Drawn

Graham Annable (born June 1, 1970, in Canada) is a cartoonist and animator living in Portland, Oregon. He is the creator of Grickle, published by Dark Horse, and one of the founders of the Hickee humor anthology (published by Alternative Comics). Annable has created works for the television, film, video game, and comic book industries. His
self-produced short animated films are popular among YouTube watchers.

Graham recently released a best-of compilation of his comics through Dark Horse, The Book of Grickle.

Drawn!: You have a new book out, The Book of Grickle, which comprises some of your short comic pieces. Is this a continuation of your previous books, Grickle, and Further Grickle, or is there some overlap?

Graham Annable: I’d say overall it’s a collection of my favourite pieces spanning from 2001-2007. It contains a selection of stories from the previous out of print Grickle and Further Grickle books and sprinkled amongst those tales are mini comics and hard to find stories I’ve done over the past few years. It feels great to have them all together in such a nice little hardcover package.

D: How would you define Grickle? If not the word itself, then the body of work. Is it an umbrella term for all your personal work, or is there something specific and Grickley about the stories and art you release under hat name?

GA. I would say it’s an umbrella term for the style and types of stories I seem to create. The name comes from the many nicknames my Dad used for both my sister and I growing up. When I first compiled the stories into a home-made booklet years ago “Grickle” just felt like the right unifying name for it all. And it has ever since.

D: Your stories — both in the comics, and your animated shorts on YouTube — often tend towards the dark and the bizarre. What is it that draws you to these kinds of stories and scenarios? Who are some of your influences?

GA: I don’t know for sure. It’s the type of stories I’ve always naturally gravitated to. I’m a big Stanley Kubrick fan, along with Polanski and Lynch too. They all create films and stories that have an incredible amount of emotional punch and starkness for me. I love experiencing that in stories whether it’s in film or books or whatever medium. Some cartoonists I admire are Sempe, Trondheim, and Harvey Kurtzman. They all tell so much with so little. I really admire that in art and it’s what I think I’m always striving for in my own work.

D: The cartooning influences certainly all are evident when looking at your work. The characters of Grickle — including your sort-of everyman character — all have a simple,stick figure quality to them. Obviously this creates a freedom for you as a storyteller — not only can the characters be whomever you want them to be, but I imagine they can be posed fairly quickly (and to great effect). How did you come to this style? Was it intentional, or did it evolve out of animation and storyboarding deadlines?

GA: The style has evolved out of my desire to find the quickest, most efficient method of finalizing an idea onto paper. Not so much because of deadlines (although it helps!) but out of a need to stay inspired with an idea and then get onto the next piece of business while still riding that wave of motivation. I like to get to the good stuff and then move on. :) I’m sure working in animation over the years has a lot to do with it as well.

D: Tell me a little bit about your writing process — for both the comics and animated pieces. The dialogue in your comics is very natural, and almost seems improvised. How much planning is involved in your work, and how much of the writing is done during the creation? Likewise, animation is usually so labourious as to prevent much improvisation, but your limited motion and simple character design suggest that it’s more of a possibility in your work than in most animation.

GA: The majority of my stories start from a single event or doodle. I get struck with a situation that I find compelling and I then begin to build context around it from there. Usually I’ll move onto doodling out the story idea in really small thumbnails and visuals so rough that I’m the only one who could decipher them (most of the time). I really try hard to let the characters talk in a natural manner and not get too hasty to consolidate all the essential story bits right away. The thing that I love most about comics and animation is the characters and so I want them to have a chance to breathe on the page or in film as best as I can without losing the story. That’s always the balance I strive for in my work.

D: Can you walk us through your process for creating your animation? What software do you use, and how do you put it all together?

GA: Sure! I draw everything using a Cintiq monitor. All the artwork is done in Photoshop using some custom brushes I have. I then organize my animation into layers and bring it all into AfterEffects. In AfterEffects I get all the timing and sound work done and then export out a finished movie file. It’s a pretty simplistic process.

D: Which Grickle short is your favourite?

GA: I really can’t say. They’ve all been enjoyable ventures for me and I like each of them for different reasons I think. I suppose the Hidden People holds a special place in my heart but I feel unfair even saying that.

D: Can we expect a collection of the animated shorts any time in the future?

GA: It’s something I’ve been asked about a lot over the years. I think at some point I will stop and take a breather and just focus on getting them all collected. But for now it’s too much fun just continuing to create them.

D: Tell us a bit about Puzzle Agent, the game based on your artwork for Telltale Games. How did it come about? You were the creative director at Telltale, which itself was founded by former colleagues if yours from LucasArts. How does it feel to have your work come full circle like this, to where a game’s look is now influenced by your personal creative work?

GA: It’s been incredibly rewarding to have this project happen. The folks at Telltale really grasp my style and sensibilties and so I have complete confidence in them making this a truly “Grickle” kind of a game. I’ve always maintained a close relationship with everyone there even after I’d departed as creative director some years ago. I’ve been creating a webcomic Dank/Dunk continously on the website since the company began. The project happend as a result of some good timing for both parties. I pitched an idea to them about a Grickle puzzle mystery game and it just happened to coincide with their plans to begin a pilot program at the company. The Grickle game was a perfect fit to launch this new model of game creation for the company.

D: I’ve enjoyed your Stuff I Remember drawings on Flickr. Partly because they are departure in both style and subject matter from your Grickle pieces, but also because I’m fascinated by the sorts of things that people hold on to from childhood. Do you have any aspirations to do more autobiographical stuff, or explore more of these little vignettes/moments?

GA: I’m very glad you enjoyed them. I definitely intend to continue to do them as ideas and memories come to me. I’ve really enjoyed trying to encapsulate these past moments into vignettes I can share with others.

D: What’s next on your plate?

GA: I’ve got a couple of comics related projects I’m looking forward to diving in to once I’ve completed work on the “Puzzle Agent” game. The video game has kept me so busy as of late that I’ve had to put a few things on the back burner. There are also numerous animated short ideas I can’t wait to put up on the Grickle channel. Just need to find the time again. Soon! :)