Aidan Koch

Aidan Koch is the artist behind the mini comic Warmer, which I thought was one of the strongest minis of the year. Koch, for me at least, sort of come out of nowhere...but that seems to be happening a lot these days: people producing their first or second mini and already having a great degree of authority to their art. Find out more about koch and her work at her website:

http://www.aidankoch.com/index.php?/project/news/

1. can you describe your drawing routine---how often you draw, how many hour per day---how you break up the day with drawing?

It depends on my projects, but I draw between 20minutes and 8 hours a day. When I'm working towards a show or do a drawing lesson over coffee, it adds up. I'm in art school also, so I usually divide my work up just between projects. Work on homework, work on a big painting, work on sketches of people, work on comic pages. It's a good variety between sizes and mediums to keep me going for a long long time. It often requires some drinking though.


2. how much revision/editing do you do in you work?

Extremely little. The more I edit, the more I regret. There's a sincerity in the original lines that I hate to fiddle with. If I do change something, I often draw right over it or use one of my crappy erasers that smudges the page. That way at least there's a history built into the drawing. I can remember why I did what I did.


3. talk about your process---do you write a script or make up the drawing as you go?

I took a break from comics for a while and ended up making some zines instead. I got into the process of just writing for documentation's sake. I found that I navigated towards lists and statements. By pairing these with images that made sense to me, I kind of found my voice. From there I think I was able to go back into sequential work maintaining that voice pretty fluidly.


4. do you compose the page as a whole or do you focus more on individual panel composition?

I panel off the page first and let the first couple drawings inform the composition of the rest. I think it's really important to consider the pacing and quality of each page.


5. what tools do you use (please list all)?

Cheap mechanical pencils....color pencil and gouache


6. what kind(s) of paper do you use?

Moleskin notebooks. I have like four going at once all the time. I try to divide them into being different things, but then I just go crazy and get them confused. I like the creaminess of the paper though and it's cheap enough that I'm not scared to mess up on anything. That's important.


7. do you read a lot of comics? are you someone who reads comics and then gets ectied to make more comics---or is your passion for making comics not linked to any particular love for other comics?

I never read comics until I started making them. My friend BT Livermore started a comics collective called Robopocalypse which I joined two years ago, right when I started doing comics. It made me a lot more aware of what people are doing and got me going to conventions and events. I like reading them a lot now, although I'm still extremely undereducated in that world. I think what made me most excited about doing them is just the ability to create something artistic that is so accessible. It's fun to make copies and go around to the local shops and mail them to friends and be part of such a funny little community.


8. do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you support yourself, and how does this relate to your comics making process?

I've done some calculations and I think I make some profit from them...but that amount is probably gone after an hour at a bar. Right now, I am living off of some savings, assisting a fashion designer, selling art, and pedicabbing (bicycle taxi). The variety of tasks relates to how I approach art I guess. I like doing as much as possible all the time, going back and forth between different things. I do whatever suits my emotional state at the time.


9/ do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?

I think it would be beautiful to work in a print shop in the Alps grinding stones and printing lithographs.


10. what artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?

My favorite artist (to varying degrees at various times) is Odilon Redon. He fills my heart with magic.


11. is a community of artists important or not important to you?

I guess I probably don't realize how much importance it's had on me because I've always had such a community. Both my parents and sister are artists and crafters and I'm in my last year at art school. I've always had an incredible amount of support and influence. Sometimes I feel like I just want to talk to someone who's a lawyer or model or dermatologist or whatever just to feel more sane. And then I do (pedicabbing is great for that), and I feel okay again to sink into my world for a while.


12. is ther a particular line quality you like---thick/thin/clean/etc?

I guess I like using the least amount of lines to describe a shape or form, usually thin.


13, what is more important to you---style or idea?

When I buy comics and zines, I pretty much do it based off of style. I have a lot of anxiety as a reader. I'd rather have something I can look through quickly and appreciate whenever than something I am forced to delve into before I can enjoy it. I freak out if I have to do that, unless I'm on vacation.


14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?

It's the most redeeming quality of my existence.


15. when you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right away? do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?

Avoid. This is Portland, Oregon though. Everyone does art or music. It's more fun though to try and just exist as a personality and see how I hold up.


16. do you feel at all connected to older comic artists like steve ditko or jack kirby---or does this seem like a foreign world to you?

Like I said I never read comics growing up, so it's hard for me to think about what they did. I haven't read many older comics and I'm pretty positive the way that I work is not reflective of them either. I appreciate knowing how they've influenced other people that I like though. It always trickles down in one way or another.


17. do you ever feel the impulse to not draw comics?

I stopped when I was going through a big stylistic shift. It was a very introspective time and I couldn't figure out how comics could possibly fit in. I just did tons of big paintings and abstract drawings. As that settled down though, I think a niche just kind of opened itself back up. Now I think about comics all the time.


18. do you draw from life?

Almost exclusively.


19. do you pencil out comics and then ink? or do you sometimes not pencil?

I just like pencil or colored pencil.


20. what does your drawing space look like?

Zak Sally

Zak Sally is drawing my favorite comic on the stands today: Sammy the Mouse. I picked it as my #1 comic of 2008 when the Daily Crosshatch asked for a top five list. Here's the blurb I wrote for them:

"Some people mentioned to me that they were initially put off by Zak Sally switching his drawing style for this comic. And it's hard not to miss that ultra precise style. But there's just something about this series. This is the comic that proves the "drawing in comics is writing" idea better then anything else. There's a certain sacrifice of visual aesthetics for storytellings sake...but the storytelling is so good and the story is so rich (one of the richest in ideas comic I've ever read) that the aesthetic of the drawing BECOMES beautiful. It's really something. Sometimes I can't get over characters in novels...I really think about and care for certain literary creations in the same way I think about close friends. Rarely can I say that about a comic...except this one."

Sally is also the publisher behind La Mano, which is the best small press comics line around. Currently, they are batting a thousand, since every book Sally puts out is pretty much perfect. Dead Ringer is one of the strongest comics to come out in a while, and Sally's choice to publish it in a very distinctive way is a rare case of bold design enriching a comic instead of calling attention to itself.

Find out more about La Mano and Sally here: http://www.lamano21.com/



1. can you describe your drawing routine---how often you draw, how many hour per day---how you break up the day with drawing?

in those ugly days when i was trying/ hoping to eke out an existence drawing comics full-time i was...well, come to think of it, there was so much hustle and busywork involved that i probably only ended up DRAWING a bit more than i do these days (when i am gainfully employed as a teacher 30-odd hours a week...).
how it seems to work now is that...at least on Sammy, i finish an issue and then a couple months go by where i dont have a thought in my head. then i panic because i have no earthly idea what's going to go in the next issue, and i walk around thinking "you're FUCKED, you're TOTALLY FUCKED" for a couple of weeks until i somehow force myself to sit down with my notes and put pencil to paper and then i realize that i've got more material than i know what to do with, and start banging it out...
usually the end of the process, inking/ finalizing the issue, requires 6-8 hours a day (or more likely, whatever i can get in...) for a few months.
for everything else, i just commit to something i can't weasel out of, thereby creating an externally imposed deadline. neat, huh?
long way of saying that there's very little rhyme or reason; i spend my life trying to make more time in which i get to draw comics.

2. how much revision/editing do you do in you work?

it feels like i do more revision and editing than i do drawing; and i think that's actually the most important part of the whole thing...anyone can come up with "ideas"; it's roping those ideas into something that makes sense (aesthetically and otherwise) where the rubber hits the road, and i'm editing and revising at every and all stages of the work.

3. talk about your process---do you write a script or make up the drawing as you go?

Feels like during my (over)long "learning curve" years (soon to be collected by Fantagraphics...) i was kind of unconciously trying to make comics every damn way-- starting from just...single images or drawings in my sketchbook, some piece of crappy writing i'd done while drunk, whatever. in some cases i'd even write the words out and then just constantly "edit" the thing as the storytelling (such as it was...) came along, seeing how the words and pictures came together (or didn't, depending...) and in the end the original words would have all but disappeared.
it just started out from an image or an idea or...something, and just crawled into completion in whatever way seemed most difficult or stupid. it never felt that i ever landed on an actual PROCESS, which is maybe good and maybe bad, who knows.
i'm really happy with the way i work now, which is, to me, a sort of pure COMICS writing. i start with some crappy 14 X 17 marker paper and just...start the thing. i have my notes and my general idea of where it needs to go and acouple things i've GOT TO hit plot- wise, but there's no script, no pre-drawing thumbnails or anything: i'm just "writing" it in comics form, words and pictures all at the same time, on the page in no particular order-- sort of working the beginning, middle and end of the issue at the same time, and then i put them all up on the wall so i can see the whole thing as i'm working on it.
anders nilsen came over to my studio once when he was in town and saw the set-up and said "wow, you put up all your pages too? i thought i was the only guy who did that...", and i was like "really? i just assumed EVERY cartoonist worked this way." maybe it's just cartoonists who grew up in minnesota, i don't know.
anyway, i'm constantly looking up and referring to it, and the whole thing gets worked pretty organically; sometimes i'll start hitting inks on a scene that i'm real sure about while maybe...i'm still in rough doodles on other parts. i just keep working the whole thing until until it gets to this point where...it's this odd thing where all of a sudden an issue turns from a collection of scenes that i HOPE will come together into what almost feels like an...algebraic equation. it just clicks into focus, it all makes sense.
i cant finish an issue until i get that thing. and god help me if i fake it.

