With the No Barcodes mini-convention organised by London Underground Comics coming up this Saturday (31st), one of the cartoon activists involved in the Camden market comics scene (and also one of our favourite British small press creators) David Baillie took it upon himself to talk to some of his fellow small press creators who are also taking part in No Barcodes. David has very kindly offered to share this with our readers on the FPI blog (thanks, David!) and today he’s talking to the man formerly known as The Ventedspleen, the award-winning Tom ‘I met Chelsea Clinton’ Humberstone:
DB: Hi Tom, hope you’re well. I’ve been a fan of your stuff for some time now, and having recently won an Eagle Award it’s obvious I’m not the only one! But how would you introduce yourself and your work to someone who has never even heard of you? For example, perhaps someone showing up at No Bar Codes next Saturday in Camden Lock Market.
TH: Well, I’ve been writing, drawing and self-publishing my comics for about four years now. I started out with the vitriolic character assassination series ‘Art School Scum‘ and followed it up with the equally bilious ‘You’re Wrong’. I began work on the auto-biographical ‘How to Date a Girl in 10 Days‘ about two years ago and I’m finishing off the third and final part of that series this year. It’s a tale of doomed romance and being in your twenties – dealing with the choices you made in your teenage years. The second issue recently won the Eagle award for ‘Favourite British black and white comic’.
(cover to the Eagle award-winning second issue of How To Date a Girl in 10 Days, art and (c) Tom Humberstone)
DB: You always seem to be up to cool and interesting things. Can you tell us a bit about your recent US research trip, the Pen Club sessions you run in London and anything else people should know about?
TH: Dan Hancox – a journalist friend – and I are politics geeks and decided very early on in 2007 that we didn’t want to observe the 2008 US Presidential elections from our front rooms. We wanted to be out there, on the campaign trail, talking to the American people and avoiding the speculative punditry that would inevitably plague the primaries.
We spent eight weeks earlier this year doing a road trip across America and blogging our experiences. We’re releasing a book (based on the blog) of Dan’s writing with my illustrations this month – the launch party is on the 28th May at the Cross Kings, Kings Cross, London from 7pm – it’s free to attend and there are four fantastic bands playing on the night. We will also be selling the book at No Barcodes. There’s a plan to rejoin the campaign for the DNC later this year and we’ll hopefully be going back for the general election in November. I plan to produce a graphic novel about our experiences when ‘How to Date’ is completed.
DB: And what about these Pen Club sessions we’ve heard about? What are those about?
TH: Pen Club is a weekly drawing event that I started here in London after a trip to Toronto for the TCAF comic festival. Steve Wilson and a group of other comic artists and illustrators meet up now and again to drink beer, catch up, and draw in a local bar. I was invited along and it was a wonderfully inspirational evening. Everyone was so laid back and free with their drawing and I found myself producing work that I would have never attempted had I not been in that environment.
I immediately started a weekly version of this in New Cross with a group of friends and it is a perfect way of rediscovering the joy of drawing if you ever find yourself tightening up when producing comics. Everyone is welcome, so should anyone fancy joining us, please send me an email via my website. As summer approaches, we’re looking into taking Pen Club to more locations across London. The best way to keep up with this would be to join our Pen Club Facebook group.
As for other projects and events on the way, I produced a 24-hour comic at the COMICA festival late last year called ‘Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Crohn’s Disease‘ which is another auto-biographical story – this time, about being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when I was 11. The comic has received a frankly over-whelming response from people and I’m planning on publishing the comic later this year, hopefully no later than September. Bizarrely, for something produced so quickly, it is possibly the comic I’m proudest of.
(a page from Everything You Never Wanted to Know about Crohn’s Disease, (c) Tom Humberstone)
There are various other projects and exciting plans afoot but nothing has been confirmed as yet so I probably shouldn’t mention them. Needless to say, keep an eye on my blog for further updates!
DB: Did you build your own drawing board/lightbox? I just saw it on your blog and it’s very cool!
TH: It is a handmade lightbox, but I didn’t build it. I picked it up from my animation tutor at art college when they decided to get some more upmarket lightboxes in. Only a tenner and it’s an indispensable tool for inking! Wow – what a devastatingly dull story.
DB: What are you looking forward to most this Saturday?
TH: Meeting fellow small press creators and the people interested in us enough to turn up and support the scene. I’ve been avoiding comic conventions this year and this will be my first exception to the rule, so I have to admit I’m looking forward to talking to fans and people interested in or unaware of my work. It’s always fun.
But, to be honest, I think I’m most looking forward to not working on and worrying about our book launch. Did I say I’ve got a book launch this week? It’s at the Cross Kings in Kings Cross…
DB: Anything you’re dreading?
TH: Having to repeat all of the above to every potential punter so they’ll part with their hard-earned cash for my product? At least I now have my famous ‘lightbox’ anecdote to get them really interested.
DB: And finally – any message for the people out there, reading this, wishing that they too were a young, cool and sexy comics creator?
TH: Well if they manage to be young, cool, sexy comics creators maybe they could tell me how they did it.
Ultimately, all I’d say is to keep being interested in things – bring something new and fresh to comics and don’t just try and be ‘the next… Warren Ellis’. Historically, those that end up reinventing artforms and producing something truly original are those that aren’t aware of/interested in the medium’s past. Their work is invariably informed by another field of interest and that always produces fascinating results.
Having said all that, if you want to draw a comic – draw it because of your love for the medium, not because you see it as a stepping stone to another, more glamorous artform. Comics can do things that no other medium can do. So tell a story worthy of it’s possibilities.
Oh, and if you want to produce a comic – draw it, photocopy it, and bring it to a small press event like this. Don’t let anything stop you. Unless, of course, you’re totally talentless – in which case, please just put the pencil down and back away slowly from the desk.
DB: Thank you very much, Tom Humberstone!
No Bar Codes is a one day indie comics event taking place at Camden Lock Market this Saturday; click here for more info.
Tom Humberstone can be found via his website, and don’t forget the launch party this very evening (Wednesday 28th May) at the Cross Kings, Kings Cross, London at 7pm for his new book, My Fellow Americans.
David Baillie’s website, complete with the excellent Bellybutton Chronicles strip, can be found here, and the awesome new hardback edition of his fantasy adventure Tongue of the Dead debuts at No Bar Codes – click here for an exclusive discount voucher redeemable on the day.
Wed, May 28, 2008
Comics and cartoons, Conventions and events, Interviews