Reimena Yee 🦇

@reimenayee.com

7595 Followers 228 Following

Historical fiction comics skeleton with a whimsigoth vibe. Academic-practitioner & comics taxonomist. Co-founder of the @cartoonist.coop I am just chilling here when I am not making my (web)comics or blogging about craft. reimenayee.com #art

Custom pet portrait commissions for all animals
Market Day, applications are open! Accompanied by QR code for the form. Applications open June 24, close July 31 and the outcome on August 16. A magpie and fairy wren are showing off their hauls of zines and comics
Melbourne Alternative Comics Expo. October 9, 10 and 11. The Friday is Speaking to Pictures, a live comics reading event. Saturday is Community Day, a day of free panels. Sunday is the Market Day, free entry. The poster features a multicultural, multigenerational group of comics readers, educators, scholars and makers. Surrounded by birds in the CMYK brand scheme: a helmeted honeyeater, a fairy wren, an Aussie magpie and a galah.
Purikura of the main cast, from counter-clockwise: Bee, Dev, Estrella, Mindy and Hana. They are forming a five pointed star with their hands.
Concept art designs of Bee. Bee is a Malaysian-Chinese-American hipster girlie. Think Stephanie Tsu and Lana Condor for the vibes.
Concept drawing of a very idealised Dev, in the style of a teen magazine spread. Dev is a South Asian American bloke with long hair and the typical (if more stylish) outfit of a skateboarder. His skateboard is drawn and painted with the image of Kali, some patterns and a bee. "Looking for the best boy to crush on? Look no further! Our cutie this issue will give you every reason to fall in love with him - and he will fight for you too! 1) He has a flair for the artistic. Dev can draw anything, even you! 2) He is sporty too! Dev is a talented skateboarder. Watching him flip slide and turn is a sight to see. 3) Dev is 100% a cutiepie, thanks to his upbringing in an all-female household."
Cover of Bee's Guide to Applied Romantics. Bee ponders as stickers of Dev skateboard over her head. The cover is in the style of Y2K collage scrapbook with the stickers of stars, hearts, flowers and butterflies.
Screenshot of a portion of the PDF script - Bee’s Guide to Applied Romantics by myself and Erica Eng. the commentary text is pretty much what’s in my post
Poster by Jackarais @jackarais.bsky.social , @sandycyborg@mastodon.art | Design by Asmo Alt text: A social media graphic promoting an event for NIF 2026, featuring mascots Inkling and Nibford! The event is "Making History", hosted by panelists Reimena Yee, Sierra Barnes and Vincent Cecil on Saturday May 16th @ 6PM PDT / 9PM EDT / 1AM GMT / 11AM AET on Zoom! Come check it out! Learn more at: nif.cartoonist.coop
Zeynel and Ayse hanging out together on a giant red rug, framed by many other carpets (see Author's Commentary for details). Ayse is seated on her knees, holding a portable drop spindle in her hands, already with a ball of white yarn spun. Zeynel is laying down next to her, his left hand playing with the white yarn while holding prayer beads, while the other hand rests on a leather book atop his chest. Various items related to Zeynel's scholarly pursuits are scattered around him: an astrolabe, ink jar, reed pen, pen box and some more books. They are looking at each other sweetly - not yet in love, only still at the edge of it.
Zeynel and Ayse hanging out together on a giant red rug, framed by many other carpets (see Author's Commentary for details). Ayse is seated on her knees, holding a portable drop spindle in her hands, already with a ball of white yarn spun. Zeynel is laying down next to her, his left hand playing with the white yarn while holding prayer beads, while the other hand rests on a leather book atop his chest. Various items related to Zeynel's scholarly pursuits are scattered around him: an astrolabe, ink jar, reed pen, pen box and some more books. They are looking at each other sweetly - not yet in love, only still at the edge of it.
Crop of a greyscale digital pencil drawing of Zeynel laying down on a big carpet. The carpet has lots of motifs and medallions
Pretty much what's in the post, with a QR code included. The image is of the main characters from our respective comics: Gatsby from Vincent's adaptation of The Great Gatsby, who has Reineke a not-fox girl on his shoulders from Sierra's WWII historical fantasy. Both of them are amused at Sierra's other character, Hans, being confronted by Alexander the Great's horse, Bucephalus. Alex and Bucy are from my adaptation of the Alexander Romance.
Comparison between old and new. Both are painstakingly hand-drawn but the 2016 feels more awkward (also I was very young when I drew the first carpet so not as seasoned an artist yet)
Black and white WIP of Zeynel and Ayse relaxing on several piles of carpets, with hand-drawn details and pattern work
Our personalised avatars speaking in speech bubbles. The content of the bubbles is pretty much what's on the text of this post!
promotional banner with the webcomic's title. The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya 10th Anniversary
promotional banner with the title The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya by Reimena Yee, 10th anniversary
shop listing of the aforementioned book
Becoming a Death Doula for the Alexander Romance. May 11, 2026. 12 PM GMT 0. An online conversation with me and Dr Leslie Wong. The illustration features only my hands, posed as if I am aggressively grabbing and holding Alexander the Great down by the face while I draw directly on his face (his blue eye specifically). This drawing of him is framed by printer marks and overlaid by a drawing grid.
Square banner with the name of the comic.
Steamed fish piled on with green peppers
A hand towel in the shape of a tuxedo cat hanging happily from a hook by one hand. It looks more like a plush toy than a hand towel…
Starry ring, maltese characters yellow comb, white grape perfume, portable fan with a toy poodle icon, a puppy head LED candle plus a silly party hat
The top of an ancestral clan house, decorated with scenes and characters in polychrome
promotional banner with the title The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya by Reimena Yee, 10th anniversary
Square banner with the name of the comic.
