Productivity and Motivation: Jason Franks and Paul Mason

Part three of talking with self-publishing/small press cartoonists about productivity and motivation.

Jason Franks

Do you experience a drop in productivity upon completing a comic? Have you developed methods to deal with creative lulls? What do you consider the primary obstructions of your productivity?

Nope.

Because I am principally a writer, it usually takes months or years for any given piece that I write to see print--so I'm already well into the next project. In fact the converse is probably true: depending on the publisher, pushing a book through the lettering/production process might interrupt my writing schedule for a period, so my productivity usually goes up right after a book comes out when I can settle down and get back to creative work.
  

 Paul Mason

After spending maybe 4-6 months solid on a book writing, drawing, colouring, lettering, assembling/pre print etc, especially ruining my body clock in the process, I can’t help but blow off a few days doing very little creatively as I recover. Read a favourite book, stare at the idiot box, dust off the Playstation for my twice a year game session etc, and maybe sleep longer than 5 hours.

But no method is better to beat this than the next pending deadline/task on the list. I remind myself “Don’t be an amateur”- This applies not only to my comic tasks, but also my sports or work practices. A pro would tough out the pending tasks and get it done. I figure I can’t reach my goals screwing about, and not bringing out new stuff. Not much of a method, berating myself mentally, but it’s true. It’s the same when I have to find the time to train for a world championship or tournament while working, studying and comicing- I might have worked all day at the day job, sat through peak hour traffic, get home to more work, an empty kitchen that needs groceries, sort a meal out, prep for the next day etc. and think the last thing I want to do is exercise. “Would an amateur relax? What would a champion do?”. There’s my answer. That comic page needs to be done by the end of the evening. “Would a pro watch TV and play video games instead?”

The fact that I hate one of my day jobs, and I have a doctoral degree to complete soon is a motivation. Improvement should always be an answer to procrastination. Don’t just “exist” in life. Accomplish things.

The enemy- Social media. A necessary evil in terms of keeping in touch, promotion etc, but you can easily get caught up looking at nothing important at all, chatting to people etc. A great time-swallower. Really though, the enemy is me. The TV or internet doesn’t turn itself on. It’s a battle, since comics can be a solitary pursuit, and the social media contact can be an alluring time-waster. But my main drive? Reminding myself that I don’t have much time; every minute wasted is potential sleep time disappearing, and that book down the track might not get done on time.

Simon Hanselmann Interview

 Simon Hanselmann

"VDS is cigarettes and acid and funerals."

Uber busy Melbourne based cartoonist Simon Hanselmann recently launched Victoria Drug Scene, a 76 page anthology of established and young cartooning upstarts primarily from Melbourne. Contributors include Michael Hawkins, HTML Flowers, Marc Pearson, Lashna Tuschewski, Michael Fikaris, Magic Sweater, Sam Wallman, David Mahler, Katie Parrish, international guest Josephine Mairead King Edwards.

Victoria Drug Scene will be available in the next few days from the Silent Army Storeroom. ( Proprietors of many fine Australian and New Zealand comics.)

I asked Simon a few questions about the production of Victoria Drug Scene.

You're quite a busy cartoonist at the moment, producing work for multiple publishers around the world, what inspired you to edit an anthology?

"It's basically like when Eminem blew up and got kinda popular and did the whole D12 thing, getting all his old friends together and being a group and saying, "Hey, look world, here are my cool friends. Give them deals and money, please. I love them and hope you will too."

Also it's a direct rebuttal to the recent documentary film "Graphic Novels! Melbourne!" (LOL). It's my opinion of what is the most vibrant, exciting, interesting work being produced in this city."

Did you take cues from any particular anthologies when producing Victoria Drug Scene? Did you have any themes or particular visions for the anthology?

"I staunchly specified "NO THEME" to all of the invited artists. I'm not a fan of themed anthologies. I wanted people to do whatever it is they do best and whatever the fuck they wanted to do and I just had to hope that people wouldn't fuck it up and I wouldn't hate their pieces and have to tell them they screwed up.

My vision was for a cheaply produced anthology of interesting local work that could, "Compete on a global level", by people who know what's happening in the world of comics, literature, fine art, film and fashion and whose styles are fully formed (or near fully formed).

No zombies or Star Wars references. No cute, meandering, artless, poorly-paced bullshit by boring people with nothing to say.VDS is not "geek culture". VDS is cigarettes and acid and funerals.