4. do you compose the page as a whole or do you focus more on individual panel composition?

well, with the bass ackwards way i'm working now, it seems like i end up spending a LOT of time on just...composing the actual panel BORDERS, as weird as that sounds; i'm thinking about what's gonna go IN them, of course, but it seems to me like that's this skeleton of how i'm attempting to lead the reader (and myself) through the page and the story...seems like i spend a lot of time making slight shifts and balances, a little bigger, a litle smaller, to the left, etc etc.
and then there's always all this tweaking of the compositions within the panels as you go, and...i'm sure any cartoonist will say they try to work the overall page as a design while they work, but... it's always a balance: try to "design" your pages TOO MUCH, and the storytelling can suffer at the design's expense. don't pay enough attenton to the overall design of your page and it can look like unbalanced crud.
i just realized that i should be cartooning instead of writing about it.
too late now; it appears that i'm on a roll.
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> 5. what tools do you use (please list all)?
let's see: i somehow ended up using these 01 02 "Liner" brushes, where the brush fibers are about twice as long as the normal length. i have no idea how i landed on this, i guess i just picked some out of the "sale" barrel and came to to like the way they feel.
then i do my horrible lettering with a...well, issue 1 of Sammy was a standard Hunt 102 nib (but the japanese version, because the standard Hunts are FUCKING GARBAGE oh it makes me so mad...), on #2 i switched to a rapidograph, but nothing i do keeps it from looking shitty, so i'm semi-resigned to that (and totally opposed to computer lettering, so i'm screwed. and so are YOU, dear reader.). i keep switching ink, too; get it, let it sit on the radiator for 3 weeks, cry. get more. hear about different, better ink. cry.
i recently got one of those Pentel brush pens-- the P-10, and i love it so much i'm seriously considering doing the next issue with that. i love the way the thing feels, but i'm concerned about the ink; not dark enough, and can't get a good word on how archival the stuff in the cartridges is.
aside from that, the regular: .05 mechanical pencil, pentel stick erasers, pro white, an exacto for cutting out bad drawings, etc.
i used to use beer, as well.
and tears. buckets of tears.
(UPDATE: since i started writing this thing out-- about 2 MONTHS AGO now-- i've decided i'm gonna do the next issue with the Kaimei brush pen; the $30 version, not the $60. also, am trying out this Ph Martin's Pen White, which is about twice as expensive as the regular stuff, but seems to flow real well through a nib or whathaveyou, so i'm gonna give that a shot as well...)


6. what kind(s) of paper do you use?
the "process' i've developed is just so retarded: there's so many problems with it, but every time i try to change it, i just go back to the same thing...i suppose the things i like about it must outweigh the significant drawbacks, but...anyway.
like i said, lay it out and work it over on rag 14 x 17" marker paper, then i ink on transparent Vellum so i can shift and change composition on the fly or mess with my underdrawings.
i like the way the Vellum takes ink, but the ink does wrinkle and shrink it a bit, which sucks. i'd do this same process but substitute Bristol for the Vellum to avoid this problem, but the idea of lightboarding the whole thing makes my skull hurt.
so, that's my "black" or my line art on the Sammy stuff (which is actually just 100% opacity of the 2 Pantones i chose for the series...); then i make copy reductions of the pages to print size and do pencil/ graphite overlays for both my Blue and Brown plates (which gets all those in-between gradations)....convert them to duotone and comp it all together, and there's a finished page.
every time i describe it, it seems more absurd; i basically draw each page 3 times.

7. do you read a lot of comics? are you someone who reads comics and then gets exctied to make more comics---or is your passion for making comics not linked to any particular love for other comics?

i'm almost embarrassed by my love of reading comics.
not embarrased so much as...i'll go to the library and read crappy superhero comics (or, i'll try to, unless they're just TOO BAD to finish...) before i'll, you know, watch some dumb TV show. it used to be a very...serious thing for me, reading a comic, but now i find that... i guess it's really just an enjoyable way for me to take in information, whether it be high art or mindless junk culture (in either case, i'm glad society has "progressed" to the point where i no longer have to look at those ugly ADS glaring in my face in the middle of a story....LOST? i netflix it. comics, i wait til the book collection--with the junk, anyway. i know, it's heresy.).
ok i take some of that back. some stuff is still pretty irredemably bad, and i cant read it. but really that goes for comics of any stripe: some "indy" art- comics these days are as guilty as any other genre.
but All-Star Superman? in a HEARTBEAT, sir.

8. do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you support yourself, and how does this relate to your comics making process?

comics: nope.
maybe someday. it's better now than when i first sort of... really threw my hat in the ring, so to speak, but nothing near a liveable wage.
i was a musician for a living for many years, and i remember going through seattle on tour when i was thinking real hard about leaving my then-band, and having lunch with my pal (Fantagraphics books') Eric Reynolds, and saying to him "ok, tell me the truth: is it possible to make a living doing the kind of comics i do?", and his immediate and unequivocal response was "No."
it's one thing to hear that and another to find it out yourself.
being shit broke and working on your art when you're 25 is one thing: doing that while having a wife, kid, dog, car, and mortgage payments is a whole 'nother can of worms; you can kiss your freewheeling bohemian days goodbye for good, and welcome the pure terror of not having health insurance into your world. anyway, was barely, BARELY scraping out a bare minimum month to month, while slowly sliding into credit card debt.
this year i got offered (and took) a full-time job teaching comics at a college here in mpls, so i've got a salary, benefits, all that stuff at least temporarily ( and strangely, i'm getting comics projects done as well...).
and no; the irony of the situation is NOT lost on me.

9. do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?

no.
hell no.
for the first time in my life, i ENJOY making comics. there's nothing i'd rather do (art-wise).
i don't want to make movies (sorry, "Films"...), or make "Fine Art" (gggggrrrhh...). when comics are good, there's nothing better. nothing.
(...i made a record a while back, all by myself, which was...strangely enjoyable, but...maybe i spent too much time in that "industry"...)

10. what artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?

johnny p.
dylan williams and sparkplug. a lot of folks, really; some of whom i've know through 'zines or comics for... coming up on 20 years now i guess. but i don't think of it as "comics" or "'zines" per se, more like anything that comes down the pike that's got a certain... thing to it, be it comics or zines or art or music or whatever. the older i get the less specific it gets. johnny p. just emailed me an interview with Ian Mackaye, and i still just... think that guy and his take on the way to make your stuff and move through the world with it in an honest and sustainable, no- bullshit manner is still incredibly inspiring to me. same as when i was 16, and 22, and 28 and 35.
i still get horribly excited whenever i run into a... 'zine, or a comic, or a band or anything really that seems... like it's own thing, out of nowhere.
i'm not explaining this right; i feel that kinship with a lot of different folks, for a lot of different reasons.

11. is a community of artists important or not important to you?

it is. and it isn't.
there's really a lot of cartoonists here in minneapolis; it's kind of amazing. and for the most part, i really like seeing those folks. same with when i go to conventions like SPX or MOCCA or whatever, i feel the same way-- here's this group of folks, and some of 'em i've known in some capacity for almost 2 decades now; i'd be lying if i said there wasn't some snark and whathaveyou (seems to happen in any extended group...), but by and large it's great to see folks and see what they've been up to. REALLY great. even at San Diego Comic Con (and this year was my first), i have to say that despite the raw INSANITY of the thing i somehow had this inexplicable warm and fuzzy feeling about it all (even though that's a much more, uh...let's call it "varied" group than, say SPX or APE...).
with that said, the only cartoonist i talk to on a real regular basis is John P, and... we talk about comics sometimes, not all the time.
but when it comes to CREATING the stuff, it's just... deeply rooted in me that this is something you/ i do ALONE; the idea of sitting around drawing with other cartoonists is like...i can't get my head around it. for me, it's akin to trying to take a dump while someone's standing next to you; you could DO IT, i guess, but it doesn't sound like fun. for me.
knowing that stuff is out there, that people are in their rooms all over the world, scratching away... that IS important to me. very. it's like a shared experience of, uh, solitude. i see or talk to kevin huizenga once every 3 years, but...i know he's busting his tail, probably at this very moment, you know?
and, of course, i feel that with every single person who has done something with me on La Mano, on an extraordinarily deep level.

12. what is your parents/family's reaction to your work?

hard to say.
we should ask them.

13, what is more important to you---style or idea?
how about "STYLEdea"?

you know, i really...don't care, generally: what's important to me is that whatever it is has a considered and consistent internal logic and integrity to it, whether it's...you know, "naive" or beautifully rendered or cartoony or whatever. as long as it works. and something "working" is pretty non-quantifiable, really; if we could put a name on it, everybody would do it, right (and obviously, THAT'S not happening.).
i will say the one thing that brings out a real ugly side of me is my reaction to works that... are ALL STYLE; stuff that i feel are purposefully working in a "cool" trend or "movement" or whathaveyou. where, rather than searching out thier own thing, an artist consciously apes some current "trend". working through your influences is one thing, but that insincere, halfassed bullshit just makes me want to tear flesh.
maybe that's harsh...i guess i just think of bellbottoms or those outfits Duran Duran wore.
sure you look "cool" now, but eat too much of a trend and be prepared to get shit out the other end a decade later, clowny.
see? this is a bad side of me. we should move on.

