JB

 

 

 

 

 

JB lives and works in Toronto. His thinly veiled cries for help are published by the west-coast publisher 'The Comix Company' and can be perused here:http://thecomixcompany.ecrater.com




Banci: First off, when did you decide to go into making comics was it a conscious
decision or did you fall into it

jay Bee: I always wanted to draw cartoons, I mean, probably not the way I'm drawing them now, but I've always been drawing cartoons and comics. It has been my primary artistic focus my entire life so far. I suppose this means I should be better at it, hahaha. It's also not my full-time job, either. To be honest though, I'd say I've been really taking comics seriously as far as setting and completing goals for myself for about eight years now. Since I was twenty-two.

Banci: Do you come from an artistic family was there any one in your family that
particularly inspired you and did you attend art collage or anything like that

jay Bee: No, my family wasn't exceptionally artistic. I mean, both my Grandmothers sketched and painted as a hobby, and my Uncle is a graphic designer, but nothing too crazy that I know of. I also didn't really pursue an artistic education for very long, opting instead to suffer and do things the hard way so I can be a jackass about how many shitty lumps I had to take to get my nothing foothold in the "industry". I'm that
dumb kid that starts working right after high school and dreaming about 'making it big, man'.


Banci: Reading your glad hand comics there's strong theme of sci-fi
which is unusual in underground comics what made you go that route:

jay Bee: I guess science fiction and comics just work well together. I know I
want to tell stories with emotions and themes and feelings that people can relate to (or I can make you feel) but I also know I want to draw exciting and interesting places that only sort of seem like the ones I live in. You can also do whatever you want, you can make a metaphor as subtle or as obvious as you want, and with science fiction and satire it's like there's no rules to how you can tell a story or get something across. I don't know that's it's a more popular choice, I think there
are a lot of cartoonists working now doing stuff in a similar vein just maybe not in the same style or voice. I guess what makes my work "underground" is that confessional air, to be honest I just feel like the truth is so much more boring and sad.

Banci: have any of your family seen your comics before what do they make of them

jay Bee:That's an intense question, uhh, yeah, I mean... Look if somebody in my
family really wanted to read my work and give me their opinion or try and understand what I'm trying to say than I'll have that conversation, but I don't know if they'd want to have it! I guess there's a lot of images that are hard to resolve since I truly feel that comics is this realm with no boundary. Actually as I was thinking about it I realize I'd brought a comic to work to show somebody this week, and I put it on the top of this shelf to remember to bring it home and I left it there! I mean, I stand up for my work and am proud of it, but the idea of having to DEFEND an IMAGE it fills me with dread. Or even worse, that somebody thinks the comics "suck".

Banci: You mention in one of your auto biographical strip "fuck me" that
your autobiographical always seems trite and arrogant. I personally love your auto bio stuff would you ever bring a book with auto bio stuff only in the future?:

jay Bee: That is the plan. I have been bullshitting forever that I was going to write a novel about a subject very important to me, but working up to a novel about yourself is very hard. I guess because I really want to put it ALL THERE on the page, it's tough to get through it in my own mind. The whole thing about autobio for me is that I find it a hard slog, I want to draw goopy archetypes of three women I've dated, or my mean boss, not try and be honest! That strip was drawn back in 2008/09-ish (SIX YEARS AGO! GOD I AM GETTING OLD!) I feel like there is a lot of stuff from that period in my sketchbooks when I was working alone overnight and drawing every day that was very good for my growth, but also very bad. There is such a thing as going up your own ass too much, so sometimes when I read that strip, or when I mention 'hipsters' I kind of cringe. I mean, I felt the way I did at the time, but part of that kind of diary of work is that you don't feel that way forever. It's a really tricky.

But, short answer, yes. I want to do that book about my life at some point.

 

Banci: Where do you get inspiration for your stories from. Do any characters like louiese diseassy and weesee based on any one you know.

jay Bee: Is it bad they're all based on me? Even the ones that are obviously
other people in my real life are not getting to write their part. To quote my ex "It's Jordan's world, we're all just living in it." In my comics this is not a sad realistic delusion, but the truth.


Banci: your comics on the surface appear to be violent of a sexual
nature but have a lot more deeper meaning which is refreshing nowadays for underground comics did you intentionally set out to do this or was it more of a stream of consciousness:

jay Bee: Good question, because I think that my work is kind of a hard sell. I try hard not to hold back as far as images and words go, it's certainly a stream of conscience when I'm working on pencils and plotting ahead but I always try to lock onto three or four emotional themes that I want to be present and try to illicit in the reader. I agree that a lot of my work features "strong sexual images" and isn't played up for laughs in
an obvious way, but at the same time I don't think my work is meant to titillate or really turn people on in a straightforward sexual way. A lot of the time when I'm drawing I'm not getting off on somebody being stabbed in the urethra with a needle, but I'm also not going to balk at it. It's just a drawing. I try to keep my work cartoonish in style so that it simply cannot be TOO dark anyway. It's really hard for somebody
to see all that in fifteen seconds of flipping through my book. I think if you just flip through the pages it seems like it's me making fun of BDSM or the internet or comics in general, but I'm really hoping that isn't all that comes across when people actually read them. I also guess to some people sex isn't a big deal and they don't think about it that often or they aren't really interested in exploring that aspect of relationships or the human condition or to be honest; comfortable with these kinds of thoughts and images, which is fine. I mean, it's not the only thing I draw and write about, so luckily if you're willing to be open enough to read my books you can also enjoy my other goofy comics. I feel like I've only kind of scratched the surface and there's a lot of deception on my part as well. I guess that's what you strive for, more
honesty?

