Ellice Weaver’s beautiful book Big Ugly comes out on the 20th June! You can pre-order a copy here.
Below she’s interviewed about the book by Clio Isadora, creator of the wonderful Sour Pickles.
If you’re London-based, there’s going to be a launch party and exhibition for Big Ugly at the fantastic Jam Bookshop on the 22nd June! The exhibition will run until the 9th of July.
Clio: Congratulations on your new book! I loved reading Big Ugly and really enjoyed seeing the sibling dynamics progress throughout all the vibrant illustrated scenes. Where did you find the inspiration when developing Big Ugly?
Ellice: I visited my own relationships. Although this book isn’t at all autobiographical, I took inspiration of the sibling dynamic from my relationship with my own sibling. I’m also turning 30 and was reflecting a lot of what that felt like. Certain age milestones have different atmospheres about them. The early 30s feel like a transitionary time. Like a no man’s land age.
Clio: Your previous comic with Avery Hill, Something City came out in 2017. Do you feel your comic making process has changed between making your new book?
Ellice: I swapped from 50% analogue/50% digital to full digital. I used to paint everything and then put it together later in photoshop. But now I find it gives me the most freedom to just work digitally. I move around a lot and not needing the materials is a huge plus.
Clio: I loved your use of colour and how it transitions through the different scenes. Did you work with a set colour pallet or did you develop it as the story progressed?
Ellice: I developed it as the story progressed but always went back to weigh it next to the other palettes. Somehow colour palettes always end up being the most work during a project and I remember sweating over them haha. I’m glad they came together even though there are quite a few.
Clio: I enjoyed the dynamic between the two siblings in the story. Was this inspired by any real life relationships?
Ellice: I’ve been thinking back to a lot of sibling dynamics that I’ve watched over the years and drew from a few of them. They’re just quite funny. I remember going to friends’ houses as a kid and seeing the most dramatic fights breaking out between sisters, I’ve rivaled with my own brother too. Sibling relationships can reduce sensible adults to full-blown toddlers. They just bring out something in someone which can be a bit ugly but also deep and sweet.
Clio: Big Ugly features an interesting character who does Human Design Coaching. I was curious to know how you developed this idea?
Ellice: When developing the characters I listened to a podcast that happened to be about human design and I was like, ‘hm which character is which human design profile’. It’s a cool way to get the characters across because you can literally tell the reader this is their human design profile whether the character agrees with it or not.
Clio: The story references that one of the main characters Matt has a podcast, although we never learn what it is about. I’m curious to know what you think his podcast could be about?
Ellice: I opted to keep that info out of the story. There’s also some childhood trauma that gets referenced in the book and I choose not to include it… I liked the idea that the past has happened and the characters are dealing with the fallout of that, like everyone does. I quite like keeping bits of information out of narratives. But I did toy with the idea of Matt’s podcast being a confidence coaching podcast.
Clio: As another comic creator, I’m always curious to know how long it took to make a finished graphic novel. How long did it take you to make Big Ugly, from the initial idea until final submission?
Ellice: I’m not actually sure because I never worked on it solidly. Once I took 6 months off and often I’d pick it up when I could but I started in September 2018 – 1690 days. But who knows?
Clio: Lastly, do you have any funny anecdotes about making this comic you’d like to share?
Ellice: There was a house construction going on next to my studio and it was completed from start to finish before I got the 20th page done. Every day I’d look out the window and be like ‘comics are weird.’
Clio Isadora’s Sour Pickles came out in 2021. It’s s semi-autobiographical graphic novel about a girl struggling to finish the final year of art school, while surrounded by wealthy peers who have all the privilege and connections that she doesn’t. Grab a copy here!
In this episode we talk to Nicole Goux, the creator of Pet Peeves. We talk storytelling, manga, the struggle to make things… and writing embarrassing songs in college!
We can now announce three new books for autumn 2023!
The Hard Switch by Owen D. Pomery
Curses by George Wylesol
The Wilderness Collection by Claire Scully
The Hard Switch will be hardback, 100 pages. An engrossing science fiction graphic novel about a spaceship’s crew tackling the changes in their lives and work at the moment when they – and everyone else in the galaxy – begin to run out of fuel.
Curses will be paperback, 240 pages. A new collection of surreal, subversive, magical realist stories from one of comics’ most inventive voices.
The Wilderness Collection will be hardback with a dust jacket – 100 pages. A gorgeous collection of Claire Scully’s three previously published Wilderness books, in a luxurious new edition printed at a larger size.
A vivid graphic novel adaptation of Macbeth, with Shakespeare’s full, unabridged text.
When three witches prophecy to Macbeth that he will one day become the King of Scotland, an epic of unhappiness, treachery, and blood begins. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s ambitions lead to an ever-growing path of murder as Macbeth grows ever-closer to the throne. But where will it all end? Only with death – and with madness.
