1. What drew you to comics?
I like your wording there! My dad was an excellent amateur cartoonist and my mom had a wild sense of humor (still does), so they gave me a lot of encouragement when they realized I could draw. The biggest inspiration, however, was Mad Magazine. I loved all the artists and the movie spoofs. It was like my brain had exploded onto a magazine. I would sit and copy the art of Don Martin and Sergio Aragon’s. Sergio is probably the biggest inspiration. He drew tiny little cartoons in the margins of the pages and, to this day, I hide little gags in my art. I hope he’s okay with my blatant rip offs!
2. What do comics allow you to do as a storyteller?
I always think of my stories in movie terms. They play out in my head like a movie or an animated series, so graphic novels and comics take the story one step closer to that movie form. I can establish a mood or create an amazing set with a single drawing, much cheaper than building an actual set or hiring a special effects crew. As a writer it’s sometimes nice to not have to spend a lot of words describing a setting or a mood. The pic tells the reader everything they need to know. Of course, sometimes I’m just burning to write a cool description of something, so it can can be good and bad depending on my frame of mind.
3. Please tell us about your creating process.
I like to sit down with a stack of plain white paper and let the doodles flow. Often times, books start off that way. With Wiley and Grampa and Snoop Troop, I came up with a characters first and some funny sight gags and then the words followed. Other times I start by jotting down concepts and the drawings follow. Once the official writing process starts I’ll do very rough sketches as I write. This was great when writing Swamp Kid and We Found a Monster for DC, since the style was supposed to resemble a middle school kid’s spiral notebook. Some of those rough sketches stayed in the books!
4. What message would you share with young creators?
Show us something we haven’t seen before! So much of what we read and see on TV and in the theaters is the same ol’ same ol’. If you're writing a comic, even one with a famous familiar character who may or may not be a superhero, try and come up with your own take on it or give us something that surprises us. Let your imagination fly. I’d rather read something and say “Man, that was a hot mess, but it sure was wild and creative” than “Well, that was well-written, but been there done that."
Comments