Comics - Interview: Bryony Evans of Wine & Zine

With Comic-con season now well underway, the Defective Inspector follows up on a few leads and interviews some suspects... er... comics creators. Here's his chat with Bryony Evans of Wine & Zine...

When visiting the last True Believers Comic Festival in February I had the chance to speak to a lot of artists. Today I had the chance to speak to Bryony Evans, a member of Wine and Zine and avid doodler of curly delights. Here’s what she said…

Defective Inspector(DI): I know you are a part of Wine & Zine (still love the name) but do you have any solo projects on the go?

Bryony Evans(BE): Project wise not much when it comes to comic making unfortunately. But in my spare time I do work on making more prints and wooden DnD magnets, I'm also looking into making some mermaid charms for future cons. There's a lot of collaborative projects in the talks, I think there's about three so far. At the moment though I'm working on the Wine & Zine Anthology, it's great as it will be the first collaborative comic with all five of us, it will show the best of each individual. People will be able to pick up the comic and see what each of us is all about, what our style is, our passion and what kind of stories we like to tell. All are pretty different in tone and style so I'm really excited and proud to be part of it. It should be launching at Thought Bubble in Leeds this year.

DI: You said nothing much, but I spotted the release called “Hourly Comic”, could you tell me about that?

BE: Sure, so every year on the 1st February is Hourly Comic Challenge or also known as The 24 Hour Comic Day. I'm not sure when it started but it's been happening a few years now and I never took part but always wanted to. So this year I was like I'M GONNA DO IT! The whole stint is that the participate draws a short comic about what they're doing for every hour from when they wake up. I was at work that day so had to try and find ways of making sitting at a computer interesting. My work mates helped, we had some weird skype bants that made some good material for it. I sort of cheated and didn't draw it on the hour as... I was working but I wrote down and drew a rough thumbnail for every hour then drew all the panels out traditionally the next day.

DI: You certainly are busy! I guess what’s why you are working in a collective these days, do you think other people should do the same?

BE: I personally seem to just work better in a collaborative team, I get a lot of my inspiration and motivation from other people. I really look up to artists who do cons and make their own products solo, it's so much work and you just gotta love it or the pressure is crazy. I can see why artist collectives are becoming more of a thing, it's just a great way to produce a bigger body of work and know you have a team of people backing you up while you create and having a table buddy at conventions is super helpful. It's very much a community thing too. For me, Wine & Zine is all my uni friends so we all knew we could work together as we'd done it before, the only difference is we are now spread all over the country so we have to organise skype meetings or meet ups to talk about any projects that are going on... while drinking wine. But it seems to work, we have to take into consideration that everyone has different schedules but so far so good.

DI: You are a major advocate of Wine & Zine, I've noticed you'll be at almost all the planned comic cons! What keeps you motivated?

BE: Haha thank you for noticing, I think I just really enjoy conventions. The whole atmosphere is great and every con is so different too. I also find the whole economics of conventions fascinating. One convention your comics will sell well, in another people only want prints. I do love the whole set up and display part too, it's like a mini stage where people walk on by and if it isn't their cup of tea they move on but if it is they stop have a look. Maybe pick a comic up, have a flick through, maybe buy one, maybe don't. Even if people don't buy anything it's always satisfying to see someone smile at something I've made, it's even better if a conversation comes from that. At a recent convention, Swansea Comic Con, I was tabling with my good friend Betwixt and our cheeks were hurting from how much we were smiling at people while we were having casual conversations. There's just a real lovely community feel about the whole day, especially the smaller ones.

DI: Last question, I promise. What is your favourite creation? Tough to choose I know but you MUST have a favourite.

BE: Haha it's so hard to pick one, I have the habit where I dislike most of the things I create once it's a year old. I can see all the mistakes I made and am like OH GOD NO! I guess I'm pretty proud of The Doggo Charity Zine which I organised. Rounded up 66 artists from all different countries to donate a piece of dog based art for this collaborative art book where all the profits go towards Dogs Trust. It was a whirlwind to complete and organise but it was very rewarding when I saw the book for the first time. It's super beautiful too, all the different art styles and colours are gorgeous.

DI: I somehow knew you'd pick Doggo, I remember how happy you were discussing it during the panel at True Believers but thought I should ask you directly. Thank you again I must say it's been a pleasure!

BE: Thanks again for asking me, it was a pleasant surprise!


If you’d like to learn more about Bryony please click here
If you want to know more about Wine & Zine click here
Or if you prefer PodCasts click here
Alternatively come see her at Cardiff Anime Con!

Follow the Defective Inspector on Twitter @DefectInspec

Images - Wine & Zine, Doodle Curls Facebook Page