Comic Joy

GRANT SNIDER began drawing and writing before he knew what he was doing. His comics have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Kansas City Star, The Best American Comics 2013, and all across the internet. You can explore his work at http://www.incidentalcomics.com/. Here he is interviewed by KASHISH KALWANI about what inspires him and brings him such success.

Q: So, Grant, how are you doing?

GS: Good, I just got my daily run in, went through some puddles, my socks are wet. Good feeling for the middle of the afternoon here.

Q: Nice. When I first saw your comics, I was curious about you – they are not necessarily humorous, but they are so relevant, so thoughtful. When I see the thoughtfulness behind your work, your intentional seeing of the world, it makes me feel very relevant, like, “Yes, I see you, and I feel you.” So could you tell us more about this style of comics?

GS: Well, a lot of comics come from that first person perspective, basically because it’s easy to draw a single character moving through the panel and encountering the world. Over time, that’s how I started drawing them. It became like a conversation with myself in the form of my character avatar, walking around thinking deep thoughts or not too deep ones, coming up with various conflicts, usually internal, and hopefully resolving them by the last panel.

Ever since I started in single comics in 2009, I’ve had the goal to draw a single page comic strip per week. And most weeks I have achieved that goal. I’ve done a few that are more than one page, some I don’t quite get to the page, but it’s been a nice recurring conversation with myself.

It’s nice to hear you say that you can find some relatability in them because I don’t want to just be a solo conversation, you know?

Q: Yes, absolutely. I know so many people from the Heartfulness community who follow your page on Instagram, and it’s fun to pick it up and share the comic with one another.

GS: That’s much appreciated. It’s the cool thing about the internet – if you like something you retweet it, or send it to somebody on Facebook, or Instagram message, and it’s really powerful how social media can be a force for good if the artist’s message is worth sharing.

Q: Truly, yes.

I think with anything,
like a writing practice,
a meditation practice,
a spiritual or non-spiritual practice,
it’s really about consistency.

Q: I know you already touched upon one comic per week, but could you share more about your drawing routine? What does your process look like?

GS: It really changes based on where I am in life. I used to cram it all in on a Saturday, when I had not as many work or family obligations. That got to be pretty exhausting. When my kids were a little bit younger, I would wake up really early in the morning, which you’ll see because a lot of the comic strips reference those early morning hours, like looking out the window to see the sunrise, because I was literally sitting at the drawing table watching the sunrise, you know, a couple cups of coffee down. And now that my work schedule is different, and my youngest child is two, so he’s not quite waking up at the crack of dawn anymore, I do more in regular hours, a few hours a day, a few times a week, which is much more mentally healthy.

I really think it’s about finding that balance of the practice. It doesn’t really matter when I’m doing the work, it’s that I’m revisiting it and doing it consistently. I think with anything, like a writing practice, a meditation practice, a spiritual or non-spiritual practice, it’s really about consistency rather than, “Oh, I’m going to do this amazing thing once a month,” then the next month you’re not doing it at all.

Q: I really like the word “consistency,” because even the Heartfulness meditation practice that I follow requires consistency. Even though it is recommended that we meditate for an hour every morning, if that’s not possible, it’s still good to show up for five minutes every day and be consistent about it. That works wonders.

GS: It’s about showing up. I’m speaking mainly from a cartooning standpoint, but this could be applied to a lot of other practices. Some days, it feels like “Man, I really want to get to the drawing table.” I have so many good ideas that are bursting with possibility. Other days it feels like a chore. But inevitably, like I had to do yesterday, I sit through the drudgery until it eventually drops away. And even if it isn’t the most pleasant experience, I get a good day’s work done. Obviously, it’s more fun when it is joyous, but that’s not going to be every single time you show up. Unfortunately.

Something important is an openness to experience,
to your own thoughts and feelings, and a willingness
to share those thoughts and feelings with others
– in my case through art, for others it might be a different form.
I hope people see that attitude of openness
and can be inspired by it in their daily life.

Q: I truly understand that.

So what are your sources of inspiration? How do you sustain your motivation?

GS: It depends on what kind of project I’m working on. To be generic about it, my sketchbook is the source of all the ideas. But what I put in my sketchbook varies.

At times I’ll be into life drawing, so I’ll go out on my lunch breaks or on a weekend with colored pencils and do detailed drawings. And they eventually get filtered into the comics in a scene in a panel. Sometimes I’ll be reading an amazing book, and it’ll be like, “Oh, this is such a great insight, I need to put this down.” I’ll do a little spin on it, maybe have my character commenting on it somehow. That’ll work its way into a comic strip.

Occasionally, it’ll be my daughter or one of my sons doing something ridiculous: “This is just too good, I have to make this into a drawing.” It’s finding those little snippets of interest in my daily routine, capturing them in the sketchbook and then taking that sketchbook with me later to the drawing table when I’m working. “Okay, what piece of this can I turn into a part of a bigger project? What is really speaking to me today?”

And sometimes it’s a matter of combining things. I’ll have an idea from a couple years ago, with a spin on something I came up with last week, and together that makes something completely new.

Q: I really like how you bring your kids into the process. How do they view you as an artist?

GS: I’ve probably shared this anecdote before. My son Trent is eight and he’s really into comics. He always compliments my work and says he likes to read it, but then he puts a caveat, “Dad, you need to do something funny.” I do sometimes feel like I’m a little serious or lacking that sense of humor that I look for when I read comics. But I really liked that feedback, and I’ll try to put something funny in my next book, especially for Trent.

Q: I love honest feedback.

When people get busy with everyday obligations,
a lot of times their art or their writing falls through the cracks and is lost.
Just keeping that consistent routine of writing or drawing,
of being alone with your thoughts, is a really powerful thing.

Q: What message do you hope people can take away from your comics?

GS: I don’t want to limit it to a single message, but something important is an openness to experience, to your own thoughts and feelings, and a willingness to share those thoughts and feelings with others – in my case through art, for others it might be a different form. I hope people see that attitude of openness and can be inspired by it in their daily life.

I’ve never thought about the broader reason why I’m doing it. I do get a lot of joy out of it, and I hope other people do too. Really, finding those small pieces of joy would be another overarching goal for my comics.

Q: It’s wonderful that you have chosen happiness and joy.

GS: Yes, and I’ve tried the other way as far as the art style goes. Occasionally I’ll do a comic from a space of negative emotion that doesn’t have an ending that is uplifting or hopeful. And when I show it to my first readers, my wife Kayla and my brother Gavin, they say, “This is falling flat; it doesn’t really work for me.” While it’s good to capture those negative emotions honestly on the page, I always want to leave the reader, and more so myself, with hope at the end, even if I’ve still not quite resolved that negativity.

Q: What is your advice for a beginner in this field?

GS: Just keep doing it and sharing it. I know that if at age 20 I had seen where I would be with my comics now at age 37, I might not recognize that person. But I would be really happy that they’d been read by a lot of people, that they were still doing it, and still finding the motivation and the time to make it a big part of their life. When people get busy with everyday obligations, a lot of times their art or their writing falls through the cracks and is lost. Just keeping that consistent routine of writing or drawing, of being alone with your thoughts, is a really powerful thing.

Q: Thank you.

Comics by GRANT SNIDER