Lizzigns

My name is Liz Britney, and I’m a 26 year old artist in West Hartford, Connecticut. I have been a creative person for as long as I can remember - I remember thinking as a child that I was different or that something was wrong with me because all of the other kids had clean, pristine hands, while mine were constantly covered in the rainbow of markers I had been using on any particular day. I was always creating. As I got older, I began to get discouraged with my art. I couldn’t draw life-like figures, I couldn’t paint, and I began to feel like maybe I wasn’t that creative after all. I continued to doodle, constantly. Every notebook, paper, and planner I have from my school years is covered. People commented on it often, and I always politely thanked them and went about my business. It wasn’t until years later, in 2014, that my boss at my office job saw me doodling during a meeting, and asked me if I ever did anything with my art. I said, “what art?” It wasn’t until that conversation that I ever thought that what I did - the intricate patterns carefully woven throughout my notes all through school, the notebook covers completely covered in designs, or the hundreds of sharpie highlighters I went through in high school designing planners for myself and my friends - could be anything more than what they were, doodles. That night, I went home and “doodled” intentionally for the first time; using a bright pink sharpie, I covered a sketchbook page in a mandala and said “Well, shit.” Lizzigns was born, even though I didn’t know it at the time. From that night on, I made it a point to doodle outside of work. I continued to struggle with the idea that it was anything special, but thanks to the encouragement of those close to me I kept creating, and began to put my work on social media. Within a short time, I created an Etsy shop and received a few custom orders, and that’s when I realized “Hey, you might have something here.” I continued to draw, continued to refine my style and process, and continued to work on turning my creations and life-long hobby into a business. Earlier this year, thanks to the help of a dear friend, I gave the name “Lizzigns” to both my business and the art itself. I’ve begun to think of Lizzigns as an organism - I start with a small design, and it grows. I’m currently in the process of transitioning that analogy to the business itself - Lizzigns started as something incredibly small - doodles in ballpoint pen on notebook paper - and has turned into something amazing, and will keep growing as long as I continue to lizzign.