Blog! Thoughts, news, reviews, and interviews.

This week I’m happy to share this interview I was able to do with CB Webb, artist and creator of various fancy art things, as well as a webcomic, The Hanged Man. Give it up for CB, and as always, if you have questions for her, just comment below :)

D: Tell us a bit about yourself, the artist behind the art.

CB: I’m a girl with two dogs. One is my editor, and he’s very good at his job. I like exploring abandoned places, especially when they feel abandoned, but you can still feel everyone who was there once. Places like zoos, theaters, hospitals, and towns, or just silly houses. I really love the look of anything decaying, and seeing remnants of things that may have once been grand. There’s something super, super pretty about beautiful things collapsing and experiencing their presence without the context of their history to me. In that same theme, I also collect dead things. I’ve got little bats, and skulls, and bones, and all sorts of animal odds and ends. Sometimes I paint them. I’m a constant learner. My favorite color is dark blue.

D: How did you get in to urban exploring?

CB: Unintentionally. It sort of started as looking for places with friends to just hang out and do stupid teenager things. Turns out, abandoned houses and buildings worked great for this. We’d drive around late at night, find unoccupied spaces, set up camp and enjoy each other’s company, and clean up when we were done and good to leave. From there it started to become a little more intentional, and anymore it’s very much so under the guise of comic research. While I don’t do it as often anymore due to planning taking more time, the places being bigger, harder to find, and harder to get into, it’s always fantastic when things work out.

D: Isn’t it quasi-trespassing? Any good stories?

CB: It is trespassing, so being careful is always necessary, as well as watching your step due to some of these places falling apart- it took exactly once for me to make this mistake when the stereotypical step collapsed on a staircase because I wasn’t paying attention, and I’ve got the scars on my leg to prove it. And of course, always maintain respect towards the property. In shambles or no, I try to leave everything in its place and only take the memory with me to reproduce in writing and painting. So you will definitely see a few experiences I picked up in some future comics!

D: How does your dog do his editing job? What does the other one do?

CB: My dog walks on my work and has his look of disapproval down pat when he thinks a revision is needed. My other dog disapproves of my lifestyle. She crawls into my lap whenever I try to draw or write and refuses to move. She has unmatched persistence in the art of lap crashing. Either way, both are crucial for business to run.

D: Tell us a bit about your creative endeavors.

CB: For my creative endeavors, I try and include some of those aspects of myself I mentioned earlier into my work. I have a pretty expansive background in fine art that I ended up putting towards illustration, and in the last year or two, somehow fell into comics. The latter two are what I’ve been having a lot of fun with as of late, especially in joining them together and trying to create the sort of things that feel like me. I hope for it to continue to be a pretty rad process, and I would definitely like to keep the comics thing up and see where I go with it, and working to improve some writing chops. Ultimately though, I’m at a point where I know what I like, and I’m really enjoying making work that falls in line with that and is ultimately for myself.

D: You say you have background in fine art. Did you get official training like at college or are you more self taught?

CB: I’m more self taught. I did go to art school, but I was able to cater my edumacation a little more to my interests since I knew how to paint and draw for the most part already. As a result I tend to do certain things in a roundabout way since bad habits are ingrained, but I can get to a nice end result regardless, and it all played in nicely to comics.

D: Tell us a bit more about the comic you’re working on.

CB: The current personal project is my webcomic, The Hanged Man, which is about a man on the run for crimes he never committed, and trying to make right in unconventional ways. It’s sort of a love letter to my favorite things. So I pull from a lot of different influences like southern gothic literature, religious superstition, folk music and dirges, fashion, gothic architecture, and paint pushing, and project it all through my own little lense without taking myself too seriously. It’s the first comic I’ve ever made, and my first foray into writing, so I’m learning on the go, but it’s been nothing but a tremendous amount of fun for me to work on.

D: Here’s a deep question. Why do you art?

CB: Man, this is where I wish I had an important sounding answer, but the honest truth is just that I think it’s fun. It’s just something that is a genuinely enjoyable experience for me and is therapeutic, even though it can be absolutely frustrating. I don’t really consider myself an artist, and I have a long way to go and a lot to learn before I do (if I ever), but I think that challenge and constant learning and ability to experiment while doing something that comes from a very sincere place really helps me out mentally and keeps me on my toes. I love to study and learn, so it’s all good fun.

D: Any favorite comic/art related stories you’d like to share? Favorite experiences with readers/fans?

CB: Oh gosh, everything. It’s clearly a baby comic, and I never expected it to be anyone’s favorite so early on, but to see that, and see people excited about is something that was unexpected and very fun. These characters have been around for ages with zero context, so it’s been a joy to see people respond with excitement at getting to finally know a character that they’ve experienced for a long time. I had one recently STOKED when they got to find out that Harlow works as a tattoo artist. And others excited that they can see themselves in characters. And then of course just being able to converse with other creators I admire. I’m still a little anxious and starstruck when someone who I look up to as a writer or artist lets me know that they’re a fan. It’s all little things, but I’ve only been in the comics game for about a year, so every little bit of it has been exciting.

D: Any advice or thoughts for creators or readers?

CB: For creators, I would say forget about audience. The best work you’ll make is to create work that you love, and it ensures that you maintain a positive relationship with your work and don’t burn out. Also, just work, and get into the habit of drawing and creating instead of waiting for inspiration to strike, or worrying about making something “good”. Waiting for inspiration will get you no where, and it’s amazing what surprises you will find that can only happen once you just start working. Find the positive in every negative comment you receive, if you ever do, and let go of the notion that everything you make has to be good. Learn from your mistakes, appreciate those who help you along the way, and just make the shit that excites you.

For readers, remember that there’s a human on the other side of the creation. Maintain respect and understanding when they have to put themselves before their work, and maintain respect when they make choices with their work that you don’t agree with. It’s okay to be upset if a piece of media doesn’t go the way you prefer, but keep in mind that it isn’t yours. And on a positive, let creators know that you dig their work. Trust me, it never gets old, and it always makes their day.

D: Awesome. Thank you so much, CB!

Leave your questions/thoughts (or suggestions for people I should interview) below, people :D