The Jamie Smart Interview

Jamie Smart is without a doubt one of the finest comic artists in the business and one of my personal favourites. I have been reading and enjoying his work for many years now and he just keeps getting better. Unlike so many artists who create iconic characters, Jamie has moved on from the success of ‘Bear‘ (his breakthrough comic, published by Slave Labor Graphics) by giving us such wonderful strips as Whubble and Corporate Skull alongside the fantastic Ubu Bubu and the delightful Space Raoul. Being the accommodating sort of fellow that he is, Jamie was very kind to give an interview with zombiehamster.com, here’s what he had to say.

Zombiehamster: So, how the hell are you sir?

Jamie: I’m good ta! How are you? Not answering back would be very rude.

ZH: I’m doing really, really well thank you!

Are you a fan of horror movies? If so, what kind? If not, what do you tend to watch?

Jamie: Yeah I love horror films, mainly because they always seem to have the most interesting stories to tell. The massively grisly trend of recent years for torture porn turns me off, I’ll confess i hate stuff like that, but anything else spooky, sinister or head-slicingly nasty is always pretty enjoyable.

ZH: Fat Chunk 2 is coming out soon; please tell us a little about it.

Jamie: Fat Chunk is a collective of artists who are all given a theme and asked to produce a page or two of comic on that theme, we then slap it altogether into a tidy little book. The first volume, Robots, came out last year, with over 80 artists in. Some are well known comic artists, some are newbie webcomic creators, some are vinyl toy designers, there’s a massive mix of styles and approaches, from all over the world.
Volume 2’s theme is ‘zombies’, and we’ve managed to top even the high quality of the first book. It should be out in June I believe, through SLG Publishing.
More info and the artists involved can be found at www.fatchunkcomic.com

ZH: Do you think that such examples of collaborative work are essential to maintaining a degree of camaraderie amongst artists in what is a tumultuous time for the comic industry?

Jamie: Not essential, but it certainly helps when you’re an artist, to get to know others. It can help you find new work, or their work can inspire you, or you can just be supportive of each other. I know some of the artists from Fat Chunk have got to know each other through the books, and that’s cool, I myself have been lucky enough to get to know some wicked people through sourcing everyone together.

ZH: On a similar note, do you think that artists who maintain a consistent and widespread internet presence are at an advantage to those who don’t, or can it just become a massive distraction?

Jamie: It’s certainly important I think. You need a hub where your work is that you can point people to, but also you need to constantly be coming up with new stuff and showing and announcing it online to build up an audience. If you do it right, you can become hugely well-known, although it should be said the secret of how to do that is pretty elusive.

ZH: The idea of posting a piece per day on your website Fumblog.com has been both successful and highly entertaining. What has the general reaction been and is it ever tough to come up with something to post each day?

Jamie: Yeah it’s been really nice, people seem to be digging it. The point of it was that before I ever became a published artist, or before I ever started showing work online, I had produced a really substantial body of work before all that. And I was proud of it all, the comics and strips and paintings, so it seemed silly to me that I should just be sitting on it when I could be showing it around. Obviously I also use Fumblog to show new work, and random sketches that emerge during the day, but by and large it’s slowly releasing a catalogue of my earlier work that I enjoy most.

ZH: You are very fortunate in the variety of platforms in which your work is published, from ‘The Dandy’ which is aimed at a very young audience, to UBU BUBU, which has Nazi zombies in it. Is it a good feeling to be as childish as you want on one hand, and also have vehicles for swearing, violence and bodily fluids?

Jamie: Oh absolutely, and I’m ever amazed that I’m allowed to work in both arenas. I would think by now someone would have complained, or some child would have googled my name and found the sickening filth I draw for older audiences. It’s a buzz to be doing both but in all honesty, I feel like I can juggle it. To me, the humour is the same in whatever I do, it’s just sometimes I will tone down the language.

ZH: Are you a cat person, or does Looshkin represent the inherent evil that dwells behind all of their eyes, their plotting, scheming, judging eyes? (I seem to remember a story about you trying to nuzzle a cat’s belly, that’s the riskiest bit to nuzzle y’know!).

Jamie: Yeah I think I am a cat person, despite having my child face clawed off. There’s something inherently attractive about that mad mix of cute and lethal that they do so well, all carried round in this cocky persona. I don’t think I ever chose to draw cats as much as I do, but they just seem so much fun.

ZH: Would you ever crossover your characters into a one off special or do you like to keep their universes separate?

Jamie: Nah I think it’d be funny to pile them in together, I have crossed a few over briefly before but never on any proper stage. I think one day everything I’ve done will all draw in together and it’ll turn out they all existed in the same world. Not sure how that’s gonna work though.

ZH: Do you think that kids will always buy comics?

Jamie: Yeah I think so, obviously it lessens over the years as new distractions came in, but comics are one of the few mediums where an artist can truly express themselves and tell whatever extraordinary stories they want. That then produces the most interesting work, and I think people of any age will always respond to that. There’s a wealth of imagination in comics and I don’t think that’ll stop.

ZH: When you were studying art, did you find that they were supportive of your comic aspirations? (I ask because any comic work in the art school I attended was branded as ‘evil’, ‘puerile’ and ‘silly, boy stuff’ by militant feminist lecturers who wanted everyone to spend all of their time emulating Georgia O Keefe.)

Jamie: I remember at school being dismissed by art teachers for drawing silly cartoons, despite the fact I was starting to get paid work for it. When I went to art college they were a lot more supportive, they tried to show me other techniques and disciplines which was interesting, but I think my tutors liked comics too and were quite happy in the end to let me run off in my own direction.

ZH: You work in a variety of mediums; digital, paint, your pen and ink pieces being particularly striking. What’s your preferred way of working, or does it depend on your mood?

Jamie: I haven’t painted for a while, I love it while I’m doing it but actually building up the momentum to start is hard work for some reason. I like to ink, its when I can switch off mentally and just enjoy what I’m doing. Pencil work is nice but it can take so long and be so labour intensive, and I’m working with a very limited concentration span here…

ZH: If Christopher Walken or Jeremy Irons could be your foster uncle for a week, which would you prefer to have read you bedtime stories at night and why?

Jamie: Walken, easy. Irons freaks the shit out of me, I think he’d be lovely, but there’s just something creepy in his smile. Walken can tell me tales of whatever the hell he wants, and then give me a cuddle. Yes. I would like that please.

ZH: Finally, tell us what we can expect to see coming out from you in the near future, and where can we acquire ourselves a shiny copy?

Jamie: Fat Chunk 2 is out in June, the Ubu Bubu book comes out in July. After that I don’t have any more comics or books planned particularly. Things I’d like to work on, but it’ll take me a while before I actually do. My Desperate Dans still appear in the Dandy, and my new strip Count Von Poo will be appearing regularly in Toxic comic in a month or two.
I think more and more I’m into pushing my work onto web though. There’ll be more comic books released as downloads through Fumblog, and maybe more webcomics on the way.
At the moment I’m working on big plans for an old idea I did called Find Chaffy. It’s secret at the mo, but I’m hoping to start that up again in a month or two in a really big way. It’s exciting. I think if I only ever had one thing to work on, I’d get so bored.

Jamie Smart lives in a specifically redesigned factory on the south coast of England. He spends his days being taller than you might think and having very good hair. You can see more of Jamie’s work at Fumblog.com, or you can harass him on Twitter or Myspace.

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