A.C. Esguerra
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blueludebar.com
A.C. Esguerra
@blueludebar.com
560 followers 120 following 360 posts
comics artist + writer in LA. probably inkstained. EIGHTY DAYS (GLAAD nominated, YALSA listed). they/them. blueludebar.com
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A.C. Esguerra @blueludebar.com · Nov 21
cemetery drive ♦️ concept art from a comic i may or may not draw, about a reckless punk and the lolita-fashion seamstress who loves them. enjoy
an illustration of an androgynous anime youth with a disaffected expression, dressed in an elaborate beribboned top over baggy, slit pants and combat boots. they hold a dagger and lean on a white marble tomb in a Romantic or gothic style that's been broken into halves; a bright red light is shining through the crack behind them. one of their shoes rests on a carving of a cartoony snake coming out of a skull crowned with roses. other imagery on the tomb include more skulls, a transgender symbol and a partially eroded crown that looks suspiciously similar to a certain fashion designer's logo. there is also text etched into the tomb, i wont type it out here but suffice it to say that the bulk of it is a German translation (accuracy not guaranteed) of the lyrics to Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance. framing the piece is a border of stained glass, its complex panels shining with the colors of many jewels.
blueludebar.com
farewell year of the snake 🐍
blueludebar.com A.C. Esguerra @blueludebar.com · Feb 24
the poison is the cure / tell me there's still time
a disheveled youth dressed in dark blue-and-red ouji style lolita clothing stands inside a broken and tarnished antique pocketwatch with a chain. a black snake with iridescent diamond patterns encircles the watch and regards the youth. the background is a vivid red. the linework was traditionally inked with a pen nib, the painting was colored digitally in Clip Studio Paint.
December 30, 2025 at 12:35 AM
blueludebar.com
ink, pencil and collage comic panels from THE PRINCE (AMERICAN* FUJO* Literary Journal, 2025) 🖤⛓️
a 3x3 square grid, each square being a crop of a panel from my black and white, mixed media short autobio comic THE PRINCE, published in AMERICAN FUJO Literary Journal in 2025. drawings include elaborate framed portraits and illustrations of Laurent of Vere and Damien of Akielos from CAPTIVE PRINCE, myself as a kid browsing the internet on an old computer with a speech balloon saying "What's 'lemon'?", myself at an anime convention table, myself playing a game of chess against Laurent of Vere and losing spectacularly, a pair of Looney Toons-esque "awooga" eyeballs and a hand holding a whip mid-strike.
December 28, 2025 at 10:05 PM
blueludebar.com
i found this hidden on a bottom shelf in the very back of the most unlikely shop imaginable (think like, minimalist home goods and ceramics): embroidered Tintin slippers. sick!
my hand holding a largish light grey box with a rather beautiful illustration of Tintin receiving a winged emblem medal from a man in uniform on it. the contents of the box in the previous picture: a pair of wooly grey slippers, trimmed in burgundy, with framed comic panels embroidered on each. the slipper on the left has Tintin in a blue shirt, the slipper on the right shows his dog Snowy, a white Wire Fox Terrier. the side of the Tintin slippers box: more illustrations of Tintin, Snowy and cavalrymen in uniform and large feathered hats riding alongside an elaborate yellow, red and blue carriage shaped like an acorn.
December 27, 2025 at 2:43 AM
blueludebar.com
i forgot to post this here. i did indeed get a left hand commission at con. here is my friend's dog
three pen sketches of my friend's alaskan klee klai, drawn with my left hand in my sketchbook at Comic Arts LA 2025.
December 21, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
ryannorth.ca
*walking in a winter wonderland*
ME: where's bluebird?
BIRD: gone
ME: w... who are you?
*bird looks around shiftily*
BIRD: I'm new bird
December 16, 2023 at 4:33 PM
blueludebar.com
*just con prep thoughts* if you drink black tea because you need caffeine and then a couple hours later drink herbal tea to calm down does it cancel out or
December 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
blueludebar.com
left hand drawing practice (feat. Paella)
three drawings of my tortoiseshell cat Paella, in grey-green fountain pen ink, in a sketchbook. the sketches have a wobbly and unstudied quality because i did them with my non-dominant left hand. to the right my actual cat is gripping the edge of the desk trying to see what all the fuss is about
December 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
blueludebar.com
penciling day 💫
an in-progress pencil drawing for a patron-level commission on 12x16 arches watercolor paper. it depicts Howl and Sophie from Studio Ghibli's HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, framed by clouds, airships, feathers and treasure. scattered around the drawing is a Blackwing pencil, a Tombow MONO eraser, a transparent fabric ruler, a brush for sweeping detritus off my desk, a cup of black tea and my computer with screenshots from the movie pulled up on it for reference. also in the lower left corner of the frame is my hand making a peace sign.
