Joan (has a new name)
LightNews LightNews
banner
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Joan (has a new name)
@havenwoodrose.bsky.social
180 followers 340 following 100 posts
they/she | asexual | adult | USA

a dog trainer by day... I write TTRPGs, zines, and the occasional short story + enjoy digital art & comic-making as hobbies

https://havenwoodrose.carrd.co/
Posts Replies Media Videos
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
idk who's letting the adolescent golden retriever puppy access the pay per view channel in the training kennel (we don't even have a TV in there?) but she NEEDS to stop practicing shibari when I'm trying to leash her up for a walk.
a photo depicting an adolescent golden retriever puppy (roughly 5 months old) standing on a gravel walkway with her nose insistently wedged into a gap in the door in front of her. She has tangled herself in a very long orange leash, with the handle hanging off her tail, in a silly way that isn’t uncomfortable for her.
August 28, 2025 at 11:09 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Great news! I finally found the cat I've been pet-sitting alongside his canine siblings! At last I know the source of the emptying kitty food bowl mystery 😆
A photo of a happy-looking dog sitting on an armchair and facing the viewer. A little black cat is peeking his head out from under the chair.
August 8, 2025 at 10:35 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Your woes sound very similar to mine. You can certainly come exploring in the metaphorical woods with me, if you want to! This poem spoke to me; I hope you like it.
A picture of the text of the poem "Sleeping in the Forest" by Mary Oliver
April 28, 2025 at 1:25 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
How are we feeling about domestic duck breeds? I adore cayugas and would love to know where they'd fit in, if you have the time/energy to ponder such things.
A quartet of cayuga ducks who have darkly iridescent feathers and who are standing on a field of short, light green grass.
April 20, 2025 at 6:57 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
So I re-watched a favorite movie "With Fire and Sword" (1999) about 17th century Poland and Ukraine, and then decided to take the plunge and read the (translated) 19th century novels the movie is based on. The introduction to the 1904 Curtin translation has me screaming in horror, however:
a screenshot of a paragraph of black serif text on a white background. The text reads: "At the same time there are no states studied by so few and misunderstood by so many as the former Commonwealth of Poland,--whose people, brave and brilliant but politically unsuccessful, have received more sympathy than any other within the circle of civilization,--and Russia, whose people in strength of character and intellectual gifts are certainly among the first of the Aryan race, though many men have felt free to describe them in terms exceptionally harsh and frequently unjust." The words "certainly among the first of the Aryan race" are underlined in red.
March 31, 2025 at 11:03 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
I went to a quilting-focused yard/estate sale and found this unexpected gem among a trove of English-language quilting guides! I can't read a word of it, but the pictures inside are gorgeous.
A photo of a large, indigo-colored book cover. All of the writing on the cover is in Cyrillic. There is a picture of a house and lush garden within an ornate gilded frame on the book cover under the title. A photo of a page from with the book. The page is white and dominated by a single picture of a quartet of white swans swimming across a peaceful lake with a willow in the background. The picture's caption is in Cyrillic.
February 22, 2025 at 9:08 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
I'm also currently COMPLETELY REDOING the layout of this game, since I'm much more comfortable with Affinity Publisher than I ever was with 🤮Adobe Indesign🤮

Sneak peek of the new cover! 👀
a screenshot of a TTRPG cover. A cyan and black photo of cracked ice forms the background of the cover, overtop of which has been laid 3 black circles with cyan borders. The largest circle has text inside it that says: Beneath Europa's Ice. The second, slightly smaller circle has text inside it that says: a survival horror game. The third and final circle in the bottom left corner of the page has text inside it that states the author's name, which is Haven Woodrose.
January 26, 2025 at 10:32 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Almost finished with my submission for the Tiny Worlds #ttrpg Jam on itch!!! My micro-setting is an underwater region where your PC is an air-breathing creature living/working within the bowels of a sentient submarine that is alive. Lots of body horror and weirdness!
a screenshot of a partial PDF page in black and white. A distorted, eroded font with the words in different sizes & angles at the top of the page reads: "The wonders of the deep are perilous and strange." Below this, in a less zany font, is a table titled, "Curiosities and oddments." It is a table of 20 items that give flavor and ambiance to the setting. 6 of the 20 items are visible in the screenshot. First, there is an ingot of moon metal, smelted from the finest reflections. Second, there is a shard of a sunken star. Third, there is a final breath, preserved in abalone. Fourth, there is a sealed container of luminescent goop streaked with blood. Fifth, there is the tattered journal of a now dead explorer. Finally, there is a fragment of a topographic map. The rest of the table cannot be seen in the screenshot.