Banci: Are you into reading comics are there any particular
cartoonists/artists/ that you are into or admire.

jay Bee: Oh my god, the list is huge and endless. I read as much as I can and
have so many favorites, my walls are brimming with books. There are so many great people putting work out right now and so many people I really go ape shit over, from creators here in Toronto to Japan, Italy, the US. Everywhere there are amazing comics being made! Everybody my publisher Dexer Cockburn has put out under the 'Comix Company' is actually an amazing cartoonist I am lucky to be published with! I'm not just saying that either, I genuinely get excited when I hear about the new books he's publishing/reprinting for really amazing "underground" cartoonists. And in this really cool, old-school-with-no-irony comics as prolific, affordable, exciting "COMIX". And I have to say I'm constantly inspired by (not to mention in awe of because they're all my heroes) the group of artists I have been jamming with for the last few years; Nina Bunjevac, Dalton Sharp, Chester Brown and Dave Lapp. And I'd be remiss to not mention Robin Bougie. I think between Robin Bougie and Dalton Sharp I met and learned about almost everything important in comics in my 20's,
they're just both very knowledgeable comic book creators of a high calibre and really nice guys. Also Takeshi Niemoto. 'Monster Men/Bureiko Lullaby' is probably my favorite comic ever made. I can't stress enough how much I love that book. If there were a fire in my home, and I could only save one item, out of everything in my apartment, including my sketchbooks.... I feel like that book would be it. I'd be sleeping under a bridge with a blue tarp as a blanket naked using that book as a pillow. I love it so much.



Banci: Ive seen from posts on your facebook page that you are into hip
hop is there any one in particular that you are into at the moment:

jay Bee: I am insane about all music, if I like it I'm going to absorb it. I couldn't even give you a realistic idea of who I like on whole, but I like to put a few albums on a tiny mp3 player and kind of rotate albums in and out of it. It's how I've always listened to music and it's down to a science. So for example right now on my tiny mp3 is: bbrainz, Big Baby Gandhi, Blank Banshee, Bruxa, Bones, Camu Tao, Dash Speaks, DJ Muggs, Graham Kartna, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, Hot Sugar, Homeboy Sandman and Paul White, Jonwayne, Lakutis, Mac Demarco, R. Stevie Moore,
Ryan Hemsworth, TRPL BLK, Tobacco, and Walsh. That's a good idea of the kind of stuff I've been playing a lot of these past few weeks. I've also always put out mixtapes with each new batch of zines I'd print (or new issues) and I've done everything from rap to minimal wave to commodore 64 mix'. I actually sent a batch of comics once to VICE magazine and they ignored the books but reviewed my mixtape very favourably IN PRINT! Hahahahaha.

Banci: Please describe your creative process and what tools do you use
to create your comics

jay Bee: My tools are a Pentel calligraphy brush pen, and those Faber-Castell
India ink pens, I usually only use the small, fine and medium sizes. That's about it unless I'm dicking around with some random tools. My process is a little weirder, I think everybody goes from story in their head to pencils to inks, but I sometimes ink behind my pencils as I go so that the earlier story is locked in. I've heard a technique for writing a "graphic novel" is script, pencils, and when you go to ink you start in the middle so your art isn't all over the place. I obviously do not follow this. I'm kind of bizarre, I'm sure there is an easier way for me to work but in ten years I never found it. Maybe the next ten will be great!



Banci: What are you working on now at the moment

jay Bee: Well, for a long time I wasn't very good at producing. I wasn't
sketching every day, which is kind of a constant for me. Only in the
last six months have I begun sketching again, and with that I made a
larger dent in my next regular, 30 page issue I was to have finished in
the next few months. I'm also probably going to get to work on my long
book project, as well as try to do one more full issue before the year
is out. So, I'm on the road to producing like I was a few years ago. I
can only hope the quality is way higher. I have no barometer for such
things, all I do is hope, hahahaha.


Banci: What plans do you have for the future:

jay Bee: At this point in my career as an "artist" my only plans are to never stop, always be working and not die and while doing that not become absorbed by a normal boring working life.

Banci: What do you make you of the underground comics scene these days:

jay Bee: What a loaded question. I don't think it exists. The internet has changed the entire situation and it hasn't really finished changing yet. It seems like the multimedia approach is only intensifying. I think a lot of the entrepreneurial and exciting "studio" type jobs that used to exist for cartoonists now exists for corel animators. I think the comics field is jam packed with "special little snowflakes" that don't really share the kind of doom and gloom, throw everything at the wall and see what sticks forebears of underground 'comix'. That having been said I think there is a better "market" for people to enjoy your work for free and share it with everybody now, so if you tow that old bullshit line that your "art" is for "you" than you're living in the right age! Keep
in mind this is coming from a guy that cannot support himself from comics alone so my asshole outlook is because I am very much on the outside looking in and wish to be in a lofty position to discuss the 'underground' like I'm part of the conversation!


Banci: What advice would you give for someone starting out in comics:

jay Bee: Ugh. I'd hate to imagine that maybe there is one eighteen year old kid that maybe saw something on the internet that I did and somehow through mild interest reads this and becomes discouraged, because what a horrible guy I'd be! Look, as far as comics are concerned why are you making them? I can't seem to stop, I always come back to doodling comic book images and comics no matter how frustrated I am in with as a medium or a form of commercial art. Nothing I can say will convince you it's a lucrative road, but it's totally its own form of expression. It has it's own very loose rules and way to complete your goals, it is such a sublime and simple form of art that I suggest everybody try it. The roots of comics is that it is cheaply made and disseminated. Celebrate that egalitarian spirit and make your own!


end

 

 

Onsmith Interview

Onsmith is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Chicago. His comics, prints, and illustrations have appeared in numerous publications and will have a collection of his work out in 2014, published by Yam Books.  His blog is http://www.onsmithcomics.blogspot.com Also, see the collaborative artwork made with fellow artist, Paul Nudd, at http://westernexhibitions.com/westernXeditions/artists/OnsmithNudd/index.html

Vincent Wright: first of all thank you for taking you time conduct this interview. What’s happening work wise for you at the moment

Onsmith: I recently finished 2 stories for 2 anthologies: Black Eye 2 and Linework vol. 4.  The new Study Group Magazine also has 2 pages of mine in it.  The Graphic Canon vol. 3 just came out as well and features my adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s “Crash”.  I’m also currently putting together a small collection of my comics and drawings for Yam Books, due out in early 2014.

Vincent Wright: when did you first know that you wanted to become a cartoonist/illustrator

Onsmith: Since childhood, I haven’t stopped drawing.  I had different ideas over the years as to what I would make, the position I would aspire to, and how I would pursue it.  This went from wanting to be a voice actor and animator for cartoons when I was a kid to superhero comics artist when I was in my teens to “artist” in my late teens/early 20s and then back to cartoonist nowadays.  I suppose it was also in my early 20s where I started self-publishing mini-comics and pursuing illustration so I suppose this final incarnation started back then.

