CREATOR SPOTLIGHT vol.8 | JESS BRADLEY
This week's creator is a powerhouse of creative talents and a beloved Travelling Man alumni (RIP Travelling Man Bristol). Her small press title 'Guide Dog Detective' was my first proof as a young self-publisher that fun, original and completely DIY projects can give mainstream titles a run for their money both in terms of sales and popularity. Since then, she has gone on to carve out a very distinctive style and amassed a readership of young and not-so-young readers alike - say hello to Jess Bradley!
Hey Jess, could you tell us a little about yourself and what you do?
I'm an illustrator and comic book artist and writer! I live in Torquay with my husband JP, who is a writer and comic book colourist and my son Jacob, who is two. I write and draw Squid Bits for The Phoenix and I also self-publish a lot of my own work. I'm working on a series at the moment called Tiny Overlord, which is a humorous look at being a parent. I also design greetings cards, work on colouring and activity books and run a lot of comic workshops in schools which is a lot of fun.
You started out in the small press world and have since gone on to do lots of exciting stuff. How instrumental was the DIY comics scene in getting you where you are today, and does it still play a role in your practice?
Getting into small press comics was the best thing I've ever done! I've always made my own books (I still have a Predator comic I made when I was 14, drawn in biro, that is awful and will never see the light of day) and as the years have gone by and digital printing has become more affordable, it's been an important part of my career. I started to take it seriously as a means to get my name out there when I worked at Travelling Man back in 2004. I self-published a comic called Guide Dog Detective and the two issues I made were well received. I wrote and drew a self-published book called I Know Sasquatch which was picked up by one of my publishers and redrawn as a picture book and Squid Bits came about from some strips I'd drawn for a self-published gag comic called May Contain Sharks. I think self-publishing is a great way to showcase your work and also just to have a lot of control over what you want to put out. I owe a lot to self-publishing!
You're a juggernaut of all-ages comics and illustration. Are children's books and literature something you've always been interested in?
I'd say I'm more of a minibus but thank you! XD Oh, totally. I was always either writing or drawing as a kid and knew I wanted to either be an author or artist for children's books. I pretty much specialised in children's illustration in art college and university and have worked for quite a few children's books publishers, mainly on the colouring book and activity book side of things. Writing and drawing children's comics is something I'm very passionate about at the moment and I feel very lucky that I get to do it for a living. Although I focus mainly on that, I'm also trying a few different things too. I had my first short prose story published through Image this year in an anthology called Twisted Romance, which was exciting and terrifying!
Have there been any artists that have influenced your practice directly? Do you draw influence from other places too?
Quentin Blake, Mike Mignola, Gary Baseman, Tove Jansson, Akira Toriyama - there are honestly too many. I've always been a huge video game fan and games like the Odd World series, Bomberman, Dizzy, Katamari Damacy and Final Fantasy VII have been big influences on my work over the years. Cartoons too; I still watch a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, Ulysses 31 and Stoppit and Tidyup with my son! The Amazing World of Gumball got me interested in mixing photography and character design and has been a huge influence in recent years. I love films too and have managed to make some favourite references in Squid Bits over the years - a Trading Places reference was spotted by someone and I was so happy! XD
What projects do you have on the go at the moment, and what can we expect to see in 2018?
At the moment I'm still working on Squid Bits and Tiny Overlord but I'm also hoping to make a start on a horror comic I've had in mind for a few years. It will kind of be drawn in my style too which should (I hope) be interesting! I've got a kid's book I'm slowly writing and a few new comic pitches I want to get to work on too. Hopefully, some more exciting bits will be popping up!
How can people further support your work and where can people see more of it?
I'm on Twitter and Instagram as VenkmanProject and post regularly and my website is www.jessbradley.com I have an online store as well as a Ko-Fi page at http://ko-fi.com/venkman
Thanks for taking the time to chat to us, Jess! Grab the Phoenix and copies of Jess' small press titles at your local Travelling Man store.
