Ash
LightNews LightNews
banner
draculing.bsky.social
Ash
@draculing.bsky.social
2.7K followers 230 following 330 posts
Butch cartoonist & art teacher, she/her. I make comics about lesbians and cool monsters in historical settings. Sometimes 🔞!

portfolio: https://avmccammon.com
webcomic: https://obeliskcomic.com
behind the scenes: patreon.com/obelisk
Posts Replies Media Videos
draculing.bsky.social
I've been hunting for the right style/voice for "A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage" this year - my 1950s lesbian crime drama gn✨ It's been a huge lesson in writing and my technical habits in comics, with lots of false starts - I'm looking forward to hitting the ground running with all I've learned!
November 30, 2025 at 6:07 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Compelled to phone doodle the Frieren angle. Give this poor anime girl a jaw
November 27, 2025 at 1:01 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Folks who've followed me for Longshot, hello!! I've been sharing the comic's development over on my patreon & comradery - early pages, character studies, behind the scenes art/writing, and sometimes, butch-centric pinups ;>

patreon.com/obelisk
comradery.co/draculing
development art of Nicky in her bomber jacket, one in black and white and one in color pencil value studies of the NJ beachfront, and Henry lingering on the boardwalk, smoking. various sketches of Henry, testing out methods for inking fabric texture for her tweed suit. A pinup sketch of Nicky in an unbuttoned flannel shirt and boxers. She wears a reddish-brown leather harness with gold fixtures, and matching leather boots.
October 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Henry is mob wife Birdie's right hand, paying off an old debt for protection from cops & the hardship of queer life in the 50s.

When Birdie’s husband returns to town, Henry must decide how much of her soul she can sell - and if she would drag her partner Nicky down with her.

#DVpit #DVart #GN #A
A stark black and white comic page. Across the top, an elegant queen in a black dress stands in a spotlight, arms extended out to her audience. [Birdie's nightclub, 1940.] She bows, diffused light and stage curtains swirling around her in a dreamlike state. In close up, Henry - a scruffy teenage butch with bruises on her face - watches from a window far above. Her fingers barely touch the glass, momentarily distracted from her own dangerous predicament. "Are you nuts??" someone behind her snaps, too loud, and Henry flinches away from the view. Back to reality. The same room Henry's in, but from the opposite side. She's so small, against the enormous windows. Two men argue on the other side of the room - a larger man in a suit, and Dickie, a thin, weak-chinned guy in a tuxedo, missing his jacket. "Bringing this here?!" he's saying, "I don't care whose vig they made off with- this isn't how we *do* things!" His arms are spread wide in furious gesturing. His companion scrubs his face in his hands - "You think I don't know that?" He gestures wide, and his shadow is thrown huge and intimidating against the wall. "What I didn't know, right," he snaps, "was they had a *girl* runnin' their whole operation!" "Even if it is some kinda pervert-" Henry averts her eyes. Her cheek is bruised. "Wha- hey, how's that *my* problem?" The thin man stammers, holding his hands in front of him as if to fend the whole thing off. "I mean, look at *you*, pal, blood on your shirt- and here anybody coulda seen you!" Henry's head snaps to attention as the muscle pulls his companion aside, conspiratorial. "Look, Dickie, I don't wanna spend my whole night buryin' this kid." The man has a wide hand over the back of Dickie's neck. Henry's skin prickles at the memory, disgust curling in her gut. The hand squeezes. "I'll throw my back out again," the man is saying, distantly. "Can't we figure something out?" Henry stumbles forward, clutching at the front of her shirt with its broken buttons. Trying to find her voice. Speak up in her own defense. Anything. "H- hey-" An older woman leans against the window sill at Henry's elbow, looking down at the same stage that Henry had been just moments ago. Henry starts at the sound of her voice. "What's your name?" The woman who addresses her is much older. Elegant, with a coiffure of long graying hair pulled to one side of her face . She watches Henry patiently, but expectantly. Like they have all the time in the world for her to answer. "It's... Henrietta." she manages, stumbling like a school kid over her full name. Torn between flustered and afraid. She looks away, biting it all down with her arms folding in front of her. "Just call me Henry." "Henry..." the woman muses. "Well, Henry. If you work for me, you'll need to work hard." She gestures down below them, to the crowd at the club's tables. "Pull your own weight and then some." Below, a butch woman in a waiter's white tuxedo serves drinks. Birdie continues- "This isnt a charity service." Henry knows opportunity when she sees it. Defensively, she huffs - "I'm no moocher. I can work." Head bent to her cigar, Birdie smiles. She heard, of course, what the men said before. A girl, running the whole operation. Right under their noses. "I'm sure you can."
October 8, 2025 at 1:07 PM
draculing.bsky.social
#DVparty actual day 4: a meme or gif that represents your story

