Paid subscribers, look at for a Zoom link Sunday.

I'm sorry for the change of plan. I forgot about pre-K graduation Tuesday, maybe you are also dealing with things like that next week.

workshop

But first, some housekeeping. After some serious phumphering, which I’m going to forgive myself for because I️ had a very young baby this past year, I’m climbing back onto the workshop wagon, at least for now.

I’m offering an informal zoom workshop more or less weekly to paid subscribers. I’ll throw out an exercise at the beginning of the workshop and answer questions and look at your work - you can post things in the week’s substack chat throughout the wook (wow I️ am half-brained. Week. If you must know - the other half of my brain is wondering whether/why my office smells like pee) for me/others to comment on.

I’ll Substack-email you a zoom link just before the workshop. This week’s is going to be, as an experiment, smack in the middle of a weekday: next Tuesday at noon.

prints

and books here at my website, as always.

rambles

Self-consciousness is a bit of a handicap - I️ can see myself deliberately subverting my own text, making it convoluted and less appealing. This is why I️ am not a journalist or a popular fiction writer and why I️ don’t have wiles, feminine or otherwise. Sometimes I️ lose friends. Though I️ think we all do, each for a different reason.

Curious how you are doing - maybe not curious enough to check the comments (self-consciousness again). I️ hope you all are doing pretty good - so appreciate you being here.

My son figured out how to use my iPhone camera and has been taking hundreds of pictures of my daughter’s feet. She’s just starting to know body parts. I️ asked her to “show us her mozzarella sticks,” which is what he calls her feet, and she did. Yesterday he asked me if I'd eaten any sucking candies during the day and when I️ told him I’d had four he threw a full-on tantrum. I️ think I’d told him he could tell me when I️’m allowed to eat candy. I️ forgot. Or he misunderstood.

The pee smell is getting worse. I️ hope it’s something that can be found - and washed.

Without further ado!

rain

drawing something like this is cathartic. posting it, on the other hand, feels like punishment. If you feel personally offended by it or just annoyed, I️ am sorry. Please don’t come to my home and pee on my (?)carpet.

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https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79359126516?pwd=Vj9FPbbaK9deaV9ri23AKzPJ9rq4VS.1

the passcode is penny

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A short one today, again, because who needs words? I️ for one need some quiet. First, a little housekeeping.

Events.

I’ll be doing this event with Bess Kalb (!!!!) this Wednesday evening, for Lilith Magazine, near Grand Army Plaza, and am wildly excited about it. Please come!

And I’ll be part of a small group show at Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Bushwick - organized by Ethan Greenbaum, also featuring my husband Scott. Opening is Sat Night, 6-8. 1329 Willoughby Ave Do come say hi.

As always, you can find my letterpress prints and books here - or at Fishs Eddy, which has a new location in Chelsea!

A couple of Book Recs.

Austin Kleon. A smart and joyful book about how to make art like a kid. Which is something we all need to relearn.

Joana Avillez’s new illustrated version of this Joseph Mitchell classic. Just read it.

Live Workshop.

And - had such a nice time getting to see your names pop up on Instagram live, and look at your early-stages comics, on Sunday. Can’t wait to see your progress. I’m see if I️ can make this community thing a little sustainable, which for me means confronting the demons of (1) finding time and (2) looking squarely at the technological weirdness and trying to make it work better. Will be doing a bit of trial and error to see what happens.

So this coming Sunday at 2 PM I’m going to try something new: zoom; might be nice to see each other’s faces (tho that part is optional). I’ll throw out an assignment and we can draw together in companionable silence. Or maybe I’ll natter. For paid members who can’t join, I’ll post the weekly assignment in the chat and look at your work in the chat too. I’ll try and do some iteration of this once a week this summer - sometimes with a live meeting (might try different times of day), sometimes just over chat.

A comic.

I’ve been looking back at old work as I️ try to piece together a self again after my maternity year - a nice moment to be in. I️ found this comic and thought I’d forgotten to publish it - and resolved to post it here - then realized it had been published in the Paris Review, online, which made me happy. In 2017. Anyway, here it is. The original title had to do with writer’s block. The dog book was really a children’s book I️ pitched - I️ pitched so many and scared so many editors away.

