An Interview with a Cartoonist
Bunbury
So, I can tell obviously just from how you speak that you are a very witty person, but please, for those of us less informed, how do you come up with comic ideas?
Charlotte Curl
Basically, my comic ideas all come from the deep, dark recesses of my brain where all of my pain- I'm just kidding actually. Yeah, no, 90% of my comics are just: I am insanely stressed out. I have way too much work to do…let me draw about it.
Bunbury
Capital, capital, so how old were you when you started drawing and, separately, making comics?
Charlotte Curl
I've been drawing as long as I can remember. Kindergarten? I know I was drawing by kindergarten, and I actually started making comics in (possibly) fifth grade or sixth grade. I had a couple series that I was planning to continue but never did; they were the White House kids, Llama drama, Life, and Idioms Come to Life.
Bunbury
OK, now If someone were to want to become a cartoonist, what steps would you recommend to them to get started?
Charlotte Curl
Honestly, just have an idea of something you can do. You can make it relatable, or you can make it not relatable, and do your research and buy/research a bunch of comics and comic books.
Bunbury
Alright, well here next is my personal favorite question, but please restrain yourself from defying the laws of physics in any way.
Charlotte Curl
Yes…
Bunbury
Many artists have specific subjects or individuals that inspire them. For example, my inspiration, which may surprise you, is Oscar Wilde. What would you say is your greatest artistic inspiration and how would you recommend people find their artistic muses and creativity?
Charlotte Curl
*Starts levitating ominously* OK, so here we go *begins to speak at super speed* Star Wars, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Unlisted, Steven Universe, Six, Wings of Fire, My Little Pony, Hamilton, Mario, Legend of Zelda, Dragon Prince, Miraculous, Undertale, Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, That's Not my Neighbor, Carmen Sandiego, Tangled the Series, Vocaloid, a big one is Lindsey Stirling, Jentry Chau Versus the Underworld, which is really good, and a lot of cartoon series, as well as Squirrel Girl, and I so love dystopian novels and Sarah Scribbles, who has relatable comics and honestly who a lot of my style is based off of.
Bunbury
Alright, alright, please stop doing impossible feats. I have to admit that's a lot of inspirations.
Charlotte Curl
Alright, alright, please stop doing impossible feats. I have to admit that's a lot of inspirations.
Bunbury
So, would you say you take things from a variety of different places in order to find your own artistic style?
Charlotte Curl
Yeah, my art style is just cobbled together from pretty much everything I have ever been interested in, like I have taken things from multiple things, from one thing or another, and obviously I draw stuff from everything I'm interested in. But for example, the eyes that I style and use right now are the same style used for Vocaloid's.
Bunbury
That's very interesting.
Bunbury
OK, how often do you practice your drawing? Do you ever plan out a piece separately?
Charlotte Curl
Honestly, I practice my drawing whenever I can, and for planning I don't (necessarily) plan most of the time unless I'm writing a full story, but I will write down ideas that I have and I put them either in my little red metal notebook or put them on a sticky note and stick them on what I call “the idea the wall idea is the well specifically chosen for ideas” which is of course, a reference to The Emperor’s New Groove.
Bunbury
Of course, of course.
Charlotte Curl
I love my ideas.
Bunbury
Naturally. So, of all the pieces you've done do you have a favorite comic and if so, why is it your favorite?
Charlotte Curl
That's a hard one, but honestly, I'd have to say that I really like my first comic as well as my most recent one. The first one was about frogs and everyone else in my family was like “oh…frogs” and then “I love frogs!!!!” And my most recent piece was about not being able to focus, because I can't focus at all.
Bunbury
That's a hard one, but honestly, I'd have to say that I really like my first comic as well as my most recent one. The first one was about frogs and everyone else in my family was like “oh…frogs” and then “I love frogs!!!!” And my most recent piece was about not being able to focus, because I can't focus at all.
Charlotte Curl
Honestly, it's really just to do something artistic. I'm glad that people enjoy them, but I'm really just complaining. I am into the void and people are like OK. This is cool. I like this. I'm like oh, ok, cool. Positive side effect.
Bunbury
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well, please, dear creator, take me through your entire artistic process. What do you do to come up with a piece? How do you decide to do it and then how do you know when you are happy with it?
Charlotte Curl
So, what I do is, I'll have an idea most of the time in, like, the middle of the night, or when I'm trying to go to sleep, or when I'm doing something else, and then I'm like “dang that's a good idea. I gotta write that down,” and then one idea leads to another and another and another sometimes and I end up with ginormous backlog. But then I'll at some point wanna draw and I'll flip through my little ideas notebook or I'll look at my idea wall and I'll select an idea and then I'll start the pencil. Always start with the pencil sketch, and often even though I do a pencil sketch I get a new page because I'm so frustrated, even though it's very light pencil I don’t care, I need to restart and I have to draw the hands like 10 times because hands are so difficult to draw.
Bunbury
Common sentiment.
Charlotte Curl
And then once I've got the sketch, I'll outline it one more time with pencil and then go over it with my eraser completely. Then I will take my pen and go over the lines that I have made that are the final lines and then I will probably take a picture of just the line work, but sometimes I don't and then I will take markers as well as occasionally crayons (I don't often use colored pencils to just do the coloration). and then most of the time as soon as everything is colored, I decide “yep that's good” and then sometimes I never go back to it, or I find it later.
Bunbury
What would you say to people who believe they can't draw and in addition, is there anything you'd like to say to your fellow artists and aspiring artists as well?
Charlotte Curl
No, I've actually seen the sentiment on social media a lot like people saying like oh I use AI because I can't draw. It's just like that one guy in Ratatouille. Anyone can cook, anyone can draw, you just gotta start. It doesn't matter if you can't even draw a stick figure, you will ask people, you learn, you practice. It's just like anything else. You can learn it and you can be great at it; and for artist and aspiring artist just keep doing what you love and don't let people hate on you or think that AI is better and just stay strong because AI is annoying and there are always gonna be haters.
Bunbury
Splendid. Well, it seems we reached the end of our questions. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Charlotte Curl
Hopefully, I'll be making a new comic releasing for the end of the school year about how much stress I've been going through in the past weeks with six different tests, so that'll be funny hopefully.