Vincent Wright: were there any people who heavily influenced you growing up to make take an interested in comics/art

Onsmith: My older brother and I drew all the time when we were young.  It was pretty competitive but also quite inspiring.  I suppose he was the first person that got me more into comics and art.  In high school, I had a group of friends that read comics and drew superheroes and roleplaying characters so that too was encouraging.  Having grown up in a small town in the bible belt with neither of my parents being involved in the arts, personal comics/art heroes were difficult to come by.

Vincent Wright: how do you find your commercial illustration and own personal comics work effect each other in terms of influence. 

Onsmith: This is a bit difficult to pinpoint, as the two seem to blur together at times in terms of responding to art direction and creating narrative-based illustrations.  Formally, I think the use of visual economy in comics has certainly strengthened my illustration work.  There are times where an illustration of mine doesn’t vary much from say, a one-panel gag cartoon that’s more personal.

Vincent Wright: I have seen that you have public talks and anthology’s with some of the top alternative cartoonist that are about today how have you found that experience. 

Onsmith: The panels I've been on with Ivan Brunetti have been really quite great because I know Ivan and am comfortable with him.  He's very articulate and helps the panel discussions flow very well.  It has also inspired me to step it up a bit with my response to questions.  I was once on a panel with Chris Ware as well, at The Art Institute of Chicago.  It's been surreal, to say the least, to be on these panels with such comics luminaries and of course, it makes someone like me question his worth, his validity within the comics world.  But since it just happened to work out like this, I'm fine with it.  I may not have another chance at something of this sort so I really appreciate having been able to talk about comics with these inspiring artists. 

Vincent Wright: do you have many close cartoonist friends that you hang out with on a regular basis and do find that it helps your artistic development to have cartoonist friends

Onsmith: I certainly have several friends who employ different art disciplines, not just comics.  One of my best friends and fellow collaborator, Paul Nudd, is an artist who works in various media such as drawing/painting, sculpture, film/video, etc.  I’ve learned a lot from him for sure.  I’m also fortunate to be friends with Ivan Brunetti, who was also one of my instructors in college.  Then there’s the Trubble Club, which includes SO many talented cartoonists.  There’s always something going on in Chicago so I’m lucky to get to spend time with all these great folks.  Overall, yes, being here in Chicago and having access to these folks has certainly effected my growth as a cartoonist.

Vincent Wright: your work some times has a very abstract construction about it, how to do you arrive at that decision to when creating a piece. 

Onsmith: Sometimes, it’s to contrast with the content or embellish, when other times, I simply wish to abstract the visuals and build the story around it.  More often than not, I at least try to have some sort of logic to the abstraction, such as emotional upsets in the characters abstracting the figures.  In “Dispossession by Tornado”, I used abstraction to indicate the tornado coming through as the couple is huddled in a storm shelter.  Skewed or fragmented settings interest me again, as a sort of emotional projection or some sort of existential disintegration, if that doesn’t sound overly pretentious.  A lot of the modernist works I’m drawn to, such as German Expressionism, employ this schism between emotion and visual rendering.  Or, it could be that I’m just not that great at rendering so I rely on lawless abstraction.

Vincent Wright: are there any artist/writers/musicians out side of cartooning that have had a monumental effect on your work or creative decisions

Onsmith:  Oh absolutely!  I’ll try to keep this somewhat brief.  From visual art, Chicago Imagist artists such as H.C. Westermann, Jim Nutt and Karl Wirsum.  German Expressionists Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, and George Grosz (though he was more aligned with Dada, I suppose).  Also other artist favorites like, Fernand Leger, Max Ernst, Philip Guston, Stuart Davis, and illustrator Jim Flora.  In literature, Nelson Algren, Philip K. Dick, Harry Crews, Raymond Carver, Charles Bukowski, and William S. Burroughs when I was younger.  I have been reading much more poetry recently such as, Fernando Pessoa, Robert Walser, Georg Trakl, and others.  In music, it’s all over the place and always evolving.  I find a lot of inspiration in Sun City Girls, the releases on the Sublime Frequencies label, early The Fall albums, Current 93, Townes Van Zandt, lots of old psych-rock and garage rock, old country and roots music, obscure and tragic folk singers (such as Jackson C. Frank, Robbie Basho, Val Stoecklein), and much more.  Obviously, film has also made quite an impact on me.  Most especially films by Andrei Tarkovsky, Elia Kazan, Stanley Kubrick, as well as documentaries by Errol Morris and Werner Herzog.

Vincent Wright: you work in many mediums illustration, comics, writing and installations, does this help keep your creativity fresh and reduce the risk of stagnation? 

Onsmith:  I suppose so, yes.  It’s just that when I start to feel like a total failure in one medium, I might give myself a project that’s in another medium.  It all comes back to comics though, especially when I look back at all the editorial (narrative-based) illustration work I’ve made. 

Vincent Wright: how did you find working on the afterimage exhibit?  Would you ever want to do something like that again?

Onsmith:  The Afterimage exhibit was a great experience.  Being asked to install my collection of toys and junk in the former studio/home of Roger Brown was quite a treat.  I would certainly do it again but the next time, I would like to try and exhibit more of the prints and drawings from other artists I’ve collected over the years.  Maybe even set up a display of some of my treasured mini-comics as well.

Vincent Wright:  what tools and equipment do you use to create you comic and illustration work?

Onsmith:  I mainly use the Pentel “Pocket Brush”, which works like a real brush because of its handmade bristles.  No dipping though, just an even flow from the cartridge.  I’ve been using this pen for probably 12 years and haven’t had to replace it.  For finer lines, technical pens like Microns or Staedtler pens.  I’ve also made some traditionally colored work lately using watercolor pencils, ebony pencils, and inkwash. 

Vincent Wright: what’s your take on the comics industry at present?

Onsmith:  Yeesh, I try not to voice my opinions, nor follow the trends in the comics industry too closely.  But I do think there’s been a lot of work from obscure talents being published more so now than ever.  It’s a really great time for comics now.  Having said this, I also think there’s been a lot of mediocre, derivative work that’s been published as well.  Sometimes, this bothers me but mostly, I ignore these sort of comics.  I’m mainly speaking of North America here, as I don’t know much of the industries in other countries. 

Vincent Wright: is there any plans to bring out a collection of all your collected strips at any point soon?

