Interview with Bowen McCurdy aka @bonesblubs

As part of my Unit 6: Final Major Project, I contacted @bonesblubs and asked if she would be prepared to do a short interview to be included in my project. Bones came back to me immediately and said she would be happy to. She wrote a great interview, and it was a big help, so huge thanks and gratitude.

Background:
Bowen McCurdy aka Bonesblubs is an illustrator born and raised in New York. Bones as she likes to be known trained at the School of Visual Arts in NY, majoring in Cartooning in 2018. Bones is a self published illustrator of small comics and zines, but has also a recently published graphic novel for Boom Comics called Spectre Inspectors which has a paranormal theme and includes an LGBTQ story arc. Bones has also published stories for IDW and Marvel.

I first came across Bones on Tumblr through the popular fandom based on the novel ‘Heavens Official Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. At this time she was ithe planning stages of creating a small comic zine based on the novel. Bones published the zine herself and sold it on her Etsy stories and promoted it on Tumblr. I bought the zine last year.

Can you talk a bit about your influences and inspirations?

I try to be the kind of person who is inspired by almost everything- I absorb as much visual information as I can at a time, whether from other visual artists, musicians, media, or the way the light hits the trashcan outside my apartment. In comics, you have to know frivolous things like how to draw a chair or lamp, so every bit is important. I consider myself, like many from my generation, highly influenced by international media, such as European and Asian comics. I especially was drawn to horror and romance, two genres that were domestically often overlooked in graphic novels when I was growing up. Specifically, the French cartoonist Kerascoet is one of my biggest inspirations, but I have to give Becky Cloonan the credit for being the push that got me interested in making comics in general. At that time, it was rare to see women working in this field in the US, so she was the one to 'break the glass ceiling’ for me!

What media do you like to work in best?

I tend to like instant gratification- speed and efficiency are highly valued in themcomics industry, and though I’d one day like to experiment around with traditional mediums again, I love the ease of working digitally. Comics are very hard to do, and they take a long time to make, so having the tools that programs such as Clip Studio Paint have to offer are priceless resources. Everything you need to tell a complete story can fit in a tote bag. It’s the most cost-efficient medium when working on comics that I’ve found as well, which makes sustaining it a lot easier!

What made you want to create your own comics?

Although comics are hard to produce, they can be entirely self-reliant. This removes any impediments- I’m completely free to tell whatever story I like within the confines of my skill level. It’s a blessing and a curse; I’m now responsible for anything that comes after; if I’m unable to finish a project and see my vision through, that’s entirely on me. But having the ability to choose to take on that responsibility and use my voice is very important to me. I love collaborating, and I seek it out often, but I want to do so on my terms. This freedom is rarely found in other storytelling mediums, and it’s something that ultimately makes each indie comic feel like one specific voice told it, for better or for worse. There’s a lot to be said about that! I also just think it’s neat that I can hold it in my hands when I’m done.

Could you describe your process or stages in how you create your comics, how you get there?

First, I script my story, often doodling in the margins if specific imagery is important to a scene. Then, I use that script to sketch out my thumbnails, which has the name suggests, are tiny sketches of the pages, each the size of a thumbnail. This stage is only to capture the flow of each panel into the next, and the character’s expressions. Much of the storytelling happens in this stage - everything else makes it look nice! Next is where many comic artists deviate - most will continue on to the layout stage, which is when you enlarge and articulate the thumbnails to be more legible, and then move on to pencils, a much more refined version. Because I use digital tools, I can combine these two steps and instead have one pass of layout/pencils. These are messy sketches that keep me loose when I go to ink, helping me to be more expressive and less precious with the final result. I also add my word balloons in this stage, since I want to make sure that I have enough room for them before I start on the final art. Inks are just cleaning up the pencils with a clean black line. Once I’vegotten rid of the sketch layers, I color, and I’m done!

You have based one of your independent comics around a popular Danmei novel, did you do any other research other than reading the content of the novel?

Definitely! I do a lot of research before each project I start like gathering reference photos, double-checking that information in my script is accurate,that the language used is respectful, etc. I don’t always catch everything, but doing my best to do so is essential to me, especially for stories that take place in locations I’m personally unfamiliar with.

What is your production process for creating  your zines and comics?

