This year’s Small Press Expo just wrapped and as usual for this time, my thoughts turn to Jane Irwin. Jane and I met at SPX several years back, two Michigan-based cartoonists whose paths had yet to cross in the small but determined and friendly crowd of Wolverine State comics folks. I had heard of Jane’s book, VOGELEIN, on the internet and from pals Sean Bieri and Carla Speed McNeil but hadn’t yet read it because, well, it was about fairies. LIttle did I realize that VOGELEIN, a deeply researched and masterfully painted graphic novel about a beautiful clockwork refugee whose existence stretched from Romanic beginnings to present day was not about fairies but rather about Faerie and, yes, there’s quite a difference. Jane, married to fellow Michigander Paul Sizer, filled my SPX experience with enthusiasm, creativity and motivation and she’s quickly become one of my favorite graphic novelists and convention pals.

Currently hard at work finishing the second VOGELEIN graphic novel, Jane sat with us for a few moments to talk about painting, historical research and what it’s like having another cartoonist around the house:

KLEID: Michigan cartoonists have this unique bond; it must be the Blue in our veins, I guess… but for the most part we all know each other and more often than not, hang out with each other at cons and signings. Suffice to say, over the years I’ve gotten to know you and your hubby Paul decently well. But for the internetters out there who can’t make a state with their hand. Tell us, Jane, about you and your work.

IRWIN: It’s so true about the Michigan Cartoonists — maybe it’s because there are only a handful of us. Heck, I’d include the rest of the Midwesterners in that unique bond. Matt Feazell calls us “The Cornwhackers.”

I’m currently living in Kalamazoo, and working full-time telecommuting to a computer company in Ann Arbor. I write and draw an ongoing series called VOGELEIN, about a clockwork faerie and the city she lives in. Paul also creates his own comics, most recently the MOPED ARMY graphic novel, the LITTLE WHITE MOUSE OMNIBUS. He’s currently working on the preliminaries for a new story called B.P.M. (Beats Per Minute).

KLEID: VOGELEIN is steeped in very specific lore, research and history … I notice in your annotations that when you begin to speak about the history of Faerie or the Romany your literary eyes light up. What kind of research did you do for the book(s) and what drew you to such a rich, “old country” tale?

IRWIN: I did tons of research for the first book. Some of it I was able to do on my own, like reading up on Irish mythology to get the Duskie’s history more accurate, while other parts forced me to consult experts; specifically, Vogelein’s clockwork. There are parts of her inner workings that I still chalk up to “Magic”, but I did work with a horological buff to understand the mechanics and terminology of a clockwork figure. That part — clockwork — wasn’t something I was terribly interested in, originally, but along the way I got really fascinated by all the minutae and trivia. I also just love understanding how things work, and I have a great deal of respect for writers and illustrators who do research into the mechanics of their subject matter, regardless of topic; you can always tell when they haven’t.

I’ve always been interested in myth and legend, especially in modern retellings of old stories, and that’s what led me to create an urban faerie tale. The Romani plotline grew tangentally out of it — when my friend Jeff and I were coming up with the story, we needed a character who would travel far and wide, and so we chose Alexi. Doing more research into Romani history and legend has led me to write the next book, OLD GHOSTS, which deals with Alexi’s death. I felt I needed to do more with what I’d learned, and how what I’d learned had changed my own perspective.

KLEID: The most striking thing about your work, Jane, is the fact that it’s all very detailed paintings. Why did you choose to present your work fully painted rather than the more traditional pen-and-ink route most cartoonists seems to favor? Do you think if you had chosen Route A rather than B the book would have taken on a different “feel” or suffer in any way?

IRWIN: I originally chose paint because I’m a terrible inker. I’m sloppy and messy and clumsy, and paint is much more forgiving than pen and ink. Ironically, I’m now brush-inking my pencils and then toning with paint in a style that closely resembles inkwash. This method has cut my production time by two-thirds — but every time I finish a page of inks prior to toning, I think to myself: “Man, if I lived here, I’d be home by now.” Standalone inking certainly is much faster than adding tone, but I can never seem to be satisfied with just plain ink; the drawings always feel naked to me. I’ve done a couple experimental pinup drawings lately where I just tried to ink without the followup paints, and I just couldn’t leave well enough alone. I wound up painting some of them, and another I crosshatched in an obsessive style that actually took longer than the paints. I guess I’m just hung up on grayscale.

KLEID: You’re married to the cartoonist, Paul Sizer. I met Paul at SPX where you two were joined at the hip, selling your work side-by-side. Does co-habitation between two unique creative minds work to an advantage or are you stepping over each other’s cartoony toes?

IRWIN: We knew that would be an issue, from the very first date. It was actually one of the early tests of our relationship — we were both finishing up our books at the same time, and I brought my computer over to Paul’s house for a long weekend. We worked side-by-side in the same studio for two days with no issues. After that, we knew we could probably make a long-term relationship work.

Both of us work from home, so we have to be careful not only of our studio space but of our day job space as well. We lucked out and were able to buy a nice big house with two extra bedrooms, so we each have our own places to work separately. We also try to be really conscious of each other’s mental and creative space — we usually don’t critique the other unless we’re asked.

Still, we do give each other a surprising amount of input. I’m always riding Paul about anatomy, and he constantly has to show me how perspective actually works in the real world. We both edit each other’s scripts, proofread final copy, and we often hash out plot points and character issues over long car rides. I think we’re really lucky that we can have so much interaction with each other’s work without becoming resentful — but a lot of that comes from us both being pretty respectful about boundaries.

KLEID: We’re all waiting for the VOGELEIN sequel with baited breath… while we do, why not tell us what the next five years are like for Jane Irwin?

IRWIN: The next VOGELEIN book will be out sometime in 2007, late spring to early summer, if I’m lucky. I’m finally getting close enough that I can make that assertion. I’m maybe forty or fifty pages out from the end; I’ve got over a hundred in the the can right now, and another dozen in process. I’m definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

As far as the future goes — who knows? The first book took six years, this one is taking close to four. I may take some time off to do some minicomics or do some collaboration work, something a little shorter in format. I have ideas for at least two more VOGELEIN books, but nothing’s formally written yet. I am both respectful of and stunned by those creators who can just start drawing a book and figure out how it ends as they go along — I have to sit down and write a manuscript from scratch. I’ll probably have to do that with the next two books, and that part will take a while, let alone doing all the art and layout.

I’m a little ashamed to say that I don’t have a master plan for Vogelein, but then again I orignially left big chunks of her history blank as a way of leaving my options open to new possibilities and ideas. I think that freedom, however uncertain, will allow Vogelein to mature and grow along with my skills as a writer and artist, and that’s really the best thing a creator can hope for from a character.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 10:02 am and is filed under Creators, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.