I was so happy with the response to the Finish the Lucy the Octopus Strip Contest that was run over on lucytheoctopus.net at the end of last year.
London Based Saul Taylor’s entry nabbed first place for its off kilter humour, a great expression on Lucy’s face and the pathos of trying to draw a friendly smile on the guitar.
I asked Saul a few questions to find out more about the man behind the winning entry…
You’re a familiar face on the London comic scene, as a vocal fan at various conventions as well as other regular comic based meet ups such as Process, Gosh!p, Laydeez Do Comics and the Comica Social Club. How did you first get interested in local comic events?
Even though I’d been shopping at Gosh! regularly for years, I had no idea about Gosh!p until several months after it started when I heard about it on the Panel Borders podcast. I wasn’t sure about going (believe it or no I’m incredibly shy, I know that might seem hard to believe to the people that know me via Gosh!p but it’s easier with people I know) but I’m so glad I did. I love discussing comics and I’ve met some awesome people who have become friends.
How long have you been into comics and what started your love of them?
Here comes the origin story. Back in 2007 I decided to re-watch all my Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs. I got really obsessed with the show again after not having seen for years. It was around the time the Season 8 comic was starting up so I decided to read that (I know season 8 didn’t finish well but I still have fond memories for the first few story arcs). Anyway, I’d been reading about the comic and I knew that a man by the name of Brian K. Vaughan had written the next story arc, and Joss Whedon would be writing an arc of Vaughan’s Marvel comic Runaways.
This intrigued me so I decided that I’d like to read Runaways, but they didn’t have it in the Hackney libraries system so I got out another Vaughan comic instead called Y: The Last Man. By the time I finished the first trade paperback I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: dedicate it to becoming the world’s number one comics geek.
If there were three comics or graphic novels you would suggest a typical non-comics reader should try, what would they be?
That’s an impossible question, because the sort of comic I’d recommend to one person isn’t the sort of thing I’d recommend to another. I’d want to know what sort of thing they liked in terms of TV, film and books without pictures.
If they’re more into action/adventure fantasy/sci-fi type things I’d maybe suggest:
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neil
Alias by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos
But if they tend to prefer more “realistic” or non-fiction type of stuff then maybe they might like to start with:
Palestine by Joe Sacco
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon
Narrowing it down even for twice the number you asked is hard though, I wish you’d asked me for a top 50.
You have a unique sense of humour which comes across in your winning Lucy the Octopus competition panel as well as other cartoons and images you’ve produced. Do you have plans to make more comics or cartoons in this way? I hope so!
I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Sure, when I was a kid I had other ambitions as well. I wanted to be a Blue Peter presenter and be the Prime Minister (not at the same, I knew if I was busy presenting a twice weekly children’s television programme I wouldn’t have had the time to run the country in my spare time).
Making up stories with ideas I get from my mind is always something I’ve wanted to do. Before I got interested in comics I wanted to create TV shows, but as soon as comics came into my life I wanted to be a comic book writer (and artist, but a writer more).
I came up with idea of creating a character called Captain Utopia (sample above). You can see the first (and so far only) comic I produced about him here! I’ve started writing other stories about him but never managed to finish any of them. You might be right that I should try to do more in the humour vein than the epic action/adventure sagas with a strong social message that I’ve wanted to do but have managed to finish.
I assume the Lucy panel was produced using Photoshop or similar drawing software. Is this your preferred medium and do you ever work straight onto paper too?
I use GIMP instead of Photoshop because GIMP is free to download while Photoshop cost hundreds of pounds. I do still do a bit of painting and drawing, but I enjoy digital art making because it has an undo button.
You also produce ceramics which often have a pop culture flavour to them! How would you compare making 3D ceramics to producing cartoons?
Working with clay takes bloody ages. You can make a model in a few hours but then you have to wait for it to dry which might take weeks if it’s a big piece (you don’t want it to dry to quickly because then it could crack).
Then it has to be fired (if you don’t fire it, it’s just a pile of dry clay that will break into tiny pieces if you look at it in a funny way).
After you fire it you can add glaze and then you can fire it again and hope the glaze stays where you put it instead of trickling down your piece. I can only go to pottery class once a week, so it can take a month of two to get anything finished.
Thanks very much Saul. Good to learn more about you.
Really hope we can all see more work from you soon!