Onsmith:  Yes, actually I’m putting together a book right now for Rina Ayuyang’s Yam Books.  It’s called, Diminished Returns and is due out in Spring 2014.  It will include selections from my comics, drawings, doodles, and collaborations I’ve made in the past 8 or 9 years.  It’s not a comprehensive collection but will highlight some of (what I consider) the better work I’ve made.

Vincent Wright: what would be your words of advice to any younger cartoonists starting out?

Onsmith:  Since I’ve started teaching comics here in Chicago, I typically tell my students to start small, keep it attainable, and keep it sincere.  Self-publishing mini-comics teaches a person the fundamentals of what one might do with a larger work (such as a graphic novel).  Again, I would tell cartoonists starting out to try to keep it sincere to their visions/feelings/perspectives and not to force something that isn’t somehow personal to them.  But hell, I’m still figuring things out for my own comics as I make them, so this is what I tell myself.  Just keep it sincere and keep making more work.  Hopefully you’ll hit on something that really resonates.

Vincent Wright: thanks again for taking your time to answer my questions.

Dane Martin interview

Dane Martin

http://danemartin.tumblr.com/

I have been following Dane Martin's cartooning career since first befriending him on Facebook some 5 years ago. I was quite blown away by his style, the beautiful poignancy of his characters and prose. These would haunt my memories for days afterwards and still do – in a good way.

Dane has been good enough to take time to answer my questions which I have always wanted to know the answers to.

Banci Wright: dane thanks for taking time to answer my questions. So with the release of gagger 1 how well has it been received so far

Dane Martin: You're welcome! I feel sort of strange doing an interview because I feel like I am just now beginning to draw comics, even though I've been doing it consistently for most of my life. But I will try to answer your questions sincerely. Gagger #1 is only twelve pages (eight pages of story), so I don't know if there is enough material for anyone to form a real opinion of it. It's just the very beginning of a complete story. I've received some nice words, though. Cartoonist Charles Forsman is kind enough to print Gagger through his Oily Comics publishing empire, which I think is a beautiful endeavor and the sort of thing I'm always hungry for. I'm going to subscribe myself once I have two sawbucks to rub together, and I think everyone should. I love how he consistently puts out small books that add up to something large. Comics do that in such a perfect way. At first, I was mildly struggling with the pacing of an eight-page story on a “quarter-sheet,” because, with comics, I'm used to drawing out everything luxuriously and obnoxiously, making simple conversations and travels last for entirely too long. Now, though, I'm really enjoying trying to figure out how to make the pages work. To use famous Jim Woodring terminology, I haven't really been showing the characters going to the store... I just show them “at the God damn store.” I feel like I'm doing proper comics for the first time, in a way, just because of the way the action is broken down. Get out the ideas quick. Keep 'em laffin'. Gagger will be six issues.

Banci Wright I am always amazed buy the amount of comics you create on a daily basis how do you manage to do this

Dane Martin: It always seems to me that I don't make nearly enough. I don't think cartoonists' output should be judged by the page count. It's all just so different from cartoonist to cartoonist. So many cartoonists put much more time and labor into one page than I do into twenty. It's just a series of choices. I'm still a long way away from making as many proper comic stories as I would like to. I often get stuck in the sketchbook doodle doldrums, which is an activity I dearly love, but it can also eat away at your desire to make actual pages on bristol, which is what it's really all about. I love the entertaining struggle of making endless drawings and doodles, and just trying to figure out how comics and paperlines work, but I think that in the immediate future, I need to focus on making pages. But it all adds up to something, I'm sure of it. The false starts and horrible mistakes and erased-too-hard paper and failed gags always end up feeding into the comics. It always deeply surprises me when people say I make a lot of comics, because I honestly, deep in my heart, know that I have hardly made any at all.

 

Banci Wright you have allot of strong characters in horror of the gag and all of your comics that reoccur quite often how did these manifest them selves.

Dane Martin: Well, I guess my “style” came out of my limitations. I have no ability to actually draw. I can't sit and draw real things. I never have had this ability. But my entire life, I have been obsessed with cartoon imagery, and I would just draw in a cartoony way over and over and over, obsessively, all through elementary school and junior high, even though I knew perfectly well that I don't have a natural drawing ability. Something about comics made sense to me and it was (and is) one of the few things I felt like I understood. My drawings have looked like Jim Davis, Akira Toriyama, and Dr. Seuss, in chronological order. In late junior high and early high school, I discovered old comics like Felix the Cat Sundays and Krazy Kat and Barnaby and Polly and Her Pals and Seuss' short-lived “Heiji,” and of course animated Fleischer cartoons and Van Beuren cartoons and Bob Clampett and Frank Tashlin and that whole world. That interest quickly fed into seeing the comics of people like Crumb and J. Bradley Johnson and Kaz and Dan O'Neill and Al Columbia and Gary Panter and Tony Millionaire and Ron Rege and Marc Bell and Chris Ware and Kim Deitch, and all the other usual “good” cartoonists, and my comics and doodles just naturally picked up all of the mannerisms I was seeing in these comics I was deeply in love with. “Characters” were slowly developing, just by accidentally making shapes in a certain way. There was never a conscious effort to develop any particular characters or way of drawing... it all comes out of mindlessly doodling and not knowing how to draw. When I went to the Center for Cartoon Studies right out of high school, I felt a pressure to try to make the characters I was drawing into a true “cast of characters,” each one with an extended back story and legacy, but I could never quite find a comfortable way to do that. It always just goes strip by strip. I think that cast is slowly developing in some way, but the characters are never necessarily the same twice. I love the idea of contradicting myself and just molding each character to a particular situation. It's like an old Disney cartoon... the duck might be a farmer in one cartoon, maybe he works at an ammunition factory in the next one. The next time, he's a prison warden, or a stay-at-home dad with bastard nephews. I'm slowly figuring out how to make “characters” work, but I'm deeply uncomfortable with a true “universe,” or “Dane Martin's wacky world.” I hate thinking about things in that way. It makes me ill when people do voices for the characters. I get most excited when making things that are vague and sparse, which I guess is just a matter of preference. Some people hate that, but I love that it's perfectly doable in comics. I still haven't really figured out the balance between story and non-story, but it's fun trying to figure it out. My comics are always fueled by words and I am never really consciously thinking of things visually. Each panel really is a struggle and I feel like a slave to wherever the line goes, but it's a fun struggle. I have started naming my characters the last few years, though, and I vaguely think of them in an Osamu Tezuka star system way, but if I linger too much on thoughts like that it becomes much less interesting. Wise Old Bird (boy duck), Debbie (girl duck), Chancellor Cop, and Chancellor Dog seem to be my main characters at this time. Two sets of two lovers. I don't think cartoonists necessarily owe their readers a consistent story. When I was in late elementary school, my brain popped when I read that 40s Krazy Kat book at the library (with the e.e. cummings introduction), and I realized that the ket was both sexes. I'm sorry, that is entirely too long of an answer but I feel really strongly about characters because I am simultaneously deeply in love and confused by the idea of them. I remember checking out that Krazy Kat book and a Drew Carey book on the same disgusting Fall Saturday, when I was plump and prepubescent.

