At the recent grand launch of the DFC, Seattle-born illustrator Sarah McIntyre was sparkling with all her usual enthusiasm. She has been commissioned by David Fickling to produce at least a year’s worth of original episodes for the ground-breaking new weekly children’s comic, and those who meet her and see her work are left in no doubt that a new star has burst onto the illustration stage.

Sarah, who lives in southeast London, has devised a quirky, funny comic strip about the lives of animal characters, Vern (a park-keeper sheep) and Lettuce (a rabbit), who inhabit an apartment block in ‘Pickle Rye’. Their enterprising creator is using the internet to help ensure the popularity of her characters, providing hints on ‘How to draw Lettuce’ on her fascinating blog and setting up a page for Vern on Facebook, where he’s gaining new friends daily!

Already an award-winning illustrator in the USA, when Sarah moved to London, she studied for an MA at Camberwell College of the Arts, and recently earned a distinction.

Sarah is interviewed by Layn Marlow. 

 Has living in London and studying for the MA made a difference to the way you work?

It’s made all the difference! My first publisher was kind enough to take me on when I had absolutely no training in illustration. (I did my university degree in Russian literature!) So I developed those first illustrations to suit that particular publisher’s taste. But I’ve really enjoyed being able to step back and explore my own personal way of working. At Camberwell, I studied under a marvellous tutor named Janet Woolley, who did a great deal to introduce me to the wider world of illustration, particularly editorial, with its quirkiness and innovative techniques. On the course, my classmate Ellen Lindner impressed me with her dedication to comics and gave me thoughtful feedback when I tried making my own. It was a fascinating world to enter. I had loved comics as a kid, such as Calvin & Hobbes and Archie, but I had sort of lost my way as an adult, thinking comics were mostly about superheroes, which I didn’t like so much. When I was introduced to adult comics by people such as Posy Simmonds and Craig Thompson, I knew I had found a whole new world. I’m constantly amazed by people in London who beaver away on amazing little comic creations that they photocopy, staple and then swap or sell at comic meets. People get very addicted to comics.

You’ve sometimes described yourself as a ‘perpetual tourist in London’, but Vern and Lettuce seems to be based in a neighbourhood similar to the one you live in now. How important to your storytelling is the sense of belonging to a community?

It’s funny, I first set ‘Vern & Lettuce’ in the countryside, and Vern lived in a lovely little two-toned caravan. (I spent way too long designing the caravan’s interior.) Then when, by chance, I showed my drawings to a friend, she pulled out a book I hadn’t seen by Jez Alborough, which showed a sheep in exactly the same caravan! (What were the chances of that?) I decided to rework my setting. When I was visiting some friends who live on the 17th floor of a tower block in Peckham, I was admiring the amazing view from their balcony and all of a sudden realised that was where I wanted to set my comic. Southeast London is such a fascinating place to live that I knew I’d never be short of stories; put a bunch of strong characters in a block of flats together and see what happens! Every morning before I start work, I try to hop on my bicycle and ride along the river. I sometimes almost feel London is a person, and I love that person very much. I recently joined a rowing club to connect a bit more with the river and other people who like spending time there.

My local community is vitally important to me and keeps me sane, but I’ve also really enjoyed getting to know other illustrators and comics people in online communities. Seeing fresh work on a regular basis like that has helped spark new ideas with me, and occasionally a just-for-fun project has turned into a proper job. One of my favourites was a Comics Jam I did with a bunch of people on a blog for the UK’s Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. The mole character I came up with for that game showed up in many later comics. Another funny project (or ‘meme’ as its known on the internet) set the task of drawing oneself as a teenager. Over 400 people on LiveJournal jumped on the bandwagon for that one. (The guy who started it hardly knew what hit him!)

 I’ve also been in two crit groups, one when I first came to London, and another with you, Layn! We meet monthly for coffee on Charing Cross Road and compare notes and opinions, which is incredibly helpful. I’m a member of the Association of Illustrators, SCBWI and just joined the Society of Authors.

Your illustrations often make use of a subtle palette, with clean, clear outlines, boldly simplified shapes and the occasional burst of pattern. Can you describe the techniques and materials you like to use, and to what extent your work is produced digitally?

 I’ve been using India ink with dip pens for a while now, but this it the first paid work that I’ve coloured digitally instead of using paints. This makes it much easier to make quick changes to the work. But I like the handmade wobbly look of dip pens; sometimes looking at endless sequences of perfect lines leaves me a little bored. I start by sketching the comic in pencil, then I put it onto a light box and loosely trace the pencil line with the ink. I scan the inked lines, then use Photoshop to add the colour and any scanned textures. For this kind of work, I’m very much influenced by early 19th-century Russian folktale artwork and avant-garde posters, and British wartime posters.

And is the text hand-written?

 Yes! I love the look of handwritten text, and it’s easier to fit into the speech bubbles when I can fiddle the letter size slightly. But I did just recently design a font for an upcoming picture book with designer Ness Wood. We tried to keep the font looking as wobbly and handmade as possible.

Your next project is a children’s picture book. How does this format compare to making comics?

 I’m sure it’s different with every publisher. But for the comic, I was pretty much just asked to make a comic and then left to do whatever I wanted. Ben Sharpe, the editor, made the occasional comment, but it was mostly things like asking me to make a particular word more legible. The picture book is much more of a group project. Last time I went to Oxford to work on it with them, David Fickling sat me down with the editor and designer at the big table in the middle of the office and we spent nearly two hours hashing through different issues about the book. He was also keen to make sure that the author, Giles Andreae, approved of my artwork, so there was a lot of back-and-forth communication and the process was much slower. (I met Giles for the first time at the DFC launch party!)

I don’t know yet whether I prefer picture books or comics. With picture books, I love the way that each spread can look like stepping onto a new theatre stage. With comics, I’m fascinated by the way many different images work together on a page to give an overall impression. But I’m noticing that boundaries between picture books and comics are becoming more and more blurred and I’d say that’s a good thing because it gives us more ways to work. I think picture books pay better, but these comics take just as much, if not more work, because I have to come up with a complete story for each episode and resolve it in one page, which isn’t easy. I have to drink a lot of coffee to psyche myself up when I start writing an episode.

What can we look forward to you producing next?

Lots more DFC episodes! I wouldn’t be surprised if Vern and Lettuce demand their own picture books at some point. And I already have a few more picture books lined up, including the one with Giles, which will raise a lot of eyebrows. Just you wait!

 Sarah is represented by Rosemary Canter at United Agents and her brilliant website is at www.jabberworks.co.uk  To chart the course of Sarah’s work in more detail, visit her blog at jabberworks.livejournal.com.