William of Zeno
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zenosarrow.net
William of Zeno
@zenosarrow.net
110 followers 87 following 260 posts
Speculative fiction and metaphysical comics, on-location/plein aire drawing/painting, artist/writer. Based in Seattle.
Bringing dance moves to the gun fight.
🔗: zenosarrow.net
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zenosarrow.net
I'm making an effort to spend more time in nature and away from screens. This means I'm gonna get gud at on-location watercolor.

#sketch #watercolor #pleinaire #onlocation #artsky #art
a watercolor sketch of trees in fall along a path leading by a yellow house.
November 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
zenosarrow.net
More watercolor trees! Now with humans!

Tried hard to keep it in a narrow warm register.

#sketch #watercolor #pleinaire #onlocation #artsky #art
A watercolor sketch page with two trees and some figures done from life.
November 11, 2025 at 12:30 AM
zenosarrow.net
If you're in Seattle THIS SATURDAY NOV 1st, see me and 150 other indie comic artists at Short Run Comix Festival 2025!

Admission is FREE!
A festival map of Short Run Comix Festival 2025 with table F79 highlighted, where cartoonist William Chen will be, and his three comic books, "Phased", "The BOOK of DEATH Haiku Comics", and "Blood of My Blood". An event poster for Short Run Comix Festival, November 1st, 11am-6pm, at the Seattle Design Center in Georgetown, Seattle.
October 28, 2025 at 11:30 PM
zenosarrow.net
Hey there! I'm an artist, cartoonist, and writer based in Seattle. I write and illustrate metaphysical comics and draw and paint landscapes en plein aire focusing on water-based media.

My latest comic project was The BOOK of DEATH Haiku Comics, pictured with my other two!

More at zenosarrow.net.
Three comic books against a wooden background, with the titles "Phased", "The BOOK of DEATH Haiku Comics", and "Blood of My Blood".
October 26, 2025 at 4:04 PM
zenosarrow.net
Sometimes it’s good to just do studies to focus on something more particular. I love how the trees came out by the end.

#sketch #trees #pleinaire #tradart #inkdrawing
October 19, 2025 at 11:53 PM
zenosarrow.net
Didn't start out trying to take this approach, but really like a lot of what happened and learned a lot!

This sketch is from Discovery Park in Seattle.

#pleinaire #watercolor #sketch #art #naturalmedia #urbansketchers
A watercolor painting of a tree and plants on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains in the distance.
October 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
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Playing with new approaches. This is at Carkeek Park's demonstration garden in Seattle.

#pleinaire #sketch #watercolor #naturalmedia #urbansketchers #art
A brown ink and watercolor sketch of a lush garden, with fountain pens and a travel watercolor palette nearby. A brown ink and watercolor sketch of a lush garden, held up in front of the scene depicted.
October 15, 2025 at 11:01 PM
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Definitely top secret science stuff going on at a structure like this in the middle of a big field. (The radar antenna dome at Discovery Park in Seattle.)

#pleinaire #watercolor #art #sketch #urbansketchers
A watercolor and ink sketch of the radar antenna dome with trees in Discovery Park, Seattle A watercolor and ink sketch of the radar antenna dome with trees in Discovery Park, Seattle, held up in front of the view that is the subject of the sketch.
October 14, 2025 at 4:59 PM
zenosarrow.net
It's funny looking at the past's vision of the future. One day, people will look back at our movies of today and chuckle.

This was fun to draw/paint. The Space Needle and Monorail are somehow still iconic in their retro futuristic glory.

#artsky #art #illustration #pleinaire #urbansketchers
A blue and brown ink artwork depicting the Space Needle and Monorail car speeding overhead above cars on the street below. A blue and brown ink artwork depicting the Space Needle and Monorail car speeding overhead above cars on the street below.
October 8, 2025 at 2:49 AM
zenosarrow.net
Help @outsidercomics.com move shop if you can!

Picked up a few books from the moving sale this weekend. 😃
Three graphic novels: Friday, Abbott 1979, and Y The Last Man
September 29, 2025 at 3:31 AM
zenosarrow.net
Ballard's farmers market is a busy attraction every Sunday. This was done in the afternoon, as the market was clearing out, which is why I had a little more space to see down the avenue and draw.

