The Many Lives of a Cartoonist: An Interview with Marc Ellerby
Marc Ellerby is a cartoonist working and living in Essex. He mostly produces auto-bio, slice of life comics, but is also working on a fantasy series. Here he tells Bugpowder about balancing paid and unpaid art gigs, making his own mini comics and why the worst thing that can possibly happen to a monster hunter is that she misses the bus!
Can you introduce yourself for the benefit of those unfamiliar with your work?
Sure thing. I've been making comics professionally for over two years. Although I do work for mainstream indie books like Love The Way You Love for Oni, I perhaps enjoy doing my own mini comics even more. I've had work published in anthologies like Put The Book Back On The Shelf (the Belle & Sebastian graphic novel that Image put out a few years ago) and have dabbled in the odd bit of illustration, but it's comics where my heart lies.
Please tell us a little about your comics. You've been published professionally, but continue to self-publish. How do you balance those two aspects of your career?
Well, I don't think I balance the two aspects very well to be honest. I do my own small press books because it keeps my brain from going stale and to bring in some extra money, but if I get a job from, say, Image, then the small press goes out the window and The Work begins. But yeah, I try and do both, the small press scene is really vibrant and appealing and it seems that I get more exposure from that than I do from my professional work. Plus I find that bringing out more and more self-published books helps develop my art and sequential narrative style.
In terms of my comics, well, my minis are mostly autobiographical (Ellerbisms, Venal Muse) but I'm starting to explore different genres like fantasy, but in a tongue in cheek sorta way. In the last couple of months I finished working on Oni's rock and roll romance title Love The Way You Love, which is a sorta shojo manga inspired graphic novel series written by Jamie S Rich, so I guess the interacting themes from both sides would be emotions and perhaps romantic encounters.
Could you tell us a little more about your experiments with genre?
Well, I've ventured into odd comedy with my Polar Opposites series (where two penguins don't get along, some might say [they are] OPPOSITE to one another) and I'm currently writing a fantasy story about a girl who hunts monsters, but deals more with her troubles getting the bus to hunt these monsters than the actual hunting. But that's a comedy too, deep down. I guess I drift off to other venues when I get bored of working on the same thing all the time. Like, I started my Ellerbisms diary comics because I was getting bored of drawing the same characters and plot in Love The Way You Love. Switching things around keeps the brain fresh.
As someone who writes and draws their own (small press) comics, can you tell us about how you work? Full script? Thumbnails to finished art with dialogue afterwards? Some other way?
I normally note-take to begin with, setting out ideas and then bang out a script that's mainly dialogue exchanges (making mental notes as I go along.) From there I thumbnail in full, then I let it sit for a day or two, return to it, give it a once over and start drawing. As I draw, I often change things around or add bits here and there, but, yeah, it progresses quite quickly I guess.
You mentioned manga. Is that something you're personally into and, if so, how has it informed your work?
I'm into it to a certain extent. I mean I can't really stand that Naruto and Bleach sorta thing, but I do think there's a ton of amazing manga out there. In fact the last three books I brought were all mangas. I'm into the mature "serious" side of manga, so works by Takehiko Inoue, Osamu Tezuka but especially Taiyo Matsumoto. I think he's one of my favourite artists ever.
I do like the Eastern way of storytelling, but I think with these three artists in particular, they honestly don't give a shit what manga demographic they should be in. Like if you read Shonen manga, 80% of it's the same but these three stick out to me because their storytelling's totally different and they all have fresh and independent styles. I love Matsumoto's jagged, rough line work, Tezuka's slick, animated characters and Inoue's mood and pacing.
Which cartoonists have influenced you and how can you see that influence in your comics?
Matt Groening, Andi Watson and Bryan Lee O'Malley. I think growing up with the Simpsons has had such a huge impact on me, like the early series were fried gold, but I picked up some of his Life Is Hell books and I love the way they're sorta crudely drawn but still have an appealing charm about them. I used to draw Bart a whole lot when I was younger and I guess some of it's stuck with me (especially with the eyes and hands.) Andi Watson is the best comic artist in England, FACT, and I love his storytelling and layouts, whereas with O'Malley I think every 20 something year old cartoonist finds him an influence. Scott Pilgrim opened a lot of doors with not only the themes he's exploring (video games meets relationship introspection) but also the way he's releasing his books, I think he's one of the few Western creators to really "get" manga storytelling and how to make a multi-volume series work. Plus his linework is fucking sick.
What's the five-year plan for Marc Ellerby, cartoonist?
I guess the ultimate goal for any cartoonist is to make a living from doing what you love, so I hope that sorta happens. I also hope to be well into my graphic novel series, which has a working title of Tara Noonan: Monster Hunter.
Which comics are you really into at the mo'?
There's some great UK small press stuff coming out at the moment, which I get a little bit jealous of as they're so good. Adam Cadwell's The Everyday is something that I always look forward to. He's got a clean Clowes style and they're similar to my Ellerbisms in that they're a diary comic. Lizz Lunney's books are always a treat. They're the true definition of laugh out loud, they're so good.
Marc Ellerby, thanks for your time.
For more on Marc's work, visit his blog or Ellerbisms. Richard Bruton of the Forbidden Planet International Blog and Fictions reviews Marc's comics here and interviews Marc here.