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(I️ just wrote and deleted a paragraph about how I️ tried to write y’all up there and went down a shame spiral)

A lite-on-the-words newsletter today, so I️ don’t burn you out before Sunday’s workshop, 2 PM eastern, one hour long, open to paid subscribers. I’ll send out an email invitation a few seconds before two. Bring something to draw with, something (messy?) to color with. We’re going to be channelling Katie Fricas’s book Checked Out, so read it beforehand if you want extra credit to this class you’re not being graded for (or if you want to read an amazing graphic memoir) - or read an excerpt here.

As always you can find my prints and books over here -

and my Instagram here -

And I’m sure I’m missing something —

but without further ado, some drawings I️ made a couple months ago about - what else - motherhood. Oh, and palindromes, of course.

PS not that you asked but I️’m experimenting, a little late in the game, with some design elements, see below

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But maybe it’s the kind of speech you would like to read. It’s advice for making art - rather than for building an art career. It’s stuff I️ wondered about when I️ was 22 but understand better now (there’s a lot I️ still don’t).

First, a Workshop announcement:

At the risk of a couple of horrible sleepless nights anticipating the zoom feeling (and the total joy of doing the thing itself), I’ll be teaching a comics-drawing workshop to paid subscribers on Substack Live on July 31, 2 pm EST. Bring something to draw with, and something to color with.

When I️ was teaching comics this semester, I️ had students imitate a different person’s style every week. If you feel up for reading a book, I’d like to ask you to imitate Katie Fricas’s style in her magical newish book Checked Out - so if you have time to read it before class, do! (Reading the book is in no way mandatory, don’t worry).

And an Event

And, I’ll be in conversation with Bess Kalb (!) June 10th at the Center for Jewish Culture in Crown Heights, 7 PM, for this event for Lilith Magazine. Please come!

As always you can find my prints and books on my website, here.

And thank you as always from the bottom of my heart (does anyone else feel like such a toad when they say thank you? It’s not that I’m not grateful, on the contrary) for subscribing to this newsletter. OK, here goes. A long, long list of pieces of….

Advice for making art.

The biggest parts of being a working artist are learning how to manage your own time and your own feelings.

There’s a difference between imitating someone’s art for bad reasons and imitating it because you’re trying to figure out your own style.

You’re not born with a style. It’s your job to figure out a style that suits your way of thinking.

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First, a few things.

I️ made a very respectful map for The New Yorker for America’s 250th. An honor and a delight to get to work on (thanks Nick Blechman). I’ve been agonizing a little over how to give you a peek - did not come up with a great solution.

You can see the rest in the magazine or online.

Also this: I️ illustrated NPR legend Scott' Simon’s book, Ulysses S. Cat. (Writing this, I️ am understanding the pun for the first time - I️ mean, that cat sort of rhymes with Grant). I️ love Scott Simon’s writing in general, and this book in particular - it’s a memoir about pets and other animals. He wonderfully had me on his Substack for an interview/conversation last week - here’s that conversation. I️ had fun.

Scott Simon's Open Book

Liana Fink on her art and her amazing art for my new book ULYSSES S. CAT AND OTHER ANIMALS I HAVE KNOWN

Listen now

a month ago · 41 likes · 1 comment · Scott Simon and Liana Finck

I️ … went to Paris last week and horribly don’t have much to tell you about my trip, other than that it was a big stunt of a way to mark my 40th birthday. It was my first time flying in a while - it’s been a couple of years. I️ went to museums, which is something I’ve been dreaming -literally dreaming, quite often, quite intensely- of doing since the pandemic started. Museums are important to me, but I’m not a museum person - too horrified by crowds, and by wasting time. It’s one of those sad things, like how a liger is inexpressibly drawn to water (like a tiger) but (like a lion) can’t swim. Usually when I️ travel I️ avoid “doing stuff” and just wander and go for long wonderful runs - but this time I️ threw myself in - it felt important, a way to combat mom-brain. So I️ did the hard thing and came away with some revelations about Matisse, Picasso and the Louvre - and a bit of a sticky feeling from the soul-crushing touristy crowds and shopping streets near where I️ was staying, and the logistics of it all. I️ do feel (a) transformed - I️ do - I️ don’t feel overwhelmed anymore. And (b) so, so grateful for my kids. And dog. And parakeets. And like I️ would like to read a book on what travel is - what it’s for. It’s often so uncomfortable but so mood- and mind-altering. Like museums. My parents were here watching my kids at night and in the morning — which was a pretty astonishing gift.

