Adam Gallardo: How did you first get into comics?
Jill Thompson: Well, I've always liked comics and I always knew I wanted to draw them. I remember sending homemade comics to Marvel and DC when I was twelve or thirteen. I got some nice form letters back explaining that I needed to practice drawing more and thanks for sending stuff to (whatever publisher) comics. I kept sending things and I kept getting form letters.
When I started going to comic conventions, I used the opportunity to show my sketchbook around to various artists and get critiques and pointers. I was lucky enough to meet Bill Reinhold,Bill Willingham , Paul Smith and Steve Rude (to name a few ) and they pointed out what I needed to work on and where my strengths lie. Steve Rude and Paul Smith introduced me to the work of Andrew Loomis and that was a real eye opener. Bill Reinhold was local to Chicago and he encouraged me to go to the American Academy of Art when I finished high school.
I kept in touch with everyone while in school and as I progressed, I kept showing them my art.
They helped introduce me to other comics professionals and then I had other people to send my art to. It's all kind of about networking. Take criticism, work harder, expand the list of people you can show work to. Eventually I was offered work. I did some little jobs while in art school and that helped show other companies that I could work under deadline, etc. Then those jobs led to larger ones, and then everything else led to my first job at DC, Wonder Woman.
AG: Like a lot of freelancers, you're working on a variety of kinds of jobs -- creator-and company-owned comics as well as non-comics projects -- how do you balance all of these projects?
JT: How do you mean balance? I usually work on one after the other in a succession. I try to line up another job while I'm working on something because that's how you manage to work as a freelancer. I know how much I'm capable of doing everyday.
I just try to work on things that suit me. Company owned things are work-for-hire, but something I enjoy, creator owned is more a labor of love. Projects outside of comics, like children's books are sometimes both.
AG: what's your work routine? Do you work every day for a certain number of hours? Always work in the same place, etc?
JT: I spend anywhere from 8-14 hours a day in the studio. I have a studio away from home that I share with 2 other artists. I usually work six days a week. At Death's Door (her Death project for DC/Vertigo) was a seven-day-a-week project. I like to work in the day time, but as long as I get my day's work done, I can be flexible. Sometimes I'll go see a matinee with my husband or take a long bike ride with a friend, and then I'll work late...until I get my work done.
Right now I'm convalescing (with tendonitis) so I'm not spending my time drawing. I'm learning to use the computer, scanning art for the Canadian DVD of Scary Godmother and finishing proposals for some children's book projects. I can peck and type.
AG: How far along in your career were you before you had the confidence to do your own projects? Has it become easier as you garner more of a "name" in the industry?
JT: I was drawing comics for nearly ten years before I had the idea for Scary Godmother. I don't think it was a matter of confidence in myself rather a lack of subject to dive into. I think I was always working toward writing, and drawing my own comics. Yes, it was easier to get people to look at my proposal for Scary Godmother because people knew me, but not easier to get something published. That all depends on what a publisher believes they can successfully market.
AG: How do you go about getting work?
JT: Now? If it's creator owned comics, I send a proposal to an editor, or call them to see if they are receptive to a project.
If it's children's book work or other creator owned property, I send my agent my proposal and he does the leg work outside this industry.
Comics is too small an industry to need an agent, but book publishing, to me at least, warrants someone to get your foot in the door.
AG: Your creator-owned work sees you acting as both writer and artist while your company-owned work usually sees you drawing another person's script. Is this division intentional? What's it like working on someone else's script versus your own?
JT: I like collaborating with other writers. I like being part of a team. Plus there are projects that other people have created that you just want to work on. Like with Mick Foley's Halloween Hijinx. And I'd work on anything that Will Pfeiffer writes. I'd love to illustrate a story arc of Fables with Bill Willingham. I love their work. Plus, when you get a script from someone else, there's all this anticipation of what is coming next...with your own work there are times when what comes next is difficult to bring about.
AG: Are there any projects or themes you've wanted to explore that you haven't yet been able to?
JT: I never know that until it happens. Sometimes you stumble across something and it sparks your interest and you never knew you wanted to deal with it until it was right in front of you.
