Stephen McCranie: I like your story for Parable Volume 1, entitled “A Stylite Story” because of the strong historical elements. When did you first hear about Simon the Stylite, and what exactly inspired this story?

Ben Hatke: The seed of this story appeared one evening during a group discussion I was having with some friends. The original topic was economics, but we had strayed into other areas—notably spiritual practices. One fellow, an undergraduate, said that he thought the Stylites had achieved the highest form of the monastic life. Looking back, I’m pretty sure he didn’t realize the pun he was making, but to me it was very funny. You know… because they were the “highest” monks. I thought it was funny, anyway.

So I started reading a little more about the Stylites and Simon sort of struck me as this guy who just wanted to be left alone but, like all dynamic people, he found solitude a little difficult to manage. You know, you can’t really decide to live on top of a stone pillar without attracting attention.

S: So, you recently returned from a significant stay in Italy. Can you tell me about what you were doing there and what it was like living there?

B: Well, these days I’m trying to find a way to balance my work interests between comics and illustration on the one hand and painting and sculpture on the other. We stay in Northern Italy periodically to visit family, but it also gives me a great opportunity to study and grow artistically. This has involved a lot of reading, some study at the Charles Cecil atelier in Florence, and just a lot of painting and drawing and hands on learning. We stay in a pretty isolated (but beautiful) little spot in the mountains, but I’ve been lucky to have a lot of very talented artists come and visit—so I’ve had a lot of good people to work with.

This past summer there I worked on a statue, some portraits and several small still life paintings. As for what life was like, generally, I’ll just say that they have better cheese than anywhere else on earth.

S: I think I saw a picture of that statue in your blog, a Madonna made out of plasticine, right? Did that make it through the casting process okay?

B: Ha!  Not yet.  I had a very nice plaster and silicon mold made, but having them cast in metal was a longer process than I had time for, particularly because it involves making and correcting wax copies. So I stopped with the mold and brought it back here to the States. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish the project this year.

S: I’m excited to see pictures of the final product on your blog! Now, I hear you’re working on a graphic novel for First Second.  Can you give us any hints on what the book’s about?

B: Yes!  This is a full length Zita the Spacegirl story. The first of two books actually. A short Zita story appears in Flight Explorer, which came out earlier this year but this new book is a lot more involved and has a bit more action. It will tell how this young girl from earth ended up on her own in the universe.

S: Cool—I read that story in Flight Explorer. Is this your first full length graphic novel?

B: It is.

S: I’m working on my first graphic novel as well, based off of a comic strip that I drew for my school newspaper. And I believe other Parablers like Sarah Mensinga and Jeremy Vanhoozer are working on their firsts as well. What aspects of the process have you found challenging so far?

B: The writing. Good writing is difficult in the best of circumstances, but I think what makes the creation of a really good GN so difficult is that, unlike a prose novel, when you make plot changes, or even small changes to a scene, it often involves redrawing a big pile of thumbnails (or worse, inked pages).  And then your hand starts to ache just thinking about making the change and you might just decide NOT to change it and then, suddenly, you’ve given in to mediocrity.

S: How did you become a Christian?

B: Well, you see I was baptized.

I don’t really have much of a “conversion story” if that’s what you mean. I was born into a Catholic family and ever since reaching the age of reason I’ve been weaving back and forth over the line between sinner and saint. Just like everybody else.

S: Finally, Mike Maihack told me you might have an interesting story that involves a bottle of wine, or something…

B: Early in the year, in April, it had been pouring rain for what seemed like weeks and everyone in the village was depressed. It was really unseasonably rainy to the point that there was a lot of flood coverage on the news. But one day the clouds suddenly lifted and the sun came out. My wife came running into the house saying “Ben, the wine is here! You’ve got to come see this!”

I went down to the fountain by the road and just about everyone in the village was there (which really isn’t a big crowd).  The yearly shipment of wine had arrived and everyone was filling up these huge casks -buying a year’s worth of table wine all at once.

The wine came on this huge truck, in a big tank, like a milk truck with a hose on the back.  So it was sunny for the first time in days, and people were filling their glasses from the truck hose.  It was great.

S: That sounds so awesome. What a great experience! Okay, now for our last question, have you taught yourself how to breathe fire?

B: …yes?

S: Awesome! And what made you decide to learn how? Was it hard to learn?

B: I’ve gravitated toward circus skills for a long time, actually.  Growing up I did a lot of gymnastics, and in the summers starting when I was about thirteen, I would unicycle everywhere (early on I fell down a lot).

In college I started juggling, and for a while my wife (who does a lot of the same things) and I would put on commedia and juggling shows at festivals. I had always wanted to do fire breathing because it seemed like a natural way to end juggling with torches. In the end I talked with a friend who had been part of a sort of traveling fire show and learned some of the different ways of going about it. I also read a few articles on the internet, then practiced with water.
It’s a fun thing to do when you’ve got a big group of kids around.