OK. More links.

Here are gloriously made letterpress prints of my drawings.

Here is my Instagram, which I’m trying to wade back into like a good sport after taking an ego-beating over there for the past couple years.

I️ just finished teaching my first comics class at Barnard College and had such a good experience. It’s both scary and meaningful to teach something you never took a class in. I️ was so, so scared starting out, and feel pretty confident now. Now that I️ have a little more time, I’ll try and incorporate more comics-teaching here, so stay tuned.

Now some drawings. I️ made these to pitch a magazine. They’re not the kind of thing I’d give myself permission to make without an official reason - they weren’t, like, begging to be made - and they took more time than my usual chickenscratch drawings-no-one-asked-me-to-make. Pitching stresses me out - it’s like auditioning, but worse, because you’re not even invited to do it, you’re just knocking on someone’s door asking if they want something totally random, and if they don’t write back you twist yourself into all kinds of knots wondering if you were bothering them, if they hate you, if you should follow up, etc. I’m not cut out for it. It feels a little like “casual” dating.

Where they come from: I’ve been thinking a lot about being the sort of person who’s always lost in thought - trying to toggle back and forth between whatever I’m thinking about and whatever’s happening in front of me. Thinking about it mostly in terms of how to make comics honestly when you’re that kind of person - comics are usually so much about dialogue and action, less so about emotion and thought.

The first drawing is a self-portrait. These are on Strathmore drawing paper with my usual muji .398 gel pen and a red colored pencil. Which I️ adjusted badly in photoshop after scanning it in.

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I️ will stop reminding you after this but we have two new letterpress prints. Thanks to Archie’s Press for doing such a beautiful job with them.

Oh, did I️ say I️ wouldn’t chat? I️ will say this one thing: every morning, my son comes into my room early. Every day he has a different surprise. “I️ have poop on my hands!” was one recent memorable one. So was “I️ took apart my chair and table!” - dumping a pile of screws on the bed. (He’s precociously engineer-y).

I️ feel like that’s what my Substack is. Surprise! It’s an unpleasant surprise, but still! Look! I️ exist! My son certainly does exist, and I️ hope he knows that.

Please enjoy: Parenting Math.

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It’s adapted from a comic I️ made for the New York Times Book Review a long time ago. And to credit the artist: thanks, Nathaniel Hawthorne. I️ love you. So so much.

Here’s a link.

Oh, and here’s a new Dear Pepper, my advice column that I️ love writing. Always taking new questions - you can write one to dearpepperquestions@gmail.com .

Back to my blather. During my three-day work week, which feels both viciously paltry and shamefully luxurious, I’ve been easing back into work on two serious things after a little cartoon-and-freelance break. One, my graphic novel that I️ care about extremely and don’t want to f*ck up. I’ve been trying to come to peace with the way my brain works - which I️ THINK is pretty scattered and non-linear? Which means I’ve been doing a ton more free writing than I’ve let myself do in the past. The comic I’ll be posting in this newsletter (read on!) doesn’t really touch on anything that’s in the book, but I️ think it was my way of, like, cracking my knuckles before approaching a bit closer.

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Today I’m posting another bunch of random drawings I’ve made over the course of the week as my way of subduing various demons of mine. Is this the art I️ was put on earth to make? No - but it’s extremely useful as therapy, and I️ like to show the drawings, too. Maybe they will help you solve the same problems in your own life - or other problems.

I️ think I’ve been apologizing every week for posting these instead of something more - what - newsletterishly packaged? With a thesis, or a big reveal, or a more believable kind of intimacy? Every week I️ feel like I’m coming to you with my hair in curlers, flubbing my one point of contact. But the truth is these drawings are what I’ve been putting my most coherent thought into lately, and my life is lived, metaphorically, in curlers, and I️ refuse to pretend otherwise. And so many of you (if not enough people to stave off the ever-present threat of needing to find a “real” job) seem to be along for the ride.

