5 Minutes with… – Page 3

5 minutes with Cory Mathis – Comicfest feature

April 28, 2015February 19, 2024 wclstaff

Comicfest 2015 is almost here! Head over to the Facebook event for all the details and to receive event updates. There are panels and workshops for comic-lovers of all ages, and don’t forget to come along to the Central Library on Saturday 2nd May to pick up a free comic book on Free Comic Book Day, courtesy of GRAPHIC!

Today we’re talking to Cory Mathis about his comic work, and what we can look forward to at his Comicfest panel. Hailing from the small town of Waihi, Cory turned his back on a life on the farm and moved to Auckland to study classical animation. Upon completion he travelled south to the city of Wellington where he endeavoured to pursue a career as some kind of an artist. While living in the capital he dabbled in book-store retail, even more study, comicbook making and in general made a nuisance of himself by constantly drawing all the people in the cafes – of which there were many. Fortunately for the general public (and much to the chagrin of anyone with a position in politics), Cory won the 2013 NZ Listener Young Cartoonist award and promptly found himself enjoying brief stints as a political cartoonist, caricaturist and storyboard artist. Flush with his winnings and hard earned “art-monies,” he fled to Europe to study painting and learn how not to speak Italian. He promptly ran out of the aforementioned funds and is now back in Wellington, employed as a concept-artist at the videogame company Pikpok, where they keep him closely supervised and securely chained up.

What is the first significant comic related job or project you remember working on?
It’d have to be my fantasy adventure series, Saurian Era. Significant because it always kept me working on my art and aiming for deadlines in my spare time. It started as an animation when I was a student, then mini-comics which I printed off and sold at expos. In the past couple of years it’s been accepted into the Faction comics kiwi anthology books which has pushed me into using full-colour and taking so much more of the storytelling and world building seriously. It was a massive milestone to see my comic in Faction vol.2 in the comic section here at the library!

Can you tell us about your current, or most recent project?
My most recent was the climate change themed comic for the Faction – Highwater edition. It was a great challenge to work on a comic outside of my usual dinosaur-centric stories. (Though I still managed to hide a dinosaur in the story!) Right now I’m working on the second part of my, Saurian Era ‘The Reef’ series. I’ve learnt way too much in the last year since I finished part one and am finding it difficult to keep within my original plans – all part of being your own boss I suppose!

What is your favourite part of your working process?
Finishing something! Though the part at the beginning where it’s all crazy brainstorming, drawing and writing at the same time is pretty exciting too. Trying to find the thread that will pull you through to the finished product is always a challenge – especially if your making it solo. I’ve started to really focus on what makes each stage of the creation special, be it thumbing, pencilling, inking or colouring. It can sometimes feel like you’re repeating yourself hitting the pictures over and over again. I take a joy in not finalising any of the text until all the pictures are finished. The characters dialogue develops much like the pictures until the end where I feel like I can finally hear what they are actually saying.

Do you have another job outside of comic creation, or any significant hobbies you enjoy?
I’m working at the video game company, Pikpok, as a concept artist so the comic making has had to take a bit of a backseat as I wrap my head around managing my time with that. There’s a great community of artist here in Wellington so I spend a fair bit of time going to figure, or costume life drawing.
Something non-art related? Whaaaaaat?!

If you were to enter our cosplay contest, who/what would you dress up as?
Haha, since I’m going a bit crazy for the new Last Man comic series coming out of France at the mo, I reckon I could pull off a good Richard Aldana!

You can catch Cory at his Comicfest panel at the following time:
Thursday 30th of April 6 – 7.00pm – Panel: From cartoons to comics

5 minutes with Tim Gibson – Comicfest feature

April 27, 2015February 19, 2024 wclstaff

Today we’re talking to Tim Gibson about his comic work, and what we can look forward to at his Comicfest panel and workshop. Tim Gibson has produced illustrations for clients as diverse as Garage Project to the School Journal, Peter Jackson to Steven Spielberg. In 2012 he was awarded Creative New Zealand funding to write and illustrate his debut comic series ‘Moth City’ which has since gained a substantial digital readership, the support of leading American creators and was named as one of Comixology’s Top Comics for 2013. This year he took part in the Le Monde’s COMICS ZUR LAGE DER WELT exhibition in Berlin, and visited Taiwan as part of a comic residency exchange.

What is the first significant comic related job or project you remember working on?
I did some comic book colouring (painting under someone else’s pencils) for Christian Gossett’s Red Star comic series when I worked at Weta Workshop. It was my first professional taste of making comics, and it was a long time between drinks before I got another one.

Can you tell us about your current, or most recent project?
I completed the art for a small comic project for the School Journal last year which told the story of front-line Kiwi miners in WWI. It was interesting not being responsible for the story as a whole, but artists still have to make very ‘directorial’ decisions with regard to placing the viewpoint, the expressions (or acting) of the characters and the general pace and flow of things.