S: Did you ever burn yourself breathing fire?

B: Not really. I did singe the end of my hair once, but that was probably just a sign that I needed a haircut.

S: Ha ha, great answers. Thanks so much

B: Thank you. Back to work for me!

Stephen McCranie: Every panel in your story, Illuminated, is literally a painting. What challenges did you face while working on this story for Parable, Volume 1?

Tor Harald Blom: Space, the images vary from 40×40 cm to 90×60 cm. So when you see one of the panels in the story it is a big painting in the real world. And a fun thing also about space is that in the middle of making the story I moved to another place in Norway. The first time I saw it like a story was when I had it photographed and was making the pages. I made it over a period of months to half a year, and half of the images were still unwrapped after I had moved- until it was photographed. Painting over this long period of time and not having the room to have them all displayed at once was a challenge. I had to change the colors on some the paintings to make them look like the same story. If you work in a format where you can see a page at a time you get a more consistent look on every panel. Acrylic paintings live their own life on the canvas, so you need to change certain things to get that same look.

S: How did you find out about the Parable anthology? How did you join?

T: Here in Norway there isn’t a big group of people who are making comics, and they also live far away from each other. And I like the all-ages comics the best, a type of comics genre that not many people in Norway work with. So I turned my eyes out and found internet forums. The first one was for the wonderful comic “Herobear and the Kid” where I found some good friends. From that place I learned about the comic industry in the US and found the Flight forums. And on that one I found my entrance to Parable. At first I thought not to join, but then this story came in my head, and here I am. ^____^ Happy to be part of it!

S: So right now you live in Norway; have you ever lived in America before? Do you have any funny stories about your experience in America?

T: In 1998, the plan was to travel to Hollywood, but I ended up in Ghana at a hospital while the American president (Clinton) at that time was in the same capital (Accara) holding a meeting with the leaders of the country. It is strange how life turns it’s way, I have not been to America yet, but Ghana was great. But one day I hope to travel to the US, see the BIG trees, maybe a comic convention. I can tell that the people who traveled to Hollywood when I ended up in Ghana also made it into the Titanic Oscar party, under the cover of being journalists.

S: And what is life like in Norway? I’ll bet it’s really cold right now.

T: Where I live it is winter without snow (or very little snow) and frost in the daytime. I did see the first flowers come up from the ground in the middle of February. The weather is more like England in my part of the country- rain and wind. Norway is a long thin country, so if you turn the north end of Norway about 180 degrees it will end up in Roma. Because the country is so long we get nearly all kinds of weather, so it is one of the most normal topics people talk about. I don’t think life in Norway is that different from life in northern US or Canada. Norwegians like to go hiking in the mountains and be out in nature, and they have a religious relation to nature. I think that the biggest church in Norway is the forest. It is where Norwegians find that there is peace and balance in life.

S: How did you become a Christian?

T: Well, I don’t remember not being a Christian. I grew up in the Christian religion and tradition that is part of what Norway is founded upon. So you can say that I just follow up my traditions and what I know. But then again you can say that every day you wake up you chose to be a Christian. It is an everyday choice (LUKE 10.25-37). I have stayed a Christian because it feels like I am home- something good to hold on to in life.

S: What projects are you working on right now?

T: I am making a 2D animated intro to the pilot episode of a stop-motion children’s TV series. Also working on a Parable 2 story, alongside some children’s book projects and my weekly web comic “A cup of TEA – A diary in memory of the forest“. This year I have also started to build an archive of all that I have made through the years. I made my first comic in 1991 and have never stopped making stories and art. So now I am making one big digital archive. It is like a treasure hunt- looking trough old work, finding ideas long forgotten. I recommended it to everyone who has made stuff over many years. You will be amazed, and have fun. Both in seeing your past ideas, and the progress you have made from the start.

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Ben Hatke!

Stephen McCranie: Your story for Parable, Volume 1 entitled: Thistles, was done in collaboration with John Gunningham. What was it like working with John, and how did you guys meet up?

Josh Alves: John’s a great guy and just as cool to work with (even though he’s Canadian….. I’m kidding!). We actually met up through my sister. She was familiar with his writing and forwarded me one of his pieces. It was called “Flintlock Mages.” I dug the story a lot, ended up doing a couple sketches of one of the characters, sent it to him and we started talking. I really enjoy his writing and we talked more about “Flintlock” and his plans for it, and it started to develop into something that I thought sounded like it’d make a great comic book series so we started brainstorming and fleshing out ideas. It’s the project we’re working toward’s doing… (I guess that’s the short answer?!?)