Banci Wright on your tumblr account (tumblr address) I find it interesting that you up load comics and even workings out but I find that fit together perfectly is this intentional

Dane Martin: I think I know what you mean. I don't sit down and plan out exactly what I'm going to draw and post, or think about it in any way, but there is some deal of awareness of succession. I guess I know that people are (in theory) going to see it, so I try to make things lead into the next in a vague, barely aware sort of way. For instance, maybe I drew a four-panel comic with the duck, so now it's time for a four-page comic with the dog... now maybe I'll do a four-panel comic with the duck again, referencing the four-panel comic with the dog. Anything to keep going. I feel like comics do that well—vaguely hint at a story by sloppily referencing previous events or ideas. Pretending there is a larger world that isn't really there. (Or maybe it is there.) I selfishly, in the moment, draw almost entirely for myself, but I guess I have to admit I always need to have some artificial idea of an audience in order to just keep producing things. I love that about master cartoonists' sketchbooks, how they always seem to be aware of some sort of audience. The drawings bleed into each other as if they were meant to be printed. Sometimes I like to think I am working for a manga magazine or a perverse New Yorker, and I'm just getting my week's worth of garbage in. I love those stories of Saul Steinberg sending the New Yorker giant packets of scraps and doodles every week. As I said before, there is power in scraps and doodles (maybe a guilty power), and the way Tumblr is set up seems to be especially great for that sort of thing. I love how it is contextless and wordless. Just a stream of nonsense that people can always count on appearing. I have mixed feelings about comics on the internet (why does it change the way they read so much?), but I do love how it allows cartoonists to immediately share their work outside of being pressured to present a story. It's also nice to not wrestle with the often cumbersome world of print, which I dearly love but am often frustrated by. I'm not an arts n' crafts kind of boy. For years, I've been an avid follower of cartoonists' blogs, and I think it's a more important and satisfying thing than people like to admit. Maybe I just feel that way because I can't afford to buy books, which are my very favorite objects in this cold world.

Banci Wright do you plan to bring out a book of “horror of the gag” once you have a certain number of them

Dane Martin: I think so. Probably. I'm thinking of just self-publishing a Lulu book, on demand. A Horror of the Gag collection might be the first book I try to make that way, once I get 200 strips or so. I have 52 at the moment. I started drawing them on July 4 of this year. At first I thought I would never collect them because they are sloppily drawn, usually in less than ten minutes, but I'm starting to feel like they read okay. We'll see. I might just end up making minicomics with them, too. I draw them in a sketchbook, so in a way I am thinking about how they will look printed. Sometimes I'm thinking in terms of the way comics look next to each other or how one story or idea sets up the next. A part of me still loves comic strips more than any other form of comics. The format is just so appealing to me. Get in, get out. I'm imagining large margins.

Banci Wright whats your process for writing comics do you plan by script or do you go straight to comic format

Dane Martin: I wish I could say I wrote things out and thumbnailed them and made comics in a proper, layered Kurtzman way, because that's what I went to school to learn how to do. And I do approach comics in a way that is slow and methodical. But I have never been able to draw a page multiple times or conceive what it will look like ahead of time. I am too addicted to the spontaneous thrill of failure. I have been typing things out more and more, pieces of dialogue or reminders of what I want to draw. I really do think in words first, but they are usually words I memorize in my head, or they are just hints of words that no one will ever know. I rarely just draw something and compose a comic around that, but I don't write scripts or anything. I guess I consciously think of actions (but thinking more verbally than visually), and how to translate them into panels. “How do I break down the way the bird will lick this tree?” This is probably standard. But I can't thumbnail it out first or it ruins the whole strip. I'm not sure why.

 

Banci Wright when did you know you wanted to be a cartoonist

Dane Martin: When I was a kid, I was obsessed with reading Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comics and Sonic the Hedgehog comics, and any and all comics I could find. Mark Trail. Slylock Fox. I was scared of superheroes, though. I've wanted to be a cartoonist since I could remember... it seemed natural and unavoidable, even though my parents and other assorted adults kept telling me I couldn't draw. I repeatedly got F's in art. But I somehow always knew that cartooning was a profession, and it made full sense to me. It seemed like a noble act. I was obsessed with a picture of Dr. Seuss at his drawing table, and I clipped it out when I was eight. I still have that picture. It wasn't until I was in junior high and high school and I discovered weirder comics that I realized you didn't necessarily have to draw in a slick way, and could also be mentally damaged and wouldn't necessarily have to think of proper jokes. And it was appealing to me that most people who drew comics were poor and it was this obsessive, intense activity. Calvin and Hobbes kind of makes me sick to look at now for various reasons, but I was always obsessed with reading his notes on the strips in that anniversary collection. It's the first time, at an early age, I was aware that someone was going through a thought process to create these things and they were not coming out of a machine, or forty people and ink and paint girls. I was really haunted by a line by Mr. Watterson that said something like, “You can draw gut-splattering violence, you can call it a 'graphic novel,' but comic books are still incredibly stupid.” It made me feel like crying.

