Drink Coffee and DESTROY!

This is just an update to let you, the internet, know what’s going on with me, the cartoonist. Let’s start by saying I haven’t drawn anything substantial in over six months so I don’t really consider myself an “active cartoonist” at this point. Not saying I won’t draw anything again, but it’s not even close to being at the top of my list of priorities at the moment.

So this is what happened, and I’ll just be real here: my husband and I, who were together for nine years, split up towards the end of 2011 and I’ve kind of had to rebuild my life from scratch since then. This includes working at my job as a dog walker as much as humanly possible and returning to school to pursue a second bachelor’s degree in biology, with an interest specifically in conservation science. This takes up all my time, as you can imagine, so comics aren’t really on the forefront of my mind these days. It’s just a fact that without the financial support of my partner, I can’t make comics a full-time thing. Barely even a part-time thing, if I can make it a thing at all (which I can’t really right now). So I decided to start pursuing a new career in science.

This doesn’t mean I won’t draw comics again, but I have to look out for my own future financial security, and this seemed like my best bet, since science has always been an interest of mine. I also don’t have access to any of my books (they are in storage) so I can’t sell anyone anything either.

For those of you still waiting on Kickstarter rewards, don’t worry, I don’t plan on just taking your money and running. When I get my tax refund and some other money I am waiting on, I will send out messages to anyone who is owed anything other than a book (which you should’ve already received) to facilitate some type of partial refund for the rewards you never received. However, I do have to have the money to refund you in order to do that (obviously I used the money I got to pay for the printing of the book) so it has to wait until that money exists in my bank account. Sorry about that.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at liz@lizbaillie.com, but I will warn you that I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment and don’t always get around to answering right away.

Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

Dear internet,

I am very sorry that I have not written in a while. I have been very busy trying to balance my job and my life and trying to get my Kickstarter orders out and put together the various pieces of other Kickstarter orders, like drawing up the prints and working on the commissions and whatnot. I am happy to report that I have a large pile of Kickstarter orders ready to be mailed out next week, and hopefully I will get to finish up the other half of the orders this weekend, so JUST MAYBE I can get them all out by next week. MAYBE. I hope.

The orders being sent out include only the signed books and thank you notes though, because I haven’t finished any of the commissions/prints/other stuff yet. But that stuff is coming! I’m working on it. I just figured I should send the books out since that’s the main thing, right?

ANYWAY. I’m sorry for the dearth of comics and other activity, internet. You may have noticed I haven’t even been updating my Twitter feed very often, if at all. My Tumblr is gathering tumblrweeds! I’m the first to admit it, internet – I’ve been neglecting you, and while part of the reason for this is certainly that I am extremely busy trying to fulfill my Kickstarter duties, and also working on my print-only Retrofit comic, I must admit that part of it is that I’ve been having…. fun.

Yes, that’s right. Fun. It’s summer (pretty much)! It’s nice outside! I’ve been hanging out with friends and doing things and enjoying myself outside of my house. I know, I’m just as shocked as you are. However, this “socialization” and “outdoor activity” is quite necessary for my mental health, as I was just about ready to stab someone in the eye out of stress and anxiety about a month ago, and I had to take a break to allow myself to complete my appointed tasks at my own pace, instead of applying some ridiculous arbitrary standard that no one but me really cared about anyway.

So there you have it. I hope you can forgive me, internet. But don’t worry, I’ll be back. I promise!

Till then, I still love you best of all,

Liz

P.S. I am quite obsessed with a musician by the name of Frank Turner. I think this song sums everything up pretty nicely. Check it out, won’t you?

Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

It’s the sewer nest! And a rat! I like drawing rats. In today’s Freewheel!

Soon I will be starting a print-only comic project that will require a bunch of my time, so updates to Freewheel will most likely continue being sporadic. However, when this comic project is done I think you will be pleasantly surprised by it! It’s a Freewheel side story for Retrofit Comics, which is a pretty cool project Box Brown is doing to publish some really rad artists and revitalize floppy comics. It’s not coming out till next year, but to draw 32 pages takes me a long time, so y’know, that’s why.

Once I start drawing it I will probably have some fun teaser images to show you! I am really excited about it.

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Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

Giving dumpster diving a whole new meaning, in today’s Freewheel!

Hey okay a few things! I’ll be in Toronto at TCAF this weekend! Come see me at table 215 in the upstairs area! I’ll have books and prints and stuff!

ALSO, VERY IMPORTANT: my update schedule is changing once again! My job and my life are just a bit much at the moment, so for the sake of my own sanity, I am adapting the traditional “I’ll get to it when I get to it” update schedule until further notice. I will be TRYING to get pages up on Mondays and Wednesdays, but sometimes it might be one page on a Tuesday, or a page on Monday and another on Thursday, or something like that.

