3 Questions With… Will Perkins
This is part two with the creators of the Goblin series, writer Eric Grissom and artist Will Perkins. I first came across their work when they did a book launch at Kids Comics Unite for the first Goblin book. But it was actually on TikTok where Eric and I kept popping up in each other’s feeds that we connected. Eric struck up a conversation and I’ve been following his and Will’s work ever since.
Goblin is about Rikt, a teenage goblin who is the protagonist rather than the typical bad guy or cannon fodder of most fantasy works. The second book, The Wolf and the Well just came out.
Why comics?
I absolutely love drawing. But I think what draws me to comics specifically is the narrative and drama of it all. The script makes drawing a riddle that needs solving. Moving the reader’s eye, and how they interpret the pacing and drama of it all can be VERY rewarding and fun. When a single page from start to finish might take 5-16 hours to finish you need to find ways to keep enthusiasm at a high for myself as well as the reader.
Solving that riddle can be simply how to execute the story as it is written in the script exactly. Sometimes it is about communicating context or emotion to the reader and I get to choose how explicit to be within the confines of the writer’s intentions. Sometimes it requires being inventive and coming up with solutions the writer may have not anticipated. After the story is tackled my focus is to translate pacing and momentum to readers and do my best to hold their attention.
Reading comic books isn’t as passive as a movie. It’s easier than a book to grab attention, but harder to hold. If you stop paying attention to a movie or television, the story continues without you. A comic book is an active artform that requires both parties to participate.
Comic books are this amazing hybrid where the reader engages with the writing and art simultaneously so if they don’t work together the audience simply stops reading and just starts flipping through pages. My aim is to keep readers turning those pages, while glued to the writer’s narrative and try to hold their attention as long as possible. When I am able to translate a writer’s story and blend it with my own interpretation it becomes a combination of both of us. Something new. It is the ultimate achievement in drawing for me.
What is it that you want people to take away from your work?
I would like them to feel like I cared. That the work was filled with intent.
Intentionality is the thing that attracts me most when I consume media so I work hard to make sure the reader feels like I am not wasting their time.
I’m selling them a book. The audience is spending their money, but they are also spending their TIME with our story. Any freelancer will tell you time is your greatest currency and I want that time to feel like it was worth spending in my hands.
My aim is that intentionality and a bit of fun is on every page of my work. My hope is that it makes a lasting effect on the reader and that they will revisit those stories and find more of myself and the writer in the nooks and crannies of that story.
What is your favorite part/step of the process?
Layouts are my favorite step in starting any project. There is an endless possibility in the tiny thumbnails of loose doodles and panel boxes of laying out all the pages of a sequence.
By working tiny and moving quickly You get to play with ideas that otherwise would take too long to visualize and I can do the entire process without an eraser or ink. It’s just pencils, experimentation and momentum.
I love that i can try ideas faster and come back to the table with a dozen disposable ideas for the writer that I don’t have to regret abandoning because I haven’t committed myself to anything other than capturing the scene. It is like a scaffolding of a comix and all the important landmarks and broad strokes on the page can be about serving story and tone first and foremost. Then after that the discipline of daily pages and finished art begins. Layouts can be anything and you can plant seeds that germinated while you work further into the script and see problems to adjust for well in advance!
You can find Will online at:
Check out 3 Questions With Goblin writer Eric Grissom.
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