#comicstudy

I had the chance to sit down with Jules Valera, autobiographical comic artist, caricaturist, illustrator, animation student, writer, event sketcher and all around good egg. I’d been itching for an interview for a while as I find their work deeply inspiring and admire the way that they’re able to work in a wide variety of styles using a plethora of different media.

Hold onto your hats, chaps, this’ll be a good read!

Rebecca

Hey, Jules! Thanks for taking the time to speak to me. So let’s do this. First question! As a comic artist, how do you feel that you are perceived by the people in your life, the general public and other artists?

Jules

People in my life have responded pretty positively to my work as a comic artist. Comics are pretty cool at the moment and most people have some kind of relationship with them in some form.

I think people generally seem to think it’s cool that you can ‘get away’ with doing comics. The downside seems to be that the prevailing perception of comics is still superhero-exclusive.

Other artists I know seem to have a deep respect and hunger for comics. It’s the perfect fusion of things that artists generally love— story and drawings. Most artists I know, even non-comic artists, seem to get a lot of satisfaction out of comics and respect them as a medium.

Rebecca

So how and why did you end up making comics rather than something else?

Jules

I was a big fan of manga when I was growing up, and I’ve always found comics a very natural way of expressing ideas. A friend who happened to be studying comics studies uncovered some of my comics diaries early in my first year of uni and encouraged me to see the merit in continuing. Through him, I developed an interest in comic studies and particularly in graphic medicine (the overlap of comics and the medical humanities) which had a significant influence on my work.

Rebecca

How did your family react when you told them that you were pursuing comics?

Jules

My parents have both always been interested in comics and graphic novels— my mum read Bretécher cartoons as a child, and my dad is a big fan of Joe Sacco (Palestine, Footnotes in Gaza.) They were both supportive and interested from the get-go and have been ever since.

Rebecca

As an artist, do you ever feel apprehensive about sharing your autobio comics with others?

Jules

No— it can be a powerful means of expressing things that are incredibly difficult to communicate otherwise. The spectacle of it- framing real-life events as a narrative with characters- gives both the artist and reader a degree of distance, while the format- using your own words and pictures- allows you to express yourself without restraint, and allows the reader to fully empathise without feeling the need to ‘say the right thing’ or respond appropriately. In creating and sharing an autobiographical comic, you’re saying, “I’m in control of this story, these events, and how I feel about them, and I’m letting you see into my world.”

Rebecca

Do you feel that you have to exaggerate or slightly twist the events in your autobio comics to draw an audience to your work?

Jules

When I make comics based on true events, I try to focus on my own perspective, feelings, and memories, rather than one hundred percent accuracy and objectivity. In the same way as when retelling a good anecdote, I think some things naturally get edited down so that the timing is a little better or a little more convenient. What you end up remembering and recounting is whatever was important at the time.

Rebecca 

Do you feel that comics have to be funny/happy for them to appeal to an audience?

Jules

There’s definitely a market for misery, but I think more than anything else what draws an audience to a comic is relatability. People want to be able to see themselves in comic situations— whether it’s inserting themselves into a superhero narrative, laughing at themselves in a cartoon, or seeing some of their own experiences reflected genuinely in autobio.

Rebecca 

Does the way that you feel about the events depicted in your comic before you draw differ from how you feel after you’ve made and shared the comic?

Jules

Often I find that the process of drawing a comic helps provide some objectivity and perspective on my own feelings. Transforming an event into a narrative problem to be solved has always let me see myself a little better— helps me to understand how I actually felt at the time, and how I feel now.

Rebecca

Do you find making autobio comics therapeutic in any way?

Jules

For me, most of my autobio happens very urgently. The immediacy of drawing a comic often replaces a more self-destructive compulsion, and the emotion that then goes into those drawings and words is often something that I wouldn’t be able to express any other way. I think therapeutic might be the wrong word. If I don’t do the work unravelling issues and coming to terms with them with the help of a therapist then I know I can’t produce anything much of worth (if anything at all)— but comics provide me with context and allow me to see my own feelings objectively, transforming events and emotions into narrative problems to be resolved and presented to an audience in some way.

Rebecca 

In making comics that people are able to relate to and engage with, do you feel as if you’re part of a community?

Jules

I think community can be a bit of a double edged sword. There’s the very immediate satisfaction and sense of validation that comes from people sharing your experiences and relating to your work, which I think is a very good and necessary thing. It comes with the burden of other people’s expectations, however, and I think the particular danger of your work being relatable to many people, especially when you do autobio, is that you become very available to them. I’ve been approached by strangers who felt like they knew me through my work and started very personal, overly familiar conversations with me because of it.

Rebecca 

Autobio comics have been criticised for being too self-indulgent and as being of less worth than a fictional story such as those depicted in graphic novels. What are your thoughts on this?

