to give you a deep dive into my very first convention experience, as well as (hopefully) some news on the upcoming book and the future projects.

Thank you everyone for your patience. I'll see you next week :)

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Take care!
- Nighten