Carolyn Paplham
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cpaplham.bsky.social
Carolyn Paplham
@cpaplham.bsky.social
110 followers 200 following 210 posts
Graphic designer & illustrator, probably in need of a nap.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
paleofuture.bsky.social
It’s fun to think about the surgeon who will botch your surgery 20 years from now and what he’s doing at this moment. He just ran all his homework through ChatGPT. He just read that article about vaccines and autism at the CDC website. He just watched an Instagram video about the moon landing hoax.
November 21, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
govevers.wisconsin.gov
Today, we honor and remember the lives of trans folks who have been killed this year.

We must continue our work to ensure every Wisconsinite can be their full and best self without fear of hate or violence.
Honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance
November 20, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
helalixir.gay
if you’re trans and reading this:

thank you. thank you for being here, living your life as full as you can, and defending your right to live and be free.

i love you all. i hope for a day we don’t have to keep fighting. be safe out there, please. 🩷🤍💙
November 20, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
davis.social
Well put by @drrachelbarr.bsky.social
cinema_nasties 1d Al defenders are so embarrassing j.paulmonter 2h All you are saying is that you want to gatekeep creativity. That's not good. drachelbarr & 20h • •• Neuroscientist here... creativity is a process. A process. A FUCKING PROCESS. Not an output. Nobody is gatekeeping the process - Al simply invites you to skip to the end, to the output. Which, as mentioned, is not creativity. Nobody cares if the output is aesthetically pleasing, because the process, the act itself, the limitation of a single human mind and the resulting creations that capture that one single inimitable human experience... is what makes a creation worth paying attention
November 19, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
ash243x.bsky.social
"one day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this"
November 14, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
ziibiing.com
this felt too informative not to share
October 6, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
dieworkwear.bsky.social
50 year mortgage is so crazy. to put it in perspective, 2016 was 50 years ago
November 9, 2025 at 6:42 AM
cpaplham.bsky.social
While I don't post art there anymore, I do still lurk on twitter to keep an eye on things... and watching the coke ad & fake "behind the scenes" video get absolutely eviscerated is giving me life. It's so bad the criticism has bled over to LinkedIn. AI criticism on LINKEDIN!! You love to see it.
November 8, 2025 at 2:19 AM
cpaplham.bsky.social
Probably my favorite photo I took at the zoo. Black-footed ferret napping under a heat lamp! (I might also be a bit jealous... a cozy nap sounds great right about now.)
A photo of a black-footed ferret napping, sprawled out under a heat lamp. Only the lower half of the ferret can be seen, as the rest of its body is in a tunnel.
November 7, 2025 at 2:25 AM
cpaplham.bsky.social
I went to the zoo today! Last time I was there was in 2009 when @geoholms.bsky.social was visiting, so it's been quite awhile. It was thankfully not too cold to do some life drawing, which was a lot of fun—definitely want to do more when time and weather permit.
Rough, gestural life drawings of various animals, sketched in back and white on a gray background. Clockwise from the upper left corner: a couple of red faced macaques, a couple of kookaburras, a couple of bald eagles, and a variety of ducks. Rough, gestural life drawings of various animals, sketched in back and white on a gray background. Clockwise from upper left corner: three opossums, a snowy owl from the back, a lioness, and a couple more snowy owls.
November 7, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
maskenjager.bsky.social
The biggest thing i've learned as an artist who sells prints and merch is don't make what people ask for. They won't buy it. Make what you, the artist, want to see printed on the support of ur choice.
I can't explain why but THAT'S what will sell. People who buy the most are the silent ones. 🫶
davechisholmcomics.com Dave Chisholm @davechisholmcomics.com · 26d
Remember, artists: when people say, “I’d buy a print of this,” they don’t mean it. That sentence itself is just a weird compliment that rarely converts to an actual print sale. It’s like if someone ate a very good hot dog and then said, “I could eat 10,000 of these right now.”
November 6, 2025 at 10:08 AM
cpaplham.bsky.social
Freshly picked up from my local comic book shop— @matthewdowsmith.bsky.social’s new book! Can’t wait to curl up with it on a gloomy autumn afternoon 😄
A photograph of the newly released graphic novel The October Girl, by Matthew Dow Smith. The cover is primarily a golden yellow, with an illustration of a young woman walking in the autumn wind.
November 5, 2025 at 8:33 PM
cpaplham.bsky.social
Although... the incoming mayor of NY freakin' C being *younger than me* is definitely triggering some "oh god what am I doing with my life" feelings