S: So did “Flintlock” preceed “Thistles?”

J: Oh yeah. I’m still not completely comfortable/satisfied with my art to do the Flintlock series (now called “Pariah Dispersia”) justice. So rather than jump right into that story we’ve decided to collaborate on little projectsas I become more experienced with sequential storytelling and continue to develop my art.

S: You do a very funny single panel comic called Tastes Like Chicken, which, for any readers out there, I’d definitely recommend. Have you ever thought about syndicating it?

J: Thanks for that. Yes I have! Actually I just sent out a bunch of packets a few weeks ago.

S: That’s great! I sent out a bunch of Mal and Chad’s to a bunch of Syndicates… but there seems to be very little room in the newspaper comics section these days. Only rejection letters so far.

J: Those make great wall paper.

S: What other projects are you working on besides Parable?

J: I’m working on the first full-size Araknid Kid story for Sugary Serials and sketch cards for the Marvel Masterpieces 2 set from Upper Deck…

S: Cool!

S: Wait, aren’t you syndicating Araknid Kid through Zuda comics?

J: Nope, Araknid Kid was a competitor in the December contest over at Zuda. It finished 6th in that month’s competition, which means it won’t be continuing on that site and I get all my rights to the character/story back.

S: Ah, I see.

S: Alright, onto some more serious questions. How did you become a Christian?

J: I was fortunate to be raised in a Christian household. My parents brought us (I’m the oldest of 4 children) up teaching that Christianity was about a relationship with Christ and not about religion.So I guess you could say that I’ve always been a Christian, but it was in my later teen years when I began to really walk my personal faith journey. Really taking what I was taught, questioning it, seeking answers… and finding some of them… and being ok not having them all (yet).

S: My testimony is like that too. Even if you’re raised in a Christian home though, there comes a point when you realize that if the things you believe in are really true, then they’ll stand up to any amount of questioning.

J: It’s true, I guess sometimes growing up in a Christian home could be a crutch because you might tend to rely on the belief of your parents, but eventually there comes a time when you’ll have to answer why you believe what you believe… and saying “because my parents believe it…” isn’t the best answer.

S: Very true. So, I read on you blog that you tried out for Last Comic Standing. Can you tell me what that was like?

J: It was a blast.

S: What was your routine like?

J: I auditioned with friends of mine. Chris Quimby, Hoopachoo (a comedian from New York that I had only met online) and my brother Jake. We set it up like an adventure that we tried to document (some clips remain on YouTube). We froze out in line, I was able to perform in front of the judges (who didn’t RIP me apart. I was expecting them too) Kathleen Madigan (one of the comedians) called me “adorable.” Alonzo and Ant (the other judges) gave great feedback and critique- so overall I was pretty happy with how it went.

My routine, well… it was like one that wasn’t good enough to be shown on the show and wasn’t bad enough to be shown on the show.

S: If you don’t get in, then that’s the best way to go. Thanks for the interview Josh.

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Tor Harold Blom!

Hey everybody! This is Stephen. I hope you’re all doing fine. This week’s interview was done over IM, and I decided to include a little amusing exchange that took place before the interview started. Enjoy!

Stephen McCranie: Hey Jeremy! Ready?

Jeremy Vanhoozer: Hey! I was just changing a diaper!

S: Ha ha! Sounds like perfect timing.

J: Isn’t that the life of an artist? Creating funny stuff… and changing diapers.

S: Ha ha.

J: I am back in my chair, however.

S: Great. Okay, let me get my questions.

J: Okee dokey. And then you can edit my long winded answers, correct?

S: Right. We’ll edit ‘em down to unreadable sound bite sentences. Ready?

J: ok…. breathe, breathe…. ready!

S: As I recall, your story for Parable: Volume 1, entitled “The Picnic,” was not only one of the longest stories in the anthology, but also done in a very short period of time, because you had to fight against a fast approaching deadline. What was it like trying to beat the deadline?

J: Well, it was pretty crazy. When I was asked to be a part of Parable, I was so excited that I really didn’t stop to think about how fast I would have to work. Once I settled down and actually thought about how much drawing I had to do… it freaked me out a bit. But, when I was able to thumbnail my story out and come up with a page count, things fell into place.

S: And what inspired your story for Parable?

J: Hmmm. I would have to say peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When I was a kid, I never liked sharing my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My mother would tell me to let my sister have a bite, and I would flatly refuse. As I grew up I began to realize how nice it was to share my sandwiches. For my story, I wanted to talk about sharing sandwiches and what it felt like to be a kid with a giant imagination.

S: That’s great! I didn’t realize it until now, but peanut butter and jelly is a motif in that story. So what was it like growing up for you? Specifically, what was the journey from imaginative child to established professional like?

