Table of Contents

• Shop Update

  • Pride is heading to bunnalien.etsy.com early this …

• Han’s Art Corner

• Featured Art

• Until next time…

Shop Update

Pride is heading to bunnalien.etsy.com early this year!

Let’s kick off my first newsletter by introducing my new Carbuncle Pride collection, inspired by the cute little summoned companions from Final Fantasy! Whether you’re the bookish type, enjoy decorating your space with stickers, or want to wear your flag proudly as a pinback button, these colorful little critters come in many forms for you to show your pride!

I’ve been hard at work prepping this collection while still trying to recover from the chaos of the holiday season and, well… the current state of the world, with the future of small businesses everywhere seemingly constantly hanging in the balance for one reason or another. Needless to say, I’m very excited to be able to share my work with likeminded folk, despite everything, and I plan to persist for as long as I’m able!

In defiance of tumultuous times and the powers that be attempting to divide and conquer us, I’m choosing to celebrate unity and all the colors of the LGBTQIA+ community! Why wait for June to celebrate us, when we can do it all year? Our history is deep and important, and it cannot be erased by a few ignorant individuals superficially censoring us and removing some letters from an acronym. We’re here, we’re loud, we’re bright, and we’re not going anywhere!

While only 12 of our community’s many flags are featured in this collection currently, I’m always open to suggestions for researching and designing more!

In addition to the new pride collection, there are even more Final Fantasy critters showing up on my new memo pads! For the Namazu, Fat Cat, Moogle, and Mandragora enjoyers!

These are made with the same materials as my previous memo pad release, with each sheet individually cut and bound together with a thinly brushed on layer of PVA glue. You’ll love the high-quality feel of this durable paper!

Check out the full collection and the available colors over at https://bunnalien.etsy.com/ 

(Be sure to use your subscriber-only discount code provided in your welcome email to save 10% at checkout when you place an order on my store!)

If you would be interested to see my process for creating any of my handmade goods from concept to design to finished product, let me know! I would love to put together little “how it’s made” segments in future newsletters!

And now for a little experimental segment…

Han’s Art Corner

Allow me to indulge for a moment and talk about a piece that I felt best leaving as a messy sketch page for feeling out a concept.

With Monster Hunter Wilds coming out later this week (which I am infinitely excited for), I wanted to look back on these doodles of my hunter! If he looks familiar, well, that’s because it’s just Robin again - if you know, you know - but he’s a Wyverian this time around in the Monhun universe. If you’re wondering who he’s cradling, that’s his handler (a profession in Monhun focusing on managing hunters and research requests), Aurora - you may be seeing more of him here in the future, as well. These two characters are very deeply intertwined, after all! (shoutout to my bestie Elle)

This rendition of Robin is largely mute even into adulthood, having been raised in the wilderness by a Rathian and Rathalos bonded pair (researchers are unsure how the fearsome wyverns never ate the boy), and although he does eventually learn spoken language, he prefers to communicate mostly through short, blunt responses, actions, and body language. He makes an excellent hunter, however, with keen senses and natural survival instincts and the ability to think quickly on his feet. His handler insists he is quite the talker, but perhaps only when the two of them are alone…

Monster Hunter is a series I got into criminally late, with the release of Rise back in 2021, but it’s one of those worlds that I feel nostalgia for nonetheless; it essentially has all of my special interests combined into these cool individually packaged video game experiences! As someone who had dreams of becoming a veterinarian or zoologist or marine biologist for most of my childhood, discovering that there’s a whole game series with fantasy beasts and environments based in real-life ecology and symbiosis blew my MIND. I had always thought Monhun was a simple “beat up big monster” action game, but it’s so much more fleshed out than that! Learning about how all of the creatures interact with their environments makes it truly feel like its own living, breathing world, and it makes me geek out every time.

Yes, you can say I’m somewhat of a Fantasy Biologist.

Featured Art

Finally, and just for fun, I’d like to take a moment to reminisce and look back on some gift art I’ve received in the past of my beloved characters! Here’s what’s featured this month:

When I tell you I have a folder of all the gift art and commissions I’ve received over the years and I look at them all the time as a pick-me-up… I mean it. I love every piece and doodle that y’all spend time on with all my heart!

Until next time…

Thank you for reading this month’s (and my first ever) edition of Bunnalien News! It’s my birthday very soon (2/25), and your interest in following along on my journey as an artist and small business owner is one of the greatest gifts I could ask for <3

Take care, stay hydrated, eat a good meal, and I’ll see you all next month!

Always made with love,

Han