A couple of housekeeping things before I️ get to the little pictures:

First, Archie’s Press, which does my letterpress printing, has released this new one.

Second, Fishs Eddy (Manhattan, and now also Dumbo) is having a store-wide sale this week - through Sunday. Everything in the store, including my prints and mugs, is 25% off. They’re donating 10% of proceeds this week to the National MS Society. So here’s to researching a cure —

Now, some drawings.

This first one is as close as I️ could draw to my mental image - back before I️ learned to read when my words were pictures (I️ have theories about synesthesia! I’ll get into them another time!) of the word “focus.” The real image would be gray and pencil-y, like the sound “f.” But you get the idea.

Focus is, for me, the essence of feeling OK, not anxious/harried/doom-falling. And it’s elusive - more than it used to be. I’m trying to put into words something I️ don’t really understand.

Relatedly - I’ve been putting my phone down more. I️ bought the Brick device. It’s pretty good so far.

The next one is about phones in a good way - how they let us connect with other people without that blast of social anxiety and having to ride a subway. OK I’m going to stop explaining these, I️ am feeling the dweeb.

I’m going undercover now - if you’d like to support this newsletter, sign up for paid (if you can and don’t already), or tell a friend! Or non-friend! Thanks!

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Another spare-of-words post after a more-disruptive-than-expected kids’ spring break. I’ve been getting back to doodling, though, and am glad for a place to put my drawings - I️ do these for whole days when I’m procrastinating other stuff. Procrastinating is a luxury I’d like to get back to. Hope you are procrastinating exactly as much as you want to.

I️ keep forgetting to post about this New Yorker feature I️ did about devils and angels. (Forgive me if I️ actually already posted it).

Prints and books: www.lianafinck.com

Instagram (barf but follow if you’d like) (how undiplomatic of me)

thank you for reading!!

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I️ have a super-talkative, super-demanding son. Lately he’s convinced I️ can do magic, refuses to be convinced otherwise, and asks constantly for me to turn one thing into another. He throws a 30 second tantrum when I️ can’t, maybe once every minute or two. One day I️ will figure out how he ticks, but for now I’m just trying to survive the wall of words and yelling while getting everyone’s needs met and appreciating these kids and softest dog and kind parakeets (we got another one).

For paid subscribers, a list of said demands.

For everyone, a few cartoons.

I’m sparse of words this week because passover is squeezing everything. Is anyone else here public-facingly devout enough but very compliany with members of their own religion? Why can’t holidays be on weekends?

You can buy some beautifully made letterpress prints of my work here

Or at Fishs Eddy in Manhattan/Dumbo, which also sells mugs

And here are some books I’ve written.

Thanks for being here. Hope you’re enjoying n surviving the season of Passover, Easter, Eid -

Liana

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Maybe it’s too tedious. Running a household with kids is made of all the stuff that doesn’t make it into a novel or poem - the meaningless little tasks - the little uninteresting decisions. There’s nothing big in it, no resolution, no escape. You make everyone breakfast, you brush everyone’s teeth, you get everyone dressed, you walk the dog, you clean the dishes. You do a good job, you feel a sense of relief, you do it again the next day, and the next, for-what-feels-like-ever.

But that’s not true, what I️ said, that it isn’t interesting. It’s interesting to me. When I️ talk to my friends who are in the same boat, we don’t talk about art and books and parties. We talk about bedtime routines and what our broken nights are like, how absurd our kids’ demands are (my son has been losing his mind at me for two days because I️ refuse to work magic and turn all his toys into robots). It fills up so much space, always, everywhere.

My second theory: maybe it feels so strange to turn this stuff into art because I️ have too little to compare it to. People who are immersed in this are not generally writing books or making art - definitely not art that reflects the tedious muchness of taking care of people’s bodily needs. Life takes up too much time to make that kind of time-consuming, sprawling art. Every time I️ read Tell Me a Mitzi by Lore Segal - a wickedly mundane children’s book that documents every step involved in getting dressed and eating a meal, even as it tells real stories - I️ feel so seen.

