Illustration – WitchesBrewPress's Blog

Stripwinkels in Amsterdam

The title of this post, Stripwinkels in Amsterdam translates simply as “Comic Book Stores In Amsterdam.” If that translation isn’t accurate, well then. Blame DeepL.

This short post has photos from my first trip to Amsterdam in late summer/early fall 2021. I fell in love with The Netherlands. Since then I’ve visited that country two more times. I particulary like Amsterdam as a city. Everyone says Paris is an amazing place. While I liked Paris, I still prefer Amsterdam.

City of Amsterdam at night. 2021. Photo taken by Michele Witchipoo.

Right now I’m just going to focus on two places inside Amsterdam. First one is Henk’s, which is Amsterdam’s eqivlent of Forbidden Planet. Not as large as Forbidden Planet or Midtown Comics in NYC, but it has a selection that is similiar. Hank’s focuses mostly on popular titles, superhero, manga and other pop-culture related items. What I liked about Hank’s was that it has two entrances. That way instead of waddling through the tourist crowds, I can just walk through one end of the store, and exit on the other side. Those two entrances were very conveinant.

Henk’s Comics & Manga in Amsterdam, 2021

Second comic book shop I visited was Lambiek. I’ve heard of Lambiek for years, as their website has an online encycopedia of cartoonists. There was no iternarity planned, so I took out my cell. It was still halfway through the pandemic in 2021, so there wasn’t that many tourists. Lambiek is on a side street, which makes it a bit tricky to find if you’re a first time visitor. Yet if you’re a huge Alternative comics fan, you’re going to love this place.

Lambiek comic shop in Amsterdam, 2021.

The shop has a mixture of old and new titles. As I was browsing, another local creative stepped in. Turns out he was an American expat, Chad Bilyeu. He has a comic series titled Chad In Amsterdam, which Lambiek highly recommends.

Chad Bilyea in Lambiek, 2021.

That’s it for now. Amsterdam is a very magickal place, I’ve been back two more times since then. Yes, I’ve been really slow on this blog, a lot has happened between Febuary 2021 and now. The year 2021 was a bad time for me, the only highlight was the trip to the Netherlands. Perhaps I’ll explain more in future posts. No worries, I’m doing much better now.

In the meantime, I shall leave you with this stray cat I met in Amsterdam.

Tomorrow – Interview With Mindy Indy!

Since bringing back Comic Book Convo, I have returning guest, cartoonist Mindy Indy!

Mindy is in the process of doing her second Kickstarter for her comic Aer Head.

You can listen to the interview tomorrow, Wednesday Nov. 9th, 2022 from 7-8pm EST on WHCSradio.org.

Tonight On ComicBook Convo With Michele! Full Ray Felix Interview

Due to lack of time, I decided to broadcast the entire Ray Felix interview, warts and all. It’s not as professional sounding as I hoped, but it’s better than not airing. You can tune in tonight, Wed. Nov 2nd, 2022, 7-8pm EST on whcsradio.com.

Ganesha March 2022

It’s been a while since I updated this blog.

Here’s a little something, just saying hello. This piece was done in Adobe Illustrator.

Returning Webcomic – Psycho Bunny: Summer of Covid19

Before my one-off story about Wesley Willis, (available on both Comic Fury and WEBTOON) I was working on another webcomic. It was based on my long time character Psycho Bunny. Psycho Bunny is a self-published comic I’ve been working on and off since 2004. With the pandemic shutting everything down, I turned to webcomics.

Around August 2020, life became very busy for me. Which was a good thing, but it meant leaving the Psycho Bunny series hanging. Now that things are winding down, I can go back to focusing on comics and illustrations.

You can read the previous episodes on WEBTOON. In the meantime I’ll start working on new stories.

Etsy Updates

It’s pretty late in the holiday season, but here’s an Etsy update.

