Rachael Smith is one of my favourite artists. She has incredible comic timing and perception and a style that’s friendly, open and expressive. I’m always delighted to see a new book from her and jumped at the chance to talk to her about her new collection, Nap Comix Volume 1, which is crowdfunding now.
What brought you to comics?
I’ve always loved to draw and I’ve always loved to write, so comics, to me, were the perfect marriage of both of those things!
What artists’ work grabbed you when you were first starting out?
Bryan Lee O’Malley for sure. And the great Kate Beaton. Those are the two creators I remember reading and going ‘Ohhhhh comics can be about ANYTHING!’
What was the first work that made you go ‘That came out of my head! That’s amazing!’
Hmmm…one of the first comics I made was based on a snippet of a dream that my friend Louise told me. I added so much stuff to it to make it this really dreamy, weird story. It had giant fish and a big cave in it. It was probably about 20 years ago now so I don’t have it any more, but I remember thinking that, although it was really rough, it was really, really engaging and rich. It made me want to make more stuff.
I love the comment about ‘engaging and rich’ work because I see those two exact qualities in how you draw people and expressions. How do you find the transition, especially in diary comics I’d guess, of people from the real world to the page?
Aw, thank you! Hmmm, that’s a hard question mainly because I don’t really think about it… Someone asked me recently why I always colour Rob’s hair in but not mine (we both have very dark, almost black hair) and I just bluescreened… So, um, it’s just an unconscious transition I guess! Sorry this is a rubbish answer, bahaha!
You write about the impostor syndrome we all have in our backpacks with enormous kindness and humour and what really stuns me is how little self-deprecation there is in the humour. How hard was it, at times, to steer away from that?
I think I’d read a LOT of diary comics that spent a lot of energy on the whole self-deprecation humour thing? And that’s totally fine, but I felt like I wanted to be a bit more positive and hopeful. Also I was having therapy at the time of getting my start in comics, so I wanted to make mental progress, rather than wallowing in how shit I thought I was. I started a project called ‘One Good Thing’ which was my first auto-bio work, where I tried to draw a good thing that happened to me every day. That helped me get out of my own head and look at the world around me. Once you start looking for nice, funny, charming things to draw and write, you realise they are everywhere, even in yourself.
Getting out of your own head, and getting out of your own way, really do seem vital to creating the best work. Are there any particular techniques you use to do that?
Reading other comics. Reading novels. Having more than one project on at a time is something I find helpful – if I’m banging my head against the wall with one, then it’s always useful to have a completely different wall to approach. And then just…remembering that life isn’t just making things? You need to go out and experience life in order to write and draw about it. Go to the zoo, go to the theatre, go spray water in the garden with your kid, anything. Fill up your cup otherwise you’ll have nothing to pour next time you’re ready to work.
Also I now have to ask: favourite animal at the zoo? And what was the last show you went to see?
I like the lemurs, or the red pandas. They all look like they’d have such fussy personalities. I always want to take them all home with me.
The last show I went to? Golly, I actually have no idea…it was probably a Self Esteem or a Gwenno concert before Henry was born! Oh no – it was the Burning Hell in Manchester! Good times!
Also follow up question, do you listen to music or podcasts while you work? Or have something on in the background? I tend to use that to keep the tank topped up if not full.
When I’m writing I need dead silence. When I’m drawing I’ll tend to have a youtube video on in the background – ASMR if I’m feeling frantic, or an old comedy video if I need to wake up a bit. At the moment I’m going through old episodes of Monster Factory. I must have seen those videos 1000s of times now, haha!
Tell us about Nap Comix. How did it get started?
Diary comics have always been how I’ve grounded myself and made sense of the world around me. Never have I needed more of a grounding than when I became a mum! Haha! I was also told, when I first gave birth to Henry, that mums tend to forget the very early days, and I didn’t want that to happen to me – I wanted to try to record everything – even the bad, hard stuff. Then I just kept going!
I love the idea of using Nap Comix as a way of remembering the early days. It almost feels like the other side of ‘getting out of your own head’. Noticing what you’re experiencing and commenting on it. That’s not a question it’s just very cool.
Haha! Thank you!
How’s the schedule for these now, I’m guessing, Henry is napping less?
Haha! Yeah he usually still has one nap a day, but he’s started to drop it sometimes. At the moment I’m publishing the comix on Webtoon and my socials every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The Webtoon link is here: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/nap-comix/list?title_no=886942
Which ones does the book collect?
The book will include all the webcomics from the first year. There will also be book-exclusive stuff though from the birth and first few months of Henry’s life (when I was too sleep-deprived at the time to draw!) and also an outro about how everything feels now, three years in. Spoilers: it’s still hard and wonderful but in different hard, wonderful ways! The book will be 200 pages altogether.
What’s the future for Nap Comix?
I guess I’ll keep going at least until Henry stops napping completely? I haven’t really decided! People seem to still really like them which helps keep me going, haha!
Are their plans for more volumes after this one?
Tentative plans, yes. Let’s see how the Kickstarter goes for this one first, eh? (Although it’s going pretty well so far!)
If someone’s never read your work before, is this a good place to start?
For sure! My auto-bio stuff is always a nice way in, but any of my books, really, are a good place to jump in – you don’t really need to read them in any order. I recently launched ‘Who Killed Nessie?’ with writer Paul Cornell, which is a book I’m very, very proud of. It’s a cosy, cryptid who-dun-it. Very funny, very cute…very deadly. Completely different vibe from Nap Comix, haha!
Whose work really grabs you at the moment?
I was recently at an Avery Hill Publishing launch party for ‘Who Killed Nessie?’, along with two other amazing books that I got and devoured on the train home. They are ‘The Witch’s Egg’ by Donya Todd, and ‘The Corus Wave’ by Karenza Sparks. I would heartily recommend those two books right now.
What else are you working on at the moment?
I’ve been writing and drawing a new comic which I’m hoping to publish as a webcomic next year at some point. I don’t want to say too much about it because things are very nebulous with it still, but it involves space, and wolves, and love. Watch this space: rachaelsmith.org 😉
Thanks so much to Rachael for talking to me. Nap Comix Volume 1 is crowdfunding and you can find Rachael’s other work here.