Jules

I feel strongly that good stories, factual or fictional, always thrive on authenticity, and I believe that authenticity comes from people’s ability to transform their own experiences into a narrative. You don’t need to look far into autobiographical comics to find this happening- for example, in the works of Lynda Barry, Alison Bechdel, Marjane Satrapi, where a life story becomes a deeply intriguing story in its own right.

Rebecca 

Do you think that autobio comics are important for not only a reader but also the artist creating them?

Jules

I think there’s great importance in letting people narrate their own experiences. It’s often the case that when someone is experiencing illness, trauma, grief, any number of life experiences, they’re forced to abdicate some control over to other people— in my case, writing about mental health, control of my life and experiences were often handed over to my family, my doctors, and anyone else with an opinion. Writing about it put me back in control over my own history and gave me an outlet to work out what I felt and experienced without having to put anyone else first.

Rebecca

Has reading a comic (be it autobio or not) ever helped you get through a difficult time?

Jules

Definitely. I had a friend who could provide a comic for almost any event or occasion, and he gave me Glyn Dillon’s The Nao of Brown, which was a big help to me when I was struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder (the comic is fictional but loosely based on Dillon’s wife’s experience with OCD.) Darryl Cunningham’s Psychiatric Tales, a frank, straightforward, and kindly graphic novel about experiences of working as a psychiatric nurse, was also a great comfort when I was unwell. Saki Hiwatari’s Please Save My Earth was incredibly formative in giving me a story to relate to as a teenager experiencing dysphoria, as the manga deals with themes of identity, gender, and sexuality through the story vector of reincarnation.

Rebecca

Do you feel that the impact left on its audience by a comic differs to that of a novel, film or other form of art?

Jules

Comics are still considered, to some degree, to be a ‘junk’ art form. I think this can be a very good thing for comics, though— I appreciate that there’s still a sort of unpretentiousness to the reading of comics, and I think this allows readers to be moved and affected by them almost unconsciously in a way that’s different to the more lofty experiences of reading a novel or watching a film.

 Rebecca

What are a couple of your favourite comics that you would recommend to readers, and do they differ from comics that you would recommend to aspiring comic artists?

Jules

For readers and artists alike, I would recommend anything by Chris Ware (particularly his ACME Novelty Library series, as well as the massive Building Stories) as he really does push the boundaries of what a ‘comic’ can be. Glyn Dillon’s The Nao of Brown is another favourite, with a more conventional structure, beautiful art, and a powerful, loving story. Lynda Barry’s cartoons are excellent (What It Is is a good one), and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi should be required reading for most comics enthusiasts. I also love anything by Michael DeForge (Ant Colony). For aspiring comic artists, I’d say just read whatever appeals to you, art-wise or story-wise. New artists are constantly reinventing the medium.

Rebecca 

What is your outlook on what it will be like to be a professional artist after leaving art school?

Jules

I ask my Magic 8 Ball this question all the time.

Rebecca

As an artist, do you worry about financial security?

Jules

Constantly.

Rebecca

Do/will you have to rely on other forms of income such as Patreon or a part-time job to be able to create comics?

Jules

I freelance doing commissions and bits and pieces of design work currently, which is more or less sustaining me for the time being, but after graduation I’ll most likely need a part-time job of some description. I hope to have a Patreon for comics and art up and running in the next year!

Rebecca

How has the ability to use the internet to share your work affected your career as a comic artist?

Jules

The ability to use the internet has been absolutely crucial in my career as a comic artist. The vast majority of acquaintances, friends, and collaborators I’ve met in comics, I’ve primarily met through Twitter initially. I think the internet, for better or for worse, puts artists all on a somewhat level playing field— it doesn’t cost anything more than the price of an internet connection to publish your work, advertise yourself, network with other artists, gain an audience, and sell things, all online. The value of internet relationships is massive for providing everything from support and resources to literal couches in countries across the world.

Rebecca 

Would you ever want to work for a publisher or would you rather self-publish your work?

Jules

I think both have their merits, but I don’t have any experience with either so I’m unsure of the benefits and downsides of both. I have friends who’ve started their own small press imprints, which interests me a lot.

Rebecca 

Have you ever taken part in a collective comic anthology? Do you feel like you gained anything from working with others?

Jules

I’ve been published in anthologies a few times— local comics collectives and fanzines mostly. The pressure of a deadline and the thrill of seeing your work published as well as the social aspect of going to launches and promoting the work are all good things I think. I would love to do more practical collaborative work with other artists in the future.

Rebecca

What is your opinion on manga – is it the same as reading a Western comic?