#urbansketchers #art #pleinaire #sketchbook
A sketch in blue and brown of a street with people walking, sitting, and sketching, cars and trucks lining the sides of the street, and a restaurant's outdoor dining shelter.
September 23, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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Moar bus sketches

#people #sketch #art
A sketchbook held in hand, showing sketches of a large man in a suit, the profile of another man’s head wearing glasses and a baseball cap, and a back 3/4 view of a woman’s head wearing glasses with long hair
September 19, 2025 at 2:19 AM
zenosarrow.net
Finished another book on the out trip so it’s sketch time on the homeward trip.

#lifedrawing #people #sketchbook #art #artsky #inkdrawing
Sketches of three people on a bus on a sketchbook page held in hand
September 18, 2025 at 5:04 AM
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Georgetown Steam Plant has so much cool and dramatic machinery and environment.

Had to run early so I had to add the blues later on.

#urbansketchers #inkdrawing #art #artsky #drawing #illustration #seattle
An ink drawing in brown and blue of the interior of a historical steam plant, with giant machinery and pipes rising above a catwalk
September 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
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Lil cafe sketching. Mineral water is a great cafe addition for us non-caffeinated folks! I’m still amazed by what just black ink can do.

#artsky #sketch #cafesketch
A sketch in black ink of a small bottle of San Pellegrino mineral water and cap on a table with a glass nearby.
September 13, 2025 at 3:04 PM
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If you’re in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, you can now find my graphic novella Blood of My Blood at Haunted Burrow Books!
A book rack with a range of indie author’s books, including the graphic novella Blood of My Blood
September 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
zenosarrow.net
Just a lil boaty mcboatface sketching action with #urbansketchers #Seattle at the Leschi Marina.

#artsky #art #pleinaire #sketchbook #illustration #boat #traditionalart #naturalmedia
A sketch of boats in a marina with trees in the background, held up in front of the depicted scene. A sketch of boats in a marina with trees in the background
August 30, 2025 at 10:51 PM
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Beach sketching 🏖️

#lifedrawing #artsky #art #sketchbook #urbansketching #pleinaire #illustration
A page of sketches of people and a dog in different poses done from life in brown ink at a beach
August 29, 2025 at 11:52 PM
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This one goes out to the late X-ers and Elder Millenials!
Silly comic I made for DUNE comics night at @hugohouse.bsky.social.

#comics #animals #bird #artsky #illustration
A one page comic illustrating the song lyric “small things so sad that birds could land” from the song “Lump” by The Presidents of the United States. The strip shows a bird flying over a sad elephant (“too big”), then a leaping happy kangaroo rat (“too happy”), then a sad mouse (“just right”), and finally the bird lands with its wing around the sad mouse’s back.
August 27, 2025 at 11:49 PM
zenosarrow.net
Great talk by @keezyyoung.bsky.social today! Really appreciated hearing about their journey to comics and getting published, having to think about whether to publish (ahem Eisner and Ignatz nominated) Sunflowers, and their approach to research. Thanks for sharing your experience, Keezy!
Graphic novelist Keezy Young standing at their laptop with their art projected on the screen behind them, giving a talk.
August 24, 2025 at 3:10 AM
zenosarrow.net
Forgot to share this one!

Farm day for #urbansketchers Seattle chapter, visiting the east side of Lake Washingngton.

#artsky #sketchbook #art #illustration #indrawing #farm #barn
August 21, 2025 at 2:47 AM
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Got to attend a great haiku comics workshop led by @davidlasky.bsky.social tonight!
David Lasky speaks to a group of students working on their comics at tables A haiku comic done in pencil: “air like heavy breath / the ghost of today’s downpour / short summer spoiler” showing a woman weighed down by the air, ghosts rising from puddles, and a woman trudging along with steam rising from the ground
August 16, 2025 at 2:10 AM
zenosarrow.net
Heading into the weekend like- ❤️📚

Sketching with @urbansketchers.bsky.social #Seattle chapter at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park.

#urbansketchers #booksky #art #illustration #sketchbook #artsky #drawing #inkdrawing
A sketchbook with a drawing of a bookstore interior with a person obscured by a large monitor on a big table of books, held up in front of the scene that it is a drawing of. A sketchbook with a drawing of a bookstore interior with a person obscured by a large monitor on a big table of books.
August 15, 2025 at 9:20 PM
zenosarrow.net
Human artists, use only one piece to convince people to follow you.
A book cover image: An ethereal cuckoo flaps it’s wispy wings, rendered in gold and silver, with the with the title, “The BOOK of DEATH Haiku Comics”
August 11, 2025 at 8:32 AM
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Here at Phinney Center till 4pm!
A man with his table vending his comics
August 9, 2025 at 5:33 PM