Stref’, aka Stephen White is an edinburgh based illustrator and comic artist. His first graphic novel ‘MILK+‘ was published in 2011 with his second book ‘Raising Amy‘ following hot on its heels at the end of the year. To continue our investigations into the workings of local creators, we sent over some questions for Stref’ to answer…
For up to date info and an interesting insight into his artistic process please check out Stref’s blog.
What are you working on?
I have just finished drawing my latest graphic novel, ” X ” and have just had my first cartoon humour book published, ” RAISING AMY”.
Your graphic novel ‘MILK+’ used a variety of styles and settings, how important is it to your creative process that you be able to use a wide range of approaches?
I like to approach each project with a style that I feel best suits it. I work on a wide variety of scripts and they demand very different visuals to work properly as individual projects. Changing styles also constantly challenges me, but I realise that I have no distinguishable look to the body of my work…which could either be seen as a good or a bad thing!
You write, draw, ink, colour and letter your work- is this through necessity or do you like it that way?
It’s a bit of both…I couldn’t afford to pay someone to colour or letter for me…also I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to that stuff!
Is there any difficult stigma you have to put up with trying to make thoughtful comics in the science fiction genre?
I don’t think about that stuff…ideas come to me and I scribble them down regardless of whether people want to look at them or not…like cleaning the cobwebs out of your brain. I switch styles as much as I switch genres-always trying to be thoughtful and funny-though not always succeeding!
What was the last comic you read and what did you think of it?
The last comic I read was CLiNT,which I enjoyed very much.
Peanuts or Calvin & Hobbes?
Calvin and Hobbes.
Edinburgh League of Comics 