Rob speaks to artist Andrw Sawyers about his latest work...
Fans of British independent comics; The77 and SHIFT will be no stranger to Andrw Sawyers work. His unique style has been seen across two stories within The77 (The Cell, Silver Jubilee), as well as appearing within the SHIFT 2022 Yearbook. Away from this and Andrw's work has also featured within Chris Packham's story in The Most Important Comic Book On Earth, teamed up with Dave Bedford for a strip in Dead By Dawn, and he's also created a skateboard!
But that's not all! Andrw is also contributing to The77 Publications' next anthology - Pandora.
Thankfully Andrw has taken some time out of his schedule to have a catch-up with myself to chat about his latest work...
Hi Andrw, it's been a while since we last caught up with yourself, how's things ?
AS - "Hey Rob, great to hear from you and great to be back on here !!!
I’m good, very busy, with work, family and of course comics - and overcoming the final throes of ‘Long COVID’ - but y’know, you can’t keep an OxGx Loc’ster down for too long - ha !!!
… all joking aside, I’m fighting the good fight, and this year has got off to a good, solid start - it was great to round out last year with Dead by Dawn (Scar Comics) and of course drop a new story from 'The Cell' in The77 Annual.
Plus, I got to attend last years Thought Bubble along with The77 crew, and it was an experience exhilarating as it was exhaustive, and equally as compelling as it was humbling !!!
It’s not really slowed down since then …"
Since last time we spoke, you’ve become quite a sort after individual. Not only are we continuing to see your art in 'The77', you’ve also appeared in the 'Shift 2022 Yearbook', 'The Most Important Comic Book On Earth', and designed a skateboard for the band Cro-Mags. Not only this, but you’re also working on a strip for the upcoming 'Pandora' anthology too. Where do you get the time ?
AS - "It comes down to discipline - more so than ever, returning fully to work I’ve had to make careful use of my spare time, more so as I’m still suffering from fatigue …
But, y’know the heart wants what the heart wants, and illustrating sequential stuff, comics is a real passion so it’s not too much of a stretch. But, deadlines have got tighter and as my skill set improves, things can take longer to polish, so there’s often quite a few late nights or long days - I think recently I colored all six pages of Jubilee in four days, I knew I could do it - so I just had knuckle down and get it done !!!
I think straight off of the 'Annual' and the 'SHIFT yearbook' I’ve got more regimented and organized mentally and quite literally set a series of tasks to complete. It’s not as organic as I’d like, or as I prefer, but it allows me to manage my time and achieve the task in hand to an orderly and timely schedule.
Ideally, if this was a full time concern, I’d spend a whole day or more polishing, developing a page …
… for now, I’m throwing everything I’ve got in between work and family at the comic stuff !!!"
From a personal point of view, I would love to see you create a Judge Dredd strip. Has Tharg been in touch ?
AS - "I’d love to draw Dredd, but no they’ve not been in touch …
I think which ever way you write it, and I’ve explored other characters and played around drawing em’ - but it always comes back to Dredd, he’s my absolute favorite !!!
He’s monolithic stoic, reliable, and any change in character has been glacial and that constant is admirable and makes him so compelling to illustrate. I think I’ve yet to finalize my iteration of the character, and I’ve got to admit it’s a priority. If only for self satisfaction.
I did recently get to do some promotional work for a comic book store, and they’ve been authorized to use Dredd by Rebellion for non commercial purposes, I’ve done the black and white version and a very well known artist has done a version in color, so technically ‘I’ve been allowed to draw him’ …"
With a lot to talk about, can we start with The77 ?
So, at the moment you’re currently working on 'Silver Jubilee' with Dave Heeley, With the second episode set to appear soon, what can we expect ?
AS - "You can expect a more fully realized Jubilee, I was actually quite ill when I drew the first episode last year - so visually I’m pleased to get back into gear and deliver something closer to what was visually originally intended.
You can expect some story progression, there’s a few touchstones in here paving the way for future episodes, some new characters too !!!
There’s also a fair bit of action too - I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased a very good friend of mine recognized the beats and pacing from a favorite film of mine, a particular sequence - which, whilst not a homage, it’s clearly an influence. It’ll be cool to see if anyone else picks up on it !!!"
The narrative behind 'Silver Jubilee' is very different to that seen within 'The Cell', how different is your own process when it comes to illustrating Dave's strip compared to Bambos Georgious’ ?
AS - "It’s actually the same, once I’ve got the script in hand I make notes and little thumbnails as prompts, I then move to scrap paper and really rough out the layout of each page.
Once we’ve agreed in principle I move to working these out fully on art board, and once the finished pencils are signed off I’m pretty much left alone to ink and color.
Something that’s become a tradition, is once the pages are fully penciled - I now work between all the pages, jumping from one to another as the mood takes me, this is starting to give an overall consistency that I’m quite pleased with.
Both Bambos and Dave’s script structures are very similar, and there’s lots of latitude and freedom to explore the story visually."
Just jumping on to 'The Cell', do you know when it will return?
AS - "Jubilee has another three parts to run, before taking a break and 'The Cell' returns in issue eleven, Bambos has already written the last four installments, we’ve had them written since episode three was being drawn - this will complete the first book and hopefully see publication as a collected trade thereafter …
I’ve missed it a lot, I’m pleased and humbled by the response it’s gotten, and I think from what I’ve heard - 'The Cell’s' reprise in the annual was warmly received."
Aside from your continued work on The77 we will also see you appear in issue #1 of Pandora (The77 Productions). This time around you swap Dave Heeley for Jo Heeley. With the siblings being a creative force in their own right, how different are both to work with ?
SW - "Very similar, for no other reason than serendipity, both are clearly accomplished writers and understand the mechanics of what is required from a functional script. In fact both have a rather utilitarian approach, that makes the scripts easy to digest, work from and turn into finished pages of sequential art.
Whilst very different, you can see similar influences and naturally growing up in the same house reading the same comics there what I call that ‘Heeley Style’ - but conversely they’ve got very much their own vision."
And finally, what can we expect to see from you in the future?
AS - "In the immediate future, right after 'Pandora', I’ve work on an upcoming books cover, funnily enough it has a rabbit connection !?!
Obviously more 'Jubilee' and then 'The Cell', and there’s been talks with the publishers over at SHIFT.
I next on the slate for release is 'The History of Kirknewton' - a heritage funded fifty page plus graphic novel, a look and learn kind of thing. This was a blast as this features cover art from the late, great Ian Kennedy and is as I understand it, one of the last pieces he completed for publication. So, y’know that’s a huge honor."
To find out more about Andrw's work you can check out his online store, as well as The77 and SHIFT stores.
*Images courtesy of Andrew Sawyers *
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