AG: How about creators you'd like to work with?
JT: There are many creators I'd like to work with. Like I said earlier, I'd love to work with Will Pfeiffer again and Bill Willingham, too. I got to work with Evan Dorkin and he's one of my favorites. I'd rather wait until the perfect opportunity to work with people arises and then take advantage of it. The story or project has a lot to do with it.
AG: Besides the story in (editor) Scott Allie's Hauntings book and the Death book you've done for Vertigo, what projects can we expect from you in the future?
JT: Well, that pretty much took up all of my last year's worth of work. You can expect the Scary Godmother Holiday Spooktakular from mainframe enetertainment and me. I was working on that as well in multiple capacities. Hopefully we'll have a broadcast date to announce soon. It will be on YTV in Canada this Halloween (2003). (No we don't only want it to air in Canada, but they were the first to have signed a contract for this year...we want all countries to see it...)
I'm hoping to start work on a new children's book and there's a project with Shelly Bond at DC/Vertigo that looks promising and very fun.
AG: I realize you don't speak for all women, but I was wondering if you could speak to your experiences being a woman in comics. Female artists seem rare, and female artists working in the mainstream are even more so.
JT: Well, I enjoy being a woman in comics. But, do you mean have I experienced some kind of sexism or something? When I heard 'no' while submitting a portfolio, it was always for a reason. My figure drawing wasn't up to par or I needed to work on perspective...something technical. I can't ever recall being told I wasn't right for a job because I was a woman. If other women were, that's horrible. I mean who would refuse Amanda Conner a job? That woman can draw anything! Your style has to suit the story. Or write and illustrate your own story. If I've got the appropriate skills for a job, then I'm hired for it. I suppose being a woman worked in my favor when I was first looking for work, because out of a long line of guys with portfolios there was this girl with a portfolio. I'm sure I stood out.
I remember going to comic conventions when I was about thirteen or fourteen and never seeing another girl my age there. I didn't really think about it. The way I saw it was I was in a room with a bunch of people who had things in common with me. Everyone could talk about comics they liked, or their favorite artists. You didn't even have to explain yourself if you were talkin' about wolverine. No one assumed you were talking about the university of michigan's football team.
I have friends that I made at the conventions that I still see from time to time. My friend Eddie and I went to art school together, but we met at the little local conventions they used to hold at the Americana-Congress Hotel in Chicago every month. He lives far away now, but I hear from him on occasion.
As far as to why there are so few women who work in the comics industry? I can't tell you why that is, but I can tell you that I believe there will be more women in the field in the future. I hear many women say they used to read comics and then they grew out of it and on to other things. I never grew out of it. I always liked them. It was my hobby when I was in school.
I think there are more subjects to draw readers into the medium these days whether they be found in comics on the printed page, or comics on the web. I also think that pop culture storytelling is the accepted norm and comics is part of that. If you're familiar with a medium then you would feel comfortable expressing yourself through it, right?
The recent influx of manga will help to bring a wider recognition of our medium to a younger audience . I've never seen so many teen girls interested in comics as I have where manga is concerned. I was in a Borders a week ago and I saw two twelve year-old boys ruminating over which compilation they should buy. They were pointing out volume after volume and recommending this and that and the other to their friends. Three girls sat on the floor reading various volumes and a young couple came over and looked and remarked that his was like those cartoons from tv , and then they bought a volume. So people are becoming more comfortable with the style of storytelling, boys and girls alike.
AG: Finally: what advice would you give to anyone looking to break into comics?
JT: Go to art school. Take as many classes as possible. All instruction can be used in comics in one way or another. Learn how to draw the figure. Perspective, perspective, perspective! Learn color theory. The computer cannot be used effectively to color comics if you don't know how color works...cool versus warm, values etc. Flashy technique can either enhance line artwork or ruin it if you don't know how to use it.
Learn to keep a regular schedule, and work every day. And set aside a third of each check for quarterly taxes....
Accept critcism and never stop trying. There are so many ways to express yourself in comics. You could get a grant and self publish or do your comics online. It's hard work, but very rewarding.