Illustrator and Comic Stripper

Interviewed by Carol Reid

Your artwork seems to be all about the line. I get the feeling that if you really, really had to, you could almost do without color. Or could you?

It is all about the line. I teach illustration, and I am sure my students get tired of me saying this. I see line at the root, the core, the chocolate in the center of the tootsie pop, of all art (not sure if that is profound or silly.) But, yeah, line is very important to me – I had an illustrator who I admired tell me that you “eventually learn how your hand works.” I think line is the most natural thing that comes out of an artist. But you spend years looking for that natural thing.

Color is vitally important, but I have a tendency to go on and on (ask my students). So I’ll stop.

When you begin a new project, what comes first, style or substance?

If by substance you mean idea or concept, that always comes first. My style has evolved over the years, and you need to do that if you are going to have a career. The marketplace desires that you have one style so they know what they are getting. But if you develop one style for 20 years (as I did) you learn a lot about yourself as an artist, and you find ways to challenge yourself. Three or four years ago, I challenged myself to come up with a different look, really a different approach to line. It was a risk, but I needed the challenge. Style is part of the idea, so there is a marriage there, but again, concept rules.

Quite early on, you approached art as a career option instead of a crazy bohemian affectation. Where did that practical streak come from?

I was actually headed to law school, or maybe business. These were more my dad’s desires that mine. I did well at school, it made sense that I would pursue something in those types of fields. The problem was I liked to draw, play music and read books. I think I convinced him to let me go to art school by telling him I would be studying “commercial art.” He liked the word commercial.

The artists I admire the most approach their work like any other craftsman, laborer, or person with a “real job.” The great painter Alex Colville gets up in the morning and puts on a three-piece suit before he paints. How cool is that?

Art’s a real job. You don’t wait around to get inspired. You get up and go to work. Mortgages are a good source of inspiration.

If you had become a lawyer who paints (yes, I actually know a lawyer who paints) how might your art have developed differently? Please speculate as wildly as possible.

Tough one – maybe because I never had any interest in law. I think I would use art as a creative outlet, painting the world around me, the people around me, more of a fine art direction. I don’t want to give the idea that illustration is not creative, but I have always kept one eye on the marketplace in my career. If I was pulling in the big lawyer bucks, I might have gone into a much wilder direction, soup cans, color field paintings of daisies, or chicken feet art. Hmmmm… probably not.

What is it about flat surfaces that you find irresistible?

Three dimensions scare the shit out of me, it’s true. I’ll take a piece of paper or canvas over a lump of clay or block of wood anytime. I have a real hard time thinking in actual three dimensions (my wife has declared me the world’s slowest renovator). Maybe it’s because I love creating reality through the illusion of the flat surface. It’s more fun and power tools are not required.

I know that you’re passionate about promoting literacy and sometimes worried that literature is dying from lack of interest. What’s your take on graphic novels? Part of the problem or part of the solution?

I love graphic novels, I deeply admire the joining of words and art – just don’t ask me to do one. Do you know how much work those are? I have been asked, usually by writers to do one. I’d rather spend the time reading or writing a book than drawing one. I am passionate about the art of reading. Making my kids readers may be my greatest accomplishment. I do believe that while literacy rates might be stabilizing (depending on who you listen to); I am concerned that we are becoming a much less literate society. We are bombarded with the moving image, and if the editing process in movies becomes much faster (thank-you Michael Bay), blockbusters will have to come with warning labels. So yes, slow down, read a book, think… if pictures help, then sure that’s okay. But don’t read in front of the TV. Find a tree, or at least a comfy chair and a warm light.

You’ve lived in many Canadian cities. Where is the art scene most happening?

Wherever I am. Yeah, right. I am pretty much out of the loop on this one. I keep my head down and my stick on the ice (sorry, Canadian you know). What’s most important to me is to challenge myself and keep developing as an artist. When I broke in during the eighties I was more aware of the scene in Toronto. Now, I have no idea. I’ve heard Moose Jaw is nice.

Your outlook, even in your illustrations of intoxicated internal organs, seems to have an oddly upbeat quality. Do you have a dark side? Where is it?

Like Stephen King, I have the heart of a small boy, I keep it in my desk. I don’t know, I tried to be difficult and brooding, I really did. When I first started as an illustrator, I had a portfolio full of dark oil paintings. They were so dark, tonally, that Art Directors told me they’d never print – and I couldn’t get any work. The style that I became known for emerged more naturally out of my personality; I realize now that the oil paintings were posing. My new style allows me to explore a different viewpoint, beyond humor, but I guess the work is still fairly upbeat, if in a quieter way. I do love the dark, and I love black comedy, but sometimes the world is too funny to resist.

To learn even more about Craig, please visit his website.

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Carol Reid is an Associate Editor for Emprise Review.