(quick link to Patreon, more info below!)
Hello kind reader, I’m Julia Wertz: professional cartoonist, amateur historian, and urban exploring hobbyist. I’ve been making comics and graphic novels since 2005 and have been incredibly lucky to make a career out of doodling and writing jokes. For over a decade, making comics was a sustainable lifestyle for me, since I lived alone, worked alone, and had all the time in the world. But after I left New York, my life changed very quickly. I moved back to California, had a baby, and got married. I had my little boy, Felix, in May 2020, which was, of course, the beginning of the pandemic. Consequently, there was no childcare for over a year so I was unable to work since I had to parent full time. I also got a terrible case of writer’s block after I left the city, which didn’t help.
What did eventually help was getting back to how my whole career started- making goofy, badly drawn, stick figure diary comics about my daily life. I realized I missed the immediacy and direct connection of this type of unprofessional, unpolished work. I missed making comics because I wanted to, not because I was working on a larger project. So I’m getting back to how I started- with autobiographical comics about nothing and everything. (And as of 2021, I was able to get back to work on a graphic novel about my last years in NYC.)
So now that I am making comics again, I’d like to continue to do so, and your support will help me stay inspired and committed. Also, most importantly, it’ll help pay for childcare. Some comics will be public for everyone to read on Patreon and on social media (mainly instagram and twitter) since I don’t want all of my work to be limited to only those who can pay, but Patreon supporters will get access to every post. Your support is utmost appreciated!
If you have any questions, suggestions, other things to say, feel free to email me at juliajwertz (at)gmail(dot)com