January 25, 2025 at 2:20 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
The inventory and item system expanded tenfold, which means we're more like 1/4 of the way to a playable prototype now. Whoops! Still, progress is progress. May I offer you a jellyfish mage character concept artwork in these trying times?
A screenshot of a red digital illustration on a black background. The artwork depicts a humanoid head and torso with raised arms. The face is framed by an inhuman headpiece that curving tentacles branch off of. Below the waist are transparent fins covered with glowing red swirls.
January 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
I am *finally* getting more comfortable using gouache paint! ...Out of necessity, since I managed to splatter India ink across the page and needed to cover it up in order to save my sketch. It turned out pretty decent!
a photo of a page from a sketchbook. In the bottom half of the page is a painting of a yellow-spotted salamander. In the middle of the page is a green and yellow tree snake slithering off of a brown branch that spans the breadth of the page. The background behind the branch and the two animals is sectioned off into colorful, jewel-toned polygons (wine red, deep purple, and blue).
January 6, 2025 at 4:32 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
First artwork of 2025! I’m practicing rendering in pen; rn I'm traveling, so a dip pen and ink seemed out of the question... this was done with a single fineliner, with some small details added with a brush pen.
A grayscale photo of a sketchbook page. The page shows an illustration of a skeptical-looking hare sitting in a grassy field. Both the hare and the grasses in the foreground are rendered with a black pen.
January 2, 2025 at 4:42 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
What a time to be alive that I have to specify that yes, I did indeed put my own human effort into my own indie TTRPG. Could you imagine playing a game that nobody cared enough to create with their own brain? Couldn't be me.
a screenshot of a work-in-progress tabletop RPG that is being digitally laid out and formatted for PDF release. There is a short list of the two fonts that are used in the document ("Good Dog" by Fonthead Designs + "Linux Libertine" by Philipp H. Poll) that is followed by a new paragraph which states, "All images within this document are free-to-use photos taken from Pexels.com and altered with GIMP." Below that, in a box with a black border and gray background, is the notice, "This game was made solely by humans! No generative AI tools were used for artwork or writing!"
November 16, 2024 at 11:16 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Making progress on my entry for #solovember this year! I get very emotional over dogs and their love for us, so it only seemed fitting to write a game about dogs searching for a missing but very beloved human!
A grayscale cover for a tabletop RPG. The cover is intended to be evocative of old-school noir detective artwork,and depicts a photo of a border collie (dog breed) reclining on the floor and looking anxiously off to the side. At the top of the photo are the words "Dog Detectives: A Missing Persons Case." At the bottom of the photo is the Hints and Hijinx SRD logo with the caption "designed using Hints and Hijinx by Haven Woodrose."
November 15, 2024 at 12:15 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Alas, I cannot elaborate better than this.
a photo of a ceramic teacup sitting in a saucer. The teacup is white, and has been painted with a stylized brown bird and some blue berries and leaves.
November 13, 2024 at 4:03 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
I think my nonviolent, sleepy troll is maybe a bit too creepy-looking for its intended Ghibli-esque setting! Back to the creature design drawing board...
a colored sketch of a fantasy creature (a "stone troll") made of rock. It is gray, with very long, heavy arms and eyes embedded in spirals on its shoulders. Its neck is also long, and is tipped with a nose and another eye at the end. Its bulging belly is covered with another spiral design that is slashed in half by a toothy mouth. It has no tail or rear legs.
November 4, 2024 at 7:13 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Now we're onto something! This page's colored sketch is done, and I really like it! :D This page was made in Clip Studio Paint v2 with default brushes + Devin Elle Kurtz's foliage brushpack.
a colored sketch of a comic page. The four panels are wide and stacked vertically. In the first panel, there is a bush flanked by trees from which small rustling noises emanate. In the second panel, the same scene is repeated but with louder rustling noises. In the third panel, a pair of large orange eyes inside a purple face peep out from the bush. In the fourth and final panel, a blueberry-shaped creature with a basket full of red berries on its back bursts out of the bush.