Influenced by the witches and magic of Macbeth, K. Briggs’s lush new graphic novel rendition of the classic provides a new interpretation of the Scottish play. Briggs, as a Shakespeare reader (and performer) from age twelve, brings their lifelong love of the Bard to this work.
Work, health, family — Mel feels like her life is just circling endlessly as she begins to renew her relationship to her brother in this vibrant graphic novel.
Mel isn’t going anywhere – except to work every day. But when she offers the spare room in her apartment to her struggling brother, everything she loves and hates about wanting to live up to the expectations of her family becomes part of her every day again.
It turns out that even as adults, living with your sibling brings back the dynamics of tween rivalries. As Mel tries to rebalance things with her brother, she navigates how to offer help to someone who doesn’t want to need it.
Renowned illustrator Ellice Weaver brings her crisp artwork to the graphic novel form in this powerful story of contemporary life.
In this horror graphic novel, the new dog that aspiring musician Bobbie has adopted is cute, but also stealing her life.
Bobbie’s life is going nowhere fast. She’s working at a bar, wanting to play music but never having the time or energy. The only bright spot is her dog – always cheerful, always cuddly, and always there for her.
As the relentless day-in, day-out of work piles up, music and roommates and social plans begin to seem less and less important as Bobbie struggles to make rent and have any time to be creative. The only thing she has time for outside her job is her dog . . . and her dog is going to do everything he can to keep it that way.
This debut solo graphic novel from breakout author Nicole Goux explores the struggles of a young artist – haunted not only by debt and society, but by more sinister (though adorable) canine forces…
Ricky also did a great interview over at Graphic Policy where he talked about our work but also discussed many wider topics including the state of comics publishing in the UK today, and how recent world events have affected comics publishing:
Big Ugly is your second long-form comic with Avery Hill, after Something City in 2017. Did you approach this book differently to the first?
Something city was a book of short comics. It felt easier to go into it without too much of a plan. If the comics worked by themselves they were probably going to work together because they had the setting of the book in common. Big ugly is my first longer comic that tells one story which was something totally new for me. I had to go into it with more of a plan and less crossing my fingers and hoping everything made sense.
You do a lot of freelance illustration work. What are the differences between that type of work and creating your own book? Comparing the two processes… are there things you enjoy and things that are more challenging with each?
With illustration work, there’s a lot of quick satisfaction. You often wrap a project up within 2 weeks to a month max. I always get a kick out of the speed but because of the nature of comics, I feel like there has to be more dedication involved. The satisfaction of finishing a book and finishing an illustration isn’t comparable though. Finishing a book feels like a big life moment. I also feel more vulnerable when creating comics, I definitely put a little more of myself into comics. It’s actually great to switch between both, I’m always really looking forward to returning to drawing comics whilst in an illustration and visa versa.
You call the book a “Post coming-of-Age”; what made you decide to focus on that point in life? Anypersonal experiences?
I think it’s just a matter of relating more to that phase of life. It’s fun because it’s kind of neither here nor there time. I’m sure every phase of life comes with a lot of questions and thinking but for me, the late 20’s coming into 30 has been a very thought-heavy time. I think without it being autobiographical I put a lot of that into the book.
Your illustration work is full of beautiful characters, did it feel strange working on two specific characters during the creation of Big Ugly? Do you feel like they’re part of your family now too?
Thank you! It didn’t feel strange because of how long I was working on the book. I had massive pauses throughout but I started the book in 2018 so it wasn’t an intense period of drawing the same characters over and over. It felt really joyful to draw the characters and make them feel things and speak. Sort of like how animation brings illustration to life. It’s a proud feeling of like, ‘aw my characters say stuff and I relate to them’.
How did you create the artwork for the book, what tools did you use?
Straight up digital, photoshop. Nothing flashy. I’m always grateful to work digitally. I move around a lot and do a lot of house-sitting and live on a boat so it’s important to be super mobile. I have a little chair extension that makes any seat ergonomic so I take that and my tablet. . . it always feels like a walking studio.
Finally, what do you hope people take away from reading Big Ugly?
I would like to think it was a little funny and hope that the characters are likable even in their less pleasant moments. I think it’s been on my mind a lot lately because I literally had a dream last night that my book came out and it got very good critiques, mostly 5 stars… the only problem was, that it wasn’t a book at all but an actual easter egg. With the cover as a foil and it was super chocolaty. I don’t know what that means…
If you follow our social media you will have seen the amazing print that Tillie Walden made for us to celebrate our ten-year anniversary. We’ve now added this as an add-on to the kickstarter campaign, so you can pre-order it by adding it to your pledge on checkout. This print is A4, beautifully printed on quality paper, and a limited run of 200. They’ll be signed/numbered by Tillie.
Pre-order the print by adding it to your kickstarter pledge here!
