New comic from Round II of Lockdown

“How are we still doing this?” and other nonsense

I posted this comic earlier this week to commemorate lockdown part II, or “2 Lock 2 Down,” as I like to call it. So many local teachers and students are COVID positive that our children are doing at-home virtual school once again.

It’s just like the first time—only now, we already know how much we hate it.

Yep, the whole family is home again. There’s very little personal space, and many daily battles—enough to make me want to bury the Nintendo Switch in an unmarked grave.

I heard from dozens of folks in the comments on instagram, mostly about how we’re all in the same place—quarters are tight, kids are home, battles are being lost, and work of every kind is being left undone. People want to rest and make art and keep the laundry folded, but we’re all at each other’s elbows and it’s just not happening.

I can just say: I feel you. So much.

Mostly I’m hearing that it feels a lot like last time, only now we’re still in recovery from 2020/1, so we’re all tired and chapped and windswept to pieces.

And some of us (so many of us) are missing people. Some are so far away, and others are just… gone.

It hurts like hell.

I just started a new job—some part-time hours helping out in the admin offices of our local library. I haven’t had much time for comics or art or sleeping in, so I never did finish the winter demon series. The job, plus the mysterious weeklong illness from hell, plus kids being home from school means I’ve had to let so many things go these past few weeks—including the schedule of researching, writing, and drawing demon comics. I did get a lot of requests for a winter demons book, so I’m hoping to save all my unused content for that. I’ll announce any updates here when the time comes.

I did create the first print design for my January print drop (available to my print tier folks). Here’s a peek at the design: my lil spooky version of “The Swing,” an 18th-century oil painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard.

Despite not being spooky at all, the original is one of my favorite paintings. I love how expressive and lush it is, and how many hidden surprises there are throughout the piece. It reminds me of some of my favorite picture book illustrations from childhood—by artists like Jan Brett, Graeme Base, or Steven Kellogg. I spent hours with Graeme Base’s “The Eleventh Hour,” looking for clues about who ate the birthday banquet, and I just loved the hidden side story about two fish who fall in love in the margins of Jan Brett’s “The Owl and the Pussycat.”

My version of “The Swing” will be available to all of my print tier subscribers, along with a few new designs, at the end of the month. In addition, a very limited number of prints will also be available in my shop, with shipping in time for Valentine’s Day. I’ll send out an email before I update the print shop so you can mark your calendars. Last time the prints sold out, so if you want a specific design, it’s worth getting one early.

Also, any time I do prints, I tend to retire the designs as soon as they sell out. As a small-time artist, it’s easier to keep a small, rotating stock of limited-edition prints in stock than it is to keep all my designs in stock indefinitely. This frees me up to make more art, and it frees up more space in my tiny house for things like… my bed… and all the many plants that I consistently forget to water.

One more reminder: you can purchase anything from my Redbubble Shop year-round. Redbubble hosts all my products online and prints everything on demand, so it’s easy for me to offer a wide variety of designs. The Redbubble Shop is where you’ll find all my comic-related products—shirts and stickers and mugs and totes with designs from my medieval comic strips and the like. All the funny stuff. It’s there.

Thanks so much for supporting my work in all the ways. It means so much to have you here, there, and everywhere.

If you’re feeling lonely or overwhelmed right now, know that you’re not alone. As always, feel free to drop me a line if you need the company.🖤

💀Becca Lee, the Haunted Librarian💀