Regarding other anthologies that may have provided inspiration: It's it's own thing. It's Melbourne comics in early 2013. It can't possibly be anything else."

 Panel from Megg and Mogg by Simon Hanselmann

Is there a common 'scene' or 'aesthetic' contributing artists to VDS are a part of? If I recall rightly you were abroad for a while before coming to Melbourne in 2011 what are your general impressions of the Melbourne 'comics community'?

I moved to Victoria from Tasmania in early 2008 (and before that I'd always been aware of Silent Army and most of the interesting stuff coming out of the state. I kept tabs on everything happening whilst I was away in the UK from late 2008 to early 2011 (lots of interesting young people started making comics and self publishing in that period. HTML flowers, Lashna Tuschewski, David C Mahler, Marc Pearson, Katie Parrish etc).

Victoria is, in my opinion, the state producing the best comics in Australia. no other state even comes close.

I guess most of the artists in VDS are kind of coming at comics from an arts background and are not aware of, or interested in "mainstream comics". Most of them are in their early twenties and know their shit.

We all tabled together at the Melbourne Zine Fair and were referred to as "The Cool Kids" and "The stoners that sneak alcohol into the event". "The Pretty Weirdos"."

 Panel from Megg's Therapy by Simon Hanselmann

Will you be producing further anthologies?

Yes. VDS will be a quarterly publication for the foreseeable future. There are more young, emerging Australian artists that I will be asking to produce pieces for future issues. Evie Cahir, Tom Hunter, Hamishi etc.

I'll also continue to invite different international guests like Josie Mairead King Edwards from the first issue. I met her on tumblr and think she is utterly brilliant. And she's 17. I put her piece right near the front of the book as a warning to the other artists, "LOOK. look what Josie has done. Pick up your game." I may also start to feature small amounts of related "fine art", sculpture and fashion photography.

 

Can you name some cartoonists more people should be aware of?

Local: Marc Pearson. Marc has impeccable taste in the current global comics scene and is one of my favorite people to talk shop with. His last two books have been wonderful and he's blossoming into one of our best writers.I predict big things for him in the future. 

Michael Hawkins is eternally unique and brilliant and one of my oldest friends in comics, his Frosnall Graaf series is the Australian Twin Peaks.

Lashna Tuschewski is probably one of the coolest people in the world.

Sam Wallman is brilliant. Dave C Mahler is churning things out in his sleep.

M P Fikaris is running the Silent Army Storeroom which holds all the best comics to be found in Melbourne, he's also been releasing his anthology 'Dailies', a wonderful snapshot of the broader Australian scene. Pretty much everything that "matters" is in there.

Worldwide: there's too many people to mention, here's some of the top of my head: Aiden Koch, Lala Albert, Patrick Kyle, Jonny Negron, Noel Freibert, Royce Icon, Ines Estrada, Alex Schubert, Heather Benjamin, Edie Fake, Charles Foresman, Dane Martin, Zach Hazard Vaupen, Mickey Z, Joe Kessler, Gabriel Corbera... those are most of my current favorites...

I buy all my books online, usually direct from the artists. Australian comic book stores are pathetically behind the times and completely unaware of what's new and awesome. They're too busy selling toys and trinkets. Minotaur disgusts me. It actually smells in there. Plus they put those fucking metal price-stickers on all the "graphic novels" and they either tear the books up or leave greasy stains.

(I'm actually quite shocked that we have so many comic book shops in the city centre. Minotaur. All Star. Comics R Us. Comix... I hate all of them and find them poorly curated and totally useless. I wish at least ONE of them had ONE employee with taste who would order in interesting NEW small press and "art comics". Instead there are life-size plastic batman statues and pinball machines. ugly t-shirts. *Sigh*)"

2012 in Review: Marijka Gooding

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

Being introduced to the Melbourne comic book scene and all its lovely people. I think because the Melbourne scene is still quite young there is this stronger feeling of camaraderie and support amongst its members.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012? 

Early this year I discovered the Nobrow books. Nobrow are a small, independant publishing group from the UK, started in 2008, who specialize in beautifully crafted, one off comics and publications. Their work hit home for me the importance of looking at books as physical objects and as commodities to be kept and admired.  This pushed me to see my own work as a final, packaged product and take into consideration basic aesthetics like the weight and feel of a book.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

Mostly due to the comic book (Gooding's debut graphic novel, Strange Behavior.), I've been a bit of a shut in this year so my most enjoyable moments have been mostly small wins, like the day I found a slightly squished Caramello Koala wedged in between the couch cushions.