Since trying Etsy again second time around, I’ve gotten encouragement and support. Sold out of Psycho Bunny issue 3.5. Thanks to Covid19, it’s going to be a while before I can reprint that comic again. Instead I focused on making Christmas tree ornaments. All the illustrations were drawn by me, Michele Witchipoo. Below are a few examples.

You can always check out my Etsy shop here.

Hope you had a happy and safe holiday.

New Webcomic – Wesley Willis

Last night my latest webcomic went live. This was originally done for a course I was taking, and decided to use this both as a final project and as a webcomic.

For those who don’t know who Wesley Willis was, he was an “Outsider” artist and musician living in Chicago. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he created three minute songs on his Technics keyboard. Subject matter included his friends, crime, pop culture, mental illness, consumerism, beastiality, and fast food, laced with profanity.

You can read the short webcomic on WEBTOONS or ComicFury.

Rock over London!
Rock on Chicago!
Heinz – It’s America’s Favorite Ketchup

UPDATE!

It’s been a while. I’ve been busy with assorted offline activities.

Good news, I have brand new work to upload. In the next few days, most likely the weekend, I’ll post some new comic/sequential content. Late December I’ll begin updating on this blog again.

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In the meantime, I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to my Patreon, brought from my re-opened Etsy shop, purchased from RedBubble, and supported my webcomic. I don’t promote my Patreon or my other channels as much as I should. Thanks to offline responsibilities, I had to put my WEBTOON series on the side. In a week I’m going to pick up where I left off.

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Other news. Was pleasantly surprised by a positive review of my last printed comic, The Temptation of Squeaky, which I published last year.

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Two of my illustrations were published in a local zine, simply titled Ridgewood Zine. Available locally. Details in another blog post.

I designed a logo for a wonderful lady, who has her own shop. Nightbird Enchanted.

As for my radio show, I made the decision to put it on hold until further notice. Basically I wanted to get back to my own artwork. Simple as that.

Until then, Happy Holidays, Hanukkah, Festivus, Krampusnacht, and all that good stuff.

Latest Episode of Web Comic and Psycho Bunny Sketch of The Week.

Hello once again. Chapter six of my web comic is now up on WEBTOON.

A panel from the latest installment is the also the Psycho Bunny sketch of the week. Check out the series, hit subscribe, click on the heart, all that stuff that makes me look good. Hope you enjoy the comic as well.

Psycho Bunny gets his stimulus check. A panel from the WEBTOON web comic “Psycho Bunny – Summer of Covid19”

The usual: social media links, Etsy shop, Patron and other sites.

WEBTOONS: Psycho Bunny – Summer of COVID-19.

Facebook: Psycho Bunny and for Michele Witchipoo – WitchesBrewPress.

Twitter: One account for me, and one for Psycho Bunny.

Tumblr: World Ov Witchipoo

Instagram: there’s WitchipooArt

Want to buy some of my designs? There’s RedBubble: Witchipoo

New Webcomic Episode & Psycho Bunny Sketch of The Week 8/13/2020

Hey, it’s been a while. This summer turned out to be busier than I thought. There is a new episode in my webcomic series now on WEBTOON: Psycho Bunny – SUMMER OF COVID19. So check it out, subscribe, hit like, and all that good stuff.

Which leads us to the Psycho Bunny sketch of the week for August 13th, 2020. It’s a panel from episode five of my webcomic series. In this installment, Psycho Bunny gets a rude awakening about friends and quarantines.

PsychoBunnyep5Pg6COLORa — A panel from the webcomic Psycho Bunny – Summer of COVID19, now up on WEBTOON. Aug. 2020. Written and drawn by Michele Witchipoo, from WitchesBrewPress.

I got asked to be part of a panel for an upcoming online comic con. Details forthcoming.

WHY ARE U.S. SCHOOLS REOPENING IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC? WHILE YOU FIGURE THAT OUT, HERE’S SOME SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS TO FOLLOW: