Bill Nichols’ Prescription:
Comics 10ccs of the Process with
Donna Barr

What inspires you to create and keeps you going?

I’m an artist and writer. It’s what we do.

 

Do you have a set routine?

Sort of.  Afternoon, Red Dward in the DVD player, last night’s roughs on the light table for inks. Which I sort of follow.

 

What kind of output do you try to achieve?

Whatever gets done. One to three pages a day.

 

What inspires you WHEN you create? Music? Noise? Silence?

Movies

 

Who was the first comic book creator who influenced you to pursue this?

I drew and wrote by myself as a kid. Publishers saw the work, and I reworked it to fit the accessible comics format.

 

When did you realize you could follow this path yourself?

You mean writing and drawing? I just did it.

 

What do you find to be a challenge in creating?

Drawing new stuff. I have to take time to learn how. I try really hard to draw machinery. I’m one of the industry greats at horses. Yes, they can be drawn. They’re about as hard to draw as the human hand.

 

What else do you have to learn?

Everything. Comics means everything, all the time.

 

What keeps you motivated to get better?

I hate my stuff while I’m doing it. A few years later I’m all “Who did this amazing work? ELVES??”

 

Can you turn your brain (creativity) off (and on)?

What is this getting the brain to shut up that you speak of?

 

Booster Shots

 

What advice do you have for aspiring creators?

Draw and write together all the time. You have 10,000 bad written pages and drawings in your hand. Do ’em. And burn ’em. I did.

 

Do you ever worry about running out of ideas?

Not as long as I have friends who say stuff and act like THAT around me.

 

How do you handle the slow times?

Keep working.

 

How do you feel about the industry?

Which part? It’s huge. Most of it doesn’t even come to the comicons.

 

What would you say is your crowning achievement thus far?

Getting all my work into San Diego State University’s special collections. Which is now, for funding purposes, has been assessed as worth nearly a quarter million dollars.

 

If you want, add some info about you and the URL to your website or

page you want to promote.

http://www.donnabarr.com I use the whole internet as my website.  And I’m the Author of The Desert Peach and Stinz, among others. (“Author” in comics is a term ONLY for those who do it all, write, pencil, ink, color, lettering, editing, layout, etc. Me and Roberta Gregory are Authors. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby – bless their hearts, we love ’em -are a Writer and an Artist.)

 

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed by the above creator are theirs. This interview may not 

be reprinted or reposted without permission.