Today on the site, cartoonist Noah Van Sciver interviews Tom Gauld about Gauld's new book, Mooncop.
What does a typical day go like for you? Are you drawing everyday?
I share a studio with six other illustrators and designers, in a building with lots of other creative types. I work best in the morning so I try to get to my desk for 8.30am, the studio is usually very quiet until 10am so I try to get stuck into drawing straight away. People will filter into the studio throughout the morning and I chat a bit, but I try and focus on work in the mornings. We often go out for lunch at a local cafe. Sometimes I think I'd get more done if I was locked away in a room on my own, but I do enjoy the company. In the afternoons I'll draw some more and aim to finish by 5pm so I can get home to the family. If I've got a lot to do I might draw a bit more at home in the evening or make a few notes about an idea.
I aim to draw every weekday, but sometimes I get caught up in admin or emails or orders and the day gets away from me. When that happens I'm always a bit annoyed with myself because I know I should have done an hour's drawing at the beginning of the day when my mind was clear.
When you’re working on a story how much of it is open to improvisation? I mean do you tightly script everything out before drawing the final comic and stick to the script, or are you ever drawing the final comic and thinking “Oh yeah, and then that’d be funny if this happens…”
I do quite a lot of planning but I don't write out a whole movie-style script at the beginning. Mooncop started as a tiny 20-page mini comic which I drew in pencil in an afternoon. I liked it but thought I could make more of the story and setting. So then I started sketching my ideas about the characters and the setting and writing scenes, sometimes typing on the computer and sometimes as scribbly writing and thumbnails. When I felt I had enough scenes I drew the whole thing in pencil and had a few people read it, then I edited it a bit and then inked it all. All through the process I was tweaking and changing and adding, but not really improvising.
I'm not sure that this is the best technique for making a graphic novel, I feel like for my next book is like to have a bit of a looser process. Though I don't know quite how.
Elsewhere:
Dash Shaw's My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea is getting lots of attention for its Toronto debut. Here's a fine profile.
Raina Telgemeier's new book, Ghosts, is covered on NPR.
Alan Moore recommends books over at the NY Times Book Review.
I'm missing yet another SPX this year, unfortunately, but Frank Santoro isn't, and he's offering workshops with some of the festival's special guests.
