MONASTIC MENAGERIE

During Goblin Week 2019 I drew a goblin that was just kind of a little shrew guy in a robe holding a spoon. It ended up being a bit of a hit around tumblr and with friends and myself so the Shrewblin became a bit of a reoccuring character. It was never meant to be a monk but the line beween a ratty little goblin robe and a amonk's habit is apparently thin. In 2023 I developed a bad case of Shrewbrain and drew a bunch more little trappist shrews and similar critters. In 2024 and 2025 the crew of little monks started expanding to incorporate other groups of animals that I thought would look cute in a little robe, and my partner coined the name Monastic Menagerie to emcompass the whole accidental--and legally distinct from Redwall--project. Brother Gregor the gharial and Brother Ignatz the bittern were both intended as just one-off drawings that I improvised little stories next to when I posted them online but people went absolutely insane for both of them and now they're reoccuring charaters.

Why monks? Listen, I don't know the first thing about catholicism and never will but for whatever reason in my mind a monk is essentially a funny little critter already. They like to shuffle and scurry around their tunnels and warrens and do inscruitable little things. They're inquisitive and mischevious. They love to scamper into the celler and get drunk on elderflower wine. That's creatures to me. Anyway I don't actually imagine the little critter monks I draw as being members of any real world religion but in my mind the monastary is more of a gentle frathouse for silly little guys that don't fit into regular society and just want to spend their days gardening, making weird herbal cordials and cheeses, illuminating books, stuff like that. If any actual catholics somehow find this page and get mad at me about this just know that I'm sorry but I also won't change and will not acknowlege any angry messages I receive about it. Also the other reason they're monks is that I really like drawing robes.

To come in the future: brief biographies on the named characters, maybe some worldbuilding about the monastery, and further down the line hopefully some kind of zine.