December 9, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
stevelieberart.bsky.social
1 Art books thread
I thought I'd write about some good how-to books for aspiring comics artists who want to acquire some academic, foundational drawing skills without spending tens of thousands of dollars.
December 2, 2024 at 12:36 PM
blueludebar.com
CALA 2025 catalog! see you at table 14B 🌴📚🕶️ #cala #comicartsla
a screenshot of my desktop, which is a cropped portion of an oil painting of a huge cloud at sunset, covered with thumbnails of the various artwork i'm bringing to Comic Arts LA 2025. title text reads: "A.C. ESGUERRA @ CALA 2025 TABLE 14B". comics prices are as follows; EIGHTY DAYS: $30, AMERICAN FUJO: $25, WITCH CROSSING: $15, BESPOKE: $10, AMELIA EARHART: $8. print prices are as follows; large $20, medium $10, postcards $5. enamel airplane pins are $10 each, or a set of all three for $25.
December 5, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
celechii.itch.io
last week i remembered that macOS lets you set your own icons and that *I* have the power to delegitimize the professionalism of the software that runs on my machine, so here's a thread of the 16 new icons i've made so far

i really forgot how fun it was to just sit down and make art for myself :')
comparison between apple's finder icon and mine. apple's is the split blue and white smiley face, mine is two blue and white anime girls making out comparison between discord's icon and mine. mine is like a screaming cat on a blue/purple slimy background comparison between celsys's clip studio paint icon and mine. mine is similar but rotated with some comic styling and pink and blue highlights comparison between mozilla's firefox icon and mine. mine is similar but looks closer to the old firefox icon and brings back the little arm and gives the fox a cute little smiley face
November 29, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
tamingservice.bsky.social
Not sure if I ever posted it here but these are some screencaps of my comic for American* Fujo* (you can buy it on itch.io!). It’s about Transformers, jingoism, transformative fiction, and being a global south fujoshi, albeit all in a very nebulous and wacky way
December 2, 2025 at 12:38 AM
blueludebar.com
back when i used to do 6-8+ conventions a year, i dreamed of having more comics and published books to show. now that i have those, i wish i still had all these notebooks and washi tapes and etc i made...! they're old, but i still think they're lovely items.
an A5 fabric notebook cover i designed in a soft beige canvas with a cord closure. the cover is printed with scattered, small watercolor paintings of antique airplanes and skies. rolls of washi tape i designed. this type is stamp washi, which looks and detaches like postage stamps. the individual stamp art shows different scenes of airplanes and skies in watercolor. more rolls of different washi tapesi designed. the top left features planes and birds flying over fields of pink, green and purple. the bottom left shows the same pattern against a starry, black night sky background. the washi tapes on the right show ink drawings of airplanes and various instruments and tools of flight with gold foil accents. four blank sketchbooks whose covers i designed. the two on the left have watercolor and pencil drawings of fantastical cities, their architecture inspired by Moroccan and Italian cities, respectively. their band closures and bookmark ribbons are a bright blue. the sketchbooks on the right are square format and show elaborate square-within-a-diamond designs covered with bold, colorful ink drawings related to Victorian aesthetes and punk rock, respectively. the former has a white band and bookmark ribbon, the latter's are black.
December 2, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
beijingpalmer.bsky.social
for World AIDS Day, a 1988 cartoon from the Advocate's Gerald Donelan
December 1, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
kellypringle.com
☃️🎄
December 1, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
theswordwizard.bsky.social
We now have AMERICAN* FUJO* available digitally on itchio for anyone who missed the backing period!!
americanfujo.itch.io/american-fujo
November 29, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
elainemwill.bsky.social
In the lead-up to Christmas, I am offering digital punk pet portrait commissions! These were a big hit on my Kickstarter, and if you missed out on those, here's your chance - ko-fi.com/c/7392b66bf1
three slots available!