Jules

I think manga follows a different set of rules based on an entirely different history and storytelling tradition from Western comics. Personally, I was drawn to manga when I was growing up because the artwork appealed to me more, but also because the stories in shōjo manga felt more contemplative, with thoughtful pauses visualised in consecutive black pages, empty speech bubbles, metaphorical flowers blooming, et cetera. There was an emotional focus that I found Western mainstream comics largely lacked. My experience of reading manga was, and still is, very different because of that sense of emotional timing.

Rebecca

Thanks so much for your time!

You can find Jules’ work online on their twitter and portfolio site

When we think of comics, most of us instantly recall American classics such as Superman and Batman, probably rescuing a defenceless damsel in distress or kicking some bad guy’s butt. This form of comic first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics featuring the debut of Superman, although the comic form can be traced to much further in the past.

Since their conception, comics have fought to become a respected form of communication and genre of literature, with conflicting response. There are many who believe that comics are solely meant for children, and others that believe that even children should not read them as they encourage them to turn away from the reading of novels and of classic literature (apparently, it’s inconceivable that you can enjoy both). Carol L. Tilley, a professor of library and information science in Illinois has discussed this, "A lot of the criticism of comics and comic books come from people who think that kids are just looking at the pictures and not putting them together with the words. Some kids, yes. But you could easily make some of the same criticisms of picture books - that kids are just looking at pictures, and not at the words."

Contrary to these beliefs, it has been proven that comics have helped to improve literacy in children and adults, both now and in the past. In the second world war, one of the many problems the military faced was that there was a large amount of illiterate citizens who were suddenly expected to be able to operate complex machinery. Comics played the role of communicating instructions to soldiers while also slowly teaching them to read. Today, comics are used frequently to teach children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties, thus they are not only tools of communication, but also agents of communication that allow others to learn how to communicate through the written word.  

It is interesting to note that comics were originally meant for adults, not children. From political strips in newspapers to Detective Comics (who later became DC) with their violent heroes and sexual heroines, it could seem difficult to believe that anyone would want to pass on the material depicted within comics to children, but despite the above, these superheroes have acted as positive role models and provided escapism for both children and adults since their inception.

Batman in particular was an important role model for the American nation. Unlike Superman, Batman lacks any form of super power, instead relying on his human strength, inventions and his mind to fight crime. Batman was an inspiration because he felt like a more attainable hero while Superman’s powers were impossible, but this is not to say that Superman wasn’t important. Both heroes strived to defeat evildoers at any cost, both heroes defended the weak and upheld the good and both heroes were an ideal that was pleasant to believe in.

Comics have played a vital role in America since their beginnings but particularly around the second world war. They were compact and cheap; easy to carry around and trade, and their simple speech balloons and easy to read fonts made them accessible to those of poor reading, not to mention the fact that the stories were of a pictorial nature which made them accessible to the illiterate. In terms of communication, they conveyed powerful and complex ideas in simplistic ways to allow all ages and levels of learning to understand them.

The form of comics and their influence on the youth especially were taken advantage of during the war. While at first, comic publishers and writers were reluctant to get involved with the war effort – reflecting the mind-set of the nation at the time – but soon, heroes such as Shield Man and Captain America emerged in red, white and blue costumes and were shown to be fighting the Nazis. Even a Nazi villain, Red Skull, was created. Superman and Batman, while not shown to be fighting Nazis, were used to promote war bonds and later, The Red Cross. By this point, their influence on the nation was huge and the campaigns were successful.

Soon, America was in total war. Comics still served as a form of escapism, but in a different way. While before their heroes had been fighting evildoers, their enemies were now the very tangible and threatening Nazis, whose defeat at the hands of the heroes was critical for the morale of American youth at the time. The creators of the characters and publishers belonged to a group called the Writers’ War Board who were privately run but received government funding. While the creators never lost control over how the public saw their heroes, the WWB had control as to how the villains were portrayed. The Nazis and those who supported them appeared as being twisted and deformed next to the handsome and well-sculpted heroes. While this was important to the war effort, it could be argued that these portrayals of other nations infected the minds of the youth at the time, leading to generations of racism.

Comics have also been used in textbooks to make topics that may be perceived to be monotonous or boring interesting. A good example of this is the Horrible Histories series, a British collection of books in which historical figures and events are turned into comics alongside text to make the subject more light-hearted and funny, therefore more significant and memorable to the reader.

Listen to podcasts/ artist vlogs while you work. They’re great for boosting inspiration and motivation whilst making you feel like there’s someone else in the room

Make the effort to go to a local life drawing group. It’ll be good for you and good for your art

Make artist friends, online or otherwise, and collaborate regularly. You could even do something as simple as streaming together on Twitch or YouTube.

Engage with the online art community. Look at other people’s art, especially if it’s similar to yours. Leave lots of comments.

Join an online DnD session (psst, that stands for Dungeons and Dragons). Yeah, I get it, Roleplay isn’t everyone’s bag, but it’s great for improving your storytelling and character design skills while also being fun. Just try it before you snub it, OK?