Banci Wright is there any one in particular that has been a big influence on you

Dane Martin: I sincerely love so many comics. I named some cartoonists earlier. It would be daunting to try to think of my main influences... they are almost separated into categories. I guess it's typical, but seeing the movie Crumb and then his comics when I was in eighth grade really made sense to me. I saw Dan O'Neill and Sherry Fleniken and Kim Deitch and Bill Griffith and George Hansen and Victor Moscoso and other underground comics around that time. They made perfect sense to me because, more often than not, they were based on or inspired by traditional comics and I understood the references. O'Neill was particularly powerful and brain-changing because of my life-long obsession with Disney. The wonderful old man at my local smalltown comic book store showed them to me when I was 14, in hushed secrecy. The way they broke down events and the “sloppy” way everything was drawn really appealed to me. You could draw comics based on real emotions and you could draw them on disgusting paper without really thinking about it. It's not a huge revelation but I lived in southern Michigan and I didn't ever know a single person who drew or even read comics until I left for the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2006. So I had to figure it out slowly by myself, as most people do. I guess my primary influence will always be old cartoons and just that whole feeling of the “cartoon swoop.” Thanks to the internet, I quickly discovered the larger world of comics, and I fell deep in love with it all. Tony Millionaire struck me in the most violent way, and his influence is still a huge part of my comics. Doug Allen, Rory Hayes, Jim Woodring, Glenn Head, Walt Holcombe, David Sanlin. I've always been drawn to cartoonists who have a very human, cartoony line and speak of life's horrors. Outside of comics and cartoons, I love the classic prose humorists from the 20s and 30s like Don Marquis and Robert Benchley and James Thurber and S.J. Perelman and Irvin S. Cobb, etc., etc. I feel like sometimes I am writing like them, in a watered-down way. I love slightly antiquated language, and making up language. I guess when I sit down to draw a comic I am often thinking of non-comics things. It makes things easier and frees up the brain. But comics are my very favorite things and they inform every single aspect of my personality and life. I also love putting poetry into my comics, even though I know nothing about it. Comics are great for working through things you are vaguely interested them and pursuing them exactly how you want to.

 

Banci Wright do you have a group of cartoonist friends, do you find this is beneficial

Dane Martin: I do have a group of comics friends. This never would have been possible without the Center for Cartoon Studies. Up until I graduated high school and left for White River Junction that summer, I had never spoken out loud about any of these cartoonists who had completely shaped me. It was all an almost religious secret. Then, suddenly, I was surrounded by people who knew this religion, and I was completely overwhelmed and amazed. I loved every second of it. I am deeply influenced, in so many ways, by the great people I met at the school-- Jeff Lok, Sam Gaskin, Brandon Elston, Kubby Bear, Chris Wright, the list goes on and on. These cartoonists in particular drew in a way that I deeply, deeply bonded with and understood. Then, after I sadly left the school, I met a group of Chicago cartoonists that have continued to influence to me. Some Chicago cartoonists kindly let me live with them for a while, while I escaped the grasps of southern Michigan, and they are also producing some of my favorite comics in the world. Leslie Weibeler, Andy Burkholder, Max Morris, Nick Drnaso, Edie Fake... it's dazzling. I also feel a kinship with friends like Scott Longo and Blaise Larmee and Jesse McManus. A great painter and cartoonist named Katherine Poe has been a huge influence on my comics and life. I do think there is something healthy about drawing comics alone and not letting it become too much like a game or puzzle or any sort of competition, but it sure helps to be surrounded by people who do the same thing as you. It's only human. It's nice to find a good balance between comics' solitary ways and the social ways. I firmly believe you have to go through the solitary woods before even dreaming of the social stream.

Banci Wright the content of your comics are they auto biographical or completely fiction

Dane Martin: They are completely autobiographical, filtered through random language and cartoon gags. But they are autobiographical in a scattered way that is mostly lies. But the feelings the characters vomit out are often my own feelings, only exaggerated and made more extreme and disgusting.

Banci Wright what’s your take on the comic industry these days

Dane Martin: I don't really know if I'm in a position to say. I guess I'm disappointed that it's sometimes all about the $25 books. Every cartoonist is. But I am not fixated on any particular format. I love $25 books. I guess comic book stores always disappoint me, but I am much too excited about comics to focus on their marketing or anything like that. I am too unrealistic. I think it's far better than it could be, or how it seemed to be even ten years ago, when I was just starting to be exposed to comics. I do hope that in the future the boundaries between all the different comics camps will continue to break down. I can only think it is healthy buying a Picturebox book and a John Stanley book on the same day, and putting them in a sloppy pile next to your bed. And it's nice to see them next to each other on the shelves. I really do believe that comics are comics. I hate the idea of people thinking they are doing art that looks like comics. That might seem irrelevant, but I feel like I am sometimes surrounded by that attitude. (Even though it's sometimes a healthy way to think of comics, depending on the cartoonist.) Calling comics “comics” makes everything so exciting and pure to me.

Banci Wright what advice would give cartoonist that are starting out

Dane Martin: I'm not really sure. I'm just starting out myself. I guess the only thing I would say is to make sure you have a dedicated drawing space--some sort of table--and just spread everything out and work constantly. Put ten pieces of blank paper on the table and try to fill them in a few days. Just keep the momentum going. Do not feel pressured to follow the ways of the comics world, or mold your comics to fit in anthologies or some sort of imaginary “weird comics” canon. Also, it helps to step back and figure out who you are ripping off.

Banci Wright what’s your favourite quote

Dane Martin: “I used to run six miles a day, and at my most maniacal, would sometimes draw up to 80 hours a week, keeping track of every minute as if some stern, invisible time clock was watching over me making sure I didn't slack off.” --Kim Deitch, Shadowland collection

Banci Wright what are your plans for the future

Dane Martin: I'm working on Gagger #2, the constant steady stream of Horror of the Gag strips, a new 32-page “one-man anthology” comic called Salt Mines Digest #1, and a few other assorted comics that people are willing to print. A 24-page color comic for France. I hope to get much more focused on making comics for print, and make many more pages than I do now, and just getting more organized with comics in general. I'm starting a new job sitting twelve hours, five days a week, in an internetless empty room while an elderly lady sleeps below me, so I am hoping that will give me the intense focus I've been craving lately. Comics are beautiful. No guilt.

 

 

 

 

Kayla Escobedo interview

 Kayla Escobedo interview

www.kaylaescobedo.com

 

Kayla Escobedo was raised in DeSoto, TX and is a senior at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. She is currently studying Visual and Environmental Studies with a focus in Studio Art, and is also the Art Board director for The Harvard Lampoon, a designer and librarian for The Harvard Advocate, and a co-founder/curator for The Harvard Monday Gallery. She is the creator and writer of  “Monty Comix” and a contributor to Dexter Cockburn’s “Oh My Comix”. Kayla is currently working on her thesis for the VES department.

