From The Library: Jim Rugg
Posted by ElizabethGenco on Thursday, January 18 2007 at 12:55 pm
Jim Rugg made quite the spash on the indy comics scene a few years ago with his collaboration with Brian Maruca, STREET ANGEL. Eager Rugg fans (yes, that would be me) patiently awaiting his next big work will soon have a doozy on their hands: The PLAIN Janes (with Cecil Castellucci), the first release from Minx, Vertigo’s brand new and sure-to-be-awsome young adult line.
You just finished a 150-page young adult graphic novel in record time. How do you feel?
I feel good about it. I always hate my drawing when I’m doing it, but DC just sent me a couple of galleys of the book, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
How long did it take, from start to finish?
About six months.
About a year and a half ago (if memory serves, which it may not), we were chatting or emailing and you mentioned that you were wary of the scope and magnitude of your chosen projects because you didn’t want comics to feel like a job. How do you feel about that now? Do you have any desire to be a full-time comics maker?
I just gave notice at my job. In a couple weeks, I will be making comics full-time. I’m looking forward to it. It’s a big change from my usual routine, but I’m eager to give it a shot. I think there are drawbacks to doing comics full-time or doing them part-time. I forget how to draw very quickly. If I go a couple of days without drawing, it takes time to readjust and get back into it. So drawing full-time offers me a chance to improve my drawing (hopefully).
It will also give me more time to have a life. My wife has been incredibly patient the last few years as I worked 70-80 hours a week. I’ll have time to read books again. So there are trade-offs, like seeking dependable pay checks, but I look forward to the benefits too.
I hear you on the reading tip. I’m looking forward to that myself (note to readers: I also just bid adieu to my day job). What’s in your “to be read” pile?
Right now, I have bookmarks in the following titles:
Cold Black Preach (Robert DeCoy)
Ghetto Sketches (Odie Hawkins)
Blood Meridian (Cormac Mccarthy)
Popeye vol 1
Yes Yes Y’All: An Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade (Ooo! I must pick this up…)
The Machine in Ward Eleven (Charles Willeford)
That Greg Irons book that Fantagraphics put out last year…
I just won some Herbie’s on Ebay (which I’ll probably have to read as soon as they arrive)…
Got any New Year’s resolutions?
Exercise now and then. Make better comics. Stop adopting cats.
Stop adopting cats? Sounds like there’s a story there….
Not really. I had a cat. Then I adopted another one to keep the first one company, and then I ended up with a third one. It was an accident. She wasn’t planned. We rescued it from an abandoned house, and we couldn’t find a shelter that would take her. And over the next few days, we fell in love with her. Now we have 3 cats, and that’s a lot. But they’re all real awesome, so it works out. But I don’t think we can have any more without becoming the crazy cat people whose house is smelly.
Have you ever skateboarded?
Very little, but enough to almost break my hip.
What’s next?
PLAIN Janes! Look for it in May. After that…I don’t know. I’m inking American Virgin from Vertigo. I’ll probably draw another PLAIN Janes book. And Brian Maruca (co-creator of Street Angel) and I have been working on an Afrodisiac series forever, so I’m optimistic that will finally see the light of day.
Category: From the Library
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Comment by Tom
Posted Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I’m glad to hear Jim’s still kickin’ it. Love that guy’s work.