The Line Between (TLB) is a newsletter about life through the lens of making things. Focus is on the how—not the what. About twice a month. A summary follows; the Welcome page discusses this publication and its proposed value in more detail.
TLB is a Substack Featured Publication.
A biweekly publication about art, life, and NYC
Every other week or so I share a peek behind the scenes from my home studio and life in NYC: everything from pages of the sketch book or hand-painted frames for an animated vignette, to experiments in augmented reality. TLB started out with a focus on animation, but I’m also a published essayist, and painter—so these will also be topics of conversation.
Who’s talking?
I’m Coleen Baik, an artist, designer, and writer based in NYC.
I’m an obsessive documenter and the author of the How to Get Started with Hand-Drawn Animation series. I’ve been published in The Audacity and Offscreen Magazine. My films have screened at BAM and in international, Academy-Award qualifying festivals like Brooklyn Film Festival in NYC, American Animation & Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, and Linoleum Animation Festival in Ukraine. I was a part of the early design team at Twitter, an advisor at Medium, and a principal designer at Sequoia Capital’s Design Lab. I’m a 2025-2028 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow for film, and a 2025 Periplus Fellow for creative nonfiction. I’m a fan of Rachel Cusk. I heart New York. Gourmande.
How’s it structured?
Each issue usually contains these sections:
Preamble. A micro essay that’s quick update, thematic provocation, or both
In the studio. Behind the scenes (animation, painting, writing)
Provisions. What I’ve been consuming: books, films, shows, local gems/food.
In closing. Another micro essay, often a NYC moment.
Sometimes I also send out a separate “off-topic” newsletter under Ruminations. These are more freeform; commentary, or anything that feeds or informs my work—books, films, NYC gems, pastries, politics. Every subscriber will automatically receive Ruminations by default, but can opt-out in subscription settings.
TLB is a living, evolving thing, and I occasionally update this as well as the Welcome (an extension to this page) to reflect my latest thinking around TLB’s focus and envisioned value.
Why subscribe?
I’m a visual artist and writer ekeing out a life in NYC; I share my life and POV in a visual way that happens to also, I hope, be a pleasure to read.
Please subscribe if you…
enjoy seeing art come to life, two weeks at a time
TLB is a look at what long term commitment looks like, and this means that the “value” of reading and seeing the content of this newsletter, also can best be described as cumulative. I write more about this my 100th issue, with concrete examples.like how I write
I’m a 2025 Periplus Fellow, if that makes a difference 😅believe that we need more art and literature
Right now I feel like we’re being swallowed up by ads, fast generation, faster consumption, trends, theft, violence.I try hard to contribute to the other side of the scale.that the kind of work I do and the stories I tell are worth financially investing in.
Keeping the lights on require: annual software licenses which near $1K, festival entry fees, materials like paper, ink, paint, and brushes (some high quality watercolor brushes are easily $50+), hardware replacements (memberships paid for a laptop upgrade midway through making my film Chamoe).love seeing NYC life in context, both pedestrian and shiny, with beloved gems that a resident has real relationships with.
I make a lot of TLB available for free; your support makes that possible too. Paywalls go up more when the work feels at a vulnerable stage or if there are e.g., legal/licensing issues that would be mitigated by sharing more privately. Sometimes I also want to share extra content with people who care most. Some sneak previews are exclusively for investors as special thanks.
I’m partially funded by the Jerome Hill Artist Foundation from 2025 to 2028, and this covers research trips and larger studio costs for my film work only (it does not support writing work or costs associated with my essay collection).
At the end of the day, I hope that you feel less alone, and strengthened, by witnessing another human being follow through day to day, week to week—a peer trying to outbalance noise with slowness and curiosity.
Free subscribers have access to
Public posts
Paying subscribers (members) have access to
All posts and full archive
Exclusive behind the scenes on film and writing projects
Member comments
All ruminations and other bonus issues
Occasional goodies
Thanks for reading. Please view the Welcome page for more details about what The Line Between aims to be. See you soon.