14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?
these days, it's mostly...pretty great.
there's not a lot of room in my life for hand-wringing about it anymore... i just don't have the time.
so, even when it's a pain, it's... a pain that i'm CHOOSING, right? it's something that i GET TO DO, and that makes me a lucky guy, as cheeseball as that may sound...

15. when you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right away? do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?

16. do you feel at all connected to older comic artists like steve ditko or jack kirby---or does this seem like a foreign world to you?

i'm gonna answer both of these at once: i say i'm a cartoonist.
i think it's a lot easier to say that now than it was, say, 10 years ago; there's a lot more understanding of what a cartoonist is these days...it doesn't require a half-hour preamble of "NO, not like in the papers, and...no, not like superheroes either, and...not pornography, really...maybe...uh...". to be honest, my love and appreciation and AMAZEMENT re: Kirby seems to grow every year...i just read that "Strange And Stranger" book about Ditko, and his stuff too, is just...pretty fascinating, even when it's...um. unreadable.
obviously, what they do is so different from what i do that it's beyond description, but at the same time...i'm doing EXACTLY the same thing they did, somehow. i mean, King- Cat and...Devil Dinosaur. laugh all you want, but it's still comics, and i'd say there's way more in common between Johnny p and Kirby than Kirby and... Rob Liefield or whomever, you know?
it's this strange feeling of "belonging" to this thing that... i can't explain: like this club that chose YOU, not the other way around, and that nobody is quite comfortable yelling "HEY!! i'm a CARTOONIST!!!", because we all know it's a pack of weirdos. but at the same time, i'm real proud of it. it just takes a very specific type of wingnut to persevere in the seriously debased and pissed-upon form of comics, to continue at it when there's always a million reasons (...better money, recognition, fame, the respect of-- well, ANYONE....and just the semi- insane amount of consisitent EFFORT it takes to get a comic done...) to quit.
there's also this tradition of invisible people in an "industry" that's measured in its relative worth to, you know, kiddie porn or juvenilia or just plain old trash culture that i find insanely rich and fascinating (and also crushing and brutal): it's a history that encompasses everything from Schulz to Crumb to Kirby, to Herriman and Dirty Plotte and 'zine culture and punk and hippies and Al Capp yelling at John Lennon, and...well; rampant alcoholism.
it's like co-habiting the isle of misfit toys, but i'm honored to be part of that.
in no way am i putting myself in with any of the aforementioned geniuses in terms of my COMICS, but i do... i feel like a cartoonist; like, at the end of the day, i'm part of that.
when you describe yourself as a "Cartoonist", it means not just you but Segar and McCay and Deitch and Los Bros and Ware and Hankiewicz and Herb Trimpe and Briefer and Chris Cilla and...you get the picture, even if the person you are SAYING IT TO doesn't.
it's kind of a big deal, to me.

17. do you ever feel the impulse to not draw comics?

for most of my life, i had that impulse every 30 seconds.
now, it's never. ok not never; there's always some moments of debilitating horror and panic, but now that i'm 200 years old, it feels like i can work with some confidence that i'm going to come out the other side.
turns out the trick is that you just KEEP WORKING.

18. do you draw from life?
not nearly as much as i should, but yes.
i keep a sketchbook that turns over every couple years.
i wish i drew in it more.

19. do you pencil out comics and then ink? or do you sometimes not pencil?

i think i covered that pretty well earlier, but...
no, i never just go straight to ink. there's always something there, underneath.

20. what does your drawing space look like?

as if i haven't rattled on long enough already, a word about my "drawing space"; i rent a space that also holds the La Mano offices, print shop, warehouse, and shipping area. it's about the size of a garage, and i've got a small space in back cordoned off for drawing.
i'd always thought that having a "studio" away from home was a frivolous waste of $ (i.e. "if you can't do it at home, you're a SISSY!"), but found that, at least for me, working at home was just a world of distractions (and this was BEFORE i had a son running around like a maniac...) and excuses. i found that when i was actually paying $ to have a space devoted to this thing i called my "work", 2 things happened: 1) there was no longer any excuses or distractions and 2) the fact of paying $ for this space filled me with such guilt that i HAD TO use the space wisely to justify that expense. it might just be a psychological distinction, but my studio is now the place i go to WORK, and it's made a world of difference in my productivity.
so there.
i had to write that all out because everyone else's drawing spaces are, like, on their beds or the floor and it makes me feel like a ....maharajah, or the secretary of funnybook defense or something.

Tom Neely

Tom Neely has been doing comics for quite sometime, but most people know him from his comic the Blot. Neely refined the best parts of his cartooning for that book, and it was appropriately well received. He's also an accomplished illustrator and painter. Find more of his work here:
www.iwilldestroyyou.com

1. can you describe your drawing routine---how often you draw, how many hour
per day---how you break up the day with drawing?

It varies. I try to draw a little bit every day, but sometimes "real" work gets in the way. On a good day I go to the studio around 9 am and I spend 3 or 4 hours drawing or writing. Morning is always better for my creative brain and usually the phone doesn't start ringing with freelance work until after noon. After lunch I go do my freelance animation work. Most of the animation work is done on the computer, so it doesn't satisfy my drawing needs. Some days I have to much animation work and I don't draw at all. Those are usually bad days.

2. how much revision/editing do you do in you work?

I spend a lot of time thinking about my art before I execute it. I make lots of loose notes and ideas in sketchbooks and my brain. My sketchbooks have more notes than drawing in them. I think I do all the editing in that thinking phase. Then when I start to create I turn off the editor brain and try to draw in a free and spontaneous way. I like to keep the drawing part more stream of conscious and without too much critical thought. After the drawing, my editor brain turns back on and I'll spend a lot of time looking at it and thinking about it and figuring out what I did and if it's any good.

3. talk about your process---do you write a script or make up the drawing as
you go?

It's different with every thing I do. With The Blot, it grew out of a random series of paintings. I then started to see a story forming and I spent a lot of time working on a thumb-nail outline for the book. I then spent the next several months reading and editing that. Then I did the full size pencils as a final edit and finally inked it all.

I'm currently working on three very different books and all of them are using completely different writing methods. The first is completely free-form. It's loosely based on a series of paintings I did, but I'm writing it as I draw it. I'm drawing pages that may not make it into the book. Drawing whatever idea seems to work and when it's all drawn I'll edit it into something that makes sense. For the next book, I've been working on a heavily detailed outline for over a year. I'm almost ready to start the "thumb-nail" sketches for it, but I keep revising my outline. It's a very complicated story and has taken many different incarnations over time, but it's finally starting to feel like the right story and I'm excited to draw it. The third book is a series of short auto-bio stories that are completely different from anything I've done. I'm actually scripting them and doing more detailed pencil drafts. I think this series is probably the most "traditional" approach to making comics. It's interesting to try different methods for different ideas.

4. do you compose the page as a whole or do you focus more on individual
panel composition?

I think about the entire book as a composition. I think about how every panel falls on the page and how every page falls in the book. I want to plan how the timing works for every page turn to reveal something new. I think about how pages will look next to each other and where space is needed between pages. It's like the whole book is one continuous painting and the whole thing has to work harmoniously together.

5. what tools do you use (please list all)?

Isabey series 62272 #3 watercolor brush is my favorite brush. Sometimes I use the fancy Winsor Newton Series 7 brushes, but I always end up preferring the Isabey. I've been experimenting with some synthetic brushes because I have vegan-guilt over the sable brushes, but I've yet to find a synthetic that works as well for me.
Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star "Matte" India ink is my favorite ink. I also use Bombay colored inks for different things (like the red guys in The Blot). I've recently started using Rotring Rapidograph technical pens for some detail stuff, but normally everything is inked with a brush. I'll pencil with any old pencil that's laying around, but lately I've enjoyed some cheap Staedtler mechanical pencils for when I'm feeling too lazy to sharpen a regular one. I love Sanford Magic Rub erasers. I have a weird thing with other erasers- they give me an unpleasant tingly feeling when I rub them on paper. But the Magic Rubs don't do that to me. Holbein and Old Holland watercolors. Watercolor masking fluid. And one of my favorite tools is a big soft brush for dusting the eraser crumbs off the page because I hate doing that with my hand.

6. what kind(s) of paper do you use?

I usually use Strathmore 300 series Cold Press watercolor paper for my comics. It's fairly inexpensive and I like the tooth of that paper. For painting I use Arches watercolor paper. I really like the thick 400 lb rough paper, but it's expensive, so I only use that for art that will be in a gallery show. I use various sizes of moleskin sketchbooks and usually have 3 or 4 of them going at a time for different projects.

7. do you read a lot of comics? are you someone who reads comics and then
gets excited to make more comics---or is your passion for making comics not
linked to any particular love for other comics?