J: I can remember being in kindergarten and drawing tanks and helicopters all over the writing paper. I think it was at that point that I realized there might be something to this art thing. I spent my young years drawing weird monsters, huge trucks, and imaginary lands. In between my artistic endeavors I also opened a salad bar in my bedroom, recorded a weekly radio show on a cassette recorder in my hall closet, and set my parents bed on fire. All events that I look back on and credit with expanding my imagination. After graduating from high school, I was extremely fortunate to get an internship at Disney. That is where my “real” art training took place, and also where I learned how to mix art with business.

S: What a wonderful opportunity that must have been. Though, I hear internships don’t pay very well, but the contacts you made must have been payment enough.
I noticed that you know a lot of people from the Drawergeeks crew. Who do you know and where did you meet these people?

J: Lets see…. Paul Conrad used to be my boss at Big Idea. Bryan Ballinger and I played the ukulele together at Big Idea. Greg Hardin was my replacement when I left Big Idea. I started as Sarah Mensinga’s biggest online fanboy, but am now able to call her a friend. I am looking at the list of Drawergeeks contributors and I know quite a few… it would take me the rest of the night to list their names and social security numbers. Just trust me when I tell you that no friends were obtained illegally .

S: Ha ha! You know, I wasn’t really aware of how integral networking is to success in the comics industry until I went to Comic-Con and met you and Sarah and a bunch of other Parablers. But making friends who are also in the business is a wonderful experience. I can’t wait to go back to Comic-Con this year.

J: Networking is key.

S: I try to make my last question a silly one… Is there something unique or interesting about yourself that I can pry into?

J: Hmmmm… Let me think… I can’t think of anything really outstanding….. my first job was selling balloons at the Magic Kingdom. I survived a tornado. My parents raised goats when I was little, so I had to milk them. Not too much.

S: Did you have to wear any funny suits for the balloon job?

J: Only the best. I had two outfits…. For the Magic Kingdom I wore a stylish candy striped shirt, white knickers, tall white socks, an odd hat, and a smile. When I worked at the Disney-MGM Studios I wore an awesome surf print shirt, suspenders, delicious brown polyester pants, and really bad shoes. The beauty of it was, I would get such a bad sunburn… but not in the areas where the suspenders were. It was the greatest partial tan ever.

S: Ha ha, awesome.

S: Well, that about wraps it up I think.

J: Have a great night!

S: You too.

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Josh Alves!

Caleb Monroe was left at the circus at a young age by gypsies. After he nearly died in a terrible aerial accident, the Alligator Man managed to cobble him together again using insect DNA and spare roller coaster parts. Then, when he was 11, he bought his first comic book and also sold his first short story, ensuring that he would spend his life fighting crime as a writer rather than just another insectile cyborg acrobat.

Stephen McCranie: The story you wrote for Parable Volume 1, entitled “Uncommon,” is a simple story about a balloon shop. I think the message of the story is very pertinent though, especially to the average person. Was there any experience that inspired this story?

Caleb Monroe: The entire comic is based on a true story. Something that happened to a good friend of mine named Weyman. It was the first idea I had when I started talking to Mike about Parable. Just a quiet slice-of-life piece. Mike put me in touch with Caroline Parkinson, and her art turned out to be perfect for it, really catching those everyday details and heightening the emotional impact of the moment with their presence.

S: Your Leap Year project is very exciting. How is your goal of becoming a full-time writer going?

C: It’s barreling along. I wish I had more to report, but things are at a quiet stage right now where there’s not too much ready to talk about. I’m working on some creator-owned projects right now, all with some fantastic artists or co-writers; will have work in a number of anthologies later this year and just recently had my first opportunity to pitch a book to one of the Big Two.

S: Everyone wants to become a writer, but becoming a writer for comics is something different entirely. It seems to me that most of your writing projects are collaborations with other cartoonists. What draws you to the comics industry?

C: Hmmm. Well, I both sold my first writing (a poem and short story to my local newspaper) and bought my first comic (Spectacular Spider-Man #16) in the same year when I was 11, so I guess it was just a matter of time. My mom was also finishing up her first book around that time, so I had someone in the house to learn from.

I’m a very visual person, which is one of the reasons I love comics and film so much. About the time I started seriously trying to write comics I also left college and worked on various film sets for about three years in just about every position you could imagine. At first I was thrilled to just be part of it all, but as the years progressed I came to the realization that ultimately I was unhappy without a say in the story. Plus, I was working in so many varied capacities. When I moved to LA I stopped working on set (which is kinda backwards, I know), because I decided I wanted to be great at one thing instead of good at a bunch of things, and that one thing I’ve always wanted to be great at is writing.

