This week I got to speak with illustrator and cartoonist Angela Boyle. I met Angela through a mutual friend who loved reading Angela’s work Artema. I enjoyed it a lot myself. Enjoy!

An Interview With Angela Boyle

Aaron Iara: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me this week. Please tell the readers a little bit about yourself and the work you do. 

Angela Boyle: I am a natural science illustrator and cartoonist. I also work at the Ferndale Public Library (Whatcom County, Washington State), and do some freelance layout work for First Second. I have an MFA from The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS). Since moving back home, I have been working on Artema with Rachel (who I have never met face-to-face since we are now on opposite coasts) and working on my own comics. I am getting ready to ink the last half of my first graphic novel (about 100 pages when it is done).

Aaron Iara: It is nice to meet you! What made you land on comic books as your preferred medium?

Angela Boyle: I have always written stories and drawn pictures. And I did a couple of comics when I was a kid. But I never really read anything more long-form as a kid. So in my late 20’s my partner, now husband, showed me Penny Arcade and I was like, wow, these are cool. Then I read every comic I could get my hand on, like Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks and Big Questions by Anders Nilsen. It was what I had wanted to do, I think, this whole time. 

Aaron Iara: Where did you come up with the style for the Artema? I think the writing and artwork go well together.

Angela Boyle: Thank you. Rachel told me what she was looking for, the main example being Lone Wolf and Cub. So, I took that as my inspiration for line-work. I try to get at least some of the same heart in the art. For character design, I have Rachel tell me a few people who are like the character and I look at them and similar pictures on Pinterest. Draw them a few times and go.

Aaron Iara: What are your biggest obstacles when it comes to drawing comics and telling stories? How do you overcome them?

Angela Boyle: Time! For this particular series, I have Rachel draw up thumbnails for how she views the pages. Then I work out pencils and edit her thumbnails at the same time. If something won’t fit, there’s too much text, or the story needs more space to breathe (or less), I will send Rachel my edits to see what she thinks. We had a lot more edits in the first one. I am guessing Rachel learned a lot about pacing for the second one because it was a lot smoother. (Nice job, Rachel!!) 

The other obstacle is getting edits. It is really hard for other people to read my pencils because I don’t do really refined pencils. A lot of the detail comes through in the inks. Rachel has done a good job reading my pencils; I also try to make them cleaner for her than I would just for me. She has to read the pencils because if there is a big edit, it is really hard to fix in inks. I do traditional inks. I can do a lot of editing in Photoshop, but it looks best if I can get it right in the original inks.

Aaron Iara: Time is a big issue for many independent creators. It can be difficult to juggle creative projects with everyday like and responsibilities. It is also very important to take breaks and not become overworked.

Do you ever get performance/release anxiety when you are showing your work to others?

Angela Boyle: Absolutely. All I can see are flaws. But I have a lot of social anxiety in general and use the same fake-it method to get through that. I need to show it to other people, so I just turn off my brain and do it. It works well to get started. I also show my husband, Abe, everything before I show it to anyone else so he can catch any big errors that I should fix first.

Aaron Iara: Making comics takes a lot of time and effort. What do you do to stay productive? 

Angela Boyle: I work on comics almost every day. At any one time, I usually have three comics or more in process. Some never get done. Most do. I don’t usually let myself stop working on a comic until it is done. If I stopped when I thought it was bad, I never would have finished a comic! For Artema, I have a deadline with Rachel and a guilt complex, so that helps.

Having a deadline for myself doesn’t do it, but for someone else, I hate breaking deadlines. I always try to beat deadlines for other people so I can get it back to them and they can let me know if I messed something up. Then I can fix it before the deadline if at all possible.

Other than that, I work while watching TV or listening to music, a podcast, or an audiobook. Different work means different media. If I am writing, I can only listen to music, and mostly classical or opera. Something that doesn’t have words I want to sing along to.

