Thank you all for your participation, in comments and suggestions, and to everyone who helped with the ideas and promotion: it’s been a good five years.

The website will NOT be taken down, and it’s most likely that I’ll keep paying for the domain, so all the comics will remain accessible, should you wish to read them again.

If you have any question concerning an unresolved issue with a character or a plot, please ask, I’ll be happy to answer as honestly as possible.

You can still see more of my art on deviantART, and I also now have a tumblr account where I write and post… stuff.

Once again terribly sorry for everyone who had been waiting for more… =/

Best wishes to all :3

~Laury

                          

I hope you had a lovely end of February. I am now back in Quebec (since Monday) and quite looking forward to move in with my sister’s family in about a month.

The past few weeks have been silent here and I apologize. I have had things to solve in my head and pretty much got off the Internet for a few weeks.

Now that I’m back though, I intended to start drawing comics again. However, a moment ago, my laptop seems to have died on me. As my computer is the gateway for anything closet inc., well, this doesn’t look good.

Long story short, until I manage to get it fixed, or buy a new one with the little money I have left, I doubt there will be any updates here =/

I have 2 computer techs in my family, so here’s hoping for the best…

In the meantime, I wish you a very nice beginning for spring – or autumn, if you live in the south hemisphere – and talk to you soon, hopefully…!

~Laury

                          

I’ve had a lovely time in England over New Year’s Eve and the first week of January. One of my friends introduced me to her job – archivist – for which I had expressed interest, and it just totally blew my mind on how fun and interesting I’ve found it. I know now what I want to study when I come back to Quebec (countdown: 40 days left in Finland)!

For some reason, knowing what I want to do as a long-term job made something click in my… head, mind, soul, whichever. I’m now a lot more relaxed about that whole Future thing everyone’s talking about.

For some other reason, I’ve experienced a wave of artistic inspiration like I don’t remember having in the past 6 years. I now start random drawings on paper that end up being colored by pencil (I hate pencils) if needed and some who are just tediously long to draw but that I stubbornly finish anyway (I’m usually lazy about that).
So, in short: the artist in me is kinda revived.

Now the bad part: it doesn’t include Closet Inc.
No, it’s not that I lack inspiration or ideas. I’m not… bored with it either. But it’s pretty much been the only thing I have drawn in the past 4 years, and like a child outgrowing its toys, I’m also going toward things suiting my “new” state of mind better.

No, this is not the end of Closet Inc. To all the people who read every comic and to my character, I feel like I owe you all more than unfinished story lines. I just need some time to do something else, and then to learn to reconcile both branches of my creativity

There is currently 2 projects I’ve begun, one of which has a close deadline and the other which is just stupidly long but well begun. I’ll be finishing those and then hopefully resume Closet Inc. normally, but we’ll see. You’ll have something new by Valentine’s Day

TL;DR – Closet Inc. is on hiatus

until February 14th at the latest.

Thank you to all who’ve supported me through these -almost- 5 years, and I hope 2011 is beginning well for you anyway :3

~Laury

                          

Honestly, though there has been less happy moments (there always is at some point), I’m really happy with what the year has been like for me. New friends, new experiences, and a huge load of learning.

Closet-wise, it’s been incredible. Firstly because I finally got my own website (you have no idea how proud I am of those 3 words: closet-inc.com), then because I pretty much managed to set up a weekly update pattern and stick to it. I’ve met new people thanks to it, and I managed to get drawings signed by 2 of the most influential bands in my comics – Uniklubi and Negative.
I came up with storylines rather than just one-joke comics. I introduced new characters – 3 of them original ones, which is also one of my biggest accomplishments. I have loads of ideas, or half-formed ideas, for the next year.
You can expect at least to see band pages by the end of January, and a page for my signed promo drawings

Tomorrow I’ll be flying to England for a week and a half, as the first real time off since Sweden in March (or the summer before that, if you count that I joint-babysat with Pinkass). This means that after 25 comics in a row, I’m taking a little vacation I should be back by January 8th, so you may or may not get a comic on that Saturday. We’ll see how England likes it to let me go

And then, upon my return on January 7, there will be exactly 2 months left to my Finnish residency… for now. And then, exciting new prospects back in Quebec! Looking forward to everything, really.

So here’s to another year gone by, on which we should not dwell, but learn from, and move on to another cycle of seasons full of surprises and opportunities. Kippis!!

~Laury <3

                          

Out of the 40 (nice) people who did take the survey, almost all of them answered that they’re 18 and over (which is relevant to the eventual installation of a Closet Inc ‘spin-off’ rated more mature).

The favorite comic is still “Jussi is more – ” after, well, almost exactly 4 years now. Does that mean I haven’t done anything good since?? XD Kidding. Second place goes to the Wiwian/microphone/Theon comics in general, and then the Lil Lii adventures.