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

I am happy to say that this year I finally become friends with typography. After undergoing, and almost failing, first year typography classes at Uni, I had written myself off as never being any good at it. I found the whole thing so intimidating with its strict conventions and anal retentive specifications that I completely avoided using type in any of my work. It wasn't until I started to collecting examples of type myself (old tins, on the side of old trucks, wrappers, vintage signage, comics) that I started to really love it.
 
I noticed that the work of the comic artists I admired (particularly Dan Clowes, Chris Ware and Charles Burns) all had this strong, graphical consideration of type and I think that all stems from their mutual respect for both the written word and image. I wish someone had shown me sooner how exciting and varied type could be.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

 

The Big Arse 3 comics launch scheduled March next year.

 http://www.marijkagooding.com/

Sarah Laing Interview

Auckland cartoonist Sarah Laing was recently awarded a six-month University of Auckland residency from the Micheal King Writers Centre to work on a graphic novel about Katherine Mansfield that is part-biography, part-memoir and part-fiction. Laing's comics have frequently appeared in Metro magazine and she is also a novelist, graphic designer and mother of three. A prolific output of auto-bio comics have featured on Laing's blog Let Me Be Frank in recent years. I asked her a few questions via email about her upcoming residency.

Are you the first author to receive a Michael King Writers Centre residency to work on a cartooning project?

I'm the first at the Michael King Writers Centre, but it's a joint University of Auckland residency and I see that Dylan Horrocks was awarded it in 2006: http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/dylanhorrocks  But yes, it's rare for a cartooning/graphic novel project to be chosen for a residency! It's great that such a project is now being considered a serious contender. 

When did you first experience Katherine Mansfield's writing?

Somebody read me 'The Dolls' House' when I was in primary school and it all came alive for me - she's such a visual writer; I can still picture everything she described.  I remember my grandmother telling us that Mansfield's family, the Beauchamps, lived down the road from her family when she was a child in Karori. My first writing prize was for a poem I wrote in 7th form, called 'At the (York) Bay', after Mansfield's story. I spent lots of summer holidays in Eastbourne as that's where my grandmother and great aunts lived. Later I lived in a little lane off Tinakori Road in Wellington, where Mansfield was born. My first book published by Random House was a collection of short stories, and I felt like I was following in a tradition established by her. She really is still the most amazing short story writer, the way that she sets up a scene and then disrupts it entirely. Her writing still feels very contemporary.

 

Will your project be purely comics or a combination of prose and cartooning?

This project will be a cartooning one - a book-length graphic novel. Language does play a big part in my comics though, and I will be working hard on that. There is so much of the visual world to explore - Mansfield was stylish - she had that great bob - and she lived in the 1920s and 1930s, and she hung out with all the modernists and the Bloomsbury set (Virginia Woolf, D H Lawrence) She pushed a whole lot of social boundaries, redefined literature, had lesbian affairs, was the only writer that Virginia Woolf was jealous of. She moved to France and Germany to try and cure her TB, but she died young, at the age of 34.  Recently I read Kiki of Montparnasse and I think graphic novels are such a great way of bringing historical figures to life.

What will your residency at the Writers Centre entail?

I will be given a studio to work in at the top of Mt Victoria in Devonport. It was built in the late 19th century, so I'm hoping it will get me into the right era. Also I will have an office at the university and access to the library, where I hope to read lots about Mansfield. I think I might have to give lectures at the English department too, so I'll be hustling comics and graphic novels.

Do you have a projected scope for the size of this project and when you'll complete it?

I'm hoping it will take me no longer than a couple of years. But then I'm still finishing an illustrated novel (to be published in July 2013) that I started almost 4 years ago! I want to explore Mansfield's life, and also I want to couple that with memoir, exploring how my own fascination with her. I imagine that this will be a reasonably big book - 300 pages maybe, and I want to do it all in inks and watercolour. I've recently been reading Brecht Evans and I love his style and his way of story telling. I'm also a fan of Joann Sfar and Vanessa Davis, who also use watercolours a lot.

How was the experience of your short term residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2008?

It was really great - it was just for 6 weeks but I really got to concentrate. At the moment I work at home, on the dining room table, and I have 3 kids, so when they're at home I have to clear everything away or else they'll want to augment my art. The other thing that I've done when I've been on residencies is minimise my internet access. I waste such a lot of time! Then again, it's a brilliant resource for picture references so I won't be able to cut myself off entirely.