Your journey to this completed Macbeth started quite a while ago, with Act 1, Scene 1 winning the Elsinore Award for Graphic Shakespeare in 2016, did that prize have an influence on your decision to keep going and create this book? Or was that the plan all along?
It was the hope, rather than the plan. I wouldn’t have started this project if I hadn’t seen the call for entries to the Graphic Shakespeare Competition, so I really credit them with the inspiration to start working on it. Actually winning the award kept hope kindled; someone out there thought my interpretation of Macbeth was a good idea. But, everything in it’s time. I had to do a lot of living and growing and creating before there was actually an opportunity (thank you Avery Hill!) to dedicate myself to finishing the project.
And what was it that made you choose Macbeth itself? Were there any other pieces of Shakespeare’s work that were in the running?
Macbeth has all the best things – witches, tyrants getting their just desserts, Scotland. I started it while living in Germany and missing Scotland very much. Since moving back to America the yearning has only gotten worse, so spending time with Macbeth has meant spending time with Scottish landscapes and art history. But also, growing up I was obsessed with Shakespeare; when I was 12 I played in a school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and that was it, sold. I joined in abridged productions of Shakespeare plays once or twice a year. But I never got to play my favorite character, Lady Macbeth, before giving up acting to go to art school. So, I took the opportunity to cast myself in my dream role and act her out on the page, if not the stage.
Tackling an adaptation of such a notable piece of literature is no mean feat, where did you begin?
I tried to treat it like any other comic script; it’s already a script, it just needed page breaks so I put those in first. Then made some decisions about the “rules” the visuals would follow – historically accurate to the actual reign of Macbeth from 1040-1057 OR historically accurate to the year of the play’s first production in 1606? I went with 11th century Macbeth, so that dictated costumes, weapons, and architecture. I basically tried to work big-to-small when it came to making decisions.
Which part of the entire process did you enjoy the most?
The deep dives into medieval art. I’ve always loved it, but I grew a new appreciation for its drama and stylization. Also for the repeated use of sequential art; illuminated manuscripts are just comics before the printing press.
Your art style is beautifully detailed, what tools did you use?
I use a lot of different materials, whatever’s available, really. There’s watercolors and brush pens and fineline pens. There’s also $1 a pack markers and Crayola crayons and variety packs of sequins and actual leaves. My most used tools are a mechanical pencil and a scalpel and my hands to just rip things up and re-glue them. I try to let the content of the text dictate the materials and tools.
Did you learn anything from making this book?
It definitely deepened my understanding of the play, that’s for sure. I learned about how it can viewed as a piece of propaganda for the brand new and shaky reign of James VI of Scotland and I of England; there are references to the storied line of Scottish kings that start with Banquo’s heir and end with James himself. I very much got the “I’m not like other Scots” vibe from this play in it’s references to James.
Pet Peeves comes after you’ve been Eisner Award nominated, you’ve worked on huge titles including those with DC, what was it that made you want to create this story now? Pet Peeves was meant to be a break from big projects at big companies. It was a chance to stretch my writing muscles and to tell a story with no edits, no one telling me what do. Honestly, it was supposed to be much shorter than it is, just a quick story to refresh and re-inspire me between jobs, but I found that the story I wanted to tell needed more space and it grew into the full book that it is today.
You talk about Pet Peeves being a really personal story, how much of Bobbie is based on real-life Nicole’s life and experiences? Nothing that happens to Bobbie in the books is directly from my life. More, the things that happen are metaphors for experience I’ve had, and hopefully, emote the way that those things felt in that moment of my life.
You choose to ink this book traditionally, how did that process differ from some of your other works? Working traditionally is a much slower process for me. There’s no undo button, there’s not adjust size. For this reason I don’t usually like working that way on projects for big companies who have shorter deadlines and may ask for changes and edits. I still love working traditionally, though, and because Pet Peeves was entirely self dictated, I was able to take the time and care to work this way. This book is still partially done digitally. I do my my thumbnails and pencils on my iPad and then print out blue lines on bristol paper to ink traditionally on top of. It allows me the easy of planning and sketching digitally, while still getting to work in a physical medium for the end product.
Where do you start with a book? And which part of the creative process do you enjoy the most? Every book starts with an idea. When I write for myself, I usually do a full outline, script, etc. but know that I have the flexibility to add or change things as I go. Then it’s thumbnails, pencils, inks. I think my favorite part is pencils because all the hard work of planning the page is done, but there is still a looseness and freedom that you can lose sometimes in the inking process.
Are there any big influences on your work? Whether in comics, or otherwise. I could answer this the normal way, pick a few titles that are representative of things that inspire me, but I think the true answer is working with other comics writers. When you’re an artist, you get to collaborate with so many other creators, see how they do things, see what story ideas stick with you and that you connect with. Working one on one with another person can be an incredible learning experience and can give great insight into new and interesting ways to do things.