For comics, there was a time even further back when I was an equally strong student at both writing and art. But again, I wanted to truly excel at the one, so I left the other behind. Now it would be worse that starting over because my visual sense has grown so much more sophisticated but my artistic muscles are so atrophied. Plus, I just love the process of collaboration. And I think there’s a spiritual element to that process. Scripture talks often of people from different walks of life learning to operate in unity. That’s the model for the church. Plus, as believers since Pentecost, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The exact same Spirit that collaborated with somewhere around forty human co-authors to write the bible. That same Spirit wants to participate in all that I do, which means if I invite him into my writing process I have the opportunity to co-write with the greatest Author of all time. But this happens on a spiritual level and can sometimes be hard to grasp in practical terms. Which is where working with human collaborators comes in: to constantly better learn the art and skill of collaboration on a practical level in order to be able to apply those lessons on a higher level.

S: And what is your diagnosis of the Christian comics industry in particular? What do you think Christian writers and artists are lacking?

C: I think there are several fallacies in such a consideration. First, in comics there’s no such thing as a Christian industry. Which I actually think is fantastic. There are Christians making comics, and some of them are even making faith-based comics, but there’s not really a separate industry, like there is in music. I think we should fight to keep it that way. Christianity is not meant to be a ghettoized sub-culture set apart from “real” culture. There is a dialogue taking place out there in the arts. Art is a medium where people discuss and grapple with the things that are most important in life. And we should be contributing to that discussion. Out there in the dangerous “real” world, rather than swapping tales back and forth within the imagined safety of a Christian sub-culture. Every comic I’ve ever written, even my Parable work, is intended for a secular audience.

As for what aspiring Christian writers or artists may be lacking, it’s the same things any aspiring writers or artists are lacking: the skills, experience and the specialized knowledge of the medium that it takes to make excellent comics. We should constantly be honing our skills and adding to our storytelling toolbox if we want to make it in this industry, and our beliefs have very little to do with that. It’s a reality regardless of faith.

S: On your blog, you mentioned the Daniel diet, a diet derived from what the prophet Daniel ate while under the instruction of the Babylonians. Can you tell me more about this?

C: I can. The Weyman I mentioned in my first answer and his family have a ministry called Healing Waters, which is currently based in Denmark, but for which they travel all over the world. Last fall they invited those of us who support them to join them in a 40-day fast to pray for the salvation of loved ones. The type of fast we chose for those 40 days would be between us and God. As I prayed and considered my options I felt called to a Daniel fast, which is sort of an extreme form of veganism. I was very reluctant at first, because frankly I love meat, but through a small series of events I knew this is what I was being asked to choose, so I chose it.

After a brief adjustment period, I discovered an amazing side effect of the fast, which was a huge surge in both my creativity and my follow-through on it. In fact, it was ten days in that I began my Leap Year project. When I went back to my regular diet after the 40 days, there was a noticeable increase in mental cloudiness. Or at least it seemed cloudy after the boost my writing had seen during the fast. Then, starting the first of this year, my wife wanted to do the same fast for a number of reasons and I joined her for support. Again, there was a noticeable boon to my creative work. About halfway though this second fast I discovered a verse I had somehow missed before in all the times I’ve read the book of Daniel:

“the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning.” Daniel 1:16-17 (emphasis mine)

This chapter in Daniel is actually the only place in all of the bible that the term “literature” appears. I’ve come to realize that my mind is probably my greatest asset as a writer and that what I put into my body has a direct effect on it. So I’m doing further research and making some permanent diet changes to reflect this new priority.

Also, as someone living in LA and trying to break into the film industry as well as comics, I identify a lot with Daniel. The book of Daniel takes place when he was a captive in Babylon. The same Babylon that held the Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was not just literature, but the literature of the Babylonians that he was learning. Babylon is an identity that LA and Hollywood have always sort of embraced. In fact, the design of the Hollywood and Highland complex that houses the Kodak Theater (home of the Oscars every year) is based on the set design of the city of Babylon from DW Griffith’s early 20s epic film Intolerance.

Daniel lived in Babylon and learned the literature of the Babylonians. Which I think brings me back to my earlier point about Christians in the industry: the industry already exists, we need to learn to excel within it, not set ourselves apart. Simply put, let’s make quality comics.

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Jeremy Vanhoozer!

Stephen McCranie: I reread the story you and Ben Avery collaborated on for Parable, Volume 1 and I must say, it’s one of the most uniquely done wordless comics I’ve ever seen. I’m wondering though, if there are no words in this comic, how did Ben Avery write the piece? What brought you guys together, and what inspired the creation of this story?