You've indicated on your blog that you've had an interest in doing a longer comics work for a while, did applying for the residency help consolidate commencing this project or was it already underway?

I thought this would be a good kind of project for a University writer-in-residence - I'd have access to all the English department expertise and a library full of books! I also had a lot of other ideas jostling around - mostly memoir ideas. I still have a whole host of short stories I want to draw in comic form - I'm hoping to get a few of those started before the residency begins.

All images copyright Sarah Laing 2012

Rebecca Clements Interview part two of four

Rebecca Clements interviewed by Chris Beach

Read part one over here.

 

What are some comics that have influenced you? Did any particular comics creators inspire you?

As I mentioned before, Patrick Alexander is a strong influence. I may never have got into comics without him, and I feel pretty damn lucky to have one of the greatest cartoonists of our generation there beside me. I know of very few cartoonists who can make me laugh like him, or take my breath away the way his thorough and masterful use of all the elements of comics art in his pages and stories does. If there's one surefire thing that keeps me in comics, it's always wanting to impress him. Or outdo him.

James Turner and Nick Wolfe's comics, among others, were early webcomic influences for me, and still are! James' fun sense of humour and charming characters, Nick's ceaseless headfirst rush into new ideas and ways of expressing his worlds and characters—there's a lot of really astounding talent out there. Over the years I've been influenced by far too many cartoonists to list them all, and often I'm not aware of an influence until years after its effect on me. I will mention Nedroid, KC Green, Rene Engstrom, Kate Beaton and David Troupes, then stop there before I go on forever.

Are there artists who work outside the field of comics who appeal to you? What is it about their work that you admire?

Absolutely, I'm also an illustrator and although not by trade, there's a game designer inside of me (as well as a director and an animator and many other things all hoping to get out from time to time). I'm very much inspired by the ideas and creations of all sorts of people in these fields.

The children's illustrators and writers I grew up with remain a huge force pushing and pulling me along. I never stop feeling the presence of the various stories and characters and artists whose worlds I spent much of my life in. There are too, too many to name: Roald Dahl, Babar, Daniel Pinkwater's The Big Orange Splot (to be very specific!), Dr Seuss and Diana Wynne Jones. I feel that I create richer things when I remember what excited me as a child. To remember those feelings and the specific things I responded to, but from an adult perspective that can come at it from different angles, is vital I think for creating charm. I'm always stomping around with a clumsy enthusiasm, trying to figure out how to hit the right notes. That's a mixed metaphor, but I think that's what I mean.

In my adult life I've discovered things like Moomin by Tove Jansson, James Marshall's George and Martha and the work of Shaun Tan, that are beacons I always make sure to keep in front of me—people and works that stun me with their masterful gift for creation in any medium. Discovering them is like finding the greatest treasure life has to offer.

To limit myself to one single last mention, who has been and always will be one of my biggest inspirations: Jim Henson and all of the hundreds of his fellow creators and creations that basically raised me. I'm not sure I'll see a repeat of a creator like him in my lifetime. Somehow I seem to find more respect and admiration for him every year of my life. He is the best. 

Do any other interests feed into your cartooning?

Of course. I think my interests in cartooning are just about the least of it. A person's life in general tends to be what really feeds their art (and people who are only immersed in comics often have little to say).

As I've said, my intense interest in video games coupled with my having grown up with computers makes it into my work. It's probably clear to anyone who knows me or reads my comics that I have an ever-increasing interest in things like sustainability. On top of that, I'm passionate about finding ways to improve our lives and ourselves in general, and about the wisdom that comes from exploration and experience, from new interactions and feelings, and from being able to make people happier. It's important to me to try to find ways to help all of us fit together better. I don't think I can stop that seeping into my comics. If it doesn't seep, it will pour anyway.

Since I've started doing a lot of diary comics, it's hard to have an interest that doesn't make its way into my cartooning. I especially like to make comics about things I find that excite me, often movies or books. I think once or twice I've even done comics around learning Japanese.

Life, both frustratingly and thankfully, is always getting in the way of comics for me.

When you were a guest and interviewed on 3CR you said "I don't read much in terms of print [comics] because I don't have much of a history with it". It seems like more and more artists who don't come from the usual background of reading a lot of mainstream comics are becoming comics creators. What do you make of this trend?