here is my cryptic selection for Longshot : )
an old movie trailer still that reads "THIS is a kind of WOMAN you've Never seen before!" The "be gay do crime" skeleton Data from Star Trek: TNG with the subtitle "Are you prepared for the kind of death you've earned, little man?" An old movie trailer still of a uniformed man's face with red text on top of it that just says "WHY?"
October 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
draculing.bsky.social
#DVparty day 4 is for opening lines... how about opening pages? 😉

When Henry is caught stealing from the mob, she thinks her life's as good as over - but after being dragged into the showy, queer world of mob wife Birdie's nightclub, she'll do just about anything to survive. To stay.
A stark black and white comic page. Across the top, an elegant queen in a black dress stands in a spotlight, arms extended out to her audience. [Birdie's nightclub, 1940.] She bows, diffused light and stage curtains swirling around her in a dreamlike state. In close up, Henry - a scruffy teenage butch with bruises on her face - watches from a window far above. Her fingers barely touch the glass, momentarily distracted from her own dangerous predicament. "Are you nuts??" someone behind her snaps, too loud, and Henry flinches away from the view. Back to reality. The same room Henry's in, but from the opposite side. She's so small, against the enormous windows. Two men argue on the other side of the room - a larger man in a suit, and Dickie, a thin, weak-chinned guy in a tuxedo, missing his jacket. "Bringing this here?!" he's saying, "I don't care whose vig they made off with- this isn't how we *do* things!" His arms are spread wide in furious gesturing. His companion scrubs his face in his hands - "You think I don't know that?" He gestures wide, and his shadow is thrown huge and intimidating against the wall. "What I didn't know, right," he snaps, "was they had a *girl* runnin' their whole operation!" "Even if it is some kinda pervert-" Henry averts her eyes. Her cheek is bruised. "Wha- hey, how's that *my* problem?" The thin man stammers, holding his hands in front of him as if to fend the whole thing off. "I mean, look at *you*, pal, blood on your shirt- and here anybody coulda seen you!" Henry's head snaps to attention as the muscle pulls his companion aside, conspiratorial. "Look, Dickie, I don't wanna spend my whole night buryin' this kid." The man has a wide hand over the back of Dickie's neck. Henry's skin prickles at the memory, disgust curling in her gut. The hand squeezes. "I'll throw my back out again," the man is saying, distantly. "Can't we figure something out?" Henry stumbles forward, clutching at the front of her shirt with its broken buttons. Trying to find her voice. Speak up in her own defense. Anything. "H- hey-" An older woman leans against the window sill at Henry's elbow, looking down at the same stage that Henry had been just moments ago. Henry starts at the sound of her voice. "What's your name?"
October 4, 2025 at 1:09 PM
draculing.bsky.social
hehe I'm glad!! Birdie's was very much inspired by Anna Genovese's Club 82, a NYC nightclub that was open from roughly the 40s through the 70s - all of the waitstaff were butches, and the entertainment was largely drag queens!
Screenshot from the documentary "PS Burn This Letter Please". A vibrant technicolor still of 1950s or 60s drag queens up a stage with a white curtain backdrop, can-can dancing in massive colorful skirts. The subtitle reads "It was girls, drag queens and butch lesbians.", referring to the staff at Club 82. "The butch lesbians were the waiters in the nightclub." the narrator continues in subtitle, against a black and white photo of the butch staff in their matching suits. Anna Genovese stands in the middle of the group in a simple dress and short curly hair.
October 4, 2025 at 1:02 AM
draculing.bsky.social
Other things I didn't have space for:

Henry's codependent relationship with Liz aka Birdie, her boss and one-time savior

Nicky's cool car that she tunes up herself

Dickie, Birdie's mc, Henry's mentor, and Tumblr's old man favorite

and did i mention they work at a drag revue....

