Photo by Seth Kushner

Jeffrey Brown is a graphic novel artist who draws autobiographical diary-style comics. His first graphic novel, Clumsy, is a great introductory piece for readers who want to try Brown’s work. In Clumsy, Brown chronicles a past relationship with an ex-girlfriend – a recurring plot in his older novels that he seems to have happily left behind.

Drawn and written in intimate vignettes, Brown’s stories are as close to real life as they come, never failing to account for the everyday moments often overlooked. And we follow Brown – a bashfully-drawn, stubbly character – through times of joy, cringe-inducing heartbreak, and hope.

In what kind of environment do you prefer to write and draw?

My favorite place to draw is probably at coffee shops, where I can be comfortable but not as distracted as I would be at home. I also like a certain amount of background noise and distraction, so sitting where there’s other people and conversations happening but nothing I need to pay attention to is good. I’m also usually listening to music or watching something, although if it’s TV or video it needs to be something I don’t care so much about, or have seen before, so again it doesn’t become a distraction. I do a lot of drawing at home now that I have a larger dedicated ‘office’, but it’s still easier to lose focus there, so usually I reserve home-time for things like scanning, emailing and all the non-drawing/writing side of things.

You mentioned in one interview how you like to create a distance from events in your life that you want to write about. How difficult is it for you to write in this diary style format or vignettes when memory can slip away so quickly and easily?

Sometimes it can be pretty difficult, especially when I’m trying to remember some exact conversation. Mostly, though, part of what interests me about using my own life for material is memory, and I’m focusing on those memories that have stuck in my head especially well. How we remember relationships – how we go over the past in random order – was one of the elements behind Clumsy, and in general I’m interested in exploring how our strongest memories relate to what meaning we find in our lives. So in a way, it’s less difficult, because I’m using my own memory as a kind of editor, and am just naturally not getting too involved with the things I don’t remember as well.

Your most celebrated graphic novel is Clumsy, which was actually your MFA thesis. How did you decide on that title? And how did you come to decide on putting that particular book out there?

I had drawn a picture of me in my sketchbook with the word ‘clumsy’ above, because I was feeling clumsy in my relationship, and then in general. So it’s a psychological/emotional clumsiness rather than a physical one. It’s a good word, and it felt right for the book. Initially I was just showing the sketchbook that ‘Clumsy’ is drawn in to friends, without planning on publishing, but people were responding to it and I figured I could at least do a small Xerox run. The response to that was great again, so I started looking for a publisher, and ended up settling on self-publishing after it was rejected. Really I was just responding to how much people were reacting to the book.

What sorts of things were going through your head, knowing you just put your life out there, especially for someone who (and I base this from my judgment of you in your work) seems sensitive and sometimes fragile?

Apparently, I wasn’t thinking too much about it, or I might have changed my mind! The book’s success was organic and unexpected, and by the time it was published I wasn’t really thinking consciously too much about what the content actually was. I also probably show myself being more fragile or sensitive than I am (especially now that I’m older and wiser). I was really trying to show those vulnerable moments, those most embarrassing times. I think these are times most of us have, but it’s not like we all walk around always feeling just that way. I’m much more careful about what I include in my autobiographical work now, but I still try to show myself at my weakest and most awkward and not worry about how I’m portraying myself. The books aren’t about me or anyone else so much, they’re just using my life to express these ideas about understanding life.

Portraying life with honesty and in its simplest form is reflected in your style – childlike sketches, natural dialogue. Can you speak a little about the aspects of life that most interest you?

I guess what I’m most interested in is how we find meaning in life when most of our lives are composed of relatively small and unimportant events. If most of our life is made up of the mundane, does that balance out the more dramatic events? Can we still live fulfilling lives in the absence of more dramatic events? I think it’s also a question of how we find happiness in life, in the everyday.

How would you describe your work process? Do you have preparatory materials – journals, scenarios, sketch books – that help you get going? Do you sketch a few pages a day or do you try to finish a work in one go or does it vary?

I usually start with an idea sitting around while I’m working on other projects. I have a list of ideas, and they’re always percolating in the back of my mind. Most of the time I’ll be collecting notes and ideas during that time, and when I’m ready to get started I’ll arrange those notes into an outline. From there I’ll refine the outline until I’m happy, and then build a script. The script is usually a kind of page by page breakdown, and I don’t usually do too much preparatory sketching or planning until I’m drawing. I tend to plan out a section of pages in more detail and then draw them, then plan and draw the next set of pages. I’m usually working on a few projects at a time, until one gets to a tipping point where I focus on it until it’s finished. How much I try to finish in a day varies from project to project, but usually I try to aim for finishing an average of a page or two a day.

You’re a big music lover and in AEIOU: Any Easy Intimacy, you provide a soundtrack for the book. What role does music play in your art? Does it reflect the mood and tone of a certain scene you draw? Do you listen to music while you work?

Music is a big inspiration for me, and I listen to it a lot while working. For me it’s less of a direct relationship – I’m not drawing the sad scene and listening to the sad song, it’s more a case of music having certain emotional ties because of when I first heard it or what was going on in my life when I was listening to it. I like having that relationship between particular songs or albums and times in my life.

You’re known to be an Andrew Bird fan, talking about him in your books and I imagine you enjoying his animated video for “lull”. What records have you been listening to lately?

I was reading The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams and he talks about the Beatles a bunch and so I’ve been listening to them lately. The album I’m most addicted to lately is Bill Callahan‘s Apocalypse, the song “Riding For A Feeling” in particular.

What are you working on now and when can we expect a new Jeffrey Brown book?

Right now I’m working on a few projects. The first is the next autobiographical book, which is full color and has stories about fatherhood and religion, to come out next fall. I’m also working on a book that’ll come out for Father’s Day next year, called Darth Vader and Son, which shows Luke Skywalker as a four year old and Vader trying to be his dad. The third project, which my parts are mostly finished with, is the film I co-wrote, Save The Date. I did a bunch of artwork for the lead character, and that should be out next year sometime.

How important is your connection with your readers? I ask because I’ve written to you in the past asking about the ending of Clumsy, to which you replied quite quickly and honestly – to my surprise.

It’s very important… the audience is kind of the whole point of art, I think. The purpose of art is to understand life, and expressing those ideas and having others respond to them is what makes it all work. Art should be a dialogue, and in any case it’s much more satisfying than just shouting into the void.

- Jeffrey Brown, graphic novel artist
Photo by Seth Kushner

Read A Song & A Memory: Jeffrey Brown