I read comics all the time. All kinds of comics. Today I bought some X-Men comics and that big Krazy Kat volume. I look forward to every Wednesday when I'll meet some friends for lunch and a trip to the comic shop to see what's new. And every time I go to a comic convention I come home with a suitcase full of new comics that I'm excited about. I usually come home from a convention inspired by all the cartoonists I have been hanging out with. But I don't necessarily find inspiration within comics to make my own comics. Making my comics is a more personal, isolated experience. When I'm writing my own comics, I usually stop reading any other comics and focus on my own ideas. Or I'll read some mindless super-hero stuff that I know won't influence me. So, I'm inspired by other comics, but they don't directly inspire my work.

8. do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you support yourself, and
how does this relate to your comics making process?

Sometimes I wish that I made comics for a living. But most of the time I'm glad that I don't. I'm glad that I have a "day-job" that is not totally related to my artistic pursuits. My day-job is doing a lot of freelance animation work for Disney and Nickelodeon and other clients. I spend half the day making 30 second animation clips of Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse that will appear on Japanese cell phones. It's a soul-sucking grind sometimes, but it is different enough from my personal work that it doesn't use the same creative energy. Freelancing allows me lots of time to make my own art, and I'm very grateful for that. Sometimes I'm tempted to try to make it as a full time "Artist" but I know that that will come with a lot of sacrifices and compromises that I'm not willing to make. But wouldn't it be nice to just do what you wanna do all the time and not have to worry about a job? I dream of that happening someday, but I can't complain about my current situation to much.

9. do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?

Yeah... I'm often distracted by the allure of the "Fine Arts" and I try to do gallery shows with paintings and stuff. But every time I go down that road, I end up realizing that I prefer the world of comics. I've had a couple of brief peaks in my gallery career, but I'm always more satisfied with what I do in comics. Last year was an interesting year- I had my first graphic novel and my first solo gallery show around the same time. Both were personal successes, but to compare the two I'd say I enjoyed the graphic novel experience way more than the gallery experience. That seems to be a pattern with me. I went to art school for painting and ended up doing comics. I have a few art shows and I end up happier with comics. I'm beginning to think I should give up the painting stuff and just do comics... but the paintings often end up being the inspiration for the comics. Dealing with galleries is a big head-ache and I really hate the way that system works. When you make comics, you're in control of everything. It's much better. I'm also obsessed with music and I wish that I had more talent for that. But my brother got all the musical talent and I got the visual art talent.

10. what artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?

"Kinship" is a weird thing because it implies some kind of mutual relationship. But the following artists are a constant inspiration and I only hope that one day I'll be as great as they are. Off the top of my head: Rene Magritte, Lucien Freud, Philip Guston, George Grosz, Egon Schielle, James Ensor, Herman Melville, Albert Camus, Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka, George Herriman, Floyd Gottfredson, Otto Nuckel, Lynd Ward, Renee French, Anders Nilsen, Zack Sally, John Hankiewicz, David King and many, many more.

11. is a community of artists important or not important to you?

That's a tough one. It's weird living in L.A. where there are so many great cartoonists, but we are so far apart and I never see any of them. The only local cartoonist I have regular contact with is Levon Jihanian. A few years ago we started an "art fraternity" called The Igloo Tornado. It was a lot of fun to meet regularly to critique, support and drink beer with each other. We also had a couple of art shows together. I think it is good to be around other artists because they understand you better than non-artists. But it can also be frustrating because all artists think differently. Every time I go to a comic convention and I get to hang out with other cartoonists, it's so inspiring and exciting. But sometimes I don't know whether a local community of cartoonists would inspire me to do more work or distract me from doing that work. I think about moving to Portland all the time. I'd love to be a part of that cartoonist community.

12. what is your parents/family's reaction to your work?

My parents have always been a great support of my interest in art for as long as I can remember. My dad is an English/Lit Professor and he always encouraged me to read interesting books. My mother was always encouraging creative activities like drawing and making puppets or costumes when I was a kid. She always encouraged any creative idea I had and I'm so grateful that they encouraged my love of art. Today they are still very supportive of what I do artistically. I'm not sure if they completely understand what I'm doing, but they are always behind me 100%. I love talking to my dad about books. I think he's read everything. A few weeks ago my dad was helping me cut up some boxes for the recycling bin and we discussed the anti-church themes of Moby Dick and whether or not Herman Melville was gay. How cool is that? For the past several years I've been giving them graphic novels for x-mas so they have a better understanding of what I do. My dad is now a huge fan of Joe Sacco, but my mom thinks I can draw better than any of today's cartoonists (even better than Chris Ware!).

13, what is more important to you---style or idea?

I'll usually take idea over style. I have known many artists who have great style but no ideas and they bore me. Ideas, even without style, can be inspiring. I can read a poorly drawn comic with good writing and be happy. But a poorly written comic with great art can be very disappointing. Sometimes I think people give style more credit than it deserves. It's like fashion. It might look great, but that doesn't mean it has any substance. Style gives you a more immediate reaction, so people tend to be more attracted to that. I think the best art and comics have an integrated use of style and idea. I strive for both in my own work.

14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?

When I'm not drawing it's a pain. I will spend days avoiding it. Making art is a really hard process for me because I think about it so much. I often find myself very intimidated by the act of drawing. I'll agonize over every reason not to do it. I sometimes have weeks go by with no drawing and I start to get really depressed and listless. The longer I go without drawing, the harder it is to start, and the more depressed I get. When I start getting stressed or depressed I'll forget why I feel that way. Then my wife will tell me "Go out to your studio and draw!" And as soon as I pick up a pencil or dip the brush in ink, I'm the happiest I've ever been. I love the feel of dragging a brush full of ink across a toothy sheet of paper. That's pure pleasure.


15. when you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right away?
do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?

I don't usually offer it up right away. For my whole life I was always uncomfortable defining myself as an "artist" or "cartoonist." I didn't know which term to use or if I was worthy enough to call myself by such a title. But lately, when I'm at a random social event full of "normal" people who have "normal"careers like marketing or computers, I often find myself anxious for someone to ask me "What do you do?" After years of uncertainty, now that I have a couple of books out, I find it very satisfying to answer "I'm a cartoonist."

16. do you feel at all connected to older comic artists like steve ditko or
jack kirby---or does this seem like a foreign world to you?

I love everything they did. I grew up on that stuff and I will always think of that as "real" comics. But I don't feel any connection to it artistically. One thing I get from them is the inspiration to work really hard at what you love to do. I always have this vision of Jack Kirby being this insane, steam-roller of a cartoonist who never stopped drawing. I like to think this constant output lead to his more insane concepts like The Tomorrow People and Teen Turbo (the Saturday morning cartoon about a kid who turns into a car when he gets hot and bothered). I'm always inspired by the quantity and the quality of the work these guys were able to accomplish. But knowing what it's like to work for a studio makes me sad to think that such immense talents were exploited for corporate schlock. How different would the world of comics be today if Kirby and Ditko had been completely untethered? But they were a different kind of artist with different goals and ideas. So, I don't feel much of a connection.

17. do you ever feel the impulse to not draw comics?

NO. I've wanted to draw comics since the first time I saw a comic book. I made my first comic book when I was 6 yrs old. I've made side trips into painting and animation, but I always come back to comics. COMICS!!!

18. do you draw from life?

Yes. I think life-drawing is an important fundamental to everything. I draw from life all the time. I also look at a lot of anatomy books and study how the body works. Even though I draw cartoony characters, I like to think about how their muscles and bones would work. But life-drawing is part of a process. I'll draw something from life, then draw something from that drawing. And on and on... By the time it becomes a finished piece, it is very far removed from the original source, but it is still informed by the original life drawing.

19. do you pencil out comics and then ink? or do you sometimes not pencil?

I always pencil, but my pencils are really, really loose. Sometimes my pencils are just stick figures to lay out the composition of the page. I like to reserve a lot of spontaneity for the inking.

20. what does your drawing space look like?

Delay

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't posted anything here in a little bit. I have a bunch of interviews ready to go and they are all really good. But I have just been so busy lately with a million little things---working on deadlines for my own comics! But don't worry. More interviews by the end of the week.

Jesse Reklaw

Jesse Reklaw was one of the first cartoonsits I ever met, and I often think of him as one of the most underrated cartoonsits working today (although, with a recent Ignatz win and appearences in Best American Comics, this will hopefully soon change). His work is amazingly consistent in its exection...but, more importantly, Reklaw is a first rate storyteller. He's probably best known for his online dream comic strip Slow Wave: www.slowwave.com. A collection of the strip, entitled The Night of Your Life, was recently published by Dark Horse.

Above is a work in progress page by Jesse.

1. can you describe your drawing routine---how often you draw, how many hour
per day---how you break up the day with drawing?


I wish I could draw every day--it does make me feel better. But too
often office work (email, publicity, accounting, mailing, and various
business arrangements) prevent that. I also spend a lot of time fussing
over the writing portion of my comics, sometimes doing a lot of
research and outlining before I actually do the thumbnailing/drawing.
But once I have the material written/thumbnailed, I can put myself on a
drawing schedule and work 8-12 hours a day for weeks. I just started a
daily diary comic that I've been posting on Flickr, so that's made me
draw for at least an hour every day, which is cool.