As for characters, Jonne got a high score of 15 votes, followed by Jussi and Wiwian (9), Theon, Janne and Antti (6). I’m also quite happy that my original characters are well appreciated in general, and that the mic even got 3 votes XD

Concerning which old comic you would like to see redrawn FIRST, How To Be A Rockstar won with half the votes. Which is not surprising me either. Voted most anticipated follow-up is the Wiwian/microphone/Theon triangle (how convenient! that’s also the one I wanted to draw most, and the one you’re getting now ), followed closely by the Lil Lii adventures.

Suggestions for other fandoms insisted on Reckless Love, Deathstars and 30 Seconds To Mars/Jared Leto. Harry Potter and Torchwood were mentioned (I’m patial to those 8D), as well as Buffy (:D), Glee (!), Lord Of The Ring and Japanese bands in general. HIM was also requested, though technically already part of the closet, and Private Line, which is just very hard to do because THEY’RE NOT REALLY DOING ANYTHING V____V Sigh. But! Duly noted

A third of the respondents check the update every weekend or Monday (which makes me real happy, means I’m not alone looking forward to it ) and mostly from Facebook (which is great, since it’s the easiest place to update – doesn’t mean I won’t update anywhere else, no worries).
Most of the readers come from Europe (meaning my tshirt saying “I’m famous in Europe” is still accurate), and second most from North America.

And finally, the meaning of life is, according to you in order of importance, 42, music, to love and be loved, and to live and let live. No one wrote “To PARTY!”, which is resented by one of my future characters

-.-.-.~*~.-.-.-

The reason I made this survey is that I know what my favorite comics and characters are, and it was fine when I did those comics mostly for myself.
But I’m not doing it mostly for myself anymore. Now I’m trying to vary the storylines to make sure you don’t get bored, I’m wondering what you will understand from the comics, if you’ll laugh as much – or more! – as I did at the jokes. And it’s fine! I treat you as a public expecting something, and I’m making it work with what I can offer, and I’m trying to improve it as well. Which is why you now get more consistent stories, spread over 3-4 comics, and a comic a week instead of whenever

Asking which comics and characters you love best points me to things you’ll appreciate more, and it helps me create and come up with new jokes and ideas. I was trying to find the sequel to the Wiwi/mic/Theon triangle – which only came to me a few hours before I posted the comic yesterday – and knowing that you were all just as interested to see how it would develop as I was gave me the boost I needed. I got material for 4 comics now!

Also, asking which other fandom you’d like closetified tells me about the other things you like, which can give me clues as to where to look for inspiration. My script-helper, the Mega-Awesome Michi, and I came up with lots of stupid ideas from those suggestions. Hopefully I can share some with you eventually XD

And last reason, and not least of all, I very much enjoyed reading your answers. Last weekend was my birthday, and I consider your answers as your gift to me ;D

                          

Upcoming update schedule:
From Sunday 23rd until Saturday 29th, week-long marathon of “Why Life Dislikes Lil Lii”.
Return to weekly pathern on June 5th.
Possibly wonky update schedule during the summer, as I’ll be going around a lot (Rovaniemi, Lappeenranta, Tallinn, and much traveling between Valkeakoski and Tampere and Helsinki).

It’s looking like summer here, I’ve started wondering if I’m still in Finland >_>

                          

Then! Music post!

~* })ï({ * ~

Apocalyptica has announced the release date for their upcoming album 7th Symphony, which is August 27. Among the collaboration, resident-guest Dave Lombardo (drummer; Slayer) on the track “2010″, Joseph Duplantier (singer; Gojira) on “Bring Them To Light”, Lacey Strum (singer; Flyleaf) on “Broken Pieces”, Brent Smith (singer; Shinedown) on “Not Strong Enough”, and for the first single, “End Of Me”, Gavin Rossdale from Bush.
(I’ve also been told, Mikko managed to get his hands on a cello contrabass (thank you Katja!) on “Beautiful” .__.)

In addition, if anyone has the occasion to, Apocalyptica will be played at the Festival D’été de Québec, in Quebec City, Canada, on Sunday July 18th. It might be worth it to check it out, because surprisingly, Rammstein will also be playing there on the very same day. Benzin, anyone?

~ * ~

Naked is preparing the release of a new album, Double Down, on a yet unconfirmed date. You can listen to a preview of a few track on MySpace. Don’t forget to become fan on Facebook to stay updated

~ * ~

Negative released their new video for the single “End Of The Line”, which you can see below:

(Better quality video than previously, thanks Karen for the heads up )

Neon, their new album, will be out on June 2nd in Finland.

~ * ~

SURPRISE! Private Line is not dead and will perform twice of their ever few gigs this summer. You can see them at Pegorock Festival in Mantova, Italy, on June 2nd, and in Helsinki at Dante’s Highlight, on June 4th. Tickets for Helsinki on Tiketti.

~ * ~

Reminder: The Salvation is playing at Semifinal, in Helsinki, on May 21rst. Tickets 7€ on Tiketti.

~*~

I… think I don’t have anything else to add…? Upcoming: Festival Post