November 4, 2024 at 1:37 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Working on my Eng comics again! Eng is a depressed feline-ish goblinoid who travels a dying world collecting and using magical tea ingredients. I screwed up the panel layout for this page, but at least I know how to fix it in the 4th draft! I'm proud of Eng's freaky yellow eyes.
an incomplete page from an incomplete fantasy webcomic. In the first two panels, rustling sounds emanate from a bush and are getting louder. In the third panel, a pair of unnatural yellow eyes stare anxiously forward. In the fourth panel, a creature with orange eyes and a purple face peers outward from the bush. The fifth and final panel has been marked but not sketched in; instead, the hand-lettered text, "Page 2 Draft 3" has been written on it in red. At the bottom of the page is the typed text that reads, "Eng and the Wood Dragon, page 2 - Haven Woodrose"
November 4, 2024 at 2:50 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
I'm returning to traditional art after a long hiatus. This is the first time in an even long time I've drawn & rendered a human face, too! I definitely need more practice, but I'm not dissatisfied.
A photo of a sketchbook page with a bust portrait of a man with a lined face occupying the center. The man's face is rendered in black and white; the man's shirt is only sketched. Around the man's head, the paper is painted gray. The number 13 was written in the bottom left corner of the page. On the left side of the page is written "Oct 18 2024 – conté crayon + gouache"
October 18, 2024 at 6:09 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
This is Phaido the Cat. Phaido says you shouldn't hold yourself to arbitrary standards of productivity, ESPECIALLY if you aren't feeling well! Consider taking a nap in a sunbeam today.
A photo of a cat curled up in a sunny windowsill behind a blue desk. There is a laptop and various electronics on the desk.
September 19, 2024 at 11:06 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
2nd bird portrait is DONE. This one is of the American robin! I am... so tired of rendering little red berries at this point lmao. Reference is ofc from the Macaulay Library of the Cornell Ornithology Lab: macaulaylibrary.org/asset/125030...
a digital painting of an American Robin (migratory bird) in a semi-realistic style. The bird is perching on a branching, leafless twig surrounded by red berries.
September 14, 2024 at 2:02 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Learning how to draw birds! Feathers are still hard for me and I can *definitely* see room for improvement, but not bad for a first attempt! Reference image is from the Macaulay Library of CornellLab: macaulaylibrary.org/asset/43411981
a digital painting of a blue jay (bird species) perching on a brown branch with folded wings. The background is a pale pink.
September 11, 2024 at 5:40 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
okay THIS is better! The Shadow Mother looks great as a weird spidery lady, and I got to experiment with textures in CSP. Still a work in progress, but I'm much happier!
a small bipedal creature in a blue coat with a red scarf is holding a candle aloft next to a large Irish harp. The candle's light illuminates the splayed limbs of a humanoid woman with dark gray skin upon the nearby stone wall.
August 19, 2024 at 11:10 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
I gotta restart this comic page, oh god. Drawing a semi-realistic face as the focal point of the splash page while the rest of the comic is in a more line art-y style was SUCH a terrible idea! I feel so crushed at needing to redo everything... but I will persevere!
a WIP of a digitally-drawn comic page. On the page, a small bipedal creatures touches a harp while holding a candle while a giant, screaming face with glowing red eyes fills the background.
August 18, 2024 at 1:16 AM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
I wanted to teach myself JavaScript and learn best through projects, so I’m writing, illustrating, and programming a text adventure dungeon crawl game in Twine using the SugarCube 2.36.1 story format! It's been amazing so far and I'm really enjoying it ❤️
A screenshot of a web page with a black background and white text. The text is a dramatic and ominous 2nd person narration of a prisoner's entry into a dark and scary oubliette.
June 27, 2024 at 1:43 PM
havenwoodrose.bsky.social
Hey! Guess what! I made a new zine (mostly for shits and giggles this time) parodying the Victorian language of flowers. It's free to download, so please check it out!
ko-fi.com/s/c86f31b670
an image with the text: "Hey, You Kinda Suck Sometimes: An Irreverent Language of Flowers" arranged around a vintage illustration of a woman standing at an open window. The background of the image is black. There is a small caption that says: "a zine by Haven Woodrose." a vintage illustration of a flowering lotus on a black background. Beneath the lotus is the caption "Read @ 3:02am" in a handwritten font.
March 28, 2024 at 4:13 PM