2. how much revision/editing do you do in you work?


I think I'm in the mid-high range. I don't have as much of a process
as Charles Burns or Peter Bagge, with all the transparencies and
stages. But I do flip my drawings and rotate them to "see with fresh
eyes." I'm jealous of people like Jaime Hernandez and Hellen Jo who
seem to have a natural harmony and integrity to their forms. I guess
I should allow myself to draw looser and sloppier, but I haven't
found the right style yet that works for me. As for the writing, it's
mostly the same...


3. talk about your process---do you write a script or make up the drawing as
you go?


I've been trying to write in thumbnails lately, so that I can start
thinking about panel transitions and layouts from the beginning.
Because of that, it forces me to hit the page with immediate text
that often survives the final edit. But I do sometimes switch to
longhand and work some stuff out. I'm no T. Edward Bak though--I've
seen him generate reams of text that end up in the recycle bin.


4. do you compose the page as a whole or do you focus more on individual
panel composition?


I think I'm more interested in 2- and 3-panel transitions lately, and
I focus mostly on the rhythm of rows (or tiers). Sometimes I get an
idea that's just a couple panels in length and later I need to fit
them into overall pages. I try to stick to a three tier structure in
my pages, so I can add in a row if necessary. I do like to use overall
page designs, but I often sacrifice design for rhythm/timing. Full-page
timing is importlant too!


5. what tools do you use (please list all)?


Canson sketchbook for thumbnails, sketches, and ideas;
Mechanical pencil (0.5mm 2H) on typing paper for layouts;
Speedball 5A (lettering) nib for inking, in Higgins Black Magic;
Strathmore drawing paper and a light table (that I stole from my
dad in 1989 when I moved out) for inking;
Various erasers (pink pearl, Sakura & Staedtler white plastic);
Corrections with a Sakura white gel pen and a pigment pen.
I try out different materials sometimes... spray paint, acrylic,
collage, rubber stamps, watercolor, printing out pencils in
blueline on Bristol with Andrice's inkjet printer, brushes,
sharpened sticks... but mostly I stick to what I'm comfortable
with.


6. what kind(s) of paper do you use?


Besides what's above, I sometimes use hot press watercolor paper
for my color comics. I don't know the brand... I buy big sheets
at an art store and cut them down myself.


7. do you read a lot of comics? are you someone who reads comics and then
gets excited to make more comics---or is your passion for making comics not
linked to any particular love for other comics?


I went through a phase in my early twenties where I didn't read
many comics, and I definitely regret it. The older I get the more
I'm able to dedicate my life to reading comics, watching movies,
and reading books; this has been great for me as an artist. I guess
sometimes I get excited when I'm reading a comic, but this tells me
I should put the comic down and start making my own, otherwise I'll
ruin the experience of reading.


8. do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you support yourself, and
how does this relate to your comics making process?


You call this a living?! I had a day job 2001-2002, and since then
I've done a fair amount of illustration and painting to supplement
my income, but mostly it's been comics. I'm also $30k in debt
though.


9/ do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?


When I was 22 I felt the need to focus, and I decided I could juggle
three things: comics, acrylic painting, and bass guitar. It's been
mostly the same ever since, though I kind of switched to watercolor,
and I like singing and playing guitar now too. Comics is the main deal
though.


10. what artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?


I felt a deep connection with the Dadaists when I was a young man,
but a lot of that surrealistic stuff seems like a cop out to me
now, partly since absurdism is acceptable and doesn't inspire
audiences to hurl chairs at you anymore. I like a little surrealism
(and humor) in comics, movies, books, painting, and music though.
Dan Clowes, Jim Woodring, Julie Doucet, and Gilbert Hernandez have
been some of my biggest influences, but as far as kinship I feel a
great affinity for David Lasky and Dylan Williams -- two people who
spent some time in the SF Bay Area comics scene in the early 90s
and for whatever reasons have yet to really "hit it big." No offense
to them of course... maybe they're both on the cusp, what with
David's new book deal and Sparkplug growing by leaps and bounds.


11. is a community of artists important or not important to you?


Very important. I have this embarrassing list in my sketchbook from
1996 where I wrote down names of all the cartoonists roughly my age
and where they lived, trying to get an idea of cartoonist communities,
trying to see where I fit in...? I think I wanted to start some
multi-state jam comic project as a way of connecting myself to everyone.
When I moved back to Berkeley/San Francisco in 2000, I finally found
the community I had been craving (after living in Connecticut for five
years).


12. what is your parents/family's reaction to your work?


My hippie parents have always been supportive, though my mom
definitely doesn't get my work. Dad usually has some compliment
about the formal aspect of the design/layout, but rarely the
story/meaning. Unless it's a story about him being a jerk when
I was a kid, in which case he's got some wounded monologue about
how he suffered, had no choice, etc.


13, what is more important to you---style or idea?


The very existence of this question makes me suspicious of my own
convictions. I want to immediately answer "idea," but maybe you
know something I don't know about style... is the style actually
the relevant attribute, since "all stories have already been told"?
I don't know. It seems to me comics are, fundamentally, a narrative
art form. And what is narrative but ideas in the fourth dimension?


14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?


I love drawing! It can be trying sometimes though, when things don't
look on paper as they do in my imagination. I think at that point
though it's just the result of creative laziness and excessive ego.


15. when you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right away?
do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?


I guess I admit to being a cartoonist but it still feels awkward
most of the time. I don't bring it up and usually try to change
the subject.


16. do you feel at all connected to older comic artists like steve ditko or
jack kirby---or does this seem like a foreign world to you?


I often feel like I shouldn't be a cartoonist because I don't love
all the artists other people love, whether it's Silver Age champions
like Kirby and Ditko, or early 20th century masters like McCay and
Herriman. I can look at that stuff and glean some technical tricks,
but I don't feel a connection like I do with underground comics in
the late 60s and 70s, like those by Crumb and Spiegelman. Comics
from that era onward have a mature sensibility and elevated
consciousness that I can relate to.



17. do you ever feel the impulse to not draw comics?


Sadly, no. Comics will be the death of me.


18. do you draw from life?


If I'm having trouble with something or I feel my drawings from
memory are getting stale, I'll do some sketching from life. But
then I try to regularize things and adapt them to comics.


19. do you pencil out comics and then ink? or do you sometimes not pencil?


Rarely I've tried not forgo penciling (and planning), and I've
always been frustrated with the result. I think I'm a better
penciler than an inker.


20. what does your drawing space look like?

Trevor Alixopulos

Trevor Alixopulos is the Santa Rosa based cartoonist behind the books Mine Tonight and the recent Ignatz nominated graphic novel The Hot Breath of War. I love Trevors drawing style...his self published mini Nil from the late 90s was an early favorite of mine when I started reading mini comics. I've always thought of him as one of the most stylistically disctinctive cartoonists around.

You can get his books from Sparkplug comic books:
www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com

Here is his blog:
http://www.hautejunk.blogspot.com/

1. can you describe your drawing routine---how often you draw, how
many hour per day---how you break up the day with drawing?


On my way to work, mid-morning, I usually get coffee and draw
somewhere for an hour, I tend to be more creative when I'm just waking
up or before I go to sleep, to that end I'll sometimes draw at home
late at night. Weekends I'll ride out to some place to work, I had a
good spot in a bookstore cafe for awhile that was private and had some
magic coffee that always gave me good ideas, but now it's closed and I
have to make do with other places. I think it's good to be a little
superstitious as an artist, to go with what works even if isn't
rational. I usually work for three or four hours a day on weekends,
more if I'm in the middle of a project.


2. how much revision/editing do you do in you work?


Mostly I try to edit in the thumbnails, before I've committed ink to
paper, because it's much more painful to make changes afterwards. I
will still sometimes tweak lines of dialogue or ruthlessly shitcan
whole pages if they're not working out in the final draft.


3. talk about your process---do you write a script or make up the
drawing as you go?

With THBOW I diagrammed out what I wanted the book to look like
beforehand, sort an exploded visual Cliff's Notes. That's the concept
stage, then I thumbnail out the pages on scrap paper, I can't write
prose separate from the images, they come together. Then I draw what
will be the final pages in my sketchbook.

4. do you compose the page as a whole or do you focus more on
individual panel composition?

I focus mostly on the quality of line and the rhythm of story, page
composition is sort of an afterthought, a gloss, frippery. To my way
of thinking, the reader and I are following one unbroken line
throughout a book. I can appreciate thoughtful page composition, but
it's not a major concern in my own work.


5. what tools do you use (please list all)?

I work in pen and ink, usually an Esterbrook 369 Maritime, 788 Oval Point or a Nikko
N-G nib. Ink: Speedball Superblack or PH Martins. Micron pens for
lettering. Mechanical pencils. Pentel White Out Pen. China marker for greys. I feel like I wasted a lot of time trying to use the wrong
tools and thinking I had less talent then I did merely because I was
using tools that weren't right for me. I'd recommend beginning artists
experiment with different tools, it's true that you can get good with
any tool but it's also possible to invest too much skill in the the
wrong one.


6. what kind(s) of paper do you use?