Vincent Wright: I would like to say thank you for taking your time to do this interview.  So, Kayla what’s happening for you at the moment comic/creative wise?
Kayla Escobedo:  Well, I’m living in Cambridge and beginning work on my senior thesis. Thanks to some funding from Harvard, I’m able to afford it. I’m totally open to my thesis taking a different shape later on, but as it stands now, I’m working on 3-D comics and some large-scale painted comics. My practice has always been divided – I made comics that looked like comics and paintings that looked like paintings. But I’ve always been interested, as many current artists are, in the line that divides the two. Instead of just putting a comic page in a gallery, I want to actively merge the ideas of both worlds into a new body of work. At least that’s my grand idea. I’m not sure how close to it I’ll get.

Vincent Wright: How long have you been making comics for and what attracted you to the medium?
Kayla Escobedo: I started making comics right after I first read Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan during the fall of 2008 (my first semester at Harvard). I have loved comics, I mean really loved comics, since I was able to read, but they honestly intimidated me. I never considered myself much of a writer or storyteller, but my paintings were sort of narrative-based. I had characters that appeared in series of paintings and, if seen together, could piece together a rough story. After I read Jimmy Corrigan, I was so affected by the real power of the medium that I wanted to give it a try. My desire to create comics was really a result of being struck with inspiration from that work of art.  

 Vincent Wright: Were there any comics growing up that you were into that had a major effect on you?
Kayla Escobedo: Oh, absolutely! At an early age I was super into Archie Comics, Garfield, and Peanuts. I still read that stuff from time to time. Especially Peanuts.  That work gets even better as you grow up and reread it. As a kid, I would get those long rectangular Garfield comic collections for Christmas and I went crazy over them. They had raised lettering, shiny covers, and great smelling pages. Anyway, I had limited exposure to any comics outside of the newspaper or the checkout stand at the grocery store. And my mom was really strict about the content of anything I was into. As I got older and was able to explore bookstores on my own, I found a copy of Peter Blegvad’s The Book of Leviathan. That crazy, strange book turned my head upside down.  As a preteen living in South Dallas, I didn’t have too much “mature” art or culture in my life, and I had never seen a book like that before. Equally as influential, though, were cartoons and shows. Ren & Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and these crazy Christian live action puppet shows on local TV all influence my aesthetic, writing style, and content just as much as the comics.

 

Vincent Wright: Where do you get your inspiration from?
Kayla Escobedo: Currently, I am looking at the work of painters who I feel have a real dialogue with the comics world, or who reference comics in their work in an interesting way.  Joe Brainard and Raymond Pettibon are my two favorite ‘fine artists’ right now, as well as Donald Baechler, Claes Oldenburg, and Paul McCarthy (although I’m not sure how direct their connections to comics are). And I can never seem to put Art Spiegelman’s Portrait of The Artist as a Young %@?*! back on the shelf, it’s so good. His work from this period is really fearless. It’s so tight and well-crafted while at the same time being pretty schizophrenic and wild. Gary Panter’s work, which is also incredibly brave and crazy, is up way high on my list of inspirations. Jimbo: Adventures in Paradise is my #1 favorite of his. I’m also really into Mark Newgarden’s “How To Read Nancy” essay, as well as his book We All Die Alone. I draw a lot of inspiration from the way he carefully considers the form of comics. He really breaks it down and focuses on the power of line, symbols, composition, and characters (and their recognizability) and the science of humor. Herriman’s Krazy Kat and Chris Ware’s Quimby the Mouse are some of my all-time idea generators in terms of style and page design. Dan Clowes’s lettering and coloring have really influenced my “Monty Comix” series, and Tim Hensley’s Wally Gropius comics are brilliant. He sure can write a twisted narrative. Ivan Brunetti’s sick sense of humor and fearless acknowledgement of humanity’s flaws is always a source of inspiration. Tim Lane’s sense of everyday Americana is truly beautiful, and he really knows how to write some down-to-earth dialogue without sounding cheesy. His comics have this “American-ness” that I can relate to and really gets me going. There is a similar down-to-earth “Texan” quality to the television show King of the Hill that I find very appealing. I watch King of the Hill and The Office (the Greg Daniels adaptation) obsessively and draw a lot of writing guidance from Louis C.K.’s show, Louie. I am really attracted to the tight, frank, believability of the dialogue in these shows. I’m also inspired by these same qualities in Joan Rivers’s comedy. I know the content of my work is not exactly comedic, and the thread that ties these shows to my own work may not be clear, but that stuff really gets me excited. And oh boy, the Coen Brothers really know how to write a tight script. The Big Lebowski is my all-time favorite movie. I love their writing and their ability to craft adaptations of books. I’ve taken some lines from No Country For Old Men and put them in my comics (although I may have Cormac McCarthy to thank for that). The Coen brothers also have a way of capturing this sense of “southern-ness” that I really respond to.  O Brother, Where Art Thou in particular. I grew up listening to the old-timey music from that movie, and I find it very comforting. I’ve also taken the titles of some of my pieces from some Sufjan Stevens lryics. His album The Age of Adz has been playing constantly as I make my newest body of work. John Kricfalusi always seems to be looming over me as sort of the gold standard of sturdy, expressive, tangible character design. I mean, his cel paint choices (like when his animators use a blue line to describe something instead of just a black line is so great), costume designs, and ability to show tension are all spot on. He can really show how heavy a fat cat is by the squish he draws. I’ve tried my hand at animation, and it is hard stuff. I plan on animating more, and will always look up to John K. Of course, the aesthetic of Max Fleischer’s animations have guided my drawing style and the design of both Monty and Whalegirl. And performance artists like Klaus Nomi, Andy Kaufman and Paul Reubens I consider icons. My own artistic practice swings wide open, and I could see myself reaching into the performance art world. Finally, and in some ways most importantly, the content of all of my work – paintings, comics, drawings, sculpture, and animations – all share a world-view bond with the filmmaker Alejandro Iñárritu. His sensitivity to violence and acknowledgment of suffering and death is similar to my own. His work is incredibly sad, but it’s so important. It’s never gratuitous in its pain and is rewarding in its humanity. I can’t watch his movies very often because they are so intense and difficult, but I think he’s brilliant. The same goes for Chris Ware and his latest work, Lint.

