Potential interview candidates (initial list)

Illustrators

• Bryan Lee O'Malley

An independent comic artist who has experience writing his own series of graphic novels (Scott Pilgrim series) (as well as inking and lettering them himself), and writing an ongoing traditional comic format series (Snotgirl) with an illustrator (see below). He is also the illustrator whose style I most admire.

• Leslie Hung

Fairly new artist (co-creator of Snotgirl with Bryan Lee O'Malley, as artist and O'Malley as writer) - could ask about experience getting into the comic industry recently in the 2000s-2010s.

• Faith Erin Hicks

Another illustrator whose work I admire who has experience of writing and illustrating her own graphic novels 

Image Comics
Could potentially interview this whole team? If they're not busy. I'm sure they all have insights that will be useful to me. Over Skype, as they are in the US!

• Eric Stephenson (publisher)

Image publish a lot of comics that I love, and it would be great to talk to a publisher about the process of making a comic series. From reading their submissions page, I know that they can give feedback to writers and artists about what format (comic series/graphic novel) would be best for a story. I could ask what format would be best for my stories! I could also ask if he knows how writers and illustrators stay focused and up to date, and what happens if they miss deadlines. I know, for example, that Brian K Vaughn (author of Saga) uses Stephenson as a personal kick up the bum!

• Kat Salazar (PR & marketing)

What's involved in PR and marketing in the comics industry?

• Corey Murphy (director of retail sales) 

How is this different to digital sales? 

• Chris Ross (director of digital sales) 

How is this different to retail sales?

Self Made Hero

• Emma Hayley (managing director & publisher)

Pro of interviewing her is Self Made Hero are based in London, so I could potentially travel down to meet her in person, unlike the staff at Image Comics. Ask questions about being a woman in the comic industry!

• Guillaume Rater (publishing assistant & digital content manager)

First Second

• Simon Boughton (publisher)
• Mark Siegel (editorial director)

He did a review of Scott Pilgrim! We clearly share some interests.

• Calista Brill (editor)

Another woman in comics!

• Gina Gagliano (marketing/publicity)

ONI Press

• Joe Nozemack (founder & publisher)
• James Lucas Jones (editor in chief)

All these publishers have published comics and graphic novels that I like, but I need to browse their catalogue fully and do my research on each person (when I decide on my shortlist).

How a comic is written! (one way, at least) Plus, reflection on my own process

At the end of Saga: Book One, one of my favourite comics, the writer, Brian K Vaughn, and the illustrator, Fiona Staples, discuss in length how an issue of Saga is created. This also includes the letterer (Steven Finch) and the editor (Eric Stephenson).

Intro and cover:

• Discussion of how the writer and artist work together: interesting to learn how the two must collaborate and communicate constantly about what they both want to portray in the comic, as well as how it is not just the writer (at least in this case) dictating the story and the illustrator conforming to the words, but a back-and-forth between them, suggestions and adjustments made on both sides.
• The cover must be done in advance so the retailer can market it! The cover may be done before the illustrator has read the script.
• Action shots on the cover may give away too much of the plot; stills may be best to set the tone.
• In this particular comic, the story is very much about the characters, so the cover must portray that aspect.
• Technical discussion of approach to cover - thumbnails! Photo references! Roughs! Etc etc
• Letterer relies on placement and palette of artist's cover.

Plot and script:

KV: I lock myself in my Wi-Fi-less flophouse writing studio for a few days and just pace around thinking about the story - key point here: WIF-FI-LESS! I need to learn to ignore distractions too. Ideally, when I'm older, I too will have a dedicated, distraction-free space to work in.

Validating and reassuring to know that Vaughn is also quite disorganised in his planning of comics - his plot points and script also start quite messy, scribbled into notebooks, before they become more organised into something he can actually give the artist.

I, personally, am still learning how to format a comic in the best way. I may be able to identify how a certain description or piece of dialogue translates into a panel, but I struggle with how many panels to have on a page, and what shape/size each panel should be on the page. I know that most comic artists work at a bigger size than the comic will be in print, so it is easier to draw and then be shrunk down. I struggle with drawing at a larger size because it throws me off! I end up making more mistakes in formatting than when I attempt to draw at print size and spend hours poring over tiny details and being a perfectionist. I'm still learning! Practice makes perfect!!

I also struggle with size of elements within a frame, particularly speech bubbles. I tend to think primarily about the other elements, such as character and background, so I'll draw those first and then realise I haven't left enough space for the speech bubbles! I should try to do the speech bubbles first and then draw in the other elements, maybe. Better thumbnailing too! I often skip thumbnailing because I'm lazy, but I CAN'T! IT'S IMPORTANT!

Strip Panel Naked

James showed me this YouTube channel that analyses comics! This is not only interesting, but super useful to me as I aspire to create comics/graphic novels in my professional practice.

The guy, Hassan, analyses a different element of a different comic across a variety of genres in each video. For example, in this one, he unpicks how Plutona uses comic format and mirroring to develop character.

These are things which most people (including me!) wouldn't even notice as they read the comic, but, as Hassan says, greatly influence the way we read the comic and how we feel about the characters.

Comics are an interesting format, as they combine text and image in a way that books and film cannot get across. Because a comic relies on both text and image, there are certain advantages and limitations of the medium.

For example, a pro would be that in a book, you may not necessarily read a certain line of text in the way the author intended, but with the addition of image, it shows you visually the inflection of the speech of the character.

However, comics have certain disadvantages to film - for example, film is obviously moving image, which can set the pace of a comic, and make the audience feel a certain way. A slow zoom in may feel unsettling but you can't necessarily achieve this with comics. You can, however, set the pace by using multiple panels that slowly zoom in - much like the storyboard of a film (note: I have always felt that comics are essentially very detailed storyboards - you may agree or disagree).

Another advantage films have over comics is obviously the addition of sound. Sound plays a huge part in setting the tone and being emotive. But again, there are clever ways for comics to achieve the emotive element, as mentioned above.

These videos are an amazing asset to me - as well as learning more about my favourite comics, I can also pick up tips on how to better tell my stories! I'm glad a YouTube comic critique channel finally exists!