The Art of Bryan Talbot

Bryan Talbot's on a roll. The prolific artist and writer produced a bona fide masterpiece in Alice in Sunderland, which hit my Bookslut list of the top graphic novels of the year at #1, and this month he has a beautiful full-color retrospective of his talent, The Art of Bryan Talbot, with an introduction by Neil Gaiman. Arranged chronologically, the book covers early underground art, posters of and for rock stars, and, of course, sketches, drawings, and art from some of his most famous work, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Judge Dredd, and The Tale of One Bad Rat. It's a well-deserved honor and a book that art fans and comics fans alike will want as part of their collection. I recently caught up with Talbot and asked him about his approach to his art.

Amazon.com: What motivates you and keeps you passionate about your art?
Bryan Talbot: I really don't know, I've never considered doing anything else. Writing and drawing is what I do. I suppose it's because I enjoy the results.

Amazon.com: How sensitive are you to falling into ruts and do you take conscious steps to avoid repeating yourself too much?
Bryan Talbot: It's easy to get into habitual ways of drawing things and I'm as much guilty of this as anyone else--after all, it's part of what makes a recognisable personal style. But I always try and think a lot about each image beforehand, try and envisage the best way of approaching it. When it comes to creating graphic novels I always deliberately work on something completely different to the previous one. After the non-genre realistic The Tale of One Bad Rat, I did the adult SF adventure Heart of Empire. After that I did Alice in Sunderland, which was different to anything I'd done before. Now I'm working on a steampunk detective/thriller with anthropomorphic characters. I've been describing it as Sherlock Holmes meets Sin City--with animals! If I didn't do something different each time I'd get very bored.

Amazon.com: When you¹re working hard on a project, does seeing other people art inspire or distract you? Some writers say if they¹re writing a mystery, for example, they avoid reading any mysteries during that  time.
Bryan Talbot: There's inspiration lurking everywhere. When I'm obsessed with a new book, everything is grist to the mill. For example, with every movie I watch, I'm automatically checking for striking camera angles, lighting, costume, whatever, to see if I can apply them to my story. This is the same for everything I come across - from reading to looking at things I see while walking down the street. Does it spark off a train of thought?

Amazon.com: What books or graphic novels have you read recently that you  particularly enjoyed, and why?
Bryan Talbot: Shaun Tan's The Arrival is a brilliant piece of storytelling, especially as it is totally "silent" and is beautifully drawn. Rutu Modan's Exit Wounds is a great read, very atmospheric with a real sense of place and a compelling and believable story. I like anything by Joe Sacco and I've recently read The Fixer, which continues his string of exceptional reportage graphic novels. This is set in post-war Bosnia and is as good or even better at conveying the situation as newspaper or TV reporting. Plus, he tells the story of his time there and his relationship with the eponymous "fixer"--a great bit of character depiction. I've recently read all of Dorothy Porter's novels. They're astounding--whole novels told in poetry, in series of individual poems that all come together make enthralling narratives. She's described on the covers as "a blowtorch talent" and she is. Her phrases hit you right in the gut.

Amazon.com: Is there an art style or approach you haven¹t tried that you¹d like to experiment with?
Bryan Talbot: For a while I've wanted do a graphic novel in a sketchy, impressionistic style. For a start, I've not come up with a story that would suit this approach. For another thing, I don't know whether I'd have the confidence to pull it off. It would all depend upon the strength of the concept.

(A detail from The Art of Bryan Talbot. For more, visit the publisher's website.)