Tim Baron: Great questions. A lot of people have asked about the script. Actually, Ben wrote the script similar to any other comic script. Since there wasn’t any dialogue, Ben wrote detailed descriptions of what imagery would fill the word/thought balloons. The absence of dialogue forced me to work even harder at being a better visual story teller. I met Ben through my friend and coworker Gary, who knew him through college. It was funny, he mentioned Ben’s name in an email and briefly mentioned his comic work. I googled Ben that day and sent him an email with a link to my website. It took off from there. The story was actually Ben’s idea. He told me he wanted it to be like a Charlie Chaplin silent film. I’m really into turn-of-the-century Victorian era stuff, so I went with that feel and drew it in a style that was inspired by the art in Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s graphic novel, “Mr. Punch.”

S: So are you an illustrator who does comics, or a cartoonist who does illustration? Why did you become an artist in the first place?

T: Hmmm….all of the above I guess. Art has always been a passion, a love, a joy and a language for me. I’ve been drawing as far back as I can remember. My mom still has some super hero drawings I did when I was in preschool. I honestly couldn’t imagine not making art. I’d go loopy.

S: And how did you become a Christian? Has this influenced your artistic philosophy?

T: I was blessed to be introduced to the Gospel of Jesus at a very early age. However, it wasn’t until my second year at college at age 19 that I really came to a better understanding of my own sin, my emptiness, my own mortality, God’s holiness, and what Jesus did for me on the cross. Has my faith influenced my artistic philosophy? Absolutely. Everybody’s world view influences their art. Think of how beautifully themes like good versus evil, chivalry, sacrifice and redemption bleed off the pages of fantasy authors like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Consider how beautifully God’s saga of redemption is narrated in symphonies like Handel’s Messiah, or Bach’s St. Matthew Day Passion. Or how the etchings of Rembrandt Van Rijn and the woodcuts of Albrecht Durer place you as a silent observer inside a frozen moment in the Gospel narrative watching the events unfold before your very eyes. Ponder how God chose Bezalel and Oholiab in Exodus 31 and filled them with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts to make artistic designs for God’s tabernacle. So too, the Christian artist…and comic book artist should joyfully offer up his best creation as an act of worship to the God who is creator of Heaven and Earth, and to be able to say along with J.S. Bach, Soli Deo Gloria, or To God alone be the glory. I would challenge any readers interested in tackling this subject to read Art and the Bible by Francis Schaeffer, and Addicted to Mediocrity by Franky Schaeffer.

S: Are there any exciting projects that you’re working on now that you’d like to plug?

T: Yes! Ben and I have begun work on our story for Parable #2 which is a crazy story about a medieval looking apothecary and his monkey in a post-apocalyptic Earth infected by something called The Lotus Plague.The story is called The Plague Doctor and I’m pretty stoked on it. Ben is posting teasers and conceptual art regularly at the blog at www.plaguedoctor.blogspot.com. Check it out! Readers can also check out my regularly updated blog at http://www.timbaron.blogspot.com/.

S: Finally, I read on your website that you’ve got some crazy scar on your arm from the wild skateboarding days of old. How’d you get it? Were you a hard core skateboarder?

T: Oh man… seriously, I had two things that kept me sane from fifth grade through college. Art… and skateboarding. I ate slept and breathed both. The scar is on my right arm, and it’s from slamming on the right side of my body over and over again. Can’t tell you how many times I skinned my arm in the exact same location. I better stop talking skateboarding glory days though. I’ll start reminiscing like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite.

S: Ha ha! Thanks a lot for your time.

T: Thank you. : )

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Caleb Monroe!

Stephen McCranie: For your story for Parable: Volume 1, entitled “Uncommon,” you collaborated with writer Caleb Monroe. How did you get to know Caleb and what was it like working with him?

Caroline Parkinson: I heard of Parable on the Flight forums, like most people, I guess. I contacted Mike and said I’d like to do some work in Parable. We’d both been involved with a previous anthology that never made it off the ground, so he said yes. But I couldn’t think of a suitable idea, so I asked to work with a writer- which turned out to be Caleb! It was good working with him- he was happy with the work I produced and didn’t make me change it. (Though if I look at the story now, some of the coloring I did is really shoddy, so maybe he should have!) I took Caleb’s script writing skills for granted then he has a very clear way of putting things.

S: I just interviewed Sally Thompson, another Parable creator and she’s from the UK as well! Any chance that you guys know each other?

C: Not yet! But we have a table at the Bristol Comic Con together this summer and we’ll meet up then.

S: Cool! So, what’s it like living in London?

C: Oh God. Um, pretty much like anywhere, but with extortionate house prices. I think if you’re living in London, you get a completely different experience from visiting as a tourist. There are things I really like about it (people-watching, pubs, museums, really good comic shops) and things I hate.

S: Does anything there inspire your work? What does inspire your work?

C: Reading other artist’s blogs on the Internet… and those big thick Disney art books. And sketching, and listening to podcasts. There’s a science fiction podcast called Escape Pod I listen to a lot, and some music and film review ones.