It was great to be included in a piece of NZ reading history like the School Journal, so a bit of a milestone there.

What is your favourite part of your working process?
Playing with the characters in my head, having them interact with one another or their world. The further the story gets to being readable by others, the less avenues and options the characters and I have, so there’s always a bit of a bittersweet conclusion to finishing something. There’s nothing better than having an idea that changes the entire world that exists in your head.

What are you excited to share with ComicFest attendees? Just a taster!
I’m hoping to share my passion for digital comics and animation during my Digital Comics Workshop. It should give people a few tools to tell comic stories differently now that creators don’t have to default to paper. That said, there’ll still be tree-flesh at the workshop, so bring pens.

Do you have another job outside of comic creation, or any significant hobbies you enjoy?
I subsidise my modest life-style with freelance illustration and design work, and the two worlds play very well together and often influence each other. It probably means that my commercial work is more vibrant and experimental, and my experimental comic work is more polished and commercial looking than it might be otherwise.

You can catch Tim at his Comicfest workshop and panel at these times:
Friday 1st of May 5 – 6.30pm – Digital comics workshop with Tim Gibson
Friday 1st of May 7 – 8.00pm – Panel: The current and future state of New Zealand comics

5 minutes with Toby Morris – Comicfest feature

April 25, 2015February 19, 2024 wclstaff

Today we’re talking to Toby Morris about his comic work, and what we can look forward to at his Comicfest panel. Toby Morris is an illustrator, designer and comic artist who currently draws a monthly non-fiction comic series called The Pencilsword for The Wireless. He has drawn and published his own comics since the age of 13 and now juggles comics, illustration work and parenting two young sons. He has written and illustrated two books and created concert posters for many of New Zealand’s top bands.

What is the first significant comic related job or project you remember working on?
My first comic was terrible – it was called The Amazing Adventures of Okapi and was a really corny story about a superhero crime fighter set at a grunge concert. I was 13, and made a few copies for my friends at school, but really I didn’t know anything about superheroes or grunge concerts. Or comics really, apart from Tintin or Asterix. I think i was just trying to emulate what I assumed a ‘cool comic’ might be like.

At 15 I started a new series called Span that was more personal. I had actually gone to the comics shop by then and discovered some New Zealand comics like Pickle and Absolute Heroes that set me on a better path.

Can you tell us about your current, or most recent project?
These days my big project is the ongoing non-fiction comics series The Pencilsword which appears monthly on thewireless.co.nz. I’m trying a few new things (for me at least) with it – I’m trying to walk a line between personal and political, and then technically the comics have a little animation on them which has been interesting to experiment with also. It’s the first comic I’ve done that is designed from the start to be read and shared online rather than in print, which is new and exciting for me.

What is your favourite part of your working process?
There is a great daydreamy state you can get into sometimes with drawing that I love where it’s almost unconscious. Time just goes by in a blur, you get really swept up and lost in it. You can’t try to do it – it’s trying but not trying and you can totally tell the difference between drawings where you’ve done it and not. I think of it as ‘the joyous line’. I think the closest description I’ve found to it is the way that Phillip Pullman describes how the Subtle Knife works in the book of the same name. Drawing is like dancing maybe.

What or who are your favourite NZ comics or creators?
So many! Dylan Horrocks was very inspirational for me, still is. His series Pickle was one of the first things I read that really made me want to write in my own voice. Tim Bollinger was another one I read early on that lit a fire for me. Barry Linton was and is the king. I loved the Wellington anthology Pistake in the 90s – Emond, Morse, Dayglo etc – so much attitude. These days there is so much going on, it’s incredible. Hard to start naming people because there are so many. Mat Tait, Robyn Keneally, Sarah Laing, Ned Wenlock, Lauren Marriott/Ralphi, Mary Tamblyn and Alex McCrone, Tim Kidd, Ross Murray, Sam Orchard are a few current favourites that spring to mind. I’ll be forgetting people I bet. I loved Jem Yoshioka’s recent one about the Kimono. I really enjoyed Sarah Lund’s Snap. It’s a great time for NZ comics. There is so much great stuff coming out, more than there ever has been.

Do you have another job outside of comic creation, or any significant hobbies you enjoy?
These days I work as an advertising designer and art director for my day job. It’s a funny thing to balance those two very different worlds. My comics and my job started off as two very different paths – what I love doing on one hand and what I get paid to do on another – but over the years those two paths are slowly getting closer to each other and starting to cross over.