I have experimented around with many online printer services, and ultimately have been using one that’s reliable, quick, easy to manage, and high quality! Although I loved producing my comics back in college by hand (printing, assembling, cutting, folding), I don’t have access to the resources my school provided anymore, and the quantities that I’m producing are much higher now than they had been back then. When printing online, I can simply send the printer a PDF of the comic I want, and tell them what type of paper for the cover and interior pages they’ll use, the quantity, and finishing (matte, glossy, UV, etc). Once I’ve approved their proof, I order in bulk and wait for them to arrive! I don’t have much room for storage, so many of the excess comics live under my bed.

Bowen McCurdy Links
www.bonesbunns.com
https://bonesblubs.tumblr.com/
https://www.instagram.com/bonesbunns/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/bonesbunns
https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/bonesbunns/

UNIT 5: Publicity: Workbook
Moodboards + Research + Merch + Finshed Work

A selection of work from my Unit 5 Workbook, includes some of the research, moodboards, some merchandise designs and the final illustrations. I’ve left out all the draft illustrations etc.

For this project I had to create multiple illustrations that could be used for publicity for a Muscal my college was hypothetically going to put on. I chose ‘Beetlejuice the Musical’, as it had more opportunities for me to create more interesting graphics. The other option was to create an ad for a charity of my own invention (which would have been interesting to create, but boring to illustrate). I decided to create three different illustrations in three different mediums; one I hadn’t tried before, one I wanted to expand on after the last project, and one I wanted to improve on. Personally I think the digital ones turned out the best out of all three.

The first two finished illustrations (the snake curled around the B and the black and white one) were done tradtionally: the left piece is mixed media (Posca, pencil, marker and metallic Washi Tape). The snake featured in the one on the right was filled in with marker outlined in fineliner, cut out, and stuck onto textured black paper.

The digital illustration was created in Procreate; the background of the version on the left was also done in procreate, while the background of the one on the right was created in Affinity Photo.

UNIT 4: Workbook
Finished Layout Design for Tithe Graphic Novel Project

FINISHED IT! And I managed to get it handed in early as well! I had decided to use crosshatching as it fit the Fae theme quite well. Additionally, when I have read older story books, including ones about the Fair Folk, if there is any illustration included it’s often black and white crosshatching, as I’ve used.

The reason I managed to snag some extra time and get it in early is because as I was midway through finishing the final draft, I realised it was too good not to use, so it became the final product (I also feared jinxing it if I tried to recreate it). I added the dialogue on procreate, which became a minor hassle, so I don’t reccommend it, and probably wont do that again.

I had originally had planned to do more pages, in the end just completed the one, it was a case over being over ambitious. Still happy with how it turned out.

UNIT 4: Workbook
Kaye: Head/Body Studies + Final Draft Studies

Afer completing the design for Roiben, the next logical step was to work on Kaye (the other principle character in Tithe). Unlike with Roiben, the image of Kaye in my head was a lot fuzzier, so had to do some more serious thinking about how I was going to portray her. I’m pleased with the result I came up with in the end, as the design not only suits her and looks fashionable, but was also not too complicated to draw. That will save plenty of time in the final production.

UNIT 4: Workbook
Roiben: Head/Body Studies + Final Draft Studies

Having decided to go with the Holly Black book, Tithe, I had an idea for which scene I wanted to do. So, I decided to focus on only doing the two main characters as they were the only ones in my chosen scene. I decided to do Roiben first as I had a clearer idea of how I wanted his character design to look like compared to Kaye’s. I decided to design his clothes with a blend of fantasy/historical and modern styles.

As with all the projects for this course, ‘content is King’, so annotate…annotate…annotate.

UNIT 4: Researching a Specialist Industry Practice
Workbook: Mood Boards and Artist Analysis

Mood boards, artist analysis and research on using different mediums for graphic novel layouts. Part of my research for my current project (see title). My plan is to create short comic pages based on a scene from Tithe, by Holly Black. It is the first part of a trilogy called ‘A Modern Fairytale’.

The mood boards feature images related to the Fae, Seelie and urban and forest themes featured in the books. The artist analysis was part of the required research (focusing on illustrators who influence my work). The images layout at the bottom feature the work of graphic novel and comic book artists using a range of different media and who I am using as inspiration.

VW Beatle at Beach Dubbin 2022

Went to Beach Dubbin in Portsmouth with my Dad over the summer, and decided to do an illustration from a photo I took of one of the cars I saw there in my mixed media sketchbook (personal project).

This is in a Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook (fairly heavy cartridge paper, ideal for mixed media) using markers, pencil and fineliners.