#DVparty
Birdie - a fat, older woman with short-cropped silver hair - yanks Henry forward by her tie until they're nose-to-nose. Both of them are flushed, Henry wide-eyed and startled. She has a heavy bandage over the right side of her face, covering the corner of her slightly parted lips. It's spotted with blood. Various sketches of Nicky's Oldsmobile, a well cared for deep green 1949 model. She's in coveralls working under the hood while Henry distracts her with chatter. Various sketches of Dickie, an older, gray-haired beanpole of a guy with buck teeth and a weak chin. His work uniform is a white tuxedo jacket with black pants and a cummerbund, while his casual clothing is a baggy, black sack suit. He has Bugs Bunny energy, a little bit. A halftone colored doodle of Dickie adjusting Henry's bowtie while she puts up with it grumpily.
October 3, 2025 at 9:06 PM
draculing.bsky.social
And LONGSHOT's deuteragonist, Nicolasia "Nicky" Flores.
(or as Henry calls her... Flowers 🌼)

Saved from a vice raid only by the grace of Henry's connections, Nicky's newly single and starry-eyed at what she's seen Henry get away with. What would it cost, to grab some of that for herself?

#DVparty
A front and back look at Nicky in her warm leather bomber jacket, the front-facing drawing in full marker color. Nick's a tan mexican-american butch with a dark brown pompadour and faint mustache - she passes more easily as a man than Henry does, and regularly uses it to her advantage. She's in a yellow shirt and tan slacks, and her warm coat is brown leather with a peacock-blue plaid across the shoulders. Nicky and Henry in their nightclub uniform tuxedo shirts and trousers; they kiss frantically against the back wall of the club, ostensibly out on a smoke break. Behind them, a doorway is cracked open just enough to let light through. A doodle of Henry and Nicky napping in their underwear on top of Nicky's abuela's quilt. Nicky in the style of a midcentury illustration with a flat red backdrop. She leans her face against her fingers thoughtfully, looking off to the left in profile.
October 3, 2025 at 8:27 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Henrietta "Henry" Roth is the mc of LONGSHOT!

Since cutting a deal with mob wife Birdie to save her life, Henry's built a reputation as a go-fer for the mob. It doesn't earn her many friends in the gay bar scene - but who needs them? She's got protection. That's enough, right..?