Especially with TCAF this weekend, and friends visiting from out of town after that, I’ll be lucky if I get even one page up next week! So I thought I would warn you in advance. I apologize profusely, but until I can do comics full-time again, it’s gotta be this way. Of course, you can always put me a little closer to being a full-time cartoonist again by buying stuff! Volume Two isn’t up for sale yet, but it will be after TCAF once I get all the Kickstarter backer orders out.

Anyway, that is all! Thanks for reading, as always!

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Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

Time for the hatching of plans! In today’s Freewheel!

TCAF is coming up quick (a little less than two weeks!), and I’ll be there! Come say hi and pick up your copy of Freewheel: Vol. 2 while you’re there! Hopefully I’ll be able to ship out the Kickstarter backer copies before then, I’ve been working on it little by little.

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The Trading Post!

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Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

Disguises! In today’s Freewheel!

Sorry about missing Monday’s update, I miscalculated my ability to draw comics while traveling (as in, I am never able to draw comics while traveling, I shouldn’t even pretend like it’s an option) so I wasn’t able to get an update together while I was at Stumptown over the weekend. I got a lot of writing and thumbnailing done on the plane, but not any real drawing.

Next up is TCAF on May 7-8! I will be there! You should also be there, if you’re in the Toronto area, and come say hi! Most likely I will be seen eating copious amounts of Tim Horton’s donuts.

Speaking of donuts! I ate a lot of them while I was in Portland. I’m a really huge fan of Voodoo Doughnut, which is a donut shop there. It’s not just any donut shop though, they make their donuts fresh every day on-site and have a ton of weird toppings and combinations. My personal favorite is the classic voodoo donut, which is a chocolate covered, raspberry jam-filled, voodoo doll-shaped donut that comes with a little pretzel stick you use to stab it while you’re thinking of someone you wish ill upon.

Tim Horton’s is no Voodoo, but it’ll do.

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The Trading Post!

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Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

You can walk between worlds! What does that mean?!? In today’s Freewheel!

So I was at MoCCA this past weekend and it was great! I was on the Comic Book Club panel and it went really well and I’m pretty sure there’s a recording of it out there somewhere but I don’t know where…

Anyway! It went really REALLY well and if you are in the Portland, OR area at the Stumptown Comics Fest this coming weekend you can come see me and also Freewheel: Vol. 2, which will be available there! In other words…

But please don’t try to shoot me…

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Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

More of the story behind Cyb (Jamie’s mom) and Judah (Jamie’s dad) in today’s Freewheel!

I have nothing of import to say, so here’s a particularly amazing ukulele cover of the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind,” made popular by the movie Fight Club, which I’m assuming you’ve seen if you’re an American between the ages of 12 and 50 years old. I am in the process, at the moment, of learning Wave of Mutilation on my ukulele so this was of interest to me.

Upcoming Events:

April 9-10: MoCCA Festival (New York, NY)

April 16-17: Stumptown Comics Fest (Portland, OR)

May 7-8: TCAF (Toronto, ON)

June 3-5: Indie Island at Heroes Con (Charlotte, NC)

September 10-11: SPX (Rockville, MD)

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The Trading Post!

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Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

First glimpse of Jamie’s mom, Cybele! And some interesting information about her as well! There is a lot of pertinent information on this page that you may not realize is pertinent. Woo, vague implications! In today’s Freewheel!

MoCCA is coming up soon, and hopefully I will have my copies of Freewheel: Vol. 2 to sell there! I still don’t have them in hand, but hopefully they will be done getting printed soon and I will keep you all posted. I’ll probably be sending out a survey via Kickstarter to get everyone’s addresses and also to find out who wants to pick up their copy at MoCCA or Stumptown rather than have it mailed. I won’t have any of the other extra stuff by then (such as the prints, commissions, etc.), that stuff will get mailed later, but the books you can definitely pick up there.

Here is my definite event schedule for the rest of 2011 thus far, with other events possibly being added later:

April 9-10: MoCCA Festival (New York, NY)

April 16-17: Stumptown Comics Fest (Portland, OR)

May 7-8: TCAF (Toronto, ON)

June 3-5: Indie Island at Heroes Con (Charlotte, NC)

September 10-11: SPX (Rockville, MD)

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The Trading Post!

Twitter!

Tumblr!

Facebook!

LiveJournal!

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Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.

More vague pronouncements about Jamie’s mom! I promise very soon there will be actual details revealed and I’m not just stringing you along! In today’s Freewheel!

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The Trading Post!

Twitter!

Tumblr!

Facebook!

LiveJournal!

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Originally published at l i z * b a i l l i e. You can comment here or there.