Li Chen
What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?
Getting the chance to self publish my webcomic as books through funding from Kickstarter
was pretty amazing. It allowed me to work full time on my comics and
the books for most of the year, and it made me realise that I really
wanted to make art and comics as a career.
Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?
I discovered Ryan Andrews
work this year. He is a brilliant artist and has written some
beautifully haunting comics. I love his style of artwork, it's very
inspiring.
What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012? (i.e.
movies, film, prose, ballet, opera, fine art, exhibitions, etc)
I've
really enjoyed watching a Cartoon Network show called Adventure Time
this year. It has a really surreal sense of humor that I try to reflect
in my own comics. I also went to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo this year and found it
hugely inspiring. I love their films and they definitely influence my
comics and artwork.
Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?
Not really. My comics are still drawn manually with pencil and scanned.
Any colour in my comics is then applied digitally. I've just been
practicing a lot, and I think that my work has improved throughout the
year, which is good!
What are you looking forward to in 2013?
Making more comics, making more art. Petting cats.