#DVparty #artsky
a stark black and white line drawing of Henry against a crosshatch-textured black backdrop. She's a white butch woman with fluffy, short blonde hair and a crooked smile, a scar clipping from her upper lip to her chin on her right side. She wears a checked blazer over a darker button-up shirt, and leans against a countertop with her folded arms. She's smiling at the viewer and saying something in unfilled speech bubbles. What a rascal : ) A vintage halftone styled bust of Henry in full color. She looks off to her left, smiling crookedly. She has blue eyes and vibrant blonde hair, a wool suit jacket and a blue-green polo shirt with matching pocket square. A younger Henry, at 19. Her hair is dark, cropped much shorter on the sides than we know her to have later. She has an oversized plaid buttonup tucked into wide suit pants, late 30s/early 40s style. One hand is tucked into her pocket, and she seems thoughtful. Notably, she has no scar through her lip. A teenaged Henry is huddled on the floor clutching her side, seeming injured and suspicious, afraid. Birdie kneels beside her, speaking words of... comfort, or just a statement of the facts. Birdie's a fat, elegant woman in wide-cut women's slacks and flowy blouse. Her hair is longer, all pushed in curls to her left side - she's younger here than we'll know her to be.
October 3, 2025 at 8:27 PM
draculing.bsky.social
and in the spirit of a moodboard... here are these as well >: ) #DVparty #lgbt #gn
Tony Soprano looking at his watch, standing on the Asbury Park, NJ boardwalk, in front of Convention Hall. A screenshot from the Takeshi Kitano movie "Sonatine". A thin woman in a colorful summer dress holds a machine gun out in front of her, preparing to fire it. Kitano's character stands just behind the gun, hands in his suit pockets, waiting. Still from the movie "Bound", butch Corky makes eyes at fem Violet behind the back of Violet's gangster boyfriend as the three stand in an elevator. Still from "Gonin", of two characters in matching white outfits in a dark, empty nightclub. They each sit at their own table, with a single rose and a champagne bucket framed between them.
October 2, 2025 at 11:51 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Hi #DVparty! Here's some artwork from my #lgbt #GN A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage. 1950s butch lesbians and a mafia-backed nightclub in a beachfront city... what more could you want? ✨
A stark black and white comic page. Across the top, an elegant queen in a black dress stands in a spotlight, arms extended out to her audience. [Birdie's nightclub, 1940.] She bows, diffused light and stage curtains swirling around her in a dreamlike state. In close up, Henry - a scruffy teenage butch with bruises on her face - watches from a window far above. Her fingers barely touch the glass, momentarily distracted from her own dangerous predicament. "Are you nuts??" someone behind her snaps, too loud, and Henry flinches away from the view. Back to reality. A crop of a black and white comic page from "A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage", my graphic novel. Henry, a 19 year old baby butch with scruffy short hair and a bruised face, stands at an oversized observation window with Birdie - an older, elegant fat woman who's smoking a cigar. They're watching the floor of Birdie's nightclub, which is bustling with patrons and the crossdressing staff. "Henry..." Birdie muses, having just learned her companion's name. "Well, Henry. If you work for me, you'll need to work hard. Pull your weight, and then some. This isn't a charity service." Henry scoffs at the idea. "I'm no moocher," she snaps. "I can work." Birdie only smiles knowingly as she turns away. "I'm sure you can." A marker and colored pencil drawing of Nicky Flores from "A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage". Nicky is a tan-skinned butch with a dark brown pompadour and very faint little mustache. She leans on a boardwalk railing, overlooking the beach and hazy ocean in the distance, the night sky a deep blue behind her. She wears a warm brown leather bomber jacket and tan trousers - the jacket has a peacock-green plaid panel across the shoulder blades. Nicky looks over her shoulder at the viewer, smiling warmly. There's a lit cigarette in her left hand, casting faint yellow light from the pinprick of its ember. Faint smoke filters behind her into the distance. a sketchbook page of Henry, Nicky and Birdie posed against soft color blocks and midcentury-modern style patterns
October 2, 2025 at 11:35 PM
draculing.bsky.social
I reworked Nicky's bomber jacket and I must yell about it!!
www.patreon.com/posts/septem...
A marker and colored pencil drawing of Nicky Flores from "A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage". Nicky is a tan-skinned butch with a dark brown pompadour and very faint little mustache. She leans on a boardwalk railing, overlooking the beach and hazy ocean in the distance, the night sky a deep blue behind her. She wears a warm brown leather bomber jacket and tan trousers - the jacket has a peacock-green plaid panel across the shoulder blades. Nicky looks over her shoulder at the viewer, smiling warmly. There's a lit cigarette in her left hand, casting faint yellow light from the pinprick of its ember. Faint smoke filters behind her into the distance.
September 25, 2025 at 8:31 PM
draculing.bsky.social
btw I am still watching Deep Space Nine, and I do love the station's he/him lesbian mall cop very much
a sketchbook page of doodles of Kira Nerys and Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, largely centered on events of the terrible season 3 episode "Meridian". Clockwise from the top: Kira places a rough hand on Odo's wrist, holding him in place. "This is Odo," she says, "He's my *lover*." Odo looks incredibly startled by this new knowledge of Fake Dating. Plant time! Odo smiles like a happy-face french fry while turning his arm into a plant, cradling his gifted house plant in the other, humanoid arm. Odo hands Kira a padd with a stern look, saying "It seems Quark is cyber-stalking you, Major." Kira looks at this information with equal severity, responding - "let's kill him with a gun." Tiny Kira and Odo hugging with their foreheads pressed together - Odo is slowly becoming goo from the waist down, puddling around Kira's feet. And, center: Odo twists around in a far-too-bendy-to-not-be-made-of-goop move, glowering at Quark trying to take photos of Kira. Kira hasn't caught onto what's happening yet, and raises an eyebrow at him. "Uh, Odo?"
September 23, 2025 at 2:52 PM
draculing.bsky.social
catching a snooze💤