Square banner with the name of the comic.
Crops of the illustration in the above bluesky post.
Key illustration containing the title of the webcomic (The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya, 10th Anniversary Edition, by Reimena Yee). Within a stylised depiction of Istanbul's Blue Mosque, a tearful Zeynel is embraced and comforted in the arms of Ayse, his collar and neck soaked in blood. His long coat, a kaftan embroidered in gold florals and flames, is splayed on a floor-sized Usak carpet. The couple is surrounded by gold-foiled tulips, roses and poppies. Woven and sitting amongst the flowers are Zeynel's pets (a white raven and black rat); his English friend Alfred; and his vampire sire, Mora Strigoi. Lanterns are hung from the stems and leaves. Behind Zeynel and Ayse, their family members watch from the columns of the mosque. One of them is a young woman weaving a carpet, the other is a stately grandfather writing a book. A mysterious shadowy figure looms further away. A giant nightingale and bat face each other, framing the title. The illustration is in mostly monochromatic shades of blue, save for the gold of the flowers and embroidery; the bright red of Zeynel's turban, blood and Mora's attire; and finally, the white of the raven, moon and title.
a work-in-progress screenshot of the key art for The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya's 10th anniversary. The main character Zeynel is embraced by his wife Ayse, the other main character, framed by gold-edged roses and tulips and arabesque frames inspired by Rococo art.
A grey sooty owl shaking off some stars from its feathers
Two tabby cats getting cozy with Halloween motifs, ghosts and ivy
A painterly 3D model of Alexander alongside my drawings
Lineart version of the comic, without the colours and patterning.
The comic, in a 2 page spread, is done in the style of Persian miniature. The story is this: The green-clothed Servant escorts Alexander and his mother Olympias behind the curtain (note: this was the previous 2 page spread, which was done in the ancient Greek style) …and delivers them both to the day of Olympias’ wedding (the Persian style, the comic you are reading now). The Servant tells Alexander, “In this story of the egg, your mother was bethrothed… (not to Philip! No! To none other than-) The Shah of Persia.” The chorus once again emerges from the palace’s treasure room. Each woman carries a tray, each with a golden egg of dazzling flair and style, envy of all. The Servant carries a tray, too, and bows to the wedding couple. “The wedding was one big part of a diplomatic parley that involved a gift of a hundred thousand golden eggs. Each one containing a precious gem. Of course, your mother was the crowning jewel.” “All seemed well… until it didn’t. Not long after the Shah rejected her. The dragons wailed in despair: Why?, they asked.”
My children’s graphic novel Seance Tea Party, with a purple hardcover designed to look like an ouija board.
An elegant looking Ottoman era man (AKA the main character of the webcomic) inside a cage of thorny roses. His neck is titled upwards and pricked deeply and bloodily by two thorns, an allusion to the vampire who killed him. A hawk with blood red eyes flies behind him. The illustration is tinted blue, with the only other colours being the blood red on the previous noted areas and some other thorns, and a subtle gold embroidery on the character's coat.
A 21st century Alexander the Great (in contemporary clothing; of the luxury outdoors fashion type) stands in front of the Alexander Mosaic in Pompeii. The entire mosaic is covered with graffiti of slogans sourced from various anti-war, climate change, anti-capitalism, anti-fascist, anti-AI, land back and Palestinian protests across Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur and the English-speaking world at large. The majority are English slogans: "The climate is changing, why aren't we? Stop the war. Only one planet. They stole my future. We are queer we are here. Always was, always will be. We won't fight another rich man's war. From the river to the sea. There is no Planet B. No Kings. Surveillance capitalism. Fuck fascists. Never again means now. Get real friends. Touch grass. Land back. We are not free until everbody is free." Some of the slogans are in Malay: Hancurkan patriarki, bukan planet. Jaga bumi macam jaga mak sendiri. Bersih. Dari sungai ke laut."
The 3 pictures I uploaded here are the layout in increasing stages of doneness. The first is quite scribbly and bland, the second is still kinda scribbly but has more construction (like, the panels used look architectural) and the third is the second but cleaned up in thin brown lineart. The layout tells the story of how Alexander's mother married the Shah of Persia as part of a diplomatic parley involving a hundred thousand golden eggs, each containing a jewel. All was well... until the Shah rejected her one day.
A small grey cat, a fluffy dilute orange cat and a fluffy black cat frolicking among the stars, plants and various small insects such as dragonflies, bees, beetles and moths.
Photo of the sketch of the comic drawn on my ipad. It adapts the formalist elements of persian illumination into comics form. The sketch is also sitting side by side with a reference of actual historical illumination
The card is supplementary to the post, but it's just a preview of the latest page (Alexander's mother with her eyes closed like Sleeping Beauty), links to the website, and some little blurbs reminding folks the printed edition of Book 1 is available and that they can also support me on Ko-fi. The card is framed by drawings of angels and artists from across eras, including a portrait of me, the sun and the moon, foliage, and Alexander, Bucephalus and the Servant riding atop a fish.
Stack of My Aunt is a Monster and Seance Tea Party with a box of Your Personal Penguin (orange box with penguin logo pattern)
A tuxedo Cornish Rex in a knight costume and sword vanquishing his plush toy dragon, in a background of autumnal leaves and berries and ghosts.
Two tabby cats curled up in an orange background of thistle and ivy (their namesake), pumpkins, candles, ghosts and stars.
Barn owl posing in front of some lily of the valley and celestial motifs.
A woman asleep: her dream is tangled up in her hair.