Great! It's just great when people from all kinds of backgrounds try a medium. The worst thing that can happen to any medium—music, television, whatever—is for the same kinds of people who all followed the same lines and jumped through the same hoops to be the only ones who have any impact. It happens in every industry, and that's when you begin to see nothing fresh and people forget to experiment and try new things—people become afraid to try new things. In areas where this happens, creators themselves seem to be a mix of arrogant, depressed, self-loathing, conservative types who forget why they got interested in their trade in the first place.

The things people genuinely love—that excites us and makes us feel alive, that unites us by bringing different demographics to a medium that should never be a single-demographic one—can only come out of an industry that is rich with different opinions, experiences, outlooks and styles. It's great when artists mix and share ideas. It's also great when artists have nothing to do with each other. That variety drives us all to create.

Which comics (on the web and in print) do you currently enjoy reading?

It's always changing because I don't really have that much time to read comics. I'll definitely read anything by the web cartoonists I mentioned earlier, so Gunshow and Hark! A Vagrant are among my staples. Pictures For Sad Children, So Far Apart, Hilarity Comics ... I'm very excited by anything people like Ben Hutchings and Pat Grant do (Pat's Blue is one of the most wonderful comics out there).

I'm not reading much in print right now! I'm finally reading Eddie Campbell's Bacchus, which I recently acquired. Just today I was reminded that I have a lot of Alan Moore to catch up on. I read my Moomin comics whenever I need to be reminded of what it's all about.

What prompted you to live in Japan for several years and what were your experiences like there?

To answer the second one first and succinctly: A-MA-ZING.

I'd always been interested in Japan (come on, I grew up with video games and anime) and I studied Japanese for a few years, so after university I went to teach in Japan for what was supposed to be a year but turned into many.

I think of those years in Japan as my truly formative adult years. That's where I learned the most about life. I had difficult and harsh experiences that taught me the best things about life. I met really fantastic people there, had so many unbelievably fun times and traveled a lot around the country. It was the best decision of my life. I can't even begin to imagine what I would have missed out on had I not gone. So much of who I am now came from those fantastic struggles and good times. So many more after returning to Australia too. And I look forward to all the new experiences to come all the places I go.

All images copyright 2012 Rebecca Clements. Interview copyright 2012 Chris Beach

Inherent Vice: Ben Hutchings

During the Inherent Vice residency at The NGV Studio in Melbourne I spoke briefly with some of the cartoonists. Every day I have visited the NGV Ben Hutchings has been steadfastly chained to his desk with drawing utensil in hand. Ben enlightened me about what he has been up to.

How has the experience of been of working in public as apposed to your normal routine?

It's been really, really, really, excellent fun. I've really loved being distracted by people instead of by the fridge or the TV. I'm sitting here in the corner in front of these gigantic glass windows, where I'm the first thing everyone sees which is a bit weird, but It's great watching all the people walk past and talking to all the people coming in. Also having the other seven guys around is really good, really fun.

Did you have a specific project planned coming into the Inherent Vice residency?

I thought I'd set this time aside to work on this comic I've thought up called 'Walking to Japan'. I thought I'd be able to finish it in the five weeks here. So I've started working on it and It's a bit over half way through so the last week is just going to be a real massive hard slog to get that comic strip finished.

You're a full-time cartoonist?

Yeah I am. I do a strip for Picture Magazine and also just do a lot of freelance and stuff like that. I pretty much draw for a living completely.


The Inherent Vice residency is a curated event, were there any expectations from the artist's taking part?

Hardly any. They just said they'd like us to come in as often as we could and they gave us a little fee so if we could turn down some work and that sort of thing. There were no real expectations. There were plans to make a book at the end of this, a collection of our work, but it's pretty loose.




What got you into comics?

I kicked off with the British stuff like Beano and all that. That kicked it off and then I tried all types of comics, mainly with the style of humour it'd be the British funny comics like Viz and things like that which I just think are really, really funny. Also art styles a lot of black n white art from the seventies, underground stuff like Freak Bros, I picked up heaps of techniques from them and its a bit hard to say where I got techniques from but a bit of Manga I guess. Mostly black and white comics from the seventies and eighties I s'pose.

Do you have a favourite part of the comic making process?

Sketching out the thumbnails is the best bit, when you're writing out the comic.

Ben mentioned Milk Shadow Books will be publishing issue #10 of You Stink and I Don't, his long running one man humour anthology. Along with the Cartoonist/Animator David Blumenstein, Ben also hosts the hilarious podcast Comic Book Funny.