(Henry and Nicky are from my comic, A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage! patreon/com/obelisk / comradery.co/draculing )
A black and white lineart drawing - Henry (a slightly shorter butch with fluffy, short dyed blonde hair) and Nicky (taller, also butch, with a now-mussed dark pompadour)snuggle on top of a patchwork quilt in their underwear. Nicky has her right arm around Henry's back; the knuckles of her right hand are conspicuously bandaged, as is the bridge of her nose. She's drooling in her sleep, though, so it can't be all bad. Henry's curled up on her side in the crook of Nicky's shoulder, sleeping soundly.
September 23, 2025 at 2:36 PM
draculing.bsky.social
did I get into a fandom rabbit hole about Edwardian clothing influences on alien wardrobes in Star Trek? Yes. Was I compelled to draw some vaguely historically inspired lizard fits? also yes

(+ bonus garak's dad in his knitwear grandpa vibe)

#startrek #art
black and white pen drawings of Enabran Tain and Elim Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Tain is wearing his canon turtleneck/cardigan/slacks outfit and holding a glass of kanar, and it says "evil peepaw energy" next to him, because that's true and correct. He also has a chunky lizard tail that rests against the floor. Garak has a bishop-sleeve tunic shirt with a boxy Cardassian collar and angled color blocking at the shoulders, with vaguely suit-material slacks. His shoes reference spats in their design. (But like... space spats. Spates?) He steeples his fingers in front of his torso thoughtfully. Garak's shirt from the back! It has a middle seam that splits at the back, making room for a tail and creating a sort of tailcoat effect.
September 10, 2025 at 12:07 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Cool news - I have a Comradery page now! I'm keeping it simple - for $5 a month, you can check out everything I'm working on with Longshot, and that's all there is to that 🌠

comradery.co/draculing/
a stark black and white line drawing of Henry against a crosshatch-textured black backdrop. She's a white butch woman with fluffy, short blonde hair and a crooked smile, a scar clipping from her upper lip to her chin on her right side. She wears a checked blazer over a darker button-up shirt, and leans against a countertop with her folded arms. She's smiling at the viewer and saying something in unfilled speech bubbles. What a rascal : )
September 9, 2025 at 12:29 PM
draculing.bsky.social
It's here! You can read the full prologue of "A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage" on my patreon today~ ✨ www.patreon.com/posts/long-s...
A stark black and white comic page. Across the top, an elegant queen in a black dress stands in a spotlight, arms extended out to her audience. [Birdie's nightclub, 1940.] She bows, diffused light and stage curtains swirling around her in a dreamlike state. In close up, Henry - a scruffy teenage butch with bruises on her face - watches from a window far above. Her fingers barely touch the glass, momentarily distracted from her own dangerous predicament. "Are you nuts??" someone behind her snaps, too loud, and Henry flinches away from the view. Back to reality.
September 8, 2025 at 5:26 PM
draculing.bsky.social
if you'd like to read my comic about dykes navigating transphobic capitalist hell by aligning themselves with the criminal underworld - I'll be sharing the full first scene next week ✨ patreon.com/obelisk
A crop of a black and white comic page from "A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage", my graphic novel. Henry, a 19 year old baby butch with scruffy short hair and a bruised face, stands at an oversized observation window with Birdie - an older, elegant fat woman who's smoking a cigar. They're watching the floor of Birdie's nightclub, which is bustling with patrons and the crossdressing staff. "Henry..." Birdie muses, having just learned her companion's name. "Well, Henry. If you work for me, you'll need to work hard. Pull your weight, and then some. This isn't a charity service." Henry scoffs at the idea. "I'm no moocher," she snaps. "I can work." Birdie only smiles knowingly as she turns away. "I'm sure you can."
September 4, 2025 at 9:17 PM
draculing.bsky.social
sooo I've been rewatching Deep Space Nine 🌌💫 #startrek #ds9 #art
a cartoony black and white drawing of Julian Bashir and Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, roughly how they appeared in season 1. Garak leaaaans into Bashir's space with a smug, flirty smile and a delicate pinky finger touching the collar of Bashir's Starfleet uniform. Bashir looks deeply flustered, visibly sweating. Garak also has a chunky lizard tail that coils around the back of Bashir's legs. (They're gay, your honor) various black and white doodles of DS9 characters. From the top clockwise: Odo in profile, a chibified Quark with a bar of gold-pressed latinum, Odo looking grumpy, Kira in profile, and Odo and Kira standing together discussing something on a data padd. More DS9 doodles! Clockwise: Garak, sparkling in how plain and simple he is, as he gestures with his hands. Kira, hands on a tabletop, snapping angrily at something or someone offscreen. Odo again, looking seriously to the left.
September 4, 2025 at 1:37 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Obelisk has a new home over on ComicFury! obeliskcomic.com

