While we look forward to ComicFest 2024, meet Giselle Clarkson in this “5 minutes with” interview.
What first got you interested in comics?
When I was a kid I loved Tintin, The Far Side and books by Raymond Briggs, but it wasn’t until I was at university and discovered webcomics that I realised how broad and accessible the medium was. Discovering stuff like Hark! A Vagrant, Hyperbole and a Half and xkcd gave me the idea that I could do it too.
What is your average day like?
I work full-time as an illustrator/cartoonist and my studio is at home. I get up pretty early and start work, I like having a couple of hours to focus before any emails start coming in. Although some days it doesn’t feel like I do much drawing, there’s often a lot of emails, meetings and project planning! My favourite time is when all my rough sketches for a piece have been approved and I can put on music/radio and zone out while I do line art and colours.
Can you tell us about a current or recent project you’ve worked on?
Last year my non-fiction book The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions was released. It’s the first book I’ve written as well as illustrated, so very exciting for me! I think in equal parts words and pictures, and as a book it represents my brain very well.
I also make cartoons for NZ Geographic, which is a job I absolutely love. Kate Evans writes incredible columns on the weirdness and wonderfulness of evolutionary biology and I get to furnish them with funny pictures – the dream!
Do you have any traditions or rituals that help you when you get to work?
I’m fairly distractible. When my mind begins to stray I do the Guardian Quick crossword, which at least keeps me at my desk. And when I get stumped by a clue and it’s starting to annoy me I think “maybe doing my work is easier and more fun than this, actually” and get back to it.
Who/what is your biggest influence or inspiration?
Nature, animals…probably most of my ideas for comics come from either interactions I have with spiders and insects, or something funny that I saw a sheep or a cow do while I was walking past a paddock.
What or who are your favourite NZ comics or creators?
This is an impossible question! I could write a list with 50 names on it! But two I’ve been looking at lately: I adore Alex Cara’s style, her lines, her colours, her characters…and she draws great trees. And I love the illustrations and comics that Austin Milne has been doing for the Otago Daily Times.
If you were to enter our cosplay contest, who/what would you dress up as?
If I dyed my hair blue I think I could make a pretty good Zia from Jonathan King’s The Inkberg Enigma, AND I’d be comfortable!
You can catch Giselle at ComicFest 2024 at the below event:
Panel: Drawing Nature – The Great Outdoors
With Giselle Clarkson, Lily Duval, and Sarah Laing. Hosted by Neil Johnstone.
The natural world of Aotearoa New Zealand has always been, and continues to be, one of our greatest inspirations. In this unmissable event hear three of our finest graphic artists talk about how they, in their own ways, engage with our great outdoors.
Our fabulous panel features: Sarah Laing, the artist behind the illustrations for the award-nominated Sylvia and the Birds; Giselle Clarkson, the creator of the publishing phenomenon The Observologist and Lily Duval, illustrator for the Critters of Aotearoa, the book based on RNZ’s hugely popular programme “Critter of the Week”.
Each one of these acclaimed artists has a unique interest and perspective on our natural environment.
