interview
with jenn myers
- grace
round one
1. do you consider yourself an artist first or a writer or neither or both?
I consider myself more of a "creator," and yeah, I'm not sure what that means either. I don't always stick to writing, and I don't always stick to art, and honestly, I can't figure out which one comes first. But I am always creating stuff, whether it's a new card game or writing stories down, or painting things.
2. how long have you been producing graphic novels?
I've been drawing comics since I was a kid, but mostly in fits and starts. Until 2008, I'd never drawn anything longer than a three page story! (2008 is when I first started updating All the Growing Things)
3. do you come up with the story or the art first?
I come up with the general story first. While I always know what I want to have happen, sometimes I can't think of the words to express it, so I'll draw the pages first and (if I feel I have to) I'll go back and add words to those pages. Lately I've been trying to write all the words down first, so that I can easily go back and edit things, without having to draw whole pages over again.
4. other than drawing, what other medias/mediums do you prefer?
Other than drawing, I really enjoy oil painting. I haven't had as much time to paint as I'd like, and I have paintings sitting on my easels that are all over two and three years old, waiting for me to come back to them! I like sculpture a lot as well, but mostly in the terms of making miniature terrain for Dungeons and Dragons, or for post-apocalyptic war gaming.
5. what is your favorite?
My favorite medium is totally oil paints. There's something really stunning about the way oils come out that make you feel (no matter your skill level) that you've got something special going on.
6. do you prefer to collaborate?
While I do like working on my own stuff, there's a pressure there that it's all on you not to mess it up. I prefer to collaborate, but it's tricky finding collaboration partners. So many people when they work on something become focused on an arbitrary "this is how this project has to turn out," and I find that when you collaborate, your partners bring unique and wonderful things to the project that you can't anticipate. There is nothing quite as awesome as working with people who are open to having a project evolve!
7. where can people go to purchase your art?
I am terrible about selling art! I've been in a few gallery shows, and sold things that way, and once upon a time I even had a website where people could buy stuff. I've been out of the fine art business so long that I mostly concentrate on selling comics and graphic novels. (Which reminds me, I need to fix my website's "store" page!)
8. maude...why did you pick an old woman to be the bad ass?
I've been pretty frustrated with the way women in comics (and in most fiction) are portrayed. There's a real trend to draw sex-bomb women in skimpy armor, and have them -almost- be badasses (so many of them still need the male hero to come and save them at the end.) With Maude I wanted to do the exact opposite: a frumpy badass who never, ever, needs help, and even if she DOES need help, she doesn't want it. She looks a lot like my grandmother because as I was drawing the comic, I kept thinking about how she really was one of the toughest people I've ever known.