While the comic is still on hiatus, you can follow or start reading there, as well as see what I'm up to with my GN on my patreon! patreon.com/obelisk
a small black and white pen drawing of Evelyn - a young white woman in cartoonish style and early 1900s blouse, skirt and spats. She has black hair that's pulled up into a bun and wide poufs on either side of her head. She's dashing intently to the right, clutching a suitcase under her right arm. In her haste, some papers have fallen from her bag, and flutter behind her.
September 1, 2025 at 4:35 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Now that I'm done limping to the finish line of my packed summer schedule - inks for Longshot's whole prologue are up!

And who's this hot older woman that Henry's totally not going to devote her whole life to...

patreon.com/obelisk
ko-fi.com/draculing/

#art #ocsky #comics
a crop of a comic page, thin black line art on white paper. Birdie - a stout, older white woman with sleek curls brushed all to one side of her face -glances over her shoulder at the reader, and at Henry. Henry - a disheveled teen here, her bluntly short hair mussed and face bruised - stammers over a few panels, clutching at her open shirt. It's missing a button, revealing her white undershirt beneath. She seems to stumble, though Birdie only asked her name. "It's- " She settles finally, folding her arms tight over her chest and looking away defiantly. "Just call me Henry."
August 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Nicky 🌼 #ocsky #art #butch
Nicolasia "Nicky" Flores, a latinx butch with a dark pompadour, leans against an unseen countertop with her arms crossed. She wears a cozy plaid coat that just barely shows her shirt underneath, her thin gold necklace awkwardly tucked into the collar. She looks off into the distance at something with an amused expression on her face, mouth pulled into a soft smile.
July 7, 2025 at 10:24 PM
draculing.bsky.social
Here's a few from my current pages in progress! ✨
a rough comic panel sketch of Henry, a young butch teen with short, mussed hair and bruises on her face. She's scowling at the viewer, saying "I'm no moocher." a crop of a comic page, still in pencils - Henry, 19 years old with shorter, darker hair and no facial scar to be seen, snaps to attention in a close-up as someone offscreen says "Look-" But they're not talking to her. The large man who hauled her in here - broad shouldered in a double-breasted suit - has his hand curled over the shoulders of Dickie, the thin MC of the nightclub. They both face away from Henry, walling her off from their conversation - even though it's *about* her. "Dickie," the bigger man continues. "I don't wanna spend my night buryin' this kid." His hand tightens - amicably? - against the back of Dickie's neck. Henry fixates sharply on this detail - she's still bruised from that same hand.
July 5, 2025 at 6:08 PM
draculing.bsky.social
A little post about Nicky's car, and my adventures doing research and learning to draw 1940s-50s cars - in which I went to a car show! in real life! ✨ www.patreon.com/posts/direct...
an offwhite sketchbook page full of vintage car related drawings! A green 1949 Oldsmobile 88 is at the top with some tiny color swatches and notes about the sloped roof being part of the early muscle car vibe. Below that, Nicky works under the hood of her car while Henry... supervises? (We'll call it that.) Along with some rough sketches of car dashboards.
June 28, 2025 at 12:18 AM