1. Please tell us about your creative process.
I often start with an image, even when I’m collaborating with others. For instance, for Goldfish Ghost, written by Lemony Snicket, a picture of a ghostly goldfish, floating on its back, popped into my head and wouldn’t leave. Sometimes I start with a setting. For my latest book, a graphic novel called The Phantom Twin, it was a carnival sideshow. For The Airport Book, of course, it was the airport.
After I get an idea of the subject, then I go to words. After words, it’s more sketching. I like to start drawing at the same time I’m thinking about the physical book itself. I really like limitations. If I know I only have 40 pages, say, or 6 comics panels a page, then I get excited about figuring out how my story might work within that structure.
2. What inspires your work?
Everything. People I see on the street, the ocean, my students at The California College of Art in San Francisco, art and natural history museums, strange objects, lighthouses, historical events and figures, supernatural flights of fantasy, and, of course, books books books.
I take walks wherever I am. They help to clear my head when I’m procrastinating or stuck. I also drink lots and lots of coffee and eat cookies. Cookies are delicious.
3. How did you come up with the idea for The Phantom Twin?
I’ve always been interested in oddities and outsiders. I sometimes feel like an outsider myself (I bet we all do, at one time or another). Creating a graphic novel about a sideshow was a way for me to think about people who were both outside the norm and yet insiders within their own community. The carnival sideshows of the early 20th century and their performers provided me with a way to explore difference, disability, exploitation, and community, and to think about what someone might do if they suddenly lost that community.
Also, ghosts. Always ghosts.
4. What message do you have for young creators?
1 The books that you love are the best books.
2 Everyone can draw. It’s just a matter of nerve.
3 Let yourself become obsessed with things. Then, let them inspire you.
5. Where can we find out more about your books?
A good place to start is my website, http://www.americanchickens.com. I post sketches and photos (that I take during my walks, see above) on Instagram @lisabrowndraws.
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