You can catch Toby at his Comicfest panel at the following time:
Thursday 30th of April 6 – 7.00pm – Panel: From cartoons to comics

5 minutes with Indira Neville – Comicfest feature

April 24, 2015February 19, 2024 wclstaff

Today we’re talking to Indira Neville about her comic work, and what we can look forward to at her Comicfest panel. Indira Neville has been making comics for over twenty years. Throughout this time she has used many photocopiers. She remembers fondly the Minolta at the copy centre in Hamilton even though it used to cut off the edges and only worked in black-and-white. A less happy memory is the Xerox in central Whangarei which left big streaks over all of her pages. She very much enjoys the modern colour copier, particularly the way you can print directly to it from your computer.

What is the first significant comic related job or project you remember working on?
When I was about nine, my dad showed my brother and I how a diagonal line can make an eye look grumpy. This was a revelation! And I promptly drew a comic where something happened and a character reacted grumpily. My grandparents thought it was ace and showed it to everyone who came to their house.

What is your favourite part of your working process?
Finishing the comic – it’s cool when something that was in your head is suddenly physically in the world. Often I make myself laugh too which is nice.

What or who are your favourite NZ comics or creators?
I really like my dad’s, brother’s and husband’s comics. Also the work of Sugar Jon Arcus, Soft Keith, Wretch 13 and Witcyst. And there’s a bunch of comics in Three Words which I REALLY love.

Do you have another job outside of comic creation, or any significant hobbies you enjoy?
I am a mother, policy analyst and I play guitar in a catchy noisy band.

If you were to enter our cosplay contest, who/what would you dress up as?
Lumpy Space Princess.

You can catch Indira at her Comicfest panels at the following time:
Saturday 2nd of May 1 – 2.00pm – Panel: New Zealand Women’s Comics with the editors of Three Words

5 minutes with Rae Joyce – Comicfest feature

April 23, 2015February 19, 2024 wclstaff

Today we’re talking to Rae Joyce about her comic work, and what we can look forward to at her Comicfest panel. Rae Joyce, also known as Rachel J. Fenton, is a poet, prose-writer and cartoonist. Born in 1976, she grew up in South Yorkshire. Notable works include Escape Behaviours and Alchemy Hour, for which she won AUT’s Graphic Fiction Prize. Other awards for her poetry, fiction and comics include being a finalist for the Dundee International Book prize. She recently participated in the NZ Book Council’s Residential Exchange with Taiwan and exhibited her work in the Taipei International Book Exhibition.

What is the first significant comic related job or project you remember working on?
My first official paying job, when I was seventeen, was designing and painting murals.

Can you tell us about your current, or most recent project?
My most recent project was a collaboration between me and Australian writer Anita Heiss for Cordite Poetry Review. My next job is a collaboration with playwright Carolyn Gage in which I shall attempt to incorporate her radical feminist linguistics into a comic with broad appeal.

What is your favourite part of your working process?
Ideas. Watercolour painting. The parts I think I’m best at.

What or who are your favourite NZ comics or creators?
Adele Jackson, Alex McCrone, Alex Wild, Alice Tumblescribbleson, Alie Macpherson, Andra Jenkin, Bek Coogan, Beth Duckingmonster, Beth Sometimes, Carolyn Anderson, Celia Allison, Claire Harris, Dawn Tuffery, Demarnia Lloyd, Diane Rimmer, Elsie Joliffe, Emma Blackett, Erin Fae, Debra Boyask, Giselle Clarkson, Indira Neville, The Rabbid, Jem Yoshioka, Jessica Dew, Jessica Hansell, Joanna Anderson, Judy Darragh, Kayla Oliver, Kerry Ann Lee, Lauren Marriott, Margaret Silverwood, Olga Krause, Linda Lew, Lisa Noble, Liz Mathews, Loux McLellen, Lucy Meyle, Maiangi Waitai, Marina Williams, Mary Tamblyn, Mengzhu Fu, Mirranda Burton, Miriam Harris, Pritika Lal, Rachel Benefield, Rachel Shearer, Raewyn Alexander, Rebecca Hawkes, Renee Jones, Rosemary McLeod, Warsaw, Sally Bollinger, Sarah Laing, Sarah Lund, Sharon Murdoch, Sophie McMillan, Sophie Oiseau, Stella Corkery, Susan Rugg, Susan Te Kahurangi King, Suzanne Claessen and Zoe Colling. [ed. note: this is an awesome & impressive list!]

Do you have another job outside of comic creation, or any significant hobbies you enjoy?
I write novels and poems and short stories. My kids are a significant hobby.

You can catch Rae at her Comicfest panel at the following time:
Saturday 2nd of May 1 – 2.00pm – Panel: New Zealand Women’s Comics with the editors of Three Words

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Tag: 5 Minutes with…

5 minutes with Cory Mathis – Comicfest feature

5 minutes with Tim Gibson – Comicfest feature

5 minutes with Toby Morris – Comicfest feature

5 minutes with Indira Neville – Comicfest feature

5 minutes with Rae Joyce – Comicfest feature