Anyone who creates, by default, has to spend a large portion of time alone in order to be able to get anything done. Creatives mostly prioritise the honing of their craft and project progression over fun, often out of necessity rather than choice.

The creative field is an incredibly competitive one, and with the rise of the Internet and digital learning resources such as Pluralsight and Ctrl+Paint as well as art accessibility, more people are being inspired to get creative. While this is undoubtedly a good thing, it unfortunately means that there are more people than ever applying to jobs in the creative industry.

For example, any animator will be able to tell you that the all-work-and-no-play mentality comes with the territory, not only because it is such a pain staking and time consuming task but also because it is such a competitive industry. You have to be the best to be hired, and you can’t be the best without some hard ass work.

But creative burnout is definitely an issue that most artists face at some point and it can be easy for artists to come to resent the projects that they once loved when they are forcing themselves to work on them all the time. It’s like that old saying goes: no TV and no beer make Homer something something.

Go crazy? Maybe not quite. But taking breaks and having fun is vital to the creative process. Unfortunately, sleepless nights and working until the point of exhaustion seem to be not just an unfortunate by-product of the creative lifestyle, but actually an expectation of anyone who wants to be taken seriously as an artist or designer.

The distinguished Feng Zhu of FZD Design recounted in his YouTube vlogs that in order for him to be successful, especially as a student, he felt that he had to be constantly creating and developing his skills every waking hour of the day until he finally landed a job, at which point he decided to stick strictly to the 9-5 work regime, in order to be allowed to have a social life and relaxation time.

Unfortunately, taking regular breaks and fulfilling our social needs is easier said than done when you’re trying to get something done. Time spent away from work can result in feelings of intense guilt. Before you know it, you find yourself in a position where you’re ‘taking a break’ but constantly worrying about what you’re not doing. This isn’t really taking a break, it’s just a stressful limbo where you’re constantly aware of how far behind you’re falling and how difficult the struggle will be to catch up.

(I mean, they so totally are… but for the sake of discussion, let’s dig a little deeper…)

It’s no secret that in the past, comics have been considered to be utterly uncool; something that only nerds enjoy. Nerds are often frowned upon by the ‘cooler’ members of our Western society. It’s difficult to narrow down what a nerd is exactly in formal terms, as it’s such a colloquial term, but it’s definitely a pejorative term, describing a person who typically lacks social skills, preferring to spend their time studying, reading comics or playing video games. Typical characteristics of a stereotypical nerd are obsessive behaviour and a preference to spend time indoors with their various hobbies than in ‘the real world’ interacting with others; however, this is a dated idea and does not necessarily apply to today’s modern nerds.

The Internet has greatly affected the way that everyone lives their lives – nerds included. While it may seem that they may be spending all their time indoors alone, the lone nerd may not actually be lonely at all. Online multiplayer games and even online Dungeons and Dragons sessions are a popular pass-time for the common nerd. They enjoy discussions that take place with like-minded individuals whilst not having to sacrifice the comfort and safety of their own home.

The fact is that today, it is far more acceptable to be a nerd. Nerd culture has even been celebrated, in part, thanks to the help of Hollywood and its superhero films. You don’t have to be a diehard Marvel fan to enjoy the Spiderman films (…the newer ones, anyway) and these films are a common ground between the nerds and their cooler counterparts. Nerd culture is an integral part of pop culture, which is becoming more and more mainstream, especially amongst millennials and 90s kids but even beyond. In its own strange way, being a nerd is now considered to be a strange form of… cool.

But what even is coolness? According to Bruce Mao’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth (1988), ‘Cool is conservative fear, dressed in black.’ This statement has come under a great deal of scrutiny, but it does make sense. If what is cool equates to what is popular, then doesn’t everyone who is cool simply follow the crowd? Is that not conservative fear? Yes, but there’s more to being cool than fashion and keeping up with trends. Perhaps what is truly cool is not caring what others think, but enjoying what you enjoy anyway and not being shy about it.

The archetype of the badass is undeniably cool. It’s cool to break the rules and not get caught. It’s cool to be chill and reserved, while being respected. Maybe that’s why Batman is often considered the coolest of all the superheroes. He’s gritty and dark and doesn’t rely on fantastical powers to get shit done.

So, if the characters in comics are cool? What has made the medium as a whole so uncool in the past? Perhaps what really defines being uncool, is being a shut-in. Being someone who doesn’t spend any of their time interacting with others in meaningful ways and building social skills and friendships. This would explain why, especially in the past, comic readers and video game players were chastised by their family and mocked by their peers. The stigma that being a comic fan equates to being a hermit is one that has stuck, but in the modern era, it is slowly being deconstructed.