Rachael Smith on Encouraging a New Generation of Comic Book Creators

Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Artificial Flowers, Glass Half Empty, lfcc, london film and comic con, Quarantine Comix, Rachael Smith, Showmaster, Snippets, Stand in Your Power, The Queen’s Favorite Witch, Wired Up Wrong

Rachael Smith is a comic artist & writer who has created a number of critically acclaimed autobiographical and other graphic novels.

Rachael Smith is a comic artist & writer who has created a number of critically acclaimed autobiographical and other graphic novels including Quarantine Comix, Snippets, Glass Half Empty, Wired Up Wrong, Stand in Your Power, The Queen’s Favorite Witch, Artificial Flowers, and The Rabbit. Rachael has worked on Doctor Who for Titan Comics, her new book Isabella & Blodwen and the Flimsy Kitten comic series. She will be appearing at London Film & Comic Con next week – as will I.

Rich Johnston: The new MCM London Comic Con has just been with us. At the last one, you were quite a bit pregnant and also announced your Glass Half Empty volume. Now… to put it crudely? Both are out. Oh and Isabella & Blodwen and Snippets. Anything to follow that at the London Film And Comic Con next month? Or maybe the Lakes, or maybe Thought Bubble?

Rachael Smith: The next project in line is The Queen’s Favorite Witch vol. 3, which, as soon as my little boy starts nursery, I’ll be thumbnailing like a demon – I’m so excited to hang out with Daisy Sparrow and her rat familiar, Nathaniel, again. I’ve missed those two. After that I have a few ideas up my sleeves, but nothing I can talk about yet *wink*

Rich Johnston: For a comic book creator with a newborn, you don’t seem to stop… how the hell? Or is this a case of read Glass Half Empty and find out?

Rachael Smith: Ah, I was actually really lucky with the timings here: I worked pretty flat out up until my due date, so we ended up with Snippets and Glass Half Empty in the bag ready to go after Henry arrived. Since then I’ve not had much time for drawing, but writing I’ve found pretty easy – a lot of writing (for me at least) is sitting around thinking, and you get quite a bit of time to do that while you’re breastfeeding.

Rich Johnston: A lot of people struggle with the way they present themselves on social media as opposed to real life. We either hide our weaknesses or wear them as a self-identifying badge. The mental health aspects are still not clear, and I know that’s an area close to your heart. But how do you find autobiographical comics in relation to this kind of dilemma regarding what you present to the audience and what remains private?

Rachael Smith: It’s a really interesting question, and one I’ve struggled to answer in the past. There isn’t really a clear-cut line with me, with Quarantine Comix, for example, each comic was a case-by-case thing: sometimes I’d be done drawing it and it just wouldn’t sit right with me sharing it, and I’d scrap it. Sometimes that was because other people featured too heavily, and I felt like I was telling their story instead of mine, or I was giving away parts of myself that I hadn’t quite gotten clear enough in my own head yet. I feel like I’ve always been as genuine and as honest with my readers as I possibly can (talking cats and imaginary giant dogs aside), so I do try to stick with that – otherwise, what’s the point? I’m sharing parts of myself so that others might feel less alone, the least I can do is be honest.

Rich Johnston: I do notice that you seem to have three new books out, with Snippets as a way to get people creating their own comics and strips by infecting them with regular habit of creation in the recipient. Is this the secret to your own prodigious output? And how did pregnancy, birth and a newborn hit your stride in this regard?

Rachael Smith: I actually talk about this in Snippets! Comics have, in short, always been how I’ve made sense of the world. I find it extremely cathartic drawing out memories and cutting them down into panels, into concise statements that would make sense to a passive onlooker, as if I’m explaining and justifying my actions to other people as well as myself. Making this a daily habit just sorta…happened. It wasn’t until I was asked to make Snippets that I realised how like journaling this was, and how mindful it was. It’s a great way to unpack the day. While I was pregnant I didn’t have a lot of time to draw diary comics – but I’ve got a lot written, I just need to decide whether people will want to read those comics enough to warrant me drawing them!

Rich Johnston: Also is this why you, like me, are part of the judging panel of the Caliburn Prize for new UK Comics Creators? Is encouraging others to join you, as important as creating the comic themselves? What would such a prize have meant to you when you were starting out?

Rachael Smith: Oh, definitely! Getting new folk on board is so, so important. I think some people still see comics as this big, scary, impenetrable thing: as if you have to just register your interest and then sit and wait for DC or Marvel to come pick you up out of the sky and whisk you away to success-ville! When in reality, all you have to do to be a comic creator is to…wait for it…make comics! My advice to new folk is always to ‘start small, but start now!’ and diary comics are (I think) the easiest way to start small AND now! In Snippets I lay out everything for you as easy as pie! As for the Caliburn Prize, Tony asked me to be a judge and I jumped at the chance! It sounded brilliant and just what I’d have been thrilled to enter as a newbie.

Rich Johnston: You write (and draw) extensively about your own childhood, especially in Glass Half Empty. We couldn’t have missed you were pregnant through that period. How did that affect writing about your own youthful trauma as you were bringing a new life into the world?

Rachael Smith: I had already written the script before Rob and I were even trying for a baby, and I kept the script the same while I was drawing it while pregnant as I felt that was the most honest account of how I was feeling. It certainly made me feel very lucky to be where I am now though, and really grateful for my past self looking after herself enough to get here!
 
Rich Johnston: Absolutely. And talking of new ones, I’ve just got a new cat. She’s a very handsome ragdoll called Pandorica. Any advice?

Rachael Smith: Pandorica sounds adorable! My advice would be, give them all the love in the world. Also, get pet insurance. Enjoy!

Rich Johnston: Will do. And finally… how many people think you are fellow Doctor Who comic creator Rachael Stott?

Rachael Smith: Brilliant end question, bahaha! I think Rachael Stott is awesome, by the way, we’re actually real good pals, thankfully. BUT it actually doesn’t happen too much these days! Maybe I’m finally making a (slightly different) name for myself.

The London Film & Comic Con runs at London Olympia from the 7th to the 9th of July. Rachael Smith’s work can be found here.

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