S: I listen to that podcast too! Are you working on any projects you’re working on right now that you’d like to talk about?

C: I’m currently remodeling my website and drawing a comic project for Futurequake called Lazarus Falls. It’s about pirates, Nazis and zombies: you can see bits of it at carolineparkinson.blogspot.com. I’m also drawing some storyboards for London Film School (I’m going on a storyboarding course in the summer) and working on my own project about the adventures of a mobile library and its gun-wielding staff. This makes me sound really cool and busy, but it’s all shoehorned in around work. I have a full-time job as a production assistant.

S: So you work at an animation studio right now? What series are you guys making?

C: I work on Charlie and Lola, a kid’s cartoon adapted from the books by Lauren Child. It’s finishing production in March, though.

S: Oh, I’ve seen that series here in the states! I thought it was really charming, because of the use of child voice actors. So usually my last question is a silly question that pertains to the cartoonist, but Ive been wracking my brain and I can’t think of anything to ask. Whats something really interesting and unique about you that I could ask about?

C: I’m a twin. That’s not very unique though, is it?!

S: That’s great! Are you identical twins? Do you have any amusing twin stories? If I had a twin I’d play all sorts of tricks on people.

C: Our mum doesn’t know whether we’re identical or not! We look pretty similar though. Once, when I was working in America, Kate came to visit me. She’d cut all her hair off and dyed it blonde. My boss, who hadn’t met her yet, rushed out of the shop, grabbed her by the shoulders and started screaming “Caroline! Why have you cut your hair!” into her face.

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Tim Baron!

Stephen McCranie: Your story for Parable: Volume 1, entitled Captain Clod, is as ridiculous as it is original. I’m particularly excited to see what readers think of the goatphone. Without giving away any spoilers, what would you say inspired this story?

Bryan Ballinger: Hmmmm, let’s see. I grew up in rural Vermont, so the setting and characters definitely draw from that. I also used to work on my Grandfather’s farm in rural Wisconsin in the summers. Whenever I was doing chores I was always daydreaming about things that I’d rather be doing. Especially when I was scraping off the floor of the chicken coup. That is one heinous job, my friend.

S: So you have a rural, agricultural background? Where do you live now?

B: Right now I live in semi-rural northeast Indiana, the smell of rotting mustard greens wafting through the window.

S: One of the reasons I find your work interesting is because it’s really random and original. I remember for one of the Drawergeeks topics you colored a clown picture using scanned images of dried flower petals. Can you give us a glimpse into your creative philosophy? What’s your approach to illustration and comics?

B: I don’t know that I’ve ever been directly asked what my creative philosophy is before. I guess I better come up with one quick. Yikes, I’m really not sure. I know for things like Drawergeeks, I often try to use a technique I’ve never done before, and then push it so you can still tell it was me that did it. I also love creating things that are absurd and different on the surface, but have something almost indefinable and visceral below the surface. The trick for me is that I have to let the below the surface stuff happen almost unconsciously, otherwise it feels forced.

S: How did you become a Christian?

B: Growing up in Christian home was the biggest thing. That and Jesus’ words are the only things that make sense sometimes.

S: What have you been working on lately? Any projects you’d like to talk about?

B: My problem is I have a huge list of projects I’m not working on because I don’t have time. That and I have a horrible propensity for thinking of something and then going whole hog on it, even if it’s not particularly useful. www.suxco.com would be a prime example. I did recently just finish up illustrating a children’s book and did a cover for a math book. I also have an early chapter book that I’m hoping to finish up this summer. It’s sort of a combo chapter book/comic book, similar in format to Captain Underpants.

S: Finally, did you invent Caramel Flassies yourself? Or is that an old recipe passed down in the Ballinger family?

B: Ha! Actually that is a recipe that a good friend of mine, Keith Lango and I came up with. We worked together at an animation studio that had an annual dessert contest. So that’s one of the things we came up with for that year. I love contests like that. In the past I also submitted Frosted Product with Sprinkles, Pasta Bean Suspension, and Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Jell-O Mold with Peppercorns.

S: And how do you make a Pasta Bean Suspension? I can’t even imagine.

B: Well, it involves ravioli, jellybeans and lime gelatin (as most good things in life should). Once I register pastabeansuspension.com I’ll post the recipe.

S: If we ever manage to get the Parable staff together in one place we’l have to make some of those. I’m sure they’d love them. Well thanks for talking with me Bryan!

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Caroline Parkinson!

Stephen McCranie: Your story for Parable: Volume 1, entitled “Kiss,” is very unique because the entire piece is drawn on wood. What inspired you to use this medium, and what difficulties did you face while creating this comic?

