Theo Macdonald
What have been your cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?
Participating
in the Comics Generation exhibition was cool. I've never had my work
exhibited, so that was an interesting experience, working out what was
worthy of the wall. Luckily the curator, Claire Harris, was very good at
identifying that some work was simply better than other stuff. Traveling
to Auckland Armageddon to sell my first graphic novel Edward Fisher:
Duck, You Flogger was a big deal. This had taken 28 months to complete,
so finally releasing it was satisfying, to say the least. It looked
fantastic, mainly due to the involvement of Richard Fairgray, who dealt
with all the publishing details.
Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?
The
main local work I've enjoyed has been that of the Comics Generation
artists: Esther and Sadie Galloway, Zora Patrick, Michael Sanders, and
Joel Spencer. There's a common sense of vitality to their work, it had
to be created, which I like.
In terms of
general comic reading, I've been woefully unadventurous, mainly just
enjoying various continuing series, particularly Locke & Key by Joe
Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, which uses Rodriguez' skills from his
previous career in architecture to develop a comprehensive universe. One
new discovery has been the ongoing webcomic Multiplex, by Gordon
McAlpin, which began as a basic movie parody strip, but soon turned into
a full fledged dramedy, kind of reminiscent of Freaks and Geeks. The
art is vector, which I normally don't find that attractive, but the
understated colour palette and sense of consistency afforded by computer
generated work really draws me in.
What
is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?
This
year I've been attempting to watch Woody Allen's entire directing
filmography, a difficult task due to the unavailability of many of his
works on DVD, but I'm close, three films left before his latest comes
out here. I've also gotten into Jim Jarmusch, Orson Welles, and David
Lynch, the last of whom's work I've enjoyed in several mediums,
particularly his fine art, which is wonderfully textured and offers
great insight into his directorial process.
My
favourite new releases this year have been Young Adult and We Need to
Talk about Kevin, both fantastic character driven pieces, albeit in two
completely different genres, comedy and horror. Moonrise Kingdom was
perfect, in my mind Wes Anderson is still to put a foot wrong.
I
finally got around to reading a lot of the stuff on my bedside table:
Howl and other poems, The Trial, The High Window, The Thin Man. There's
still a lot to go.
Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?
It's
more just been general development. I began rewriting every page of
Edward Fisher as I got to it. The panel layouts are denser and more
fluid. Does not sleeping count as a working method? Also I started
watching Gilmore Girls when drawing, I assume I'll just stop creating
when I reach the end of season 7.
Not comics, but this year I started using oil paints, which has drastically improved my style.
What are you looking forward to in 2013?
A
couple of days ago I decided I'm going to create a sequel to my comic
from two years ago, Theocracy. I've got 19 strips ideas written down,
and am hoping to publish it online along with the content of the first
volume. I've written some short films, a couple of which I plan on
making early 2013, and I want to keep developing my painting skills. One
project that should be very interesting is getting a new pair of
glasses. At this stage there will probably be two lenses, but who knows
what will change in editing?
Also I'll be
beginning university in Auckland, which should generate enough angsty
angst fun to keep me writing for a long time.
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