That's been my main interest for the last 15 years, is to really make sure the story and the characters take precedence over everything else, and that I give them everything I can to make them exist as actual people. Daniel Clowes More Quotes by Daniel Clowes More Quotes From Daniel Clowes Often I'll do research just to get a time period correct, but I didn't have to for the '70s... I feel like I can close my eyes and still see it so clearly. Daniel Clowes eye periods research Usually when I put together a book like this Death-Ray hardcover or that Ghost World special edition, then I have to reread it and see if there is anything I want to change or any re-coloring I want to do. That's when I'm faced with the actual work. When I'm working, I'm too close to it. I'm sort of inside, and I can't see it at all. So when I have that experience of rereading it years later, it's jarring. Daniel Clowes together book years Avatar is a total nerd thing, and yet our popular culture has somehow made all that stuff acceptable. Daniel Clowes nerd stuff culture When I go back and reread the stuff, I'm always floored by how deeply personal and revealing it actually is. Daniel Clowes revealing stuff As soon as I'm finished with it, it feels like an impersonal project. Like, "Well, I did another book." Daniel Clowes wells projects book I think that gulf is what makes the work interesting, but as a creator it's endlessly frustrating because I'm starting out with this goal, this thing I'm trying to create, and then the thing I actually do create is very, very different. It's always painful, in some ways, especially when it's just finished. Daniel Clowes goal interesting thinking I just try to make comics for myself, try to give it some kind of unity throughout. That often involves tiny details. I'm never sure what's going to be obvious or what nobody will ever notice. I put stuff in my comics that I thought was blatantly obvious, and nobody noticed. And things that I think are buried in the background, everybody gets it. So I try to be consistently aware of every part of the frame. Daniel Clowes unity giving thinking One of my weekend hobbies is to go look at old houses when there are open houses around here. Just to go look at the architecture. And you can see how many houses were built around 1977, the year where everyone said, "Let's put in these aluminum windows instead of beautiful hand-made wood ones." Daniel Clowes weekend beautiful hands There are certain comics that just seem like they have this perfect balance between dialogue and image that I can't not read. I'll want to save it for later, and the next thing I know, I'm reading it. That's what I'm kind of trying to do with my comics. Daniel Clowes balance reading perfect Before I could read, I remember trying to piece together the stories from the images. It was a very primal experience. Daniel Clowes stories together trying Alfred Hitchcock talked about planning out his movies so meticulously that when he was actually shooting and editing, it was the most boring thing in the world. But drawing comics isn't like shooting a movie. You can shoot a movie in a few days and be done with it, but drawing a comic takes years and years... That's the biggest part of doing comics: You have to create stuff that makes you want to get out of bed every morning and get to work. Daniel Clowes editing morning years I like to leave a little room to innovate and change things around while I'm working. Daniel Clowes littles rooms I actually start drawing things. Usually they're abandoned before I commit too much time and effort. Daniel Clowes effort drawing too-much If I could have somehow been the kind of artist who could crank out two or three issues a year, that's different. That's sort of what it's all about, to get this thing out so that there's some kind of continuity. But to do a comic book every year or two was just so anti-climactic. Daniel Clowes artist book years I've felt that in the past, where I just felt like I had to keep drawing in the same way to maintain this sameness and rhythm throughout an entire book, and it was not really necessary. Daniel Clowes drawing book past More and more, I tried to make comics in the way I like to read comics, and I found that when I read comics that are really densely packed with text, it may be rewarding when I finally do sit down and read it, but it never is going to be the first I'm going to read, and I never am fully excited to just sit down and read that comic. Daniel Clowes down-and may way My feeling is that it's one of the very few things that comics can do that you really can't do in any other medium. I feel like the reader accepts all of these styles, and after a certain point you can flip the pages and see a character rendered very differently than you saw on an earlier page, and it's not jarring. It suggests things that you can't suggest just in the writing or in the plotting. Daniel Clowes feelings writing character I think if you had different artists approaching the material in different styles, that's very different. I think it's an interesting thing to discover, what's present in the work even when you're shifting the styles. I've just found it a much stronger way to work. Daniel Clowes artist interesting thinking Nobody else feels the same way about your dog that you do. Daniel Clowes nobody you dog way For me, the whole process involves envisioning this book in my head as I'm working. Daniel Clowes head me process book