For penciling, I prefer TV because I don’t have to imagine what is happening in the story, I can just glance at the TV. That leaves me free to picture what is happening in the story. For inking, I can listen to anything story. My mind gets too free listening to music at this point and I start getting anxious, so I need to story to focus on.

Aaron Iara: I am also motivated by deadlines for other people. This series of interviews have been a true test to my time management. I hate the idea of someone sitting in my inbox waiting on me.

I love the indie comics community. How has your experience been with the indie comics community online or in-person?

Angela Boyle: It’s great. I just went to Short Run in Seattle and got to talk to a couple of other creators and a lot of comics fans. They were all super nice. Even at CCS, it was so great to hang out with people who just love making comics. It was a tiny, closed community smooshed together for two years, so of course there were problems. But for the most part, it is great to hang out with people who wanted to work hard on comics. Most creators are just so supportive of other people wanting to make more comics.

Aaron Iara: How do you foster creativity?  Do you wait for inspiration or work at it?

Angela Boyle: I definitely work at it. Sometimes I am inspired, but its bad practice to wait for it. That can leave you waiting forever.

When I need to figure out a story point, I force myself into a headspace. It’s a weird, grumpy headspace. In my head, I scrunch up my face and smother myself in blankets and kick my feet in a little tantrum. I kick and stamp around the problem until I work it out. Unfortunately for Abe, who is a great writer, I make him help me and then the grumpy comes out in real life a bit more. 

To come up with a story, I kind of space out and ponder things. I like to lay on the floor when I do this. When I work on visual details, I will scroll through images and sketch those if it is based on something real, like a hedgehog (another project I am working on) or just sketch from my imagination.

I also read a lot of non-fiction, which I find gets the mental juices flowing and gets me thinking about new things.

Aaron Iara: What advice can you give for people who want to start creating comics?

Angela Boyle: Do it! When you start making your own comics, I would definitely suggest starting small on the story. In 2011, my second year making comics, I wanted to get better, so my goal was to make a mini-comic every month. I made 11, so I was one short. But a longer one (One Lemming’s Loss [https://gimmeny.wixsite.com/flying-dodo-comics/one-lemmings-loss]) was full color, which was like making two comics.

I learned a whole lot about storytelling and character design, drawing and page layout, book design and printing. And I didn’t feel like any time was wasted because I spent no more than a month on any given project. Took a lot of pressure off.

Aaron Iara: Do you have any upcoming projects or events you would like to talk about?

Angela Boyle: In early 2020, maybe even 2019, I will be posting/publishing a mystery in the style of Beatrix Potter books, Much Ado about Muffin. There have already been some sneak peeks on my social media. The first two illustrations are complete, and all the text is written. Only another 24 or so images to go! 

Later in 2020, I plan to begin posting a young-adult sci-fi, the comic I mentioned that I am going to finish inking the second half of soon. I received some edits and need to figure out those changes, then I will finish up the inks and post it online. It currently has no title, but you might have seen me mention it as Cob.

Aaron Iara: Thank you for taking the time to do this! Please tell the readers where they can find you and your work!

Angela Boyle: Of course! Thanks for the interview. It has been really fun working on Artema, so it is great to get to talk about it a bit.

I post lots of process shots to Instagram/Twitter/Tumblr: @angelabcomics

My website is angelaboyle.flyingdodostudio.com and my email is [email protected]. You can get a monthly nature postcard and see background posts on my Patreon at patreon.com/angelabcomics.

All my comics are up at comics.flyingdodostudio.com

I do freelance editing, layout, and lettering: publication.flyingdodostudio.com

Check Out Angela Boyle!

A huge thank you to Angela Boyle for taking the time to speak with me this week. Make sure you check out Angela’s work at the following locations:

Angela Boyle’s Official Website

Angela Boyle on Twitter

Angela Boyle on Instagram

Angela Boyle on Tumblr

Email Angela Boyle

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