Sally Jane Thompson: The wood was simply a result of too many art school projects involving “finding alternative surfaces” …but I fell in love with the way it absorbs anything you throw at it, so you have to build up dozens of layers, which I think gives a really rich look. As for difficulties, it’s hard to get a sharp edge when things soak in but most importantly, you can’t erase anything, or even paint over it if you want to retain the grain!

S: I can imagine! Did you have to take photos of the wood in order to get it into digital format?

Sa: Yeah I’d like to experiment more combining it with digital, but in this case I simply photographed the finished product, with relatively little touch-up. The actual panels were pretty large, and very heavy!

S: Really? How heavy?

Sa: Well, the boards were thick to begin with and then I thought it would be a waste if they couldn’t be hung, so I made really sturdy frames to screw on the back! Probably not the smartest thing ever. Carrying two at once was a stretch!

S: I’ll bet! Ha ha. So you’e from the United Kingdom Have you always lived there? What was life like growing up in the UK, and what inspired you to become an artist when you were a kid?

Sa: Not quite! Haha. I’ve been in the UK about 6 months now. I was born and grew up in South Africa, which I wouldn’t change for anything. I wanted to be a game ranger when I was little, and my earliest drawing memories where studying South African wildlife books and drawing all the animals. We moved to Canada when I was a teenager where I was really exposed to comics for the first time at least the kind that I would want to make. And now I’m having a great time getting to know the comics scene here in the UK!

S: Well that’s awesome! Can you speak any of the local languages of Africa?

Sa: Hmm…Unfortunately they didn’t start offering Xhosa and Zulu in my school until shortly before I left so I missed out there. Afrikaans was something I was never very good at for some reason. All I can say are things like “I have a green giraffe” or other things that don’t make sense!

S: Ha ha. So, speaking of the comics scene in the UK, I noticed that you were a finalist for Tokyopop’s 2007 UK Rising Stars of Manga contest. What do you think about the recent Japanese comics invasion? How has manga affected your style and comics?

Sa: Manga was essentially my first exposure to comics that covered a wider range of genres, and showed me how much scope comics have to communicate! So it’s been a fantastic influence, and I’ve learned a lot through it. But I wouldn’t class my work as anything more than manga influenced. As manga has become a more prevalent influence over western comics, there is of course lots of debate over what counts as manga and so on, but I think the more varied influences people have, the better, and I’m glad to see the comics world opening up like this.

S: Me too. It seems to me that the definition of what comics can do is broadening. As comics become more popular, I hope to see more and more people enter the cartooning industry. Now, how did you become a Christian?

Sa: Well the short story is that I grew up in a Christian home, but really everybody has to decide things for themselves in the end. I’ve had a lot of questions, but in the end, everything Jesus did just resonated as so right to me the way he treated people, the concept of self-sacrifice, and being able to develop ones spirit.

S: Okay, do you have any projects that you’re working on right now that you’d like to talk about?

Sa: Well my biggest project right now is my MA program, which I’ve just started! I’ll be doing a lot of illustrative and possibly even comic-based work for it, so I’m very excited! I’ll also be doing some self-publishing and attending some comic expos this year, as well as doing some workshops and events, and just generally getting my sticky little fingers into as many pies as I can! I’ll be sure to keep John updated once I have some secret projects sorted out!

S: Cool, we’re all excited to hear about them! So, that about wraps it up… I usually end with a silly question, and I’ve been really racking my brains about what to ask you… Is there something really unique or interesting I can ask you about?

Sa: Hmm…I got certified as a laughter yoga leader….I do lots of sewing and make geeky costumes to wear at conventions…I like knitting and crochet and tea and basically am an old lady….

S: A laughter yoga leader! Can you tell me what you do for that job?

Sa: Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to be involved in a group in the UK yet! There was a fantastic group at my university in Canada. It’s all about the idea that laughter is amazingly healthy and good for you, but society doesn’t really allow for us to get that kind of awesome, extended laughter. So it teaches you techniques to stimulate laughter, without relying on humor and once you get going, especially in a room with ten other people, none of you can stop! Imagine a room full of people laughing for no reason! It’s the best thing!

S: That sounds awesome! Let’s laugh together.

And so, we began a small laughter yoga session together, even though we were communicating by instant messenger and separated by an entire ocean. The following is a direct transcript of the silliness that ensued.

S: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Sa: AHahahahah HAhahahaha ahaha!

S: hee heee heee heee

S: hah had

S: oops

Sa: Hohohoho!

S: I’m actually laughing right now… how incredibly delightful.

Sa: Fantastic! Hopefully some of the people reading this interview will be as well!

S: Even though I spelled one of my hahs wrong.

S: Well… that about wraps it up.

Sa: Excellent!

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Bryan Ballinger!