March 6, 2017
Lucy Knisley graduated from The Center for Cartoon Studies in 2009. Since then she has created multiple graphic novels, with more already on the way. She gave me (Angela Boyle ′15) a brief interview.
Who was your advisor and why did you choose them?
Lynda Barry! I love her. I chose her for a number of reasons: First of all, she is amazing. I was pretty burnt out after two years of art high school, four years of art college, and a year of CCS, and I needed a lot of freedom and space to do my thesis, and she offered that. She was such a breath of fresh air—mental health and freedom over productivity and monetary value in work. Exactly what the doctor ordered.
What do you try to accomplish with your comics, in sharing your experiences?
I think readers and artists exist in a wonderful symbiosis. The author tells their story, and it becomes something shared and understood, and the reader can feel understood and seen in the scope of what they read. I try to find that balance, and form that connection between myself and the reader. Working in comics gives me the ability to not only impart what I thought and felt, but how I see things– the visual metaphors and perspective that I’m working from. I love that multiple-level storytelling connection.
It’s quite apparent you love cheese, but which is your favorite?!
It changes all the time, but I’m very fond of Cantal, a french picnic cheese that melts beautifully and retains a perfect bounciness. Try it melted on toast with cornichon and maybe a smear of good mustard. The best.
Books
In Something New, she explores her views on marriage, the process and history, and how it came through in her own wedding.
In Relish, she thinks back about the place food has had in her life. It was a New York Times bestseller and won Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Book of 2013, NPR’s Best Book of 2013, and the American Library Association Alex Award in 2013.
In An Age of License, Lucy explores the period in which we come into adulthood via a travel-expenses-paid trip to Europe and Scandanavia on a book tour.
And coming soon, we can expect graphic novels on becoming a parent and going through high school.
Tags: An Age of License, Cartoon Studies, CCS Alumni, First Second, Graphic Novel, Lucy Knisley, Relish, Schulz Library, Something New
