A Need to Piece Things Together

Gwen Rachel Stanley

By Jennifer Franklin Elrod
March 1, 2007

Artist Gwen Rachel Stanley tells readers what it was like to create her unique webcomics, Paper Moon and A Month of Sundays, while working and caring for her newborn baby.

Sequential Tart: What made you decide that comics was the medium for you?

Gwen Rachel Stanley: I'd had a couple of comics in college that were good for personal amusement and for a distraction from studying among my friends and I, but after college those died out and I didn't take it up until a couple years ago in grad school.

While it's not, by far, the only medium that I use or want to use, it's one that presented itself as a possibility in its most recent conception after I started sort of sketching over some of my images torn from old magazines. I came to it in a very cerebral way, which is pretty normal for me; I read a lot about sequential art in correlation with my studies of semiotics (the study of symbols) in grad school, and came at it through that angle.

ST:I understand that you live near the Center for Cartooning Studies that was founded by James Sturm. How has the comics community surrounding the center impacted your work and your career?

GRS: We do — my husband Cat and I wanted very much to be near the school — and the fact that it's in my hometown made it seem like kismet, since he is a cartoonist and he'd met many of the faculty and board already. The students and fellows there are a very talented bunch and have a lot of good, young energy, which is important to be around. I haven't done much artwork since we got here, because I've been working so much, and we've been adjusting to the new surroundings. It seems like we are finally settling in, though, and I hope to maybe collaborate with my husband on something that I actually follow through on this time.

ST: Who was the most important teacher you've had in your developing career as a comic creator?

GRS: Ana Merino, who was my second reader for my grad school project and is a teacher at the Center for Cartooning Studies, was of enormous help in that she pushed me to make connections between my work and that of others in the field.

ST: Could you give us an idea of the influences that have shaped your work?

GRS: I've been doing collage for about 15 years now, so that's an important part of it. All of my art stems from a need to piece things together. I think also that there's a very feminine sensibility there; I draw a lot of women and girls, for whatever reason.

Color is very important to me. I love the work of Max Ernst and Joseph Cornell, who both worked with piecing things together to present a balance of sorts. My all-time favorite illustrator is Trina Schart Hyman, who lived in this area. Her work has a delicacy that's so attractive to me.

ST: What was the inspiration behind Paper Moon?

GRS: For the great part, I was inspired by my grandmother's photographs of herself and her life in the early to mid-40's. She is a beautiful and loving woman who has seen a lot. She grew up here in New England, and I think that affected a lot of who she is. I wanted to portray a character based on how I imagined her as a young woman. She's no longer able to talk in detail about her childhood, but some memories stand out as if she were experiencing them in the present. I hope to find it in me to finish Paper Moon, or at least to bring it to some logical conclusion.

ST: How did you learn to draw? Did you take formal art schooling, or were you self-taught?

GRS: I think my mother taught me a lot of it when I was small. I drew little comics and stapled little books together to hand out to my classmates in elementary school. I developed an obsession with painting at around 14. When I graduated high school, I applied to a bunch of art schools in France, but I couldn't get in because of poor grades. Studio art was most of what I did in college, and I did take life drawing and all that, but I have to say I didn't pay much attention, because I had an attitude and thought I already knew it all. I regret that now. I could use a good life drawing class. I can't draw hands, and there are lots of other things I avoid, because I didn't pay attention when I should have.

ST: What has it been like publishing your web comics in Webcomics Nation? Has it brought you significantly more exposure?

GRS: It's been great to have people comment on the work and link to me out of the blue (like you did a while back). I don't know how much exposure it's brought, but it is a good way to present your work and share with others.

ST: Your layout and lettering in both Paper Moon and A Month of Sundays have a unique style. How do you create your comic pages?

GRS: For Paper Moon, I created a script and drew these tiny thumbnails. Then I ditched those and drew page-sized ones, really quick indications of what would happen in a panel. I ended up not following it much at all. Once the line drawings were scanned in, it ended up being a process a lot like my painting/collage process, which is just moving things around and working with color. The text is a font called cataclysmic which looks a lot like my handwriting and I thought fit the feel of the comic.

A Month of Sundays is just whatever I feel like throwing together in a pretty way.

ST: Could you talk about the impact that becoming a busy working mother has had on your work?

GRS: It means that anything I work on gets done in little, tiny bits — kind of like little bits of mushed banana. Look how long it took me to complete this interview, for example .... If I am determined to finish a project of any sort — collage, knitting, a design — I have to carve out time for that, rearrange things to make sure everything's taken care of. But at the same time, I think I've developed a knack for working well when the moment of peace comes. You kind of have to squeeze it in and allow for a lot of breaks, and taking offers of help from my husband. That's how I got through grad school with a newborn.

As for the working part, I think that being a graphic designer fits nicely with comics because I can find some inspiration in both.

ST: Do you attend comic cons, and if so, which con has been your favorite?

GRS: I haven't been to any! From what I've heard they seem exciting and overwhelming.

Paper Moon — Paper Moon Webcomic on Webcomics Nation
A Month of Sundays — A Month of Sundays Webcomic on Webcomics Nation