I draw in a Watson-Guptill sketchbook, it has nice paper. Pretty much
any paper that's smooth, lets the pen glide, and takes ink well works
for me. I used to draw on Bristol but it didn't feel as natural as
working in my sketchbook, the art looked stiff, and I got performance
anxiety because it was expensive and I didn't want to screw up and
have to buy more paper.

7. do you read a lot of comics? are you someone who reads comics and
then gets ectied to make more comics---or is your passion for making
comics not linked to any particular love for other comics?

I don't read as much comics as I used to, for pure entertainment value
I'm more likely to pick up a nonfiction book than a comic. But I do
find myself reading comics in this "professional capacity." Either for
inspirational purposes, like "I love how this person draws, I want to
be inspired and maybe pick up some of that." Or for aspirational or
competitive purposes, "I know what this person is trying to do and I
bet I can do it at least as good or better." I don't read much comics
while I'm working on something but in the times inbetween it can be
very helpful, to give me a jolt of energy.

8. do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you support
yourself, and how does this relate to your comics making process?

I don't make money in comics really, I have a part-time day job in the
periodicals department of a library. I live pretty cheaply, I can't
afford cable tv or fancy electronic I-doodads, which at least
eliminates distractions. But it in turn makes me a bit alienated from
mass culture, which shows up in my art, for good or ill. As part of my
job I read lots of different magazines, from many disparate fields,
and I think that maybe helps give me some perspective beyond my lifes
station.


9/ do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?

I have this desperate, visceral connection with music, probably more
than any other art. But I've never had any talent in it, which I
sometimes regret because it has so much more value to people than
comics. Maybe someday I'll have some breakthrough in it, it's almost
like those dreams where you dream you can fly and when you wake up you
almost think you remember how. That's how music feels for me. I much
prefer the company of cartoonists to musicians, however. Cartoonists
are pretty much the best.

10. what artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?

Very few I guess, but there's much art that I can love and admire
without relating very personally to. I guess I'm less likely to feel a
kinship with an artist than I am with some stranger buying a roll of
brawny in Walgreens at 1am. The work of expressionists like Grosz and
Beckmann feels very familiar to me. I can relate to the restless,
searching qualities of Kevin Huizenga's and Eddie Campbell's comics,
the play of line and form in Dylan Horrock's and Vaness Davis's pages.
This might not be a kinship exactly, but Lynda Barry is one of those
artists who will produce a turn of phrase or an idea that seems like
it's been always laying in wait inside me, but never vocalized.




11. is a community of artists important or not important to you?
It's really nice to be around other cartoonists, it's helpful to be
around people of the same temperament. Just being able to talk about
artistic concerns that were private and seemingly shameful was a real
revelation. I think having spent periods with a lot of feedback and
bolstering from other cartoonists was really beneficial for me. Not
having that so much today might be a detriment, but at some point you
do have to rise or fall on your own.




12. what is your parents/family's reaction to your work?

My parents and family are very supportive , I can't say I've hashed
out any thorough reactions from them. People in general have such
hectic lives and complicated pasts that I'm surprised when anyone can
engage with my work, regardless if they're related to me.



13, what is more important to you---style or idea?

Of course there's plenty of ideas within style, but it's more
important to have the right idea than the right style.


14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?

Drawing is usually fun, it varies from a cheerful lark when I'm
doodling to serious pleasure when I'm in the middle of a story and on
a roll. When it's good, it's amazing, exhilarating and relaxing at the
same time.




15. when you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right
away? do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?

I think there's other interesting things about me besides being an
artist, so I don't necessarily lead off with that. If someone asks I
say i'm a cartoonist, unless they've already made such a bad
impression on me that I want the conversation to be brief and
painless. I think it's good for people to be told you're a cartoonist,
because whenever someone asks if I am one it's in this wary, skittish
way. Like I'm going to be offended! "Um, so what do I call what you
do...is it ok to say cartoonist?" So I think it's cool to reassure
people.



16. do you feel at all connected to older comic artists like steve
ditko or jack kirby---or does this seem like a foreign world to you?

I grew up reading them, and I love both Ditko and Kirby's profligacy,
they both were capable of drawing from the mundane to the surreal. But
that admiration is tempered by their isolation into what at this point
to me is a depressing, tedious genre. It's hard to see the great work
those men produced through this patina of phony nostalgia that's built
up since. I also find inspiration in the strange newspaper strips
earlier in the 20th Century, Feininger, Herriman, McManus, Messmer are
all inspiring to me.




17. do you ever feel the impulse to not draw comics?

I love to draw and I can't imagine ever stopping. Having said that,
there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of never drawing
comics again.



18. do you draw from life?

My casual doodling is a mix of drawing from observation and from
memory/imagination. I took figure drawing classes every semester in
school. It's hard to estimate how important that is, even if
you're not drawing realistic comics it helps to discipline your eyes.


19. do you pencil out comics and then ink? or do you sometimes not pencil?

Sometimes it's direct to ink and others I'll lightly block in the
image with a mechanical pencil beforehand. I like the free,
spontaneous feeling of attacking the page directly with ink, that
dynamic war between black and white. Even when I'm pencilling before,
I try to leave myself room to improvise. The art I've that done that I
find most compelling is work that gives up control and then can
casually reassert it. There's a grace to it that is very satisfying.



20. what does your drawing space look like?

Julia Wertz

Julia Wertz is the cartoonist behind The Fart Party, the only online comic I read. Not only is her strip really funny, but she has a really under appreciated talent for creating a real "character" in the strip. The comic is, for all intents and purposes, auto-bio but I like it because it's such a saga. Anyone interested should pick it up in print form, since it's more fun that way.

Julia always tells me to format the links on this blog so that you dont have to cut and paste them, but here I am, ignoring her in her very own entry:

www.fartparty.org

1. can you describe your drawing routine---how often you draw, how many hour per day---how you break up the day with drawing?

I probably end up drawing about every other day and doing computer work and real work on the days in between. Some weeks I won't draw at all, sometimes I'll draw all day. I break up the day with the internet, which is the biggest time waster ever. I'm so relieved that scrabulous was killed. It existed solely to taunt us procrastinators.

2. how much revision/editing do you do in you work?

Not nearly enough.

3. talk about your process---do you write a script or make up the drawing as you go?

I don't write scripts to the extent that they look like scripts or thumbnails. I mostly scribble a few lines on the back of the paper and it forms in my head. Most of the time I make up the drawings as I go, but sometimes a whole comic will be inspired by a singular image I thought up randomly.

4. do you compose the page as a whole or do you focus more on individual panel composition?

Mostly as a whole, if I'm working on Fart Party. If I'm working on one of my San Francisco mini comics, I work on each panel individually as a separate piece.

5. what tools do you use (please list all)?

Mechanical pencils and Pitt pens.. Rotring Art Pens look like shit but I love the way it feels to write with them. When I'm ink washing I use those portable watercolor brushes filled with basic non-waterproof fountain pen India ink and water. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect pen, but I suspect most people always are.

6. what kind(s) of paper do you use?

I really like the Strathmore windpower paper, but I usually just end up using regular crappy paper from the dollar store. For ink washes I use Bristol.

7. do you read a lot of comics? are you someone who reads comics and then gets ectied to make more comics---or is your passion for making comics not linked to any particular love for other comics?

I read more "real" books than comics. The ratio is probably 10 to 1. I'm often more inspired by literature, but I think that's just because I read it more than comics. I love comics and find them often inspiring, but until they create the dollar racks for comics at the Strand, I will always read more literature.

8. do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you support yourself, and how does this relate to your comics making process?

I make enough that I can work part time and do comic projects part time, but right now I'm unemployed and because I have to do so much traveling, I can't get another job until after the new year, so things are looking a little grim. However, when I am working (usually some crappy coffee shop/server/bartender gig) I find that I'm more inspired to draw daily comics because I'm out there in the "real" world, not sitting at home staring at the computer. But sitting at home has it's merits too. I find it easier to reflect on the past and draw material from it since there isn't much in the present going on to stimulate the "must get this on paper now" feeling.

9/ do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?

Hm…I tried to think of an art form besides music that I found more attractive (not aesthetically) but I really can't think of one. I'm just so drawn to the combination of art and literature that it's hard to think of a medium that I like more.

10. what artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?

This is going to sound so junior high, but I often feel a (one way) kinship with music. Music is one of those things that is always there, especially if you're an ipod/walkman junkie, and nothing can transport you so quickly back to another time in your life as can one specific song. When I latch onto certain tones and lyrics of a musician or band, it's hard to not feel connected to them. I have an almost obsessive love for Okkervil River. I don't even know if they're good or not, I can't tell anymore, I just listened to them a lot during difficult times over the last few years.
As for artists, I tend to feel a kinship with every lonely, frustrated cartoonist. Even though my first book is all about a relationship and it has disgustingly cutsey moments, I don't feel a kinship to other relationship comics at all. I didn't even feel connected to them when I was in a relationship, I've always liked the solo thing. But that lonely, frustrated cartoonist bit can get really fucking tiring, so I always love a good gag joke or humorous strips.
I also feel a kinship with photography. I think it's absolutely amazing to take one split second and freeze it on paper forever. I think I try to do that with some of my comics, but it's not nearly as inspiring as seeing it in a spontaneous form that is often more or less of a beautiful accident.

