Interview with Paul Taylor of "Wapsi Square"

Interview with Paul Taylor of “Wapsi Square”

One of the larger points I hope to make with “Gray Man Art” is not just the creativity that can come from working in black and white, even though that is a big part of it. Working in black and white forces you to work with a limited palette, with the grays adding the value and tone. But a limited palette can come from selective use of color, and the general “spirit” of this concept can still be maintained.

Bearing that in mind, we have Paul Taylor.

Since 2001, Paul Taylor has maintained the webcomic “Wapsi Square”, currently available in numerous print volumes. It tells the story of Monica Villareal, a 4'11" Latina anthropologist living in the Twin Cities with size G breasts and a short temper who finds herself frequently mingling with the various mythological creatures her museum catalogs. It is perhaps the only webcomic that balances encounters with gorgons and golems along with stories about finding the perfect fitting bra.

In the decade plus that Taylor has been producing the strip (which he now does exclusively, supporting his wife and son in the process), the art, the format, and the story have evolved hand-in-hand, turning into something not just epic, but unique. Initially in horizontal strip format and colored digitally, “Wapsi Square” has grown to full page format, with prints and illustrations rendered analog-style by Taylor with Copic markers and ink washes.

Paul’s line of original art has expanded to the point where he is soon releasing his first non-“Wapsi Square” art book “Paul Taylor Illustrations”. It’s gradual move towards a limited palette that made me want to interview him for “Gray Man Art”. He was kind enough to oblige.

Let’s start with some of the basics of “Wapsi Square”: you initially started out as a professional photographer, and this no doubt influenced the character of Amanda. How did you get into comics, and at what point did you decide to pursue “Wapsi Square” full time?

I’ve always had a joy and desire for drawing, it was only after realizing that a short stop-action film that I wanted to make with my character Monica and her dog Dietzel was getting too big and too many ideas kept coming, that I had to find another way of exploring a way to get their stories out of my head. It was my wife who suggested the comic book/graphic novel route. It was a rough start, but there weren’t as many doing web comics back when I started and it was a bit easier to get a foothold.

The early comics were exclusively black and white, just India Ink on Bristol. How did you refine your process during the early days, either with the tools or with what you drew?

Back then, everything that I wanted in the comic was put on bristol. Even when I messed up, I used good-old-fashioned white-out. Even though the comics were sparse, it was a long process. I did all the drawing directly on the bristol with blue pencil, erasing, fixing, then inking, fixing with white-out, inking over that, … basically a pain in the ass. I have a process now where I draw everything on drawing paper first (it‘s not as intimidating as trying to get it right on more expensive bristol), then I scan all the sketches into Photoshop, lay them out the way I need them, print that out, then I use a lightbox to transfer that to bristol to be inked. It sounds like just as many steps but it goes a hell of a lot faster.

“Wapsi Square” started out in horizontal strip format, but transitioned to full page when the famous “Calendar Machine” storyline wrapped. Formatting issues? Feeling more ambitious with your art? Or both?

A lot of both. It was getting difficult to get the stories I wanted to fit in the horizontal format and a page layout gave me the freedom to play more.

It was also around this time that more gray tones started showing up in the strip, and you’ve really seemed to develop an affinity for it. Was this a conscious choice? And how did you start gathering up your patterns?

I don’t know how conscious of adding all the gray tones but it felt right, and it seemed like the full page layout kind of needed it. Quite a lot of the patterns for the backgrounds and other textures are a stock of photos of mundane things like rusty doors, cement, tree bark, out of focus lights, etc. Having my background in photography, it seemed logical to still give my camera a chance to do its thing.

The early days of “Wapsi Square”, when in color, would feature the odd Photoshop-colored comic, which was in line with your illustrations also posted around that time. When did you not only start transitioning over to markers, but working with a limited palette of colors as well?

I hit a point when I was working on my drawings but still feeling separate from the whole process. This may sound odd, but even with being involved with the drawing and the inking, the whole thing felt very sterile to me by comparison to the much more hands-on process I hand when painting or charcoal work. I needed something that was quick and easy, like the brush and pens and markers seemed to be a logical analog choice. It took a bit of experimenting with different brands before deciding on Copics. The limited palette is due to my love of black and white photography, and also because I feel like I have boxing gloves one and trying to tie my shoes when it comes to using a larger color palette.

What’s the typical process of a new print or illustration?

It’s pretty close to the process that I use for doing my comic. I’ll do thumbnails on paper and then sketch out highlights of the image as well as I can from what is in my head. Sometimes on the paper, it may take on a different life and I’ve found it best to listen to this and go with it. Once it’s transferred to bristol and I get to the marker stage, I’ve found the best approach is to try not to be too careful. Granted, I don’t swing my arm around and expect things to fall in place, but I’ve found being too worried about what I do can end up making things look sloppier than working faster.

What was there a special process for your giclee prints, particularly ones like “Day of the Dead”?

That print in particular involved finishing the picture with the markers, scanning it into Photoshop and layering different texture photos over it to give it more depth.

How do you determine your subject matter for prints when they don’t feature “Wapsi Square” characters? You feature everything from “Vampirella” to “My Little Pony”. This come mostly from personal tastes? And how would you say the limited palette influences how you render them?

Mostly it’s personal taste. I have a great love for creepy and cute things and when they’re blended together, all the better.

Any more illustration books planned for the future?

Definitely! I think I might try to work with a theme for each.

Paul Taylor’s new book “Paul Taylor Illustrations” is available for pre-order now. “Wapsi Square” is available in numerous bound volume forms, and can also be read for free on the “Wapsi Square” website, which updates five times a week.

adamwarrencomics

Pages 20-22 from the new(ish) one-shot Empowered: Nine Beers with Ninjette,featuring a beer-fueled flashback to protagonist Ninjette’s (late) teen years. More info here: http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/23-899/Empowered-Special-Nine-Beers-with-Ninjette

Writing by me, beautiful art by Takeshi Miyazawa, fine lettering by Susie Lee.

I was amused by the idea that, while ninjutsu is sometimes portrayed (fictionally) as a cross-cultural phenomenon, accusations of “weeaboo-ism” rarely seem to be addressed… Hence this sequence.