(I'll get over it)
November 5, 2025 at 4:56 AM
cpaplham.bsky.social
Feeling hope for the first time in a long time tonight—Mamdani's victory is a glimmer of light in the darkness. Go NYC!!
November 5, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
cpaplham.bsky.social
May you have the happiest of Halloweens! 🎃 #SpookySeason
A halloween vignette featuring a smiling black cat sitting behind a large grinning jack-o-lantern. The backdrop is of the night sky with a full moon and two bats flying in front of it.
October 25, 2023 at 12:16 AM
cpaplham.bsky.social
Surprising absolutely no one: seal witch! Happy Halloween, folks 🎃

#stickerdesign #characterdesign #halloween #seal #witch
A drawing of a happy harbor seal dressed as a witch and casting a magic spell. The seal is wearing a pointy witch’s hat while waving a glowing, star-tipped magic wand. Magic sparkles are emitting from the wand and drifting around the seal.
October 30, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
cpaplham.bsky.social
Had an unused sketch of a little dragon wizard hanging around on my iPad for a while and decided it was high time to turn it into a print and a (glow-in-the-dark!) sticker. ’Tis the season for magic, after all!

#dragon #creaturedesign #characterdesign #wizard #magic
A drawing of a small dragon wearing a wizard hat and a scarf, with magic sparkles coming from its tiny claws. The dragon is inked in black and white with some black screen tone and solid purple accents. The background is a bright aqua green.
October 29, 2025 at 2:17 AM
cpaplham.bsky.social
Had an unused sketch of a little dragon wizard hanging around on my iPad for a while and decided it was high time to turn it into a print and a (glow-in-the-dark!) sticker. ’Tis the season for magic, after all!

#dragon #creaturedesign #characterdesign #wizard #magic
A drawing of a small dragon wearing a wizard hat and a scarf, with magic sparkles coming from its tiny claws. The dragon is inked in black and white with some black screen tone and solid purple accents. The background is a bright aqua green.
October 29, 2025 at 2:17 AM
cpaplham.bsky.social
New sticker design! Unfortunately I didn’t finish this little guy in time to have them produced for this spooky season, but I will have prints with me at the Appleton Halloween Eclectic Market this Saturday!

#characterdesign #mouse #pirate #halloween #trickortreat
A cheerful mouse dressed as a pirate for halloween. It is wearing an eyepatch, earrings on both ears, a vest, tail jewelry, foot coverings, wrist bandages, an anchor shoulder tattoo, and a bright red bandana. The mouse is munching on a single piece of candy corn, and a trick-or-treat bag with a mouse-skull jolly roger on it sits to the right and has more single pieces of candy (eg. m&ms, mike & ike’s) in it. The background is a very dark grayish-blue and has vague shapes resembling a ship’s deck and rigging.
October 24, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
cpaplham.bsky.social
Heading to MDEV 2025 in a couple weeks? Or can’t make it but still want some cool merch to show your support for the midwest’s largest games industry-focused event? You’re in luck: yours truly designed this year’s t-shirt, and it’s available for purchase RIGHT NOW!
A four-color t-shirt design for the upcoming MDEV conference in Madison, Wisconsin. The design features various historic and contemporary video game paraphernalia, such as controllers, buttons, game cartridges, cables, and the like. A segment of the Madison skyline can be seen towards the bottom, located over the event logo and date and location info. The colors used are bright aqua, orange, and purple, with white in the event logo. Screentones are used to give the design a textured effect.
October 22, 2025 at 8:54 PM
cpaplham.bsky.social
Heading to MDEV 2025 in a couple weeks? Or can’t make it but still want some cool merch to show your support for the midwest’s largest games industry-focused event? You’re in luck: yours truly designed this year’s t-shirt, and it’s available for purchase RIGHT NOW!
A four-color t-shirt design for the upcoming MDEV conference in Madison, Wisconsin. The design features various historic and contemporary video game paraphernalia, such as controllers, buttons, game cartridges, cables, and the like. A segment of the Madison skyline can be seen towards the bottom, located over the event logo and date and location info. The colors used are bright aqua, orange, and purple, with white in the event logo. Screentones are used to give the design a textured effect.
October 22, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Carolyn Paplham
cpaplham.bsky.social
Happy Spooky Season! Which, in my humble opinion, is the *actual* most wonderful time of the year 🍁 🎃

#illustration #halloween #october #spookyseason #cat #bat #pumpkins
An illustration of a lanky black cat and a small, purple bat running and flying through a pumpkin patch. It is dusk on an overcast October day, and a couple of the pumpkins are carved and lit as jack o’ lanterns. There are dried cornstalks standing and warm yellow lights strung up in the background. Despite being a digital illustration, the piece has the appearance of being colored with markers.
October 14, 2025 at 12:58 AM