 

Vincent Wright: I noticed that your comics are called Monty but the main focus seems to be on “Whale Girl” was that intentional? 
Kayla Escobedo: Well, Monty Comix was the sort of the umbrella name for all of the comics I was making at the time. Whalegirl was the first character I came up with, then Monty followed. The name ‘Monty Comix’ just had a nice ring to it, which is why I called everything that. I do try to use them pretty equally, though. Now that my work is all human-based, I’ve stopped calling my comics Monty Comix. I’m not sure what they’ll be called now.

 Vincent Wright: How much of your comics are autobiographical and how much are fiction?
Kayla Escobedo: Just about all of it is autobiographical. My latest stuff is based on my thoughts and experiences, but swings a little bit closer to maybe fiction, but Monty issues 1-5 are all based on things that happened in my life.

Vincent Wright: Where did you come up with the design of Monty and Whalegirl?
Kayla Escobedo:  Like I said, Whalegirl came first. I had determined to make my first real comic, and was sketching out ideas for characters. I had the movie ‘Where The Toys Come From’ on my TV and was pausing it to sketch some of the really cool old toys that show up in the beginning.  I came up with a bunch of characters that didn’t feel right, so I decided to draw something from my head. So I drew a standing humpback whale (my favorite animal). I then replaced the body with a naked female body, added a hat and a pipe, and Whalegirl was born. On the back of that sketch page, I drew my first comic starring Whalegirl (which are the contents of Monty Comix Issue 3). Monty came a few weeks later. I was in class and sketched out a composition for a new comic.  In the first panel, before I knew what I was doing, I drew a fuzzy little naked, old-timey looking monster guy. I looked at him and thought, “He looks like a Monty.” (that comic is the first page in Issue 2).

Vincent Wright: What’s your process of making a Monty Comic and what direction do you want to go with them in the future?
Kayla Escobedo: A lot of my earlier stuff I wouldn’t plan at all. I’d sketch out a cool composition and then find a way of filling it in, thinking as I was drawing. Always in pencil first, inking in pen, then adding a wash or marker. Now I really, really plan them out. I do thumbnail sketches in my sketchbook, I’ll maybe make 10 of them. I do all the writing of the comics separately. I consider every word I include, and rewrite the text maybe dozens of times until I get it right. Then I go to the final paper, measuring out the panels with a ruler on a large sheet of paper, sketching the figures in detail, and trying to rule out the lettering as straight as I can. I then ink with a brush and erase pencil lines. The more comics I make, the more invested in planning I become.


Vincent Wright: What do you make of the comics industry nowadays ?
Kayla Escobedo: Oh I’m not sure. I don’t read or pay much attention to the really popular mainstream comics at all, so I can’t really say much about the state they’re in. I think there are some cool alternative comics out there, but I also see a lot of stuff I think is crappy. Most of the stuff out there is crappy, I think.  Hmm. I don’t really know. I’m not sure if people are really reading the good stuff, or if it even sells. I wish I knew more about it all. I’d have a better idea of the world I’d like to be a part of. 

Vincent Wright: What too tools and materials do you use to make a Monty Comic?
Kayla Escobedo: I used to use only Microns, but now I use ink with a brush or nib. When I add color to my stuff I use Prismacolor markers or acrylic and oil paint. Sometimes I’ll use watercolor, but rarely. I don’t use digital coloring, but in the rare case that I do, it’s just to touch up a really nasty mistake that would take away from the story. 
 

Vincent Wright: In regards to the fine art work you do, what connection is there, if any, to you comic work?
Kayla Escobedo: For the most part, there hasn’t been much of a connection, which is what I’m trying to change with my newest body of work. I’m really interested in considering the question of the role of comics as art, and exploring the implications of the comic-as-object versus the painting-as-object. While paintings are valued as a lasting and permanent medium that people hang in museums and view from a distance, comics are traditionally viewed in the form of newsprint and pamphlets, and so I think they’re generally associated with a certain disposability and ephemerality. I’m interested in exploring the medium as a legitimate art form. I want to carefully consider the formal aspects of comics and the expressive potential of sequential narrative through images and symbols, and I want to discover new ways to incorporate these aspects into the viewers’ interaction with comics.

 
Vincent Wright: What do your family and loved ones make of your comics?
Kayla Escobedo: Haha uh, well, I don’t really show my family much of my stuff. I guess they’re OK with it, which is to say that they don’t really talk about it. I know it makes them uncomfortable, and in all honesty, I can understand. My friends really like my work, and are very supportive. My family is supportive of my desire to be an ‘artist,’ but I think there’s an understanding that I don’t need to show them everything that I make, and I don’t.  They’re conservative Christians, and my comics don’t really fit in with their interests and ideals, so I try to keep it all quiet. I don’t like to make people uncomfortable, especially my family.

Vincent Wright: I hope its ok to say this, but I find your comics eerie, erotic and endearing all at the same time. How have other people seen your work and what message are you trying to give over when you create them?
 
Kayla Escobedo: Of course that’s OK! I think that the erotic-ness was really in Issue 4, and it came with a heavy weight of disturbing-ness, too.  I don’t try to make work with any real sexual gratification. I don’t make erotica, and I don’t really want to. The sex in my work comes with pain and embarrassment, but also curiosity. In all honesty, I’m not sure what people think about my work. I’ve had some online reviewers write about my stuff, but they mostly summarize the storylines of the comics. Although I’d like to get more feedback on the Monty Comix stuff, I’m starting to really depart from the subject matter in them. My newer comics with human characters are almost the opposite. There isn’t really any sexuality or graphicness.


 

Vincent Wright: What’s next for you and what would like to achieve in the future?
Kayla Escobedo: I have one more year of undergrad to go, and finishing that will be a wonderful thing. During this coming year I’ll be working on my thesis, trying to explore comics more deeply. After graduation, I think I’ll move back to Texas and try to ‘make it’ in the Dallas art scene. I’m not sure how, and it’ll probably take a long, long time, but I’m willing to try. Texas is cheap and I love it there.  I may get a job teaching, or work in a gallery for a while. I’m not sure yet. It depends on who will hire me! In any case, I’ll continue making work, that’s for sure.

Vincent Wright: What would be your advice for new budding cartoonists who are starting out and what to expect? 
Kayla Escobedo: Well, I’m one of those budding cartoonists myself, so I don’t have too much to offer. Making lots of work is the best I can think of to say. I’ve been looking for some advice myself haha.

Thanks again Kayla for taking your time to do this interview.
No problem at all. I really appreciate the time you took to ask!