11. is a community of artists important or not important to you?

While I absolutely love the comics people I've met over the past few years, I don't think they are important to my comic. In fact I think that my (fart party) comics often suffer due to that because I'll get hung up on some technical art thing or comic rules that aren't really relevant to my style, but there are other projects I'm working on now where cartoonists friends have definitely helped in terms of artistic advice. However I've always worked very independently so I tend to just enjoy a community of artists for the down time, for grabbing beers or drawing at cafes. This whole 20 questions thing kind of boils that right down, as in there's no way my non-artists friends will have any interest in reading this, but my artists friends will, so they're both important in different ways.

12. what is your parents/family's reaction to your work?

My mom HATED it at first, now she understands what I'm trying to do with it. I can't blame her though, for example, one comic people often cite as their favorite is the "Diarrhea Mask" where I'm at my first dinner with my mom's husband's kids and I inappropriately explain to everyone what a diarrhea mask is. Of course my mom was appalled, so to see it in comic form was even worse for her. To her, that comic was just another disgusting poop joke. To me, it represented the way I was struggling to connect this new family at a time in my life when I was a little too old to be dealing with that, but not old enough that I was able to think before I spoke and embarrassed my mom. But she eventually came around and now she emails to tell me what strips she likes.
My extended family is really religious and they all think I'm going to hell. Seriously, they send me emails telling me that and try to get me back into religion. They corner me at family gatherings and preach at me. At one point it was so bad that my mom even confronted them and told them to back off. Because their kids are all safely married, having babies and working in the church, they think me and my brothers are all "lost lambs of Christ." hahaha I'm laughing as I type this.


13, what is more important to you---style or idea?

Idea. Without a solid idea, the style is irrelevant, it's just a pretty thing to look at. I love pretty things to look at, but those aren't the things that I connect with or that I find inspiring. That's the main issue I have with "art comics." I don't connect to them at all besides being pleased aesthetically. They don't have substance to me, they don't have an idea I can work with or mull over in my head.

14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?

A pleasure. I love drawing. However, I despise doing things like laying out my drawings in Adobe to make a mini comic. That's five different kinds of pain in the ass.

15. when you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right away? do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?

I don't really see myself as an artist, I see myself more as a jack of many trades and a master of none, so to present myself as an artist would be a fallacy. I wrote a lot before I found my calling to comics, so I often consider myself more of a writer. But then again, I don't write as much as real writers, so that's kind of a fallacy too. Fuck, um, I don't know. I'm a bum.

16. do you feel at all connected to older comic artists like steve ditko or jack kirby---or does this seem like a foreign world to you?

It definitely feels foreign to me. I know a lot of cartoonists would judge me for that, but I'm still fairly unschooled in the comics world. I tend to draw more inspiration from contemporary, alternative comics. I'm not into superhero comics, art comics, abstract comics and I attribute that to my reading more literature than comics. I'm fascinated by the past, but I want to work with the material at hand, with what is going on right now. Although that said, I do feel a connection to a lot of older and/or dead writers.

17. do you ever feel the impulse to not draw comics?

Absolutely. I'm always threatening (to myself) to quit Fart Party. But then as soon as something happens, I'm right back at the drawing board. And I have a feeling that someday I might get too frustrated with comics and go back to writing. But then I'll get tired of that and go back to comics. it's a cycle and I feel impulses to go in all different directions.

18. do you draw from life?

Yeah. I hate drawing people but I love drawing cities. I love drawing buildings and cafes and store fronts and houses, sidewalks and trashcans and garbage. I love drawing people's kitchens and workspaces and bookshelves. Periodically I try to force myself to draw people, but I get frustrated really fast and give up. I find THINGS to be more fascinating that PEOPLE, but that is probably just a reflection of my artistic insecurity and failures.

19. do you pencil out comics and then ink? or do you sometimes not pencil?

I pencil when it's a "real" comic, but when I do my traveling stick figure comics I don't pencil.

20. what does your drawing space look like?

Sarah Glidden

Sarah Glidden is the breakout talent of 2008. Her mini comic, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or less, won an Ignatz award for promising new talent. She is currently turning the mini into a novel for Vertigo. Sarah is relatively new to comics, but you wouldn't know it from her work. In terms of storytelling and composition, her work is sharp and smart.

Here is her website: http://www.smallnoises.com/

1. can you describe your drawing routine---how often you draw, how many hour per day---how you break up the day with drawing?

My schedule has changed because I'm working on this book now and have been writing the script for the past few months. I suppose when its time to start drawing it my drawing routine will look a lot like my writing routine: get up, eat breakfast and read some news, then start working by around ten. I take a break for lunch or when I hit a wall, whichever comes first. Then I try to get back to work again. Of course, there are always errands to do or blog posts that really need to be read, email to answer, or general procrastination which I struggle with and then feel guilty about. I do my best.

And then a few nights a week I stay up really late playing music and drawing things unrelated to the book. I have a lot of things I need to get better at doing like drawing clothes, anatomy and architecture so I try to find time to practicing those things.

2. how much revision/editing do you do in you work?

I spend a lot of time working on a script and that includes a lot of revision, but then of course when you get to the point where you actually put it down on paper things need to get changed a little.

3. talk about your process---do you write a script or make up the drawing as you go?

I would always write some sort of script before drawing, even for little journal comics, but now that I have to write the entire script for my book before I start drawing a single panel its become a more intense process. I actually thought I would really dislike writing the whole script first, that I would miss drawing too much and that typing a script on the computer would feel wrong, but now I love it. I start with a general outline and then from there make chapter outlines and sometimes scene outlines and then finally start writing the script (it ends up looking like a screenplay with panel directions etc). Sometimes I get stuck on a certain section of a chapter, so recently when that happens I've tried writing the scene as if I were working on a prose version of the story, letting myself ramble. Then I can read it over and adapt it back to comics form. Writing can be hellishly frustrating but I'm really going to miss it when I start drawing again.

After I'm done with the script I make rough thumbnails and take it from there.


4. do you compose the page as a whole or do you focus more on individual panel composition?

I'm using a nine panel grid (with some variation) so the page's composition doesn't matter as much to me. I'm more concerned about the rhythm of the story. Panel composition is important to me though.

5. what tools do you use (please list all)?

I love Prismacolor's Col-Erase blue pencils. They're not photo safe or anything, but the weight of the lead is perfect for me. I've been using the Rotring rapidograph for inking up until now, but I've been thinking about maybe switching to a nib pen for the book. I'm not sure. When I draw for fun I really like the Rotring Art Pen. I have two of them, one with the regular Penguin ink and one with a converter and Noodler's waterproof black ink.

6. what kind(s) of paper do you use?

That Strathmore bristol board that has the photo of blocks on the cover. For sketchbooks I'm addicted to the Hand-book brand. I also like lined, spiral-bound cheap pads from the dollar store for sketching in because it keeps me from being too precious with the drawings.

7. do you read a lot of comics? are you someone who reads comics and then gets exited to make more comics---or is your passion for making comics not linked to any particular love for other comics?

I don't read that many comics, but I look at them a lot. I've never gotten through reading that big Locas book, but I've studied every page of it just going nuts over how Jaime Hernandez draws. If there were more French comics translated into English I would read a lot of those. A friend of mine got me this untranslated album from Florent Rupppert and Jerome Mulot which I look at all the time because it's so gorgeous but I can't read it. I'm trying to learn French so I can read these comics. There are definitely a lot of comics that I WANT to read but I get stressed out because I don't have enough time to read in the first place and I have weekly periodicals and other books that have to take priority. Those magazines and books end up motivating me to work harder at comics more than looking at other comics do, honestly.

8. do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you support yourself, and how does this relate to your comics making process?

I'm extremely, extremely lucky to be making comics for a living right now, but there's no guarantee I'll be making a living off comics two years from now. I suppose if my book turns out to be interesting for people then I'll get an opportunity to make another one. When I start thinking about that, though, I get really paralyzed by the pressure so I try not to think about it too much other than having a reminder to do the best job I can with it.

9. do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?

Sometimes I really wish I was a writer or a journalist because writing a piece takes less time than writing and then drawing, which means you can work on more projects in the same amount of time. Maybe I'll try that out someday. Maybe I'll just have to learn how to draw faster. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on out there. Making a documentary would be fun as well.

10. what artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?

The world is really flipping out right now. One could say "well, yes, but the world was always flipping out," but I think its happening in much more complex and absurd ways than ever before. The amount of information that's hurled at us every day is astronomical and everything seems to be shifting under our feet. When I see someone trying to translate all this bullshit into something that almost makes sense and can even make me laugh, I feel like I'm more comfortable being in the world. In comics I see that in artists like Marjane Satrapi, but its even more pronounced in the non-fiction work of Matt Taibbi and George Saunders. I like people who aren't afraid to express their anger or excitement or bewilderment over the outside world, who are really into sincerity. I would never dare say that I feel a "kinship" to David Foster Wallace, because he was just above and beyond everyone, ever, as far as I'm concerned, but his writing makes me feel like everything is going to be OK.