Here’s a taste of my comic for all subscribers. Subscribe to paid for the whole unhinged thing scrawled on a cramped page. Either way, thank you so very much for being here. I’m afraid if I️ appreciate you too much you’ll disappear - so I’ll leave it at that.

As always you can buy letterpress prints on my website, lianafinck.com (new stuff dropping soon) -

And follow my on Instagram if you’d like.

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A few more thoughts.

I️ thought a label would make me feel like less of a fraud for identifying as neurodivergent, but I️ still feel like a fraud, for having sought a diagnosis at 40, after having managed well enough without one.

Another thought: I’ve always felt that some of the things I️ draw are relatable to a wide enough audience, but that the drawings of overwhelm and fear of people are probably less easy to understand for most people. This was proof. It still feels like my mission to keep drawing those less relatable things. I’m not sure if I’m trying to explain myself to the wider audience - or connect with people like me - or figure myself out for myself. Maybe all.

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I️ love advice and advice columns. I️ write one for The New Yorker. It’s called Dear Pepper. I️ desperately need questions for it. Will you write one in? The email is dearpepperquestions@gmail.com . Thank you. You will be kept anonymous. Here is a Dear Pepper from the vault.

And here is an excerpt of my first graphic novel, A Bintel Brief, which is adapted from a popular New York Yiddish socialist advice column of the same name.

My secret (whoops, not anymore) is that I’m more naturally an advice-asker than an advice-giver. So for paid subscribers: a question I️ asked myself because I️ had no idea how to answer it -- about imposing kashrut on my son who is a picky eater. And an answer I️ sketched out for myself a few months later after solving the problem as best I could.

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It’s a new month, and as usual I’m going to be approaching Substack like I just learned what Substack was.

These past few months I’ve been working and reworking part of a graphic novel, and it’s been very hard for me to shift my focus (especially when doing so involves tracking my “stats,” an awful thing) so I️’ve been prescheduling all my posts for the month. This month I’ll be back to being present more regularly. I’ll be here thinking on my feet and posting weekly - something for all subscribers, more for paid subscribers. And I *predict* I’ll be focusing on content about parenting because duh. I’ll be more writer-y and personal and less of a gag cartoonist. It’s hard to read the room on Substack, but Stack doesn’t feel like the right place for those cartoons – they’re impersonal. Sometimes I envy artists and writers who worked back when art was more of a disembodied voice. There I said it.

A little life update for you sickos who follow to the confessional stuff. I️ turned 40 last month. I have a rare, February birthday. My second and hopefully last baby is about to turn 1. She’s a pisces. After a somewhat weird 7 months, I️ got a new, wonderfully realistic front tooth. All this is to say I’ve entered a new, more sober, stronger, clearer rung of life. To celebrate, I️’ve been throwing money around a bit. I️ bought myself a silver ring for my birthday, ordered my son a small tungsten cube after hearing one mentioned on a podcast late at night (tungsten is surprisingly heavy - my 4 year old is gonna love it?), and have been providing my baby a shocking amount of kosher chicken, which is even more expensive than what most babies crave: berries. Spending what I️ should absolutely be saving feels just slightly self-destructive and that feels drawing – like walking a tightrope. I am starting to feel like myself again. My pre-kids, post-finding-myself adult self – the one who wore dresses with belts and met friends for coffee. A self who existed for what, six years?

I️ could say a lot more about my kids but I️ think I’m not that kind of artist - one who draws to record wonderful things she experiences - and I’m sad about that. I️ draw to figure myself out - which means I’m entitled to my parents’ and husband’s stories as they pertain to me, but not my children’s. I️t would be like if God wrote stories about us humans and not vice versa. Obviously I’m still figuring this out. Where does it all go?

One thing I’d like to do this decade, if I’m lucky enough, is to get more serious about understanding where stories come from. So there are the fabulists who need to escape - and there are the diarists who need to record - and what else is there and what kinds of mixtures are there? I️ love books so much. Sometimes I️ don’t let myself love the things I️ love enough because I️ know it’s weird to get that obsessed with a thing - and ten years later I️ realize I’ve lost the wonderful education I️ was starting to give myself. When I️ was fourteen I️ threw away my rock collection.

At any rate please enjoy these drawings:

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more for paid subscribers below.

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