#bsnm #petportraits
A punkified orange tabby cat Punkified brown dog wearing sunglasses with spiked green hair
November 24, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
sharkabytes.bsky.social
📖 Bytes of Game Ads 📺

"Finally, Prince enters the world of X68000..."

Leaping out of you from the pages of LOGIN Magazine's Feb 1991 issue: one of the coolest ads I've ever seen for the original Prince of Persia.
A horizontal ad for the X68000 version of Prince of Persia, with a frame-by-frame arc of lthe amimation frames of the leaping Prince, seen in profile, arcing between the monitors of a beige PC and a Sharp X68000. The logo and further deets can be seen below the X68000.
November 13, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
retroanimechris.bsky.social
From the C.P. Garlic (Captain Garlic) sale, here is a piece of the mangaka's personal letterhead paper, circa 1981 - 1982 at best. This is relatively thin and yet printed with a very vibrant cyan. 8 x 11 Inches (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
A piece of letterhead paper by the mangaka C.P. Garlic (Captain Garlic) featuring Char and Garma (Charma) as gangsters with chibi police officers about them. This paper is bright cyan with white details. Gundam doujinshi, circa 1981 to 1982.
November 21, 2025 at 10:45 PM
blueludebar.com
at 17 i got a scholarship to a design program at a top university where the dominant attitude was that traditional/narrative art was obsolete. my partner convinced me that i'd destroy myself if i stayed there. i left for art school and decided to specialize in traditional ink, watercolor and comics.
recurse.com Recurse Center @recurse.com · Nov 11
What’s the lore behind choosing your career path ?
November 22, 2025 at 10:52 PM
blueludebar.com
painting days
an almost-finished watercolor illustration on bristol paper of an androgynous figure whose body is half-transformed into a crustacean, shrimp-like form, standing in a hot springs. bat-like wings emerge from the shoulder blades and the curve of his spine extends into large segmented tail. in one hand, he draws apart a veil covered in droplets of water. his curly hair cascades into his face and down his back as he regards a second figure in the water who is looking up at him. the color scheme is mainly mottled red-purples and dark green in the background, shimmery fuchsias in the veil, and fluorescent green in the water and reflections. the first wash of an in-progress watercolor illustration on bristol paper of a young woman in a puff-sleeved dress trimmed with lace sitting with Bruno from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, in a field of flowers. the color scheme is mainly bright, warm yellow-tinged tones in the upper half of the painting and cool violets and blue-greens where the shadows of the plants are falling in the lower half.
November 22, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by A.C. Esguerra
funguspotion.bsky.social
my comic i drew for myself
September 5, 2025 at 12:38 AM
blueludebar.com
i love writing whole ass soliloquies in the alt text. i don't know if anyone actually reads them but i am describing the shit out of my chronically overcomplicated art for YOU
November 21, 2025 at 2:35 AM
blueludebar.com
cemetery drive ♦️ concept art from a comic i may or may not draw, about a reckless punk and the lolita-fashion seamstress who loves them. enjoy
an illustration of an androgynous anime youth with a disaffected expression, dressed in an elaborate beribboned top over baggy, slit pants and combat boots. they hold a dagger and lean on a white marble tomb in a Romantic or gothic style that's been broken into halves; a bright red light is shining through the crack behind them. one of their shoes rests on a carving of a cartoony snake coming out of a skull crowned with roses. other imagery on the tomb include more skulls, a transgender symbol and a partially eroded crown that looks suspiciously similar to a certain fashion designer's logo. there is also text etched into the tomb, i wont type it out here but suffice it to say that the bulk of it is a German translation (accuracy not guaranteed) of the lyrics to Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance. framing the piece is a border of stained glass, its complex panels shining with the colors of many jewels.
November 21, 2025 at 2:21 AM
blueludebar.com
for my birthday i took a stained glass workshop. made an abstract scorpion!! 🦂♦️✨
my hand holds a metal chain attached to a square/diamond-shaped stained glass piece in front of sunlight coming in from a window. the diamond is divided by black curving metal lines into sections resembling a scorpion. its body is a blue-purple swirl piece of glass while its tail and pincers are a purpley burgundy. smaller, surrounding pieces of glass alternate between clear, a lighter purple-grey and red. a round central piece encircled by the stinger is a focal point, in bright red.
November 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM