A little comics process interview

My friend Eric Kim is teaching a class and i consented to fill out a questionnaire for his students.

1. Could you tell us what your typical working month is like?

The thing about comics, the thing that I constantly struggle with, is the division between writing and drawing. Since I write and draw all my own stuff, there's a very large division of labor, ie, I spend half the year drawing and half the year writing. It can make you feel a bit schizophrenic. It's like having one job sometimes and then another job. You're using a lot of different skills during both phases, but for me at least, they are necessarily divided.

Anyway, a typical "writing" month is like this: I usually spend a few hours a day writing and/or thinking about stuff, and then I spend other hours reading, watching movies, playing videogames and otherwise seeking inspiration. Usually I write for a while and then hit a snag and stop for a while. Sometimes I have to stop for a week or more, and then suddenly I'll have a breakthrough and go back and write for two days solid. Eventually this process leads to finished scripts.

Drawing phases are more like this: Monday to Friday I start drawing first thing in the morning and stop after two pages are done, or whatever I'm aiming for. Weekends I try to take off, but usually I end up working on either Saturday or Sunday or both, because I'm behind on my days or I just don't feel like not working.

Ideally I like to do thumbnails first thing in the morning when my brain is working, pencils before lunch, and ink in the afternoon. I like to listen to audiobooks or radio programs while penciling, because it distracts the part of my brain that's constantly screaming "THIS IS TERRIBLE! YOU'RE RUINING IT!" During inking I can do audiobooks or loud, energetic music. During thumbnailing, mellow music is better.

On my next book I'd like to try taking a few weeks and thumbnailing the whole thing first. We'll see how that pans out.

2. I've heard that you're amazingly fast when the deadline comes. Do you have any tips on speeding up the number of pages that you get done in a day?

This isn't true. I was faster when I was young and stupid. Now I realize that "slow and steady wins the race" is a very apt metaphor for comics. If you try and do two pages every weekday, you'll get more done than if you try and do 20 pages a week. If you're aiming for 20 pages a week you'll just fail and be miserable. I am still coming to terms with this concept.

3. Your characters are marked by an amazing level of self-awareness. Can you give us some insight on how you develop your characters?

I don't know if I can help anyone with this subject. It's just something that comes naturally to me. My main interest as a writer/creator is in the ways that people rub against each other. Everyone is different, and all the different people interact with every other person in a unique way, so every individual relationship between two characters is its own discrete thing. I guess that's some kind of insight.

4. What do you feel to be the hardest part of making comics?

The hardest part is probably the consistency of it, the constant work and the constant practice required. Every day can feel like you're starting over from scratch. The other hardest part for me as a maturing creator is, like I said earlier, the divide between writing and drawing. I'm constantly looking for ways to integrate the two aspects to my own satisfaction, but it's difficult, because I like the structure of a solid plot and I like the spontaneity of coming up with jokes and images while drawing pages. I want it both ways, and that necessitates this division of labour.

5. Could you describe your start in comics?

I guess I came in through the side door. I was doing my own crummy comics on the web when I was in my late teens and the web was pretty new (late 90s). Then I went to stay with some friends who were a few years older and were doing a book at Image. I helped them out on that book with lettering and design stuff. Through that I made a few connections, and started doing little jobs like inking and lettering for Udon and Oni Press, and was asked to illustrate a miniseries for Oni Press. At the same time I was pitching my own miniseries ideas. By the time I started working on one, original graphic novels were starting to take the place of miniseries, so I did "Lost At Sea" as a GN. After that, my publisher suggested that I do a series of OGNs, which became Scott Pilgrim.

6. What are your favourite tools?

I have a love/hate relationship with brush and ink. It's a very temperamental tool set, and heavily reliant on "good" brushes and inks (ie expensive), and even the expensive ones are very fickle. On top of that, it really takes years to learn how to use them properly and to come up with your own style. But you just can't get the same results with anything else, I find. I will probably always come back to brush and ink.

7. Do you work extensively with the computer?

Yes and no. All of my work goes through the computer, but I mostly use it as a timesaver, not so much to produce work. I clean up my scanned originals and do a lot of black fills and computer lettering and things like that. Sometimes I'll do long lines or swooping curves in Photoshop because I'm terrible at drawing them in real life. Also I use it for most of my colour work and greytone stuff. I'm not into inking on the Wacom so much, but I like to use it for colour originals and to get strange effects that are different from what I'd do on paper.