Interview 4

Interview 4 1.) What makes a successful comic book? To me, there are two kinds of success: financial and producing something of importance. So, for me producing something with intrigurity is more important. 2.) What makes a successful artist? Like I say in the first question, someone who produces something that they feels is important. 3.) What is most important in creating a successful comic book? Making it honest. So similar to the first two. 4.) What is your key focus on that you feel makes or breaks a project? It’s never one thing, its really a process that makes the comic. It starts with the story and then goes to the art, and then the money and then the printing and then the selling etc. So really its not just one thing rather the things in total. 5.) How does your creative process approach a story? Depends, for The Blot it started out with a series of painting I did and I felt like there was a story behind them and so it evolved into the story. Where on The Wolf it was more spontaneous and free form. 6.) Is it different if it a small idea or joke? Definitely, with like Henry and Glen Forever where there was tons of single panel strips, you are really trying to tell the whole story in one panel which is more like a painting. 7.) Is it different if you are approaching something in another media? Yeah, such as a paint is one frame where like a comic is as many is it takes. So its different levels of freedom and different kinds of expression. 8.) Does collaboration help or hinder you? And how? It’s tough, with people like igloo tornado it great cause we don’t hold each other back, but that’s not always the case. It really depends on the people your working with and how they appoarch the collaborative process. Like are they headstrong or do they not pull there weight. It just depends. 9.) What are some of your biggest influences? Oh man, um, 30’s and 40’s comic strips, 70’s underground stuff as well as the 80’s. I went to art school for painting and I think that the history of painting has really had an influence on what I want to make storys about. Music is another thing that really influenced me. My brother is a musician and always being around it kind of influenced me. Books and literate, poetry; some of my favorites are like Kafka, Twain, Vonnegut. Yeah. 10.) Do you try to pull from influences or is it more natural occurrence? Depends really, in The Blot there was some scene that were references to one of my favorite painters but in my next book The Wolf it is more naturally looking really German Expressionism. 11.) What is more important in pleasing a client while doing freelance work? I work for Disney in their animation on flash web games and there I try and draw up to the quality of standards. I think that drawing for someone that you mutual respect as an artist is also important, that’s topically why I enjoy drawing for bands that I like listening to. Mainly it’s because they trust my artistic decisions and so I’m more willing to take their input. 12.) What can you tell me about Self-publishing? What do you want to know? *laugh* Andrew: How did you get into Self-Publishing? It happened in like 1999 I was trying to get a book published by all the big indie publishers, Top shelf and Fantagraphics etc. I was rejected by them all and so I just try it to Kinko’s and published it myself. I don’t know there was such a huge self-publishing movement until I went to a con to sell it and that’s when I started to meet people and really get into the business. I now like the control I have over the product in self-publishing and don’t want to give it up. 13.) What is key to successfully self-publishing a book? I think the first thing is having a good book. Then its all in the marketing. Going to conventions, doing promotions, having other artists promote it, sending so to bloggers to review it, it’s all in the marketing. 14.) How do you market your self-published stuff? Pretty much what I said in the last question but I want to add that’s it’s really tough trying to market your self-published work and get any crediablity. There is a stigma that if you self-publish that you couldn’t get published and that your work isn’t worth reading which is false almost all the time. 15.) What is the advantage and disadvantage to Self-publishing? Control is a big advantage but it takes dedication. 16.) What is the advantage and disadvantage in having some one else like a publisher do the work for you? You can put more time into the final product because there are more people helping work on it so you can get more done but then you sacrifice the control over everything. 17.) How do you approach a bigger project such a multiple issue story or a graphic novel? I tend to try and do things spontaneously just for the sake of keeping myself from routines. But I think a solid routine is key to getting thought the big ones. 18.) Who is someone you look up to in regards to self-publishing? Dylan Williams, Carla Speed Mckneel and Jeff Smith. 19.) Who is someone you look up to in regards to cartooning? Anders Nelson, Renee French, Chris Wright 20.) Who do you think would be good to interview next? And can you help me contact him/her? Dylan Williams would be very helpful and also Riagne and Megan Hogan are good ones too.