11. is a community of artists important or not important to you?

So important! And I owe so much to the community of cartoonists I found in New York. I was absolutely shocked by how warm and helpful everyone was to me before they even saw any of my work and when I was just starting out there were so many people who helped me develop. When I started going to conventions I was so excited because I thought to myself "there's MORE of these people?" I've gotten so much encouragement from the community. Just as important, though, is being able to see at close range what kind of amazing work everyone else is doing and with such intensity, and it really keeps me from slacking off.

12. what is your parents/family's reaction to your work?

My parents are awesome and have always been supportive of whatever ridiculous idea I wanted to try out, but I think they're happy that this particular ridiculous idea of being a cartoonist seems to be working out.

13, what is more important to you---style or idea?

They're both important, but I suppose for me the style follows the idea. I have something I want to communicate so I need to find the best way to get that across. Plus, at this stage in my career I think I'm pretty limited stylistically. Anyone can have an idea, but finding the right way to communicate it is difficult. Hopefully, the longer I do this, the better I'll get at getting ideas across.

14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?

It's a pleasure because it's a pain. Well, not painful so much as difficult. I think you can compare a lifetime of drawing to playing a video game. Any well designed video game is just difficult enough to be a challenge, but not too difficult that it gets frustrating and you give up forever. The balance of those things makes it "fun." Then as you keep advancing in the game, you get better at a similar rate as to the increasing complexity of the tasks. So this is how drawing is for me. I always feel like I'm getting better but I certainly have a really long way to go. If it all goes according to plan, I can remain in that fun zone with drawing forever and never feel like I've mastered it.

The very best part of drawing is that its less of a learning curve than it is a punctuated equilibrium. I'll be at a plateau for a while and then suddenly just GET how to do something. It's really exciting when that happens. And addictive.

15. when you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right away? do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?

If someone asks me what I do I will tell them that I'm a cartoonist. I'm really happy to identify as that. But I wouldn't volunteer that information, just as I wouldn't launch into talking about myself when I first meet someone. That's just bad manners.

16. do you feel at all connected to older comic artists like steve ditko or jack kirby---or does this seem like a foreign world to you?

It's a foreign world. I appreciate what they did for the medium but I'm not really interested in reading their work. Will I be shunned if I publicly admit that that's the way I feel about Sonic Youth as well? I really admire them for being innovators in the history of pop music and I know their work is brilliant, I just never feel like listening to it. Generally, I do wish I was more well versed in comics history in the way that I think its important for any visual artist to keep a copy of Gardner's around from their Art History survey class in college. Hopefully I'll have some more time to read up on those guys in the near future.

17. do you ever feel the impulse to not draw comics?

Only when I daydream about being a journalist.

18. do you draw from life?

I went to a pretty traditional art school and spent four years drawing and painting the figure so I got used to the idea that drawing from life is really important. I usually always have a sketchbook with me and try to draw people as often as I can. I love drawing faces. The problem is that drawing from life is really different than cartooning. I was always pretty satisfied with my own ability to draw from life, so when I decided to try cartooning I thought it would be a piece of cake. It was not cake. It's a completely different skill set involving visual memory, spacial reasoning and imagination. Cartooning makes life drawing feel like finger painting. Really difficult finger painting.

19. do you pencil out comics and then ink? or do you sometimes not pencil?

For my big projects and the book I pencil then ink. I used to pencil and then ink for every drawing I ever did, sketches and life drawing included, but recently I started drawing without penciling and its so much fun! A lot of the times I mess up the drawing that way, but it doesn't matter. That was your recommendation by the way, so thanks.

20. what does your drawing space look like?

Alex Holden

Alex Holden is a cartoonist and illustrator. He has produced 3 issues of his mini comic series "The Magic Hour" and he will have a story in the forthcoming anthology Syncopated, to be published by Random House. Holden's work on "The Magic Hour" is something of an anomaly in comics today: a serialized, character driven story, full of inky figures. Here is his website: http://www.alexholden.com/



Here is a page from Holden's Syncopated story.

1. can you describe your drawing routine---how often you draw, how many hour per day---how you break up the day with drawing?

I do best if I wake up and start working immediately. If I have something substantial done before 11AM, it really changes my attitude about the day. On really solid days, I will work from 9:30/10AM to 1PM or so. Then I try and go outside, then get some more work done in the afternoon. I'm not a real night owl anymore. There are many days where I get nothing done, or only work a couple hours in the afternoon. But if more than a few days go by without doing anything, a subtle, crushing depression sets in. Keeping momentum going is very important, and very difficult.

2. how much revision/editing do you do in you work?

If I do a rough, a lot will change when I'm pencilling the real page. After it's inked, I'll replace panels sometimes. I use white gouache.

3. talk about your process---do you write a script or make up the drawing as you go?

It depends what I'm doing. I just did a piece for a non-fiction anthology called SYNCOPATED. I went around 5-6 drafts of mostly text because there was so much to fit into 12 pages (4 hours of interview, plus a lot of other research). After getting it all the information in, I had to hack it apart and re-arrange it again before it worked as an interesting narrative.

Magic Hour is fiction, and I've found that the best way to generate ideas is with a combination of drawing and text from the beginning. I don't like using screenplay style scripting for fictional comics anymore.

4. do you compose the page as a whole or do you focus more on individual panel composition?

I think the panel, the page and the double page spread are all important. I usually know if I am drawing a left or right sided page. But I would tend to sacrifice a little page unity to make sure that a panel contains all the information I want to impart.

5. what tools do you use (please list all)?

I've had the same Pentel .05 mechanical pencil for around 10 years. I use HB lead.
I also use a Pentel Click Eraser. I go through a zillion of the little crack vial replacement erasers for the pencil too. I use the Pentel Pocket Brush a lot. I guess I like Pentel.

Sakura Micron pens, mostly 03 and 05, sometimes 08. I like real nibs, but I hate dipping and the portable pens I've gotten always dry out and clog. I don't like wasting time worrying about equipment, so I usually just use a Micron. I've been trying to use thicker pens to force myself to simplify things. Also, I really like these colored pencils made by LYRA.

6. what kind(s) of paper do you use?

I got a big stack of Strathmore 500 Bristol (vellum finish) years ago, because I read that Dan Clowes used it. I did a pretty terrible comic on big 15"X20" pages of that, so now I've chopped them all in half and use the backs. I think that I am settling on 10"X14" as a pretty perfect size. I like the Strathmore 500 because you can erase it forever without the paper degrading. It has a great texture.

I'm pretty picky about sketchbooks, and I can never ever use two of the same kind in a row. I don't know why. I use the little Moleskine books to draw on the train. I like to have something on the paper, like the music one, or a planner. All the Magic Hour work so far has been in various sized sketchbooks.

7. do you read a lot of comics? are you someone who reads comics and then gets excited to make more comics---or is your passion for making comics not linked to any particular love for other comics?

I like reading some comics. Some artists inspire me to draw comics immediately. David Mazzucchelli, Blutch, Gilbert Hernandez, Tim Hensley, Peter Arno, Alex Toth, Paul Pope, Christophe Blain and C.F. are some people in that category.

8. do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you support yourself, and how does this relate to your comics making process?

I have lost a lot of money making comics. I bartend for a living, and I get the occasional illustration job. Bartending affords me a lot of time to not make money drawing comics.

9. do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?

Yes. Music. I spend a lot of time playing guitar. Sometimes I wish that I either played music or drew comics, because I think that I would be more successful at one of them by now, but I've come to accept that I need to do both. After my last band split up, I took a break from music for 4 years to focus on comics, but the last year has been pretty guitar oriented.

10. what artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?

Whenever I go to the Met, I spend a long time staring at "The Mountain" by Balthus.

11. is a community of artists important or not important to you?

I like having friends to bounce ideas off of, or to be inspired by. I drew with Aaron Renier a fair amount for a couple years, and that was very educational.

12. what is your parents/family's reaction to your work?

My parents are very supportive. I think my mom tends to like the comics/art more, and my dad tends to be more excited about music. They have a copy of everything I do, and the walls of their house are covered with extremely embarrassing high school and college works.

13. what is more important to you---style or idea?

There has to be some idea. Even someone like Alex Toth, where the story might be terrible, there are enough ideas in his compositions to make it a satisfying experience.

14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?

Drawing is a pleasant struggle.

15. when you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right away? do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?

Absolutely not.

16. do you feel at all connected to older comic artists like steve ditko or jack kirby---or does this seem like a foreign world to you?

I don't know anything about Ditko. I'm just starting to learn about Kirby. I've been searching out a lot of Jesse Marsh, John Stanley and Alex Toth stories. I love Garrett Price's "White Boy". I have a "White Boy" page framed in my studio.

17. do you ever feel the impulse to not draw comics?

As I mentioned previously, I can get distracted by music, to the detriment of my comics.

18. do you draw from life?

Yes. I draw on the train all the time, and I draw constantly when traveling. I try to get it in whenever I can.

19. do you pencil out comics and then ink? or do you sometimes not pencil?

When making a comic, I always pencil first. I like to change things around. When I am drawing in my sketchbooks (for something other than a finished page) I almost always draw directly in ink.

20. what does your drawing space look like?