Interview With Robert Goodin (robertgoodin.com)
- Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I grew up an Air Force brat, living in 10 different locations for my first 18 years. I went to college at Cal State University, Long Beach and earned a BFA in Illustration. From there I went into the animation industry as a way to earn a living while drawing comics on the side. The problem with that plan was that animation didn’t leave much time on the side.
In animation, I’ve been a background artist and storyboard artist on Duckman, The Wild Thornberrys, Rugrats, and American Dad. Outside of animation, I drew and published comics. I started a company called the Robot Publishing Co. that was a collective of 8 fantastic artists: Andrew Brandou, Joy Kolitsky, Cathy Malkasian, Anthony Vukojevich, Michael Kenny, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Cesar Spinoza, and myself. We put out an anthology called Oden, as well as eight stand alone 2-color comics by each artist and some other assorted books until I lost too much money and had to stop. I continued to draw comics, however, and have had stories printed in Project: Romantic, Stripburger, Bile Noire, and I am currently a semi-regular artist in Mome.
- Who were/are you inspired by?
Oh the list is so, so long. I’ll try and keep it somewhat short to cartoonists, illustrators and filmmakers:
Cartoonists: Lorenzo Mattotti, Dupuy/Berberian, Martin Tom Dieck, E.C.Segar, David Mazzuchelli, Ludovic Debeurme, Blutch, Charles Burns, Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Jose Munoz, Hugo Pratt, Robert Crumb.
Illustrators – Ernest Shepard, Garth WIlliams, Ludwig Bemelmans, Mary Blair, John Tenniel
Filmmakers – Jean Renoir, Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard, David Lynch, Alfonso Cuaron, Alfred Hitchcock, Akira and Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation), Agnes Varda. A bunch of European directors from the late 30’s to the mid 60’s.
I could triple this list quite easily, but I’ll stay reasonable.
I might as well throw in Rembrandt’s etchings and Jean-Francois Millet’s pen landscape drawings just to be safe.
-. How do you relax after a tough day at work?
I come home and draw comics. On Thursdays I watch Lost. In the summer I might watch an Angels baseball game if it’s on the local station.
- What are some of your favorite movies?
Most by the people listed above, but specifically I’ll throw in: Contempt, Blue Velvet, Children of Men, Grand Illusion, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Au Hasard Balthazar. Again, I could go on…
-. Did you have a mentor/teacher that was influential while you were studying?
I did. One was an illustrator named Dick Oden. He was an illustration professor of mine and one of the most amazing draftsmen I have ever seen. He died during my last semester of school. He was a huge influence on everybody who was his student. He could be very frustrating in that he never seemed to give a direct answer to any question, but I learned so much just by standing over his shoulder and watching him work. My anthology was named after him, and I thought of trying to print some of his work in a future issue, but I ran out of dough. It’s a shame that it’s so difficult to find his work anywhere.
Another teacher that I had who still teaches at CSULB was David Hadlock. He was able to vocalize Dick Oden’s philosophy of bringing out the artist within and not imposing technique on to them a little better than Oden was himself. Both men were like guides in classes and resisted enforcing some sort of esthetic on the students. Students came out of that program with a wide range of very personal visions and styles.
- Do you have a favorite quote/philosophy for life?
I’ve always liked:
“Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun– all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.” It’s Ecclesiastes 9:9 from the NIV translation. It seems like the meaning of life, in all of its paradoxical glory.
-. What goals are you working toward?
To make a living doing what I love. That’s probably the case with most of humanity.
-. What awards and honors have you received?
I won a drawing award in high school. That was almost 20 years ago.
- Do you collect anything?
Comics, books, movies, music and a small collection of currency with dictator’s heads on them. So far I have General Mobutu Sese Seko and Sadam Hussein.
-. Do you have a list of things to do before you die/when you retire?
To create a body of work that I can be proud of.
-. Is there anything in your life that you would like to change?
I wouldn’t mind being a little more economically sound. Having a kid would be great. I married a woman I love, I have a great espresso machine, have good friends and I draw for a living. Life is pretty good.
-. Is there an ideal place where you’d like to work?
Other than the steady paycheck, the best thing about working in the animation industry is working with great, talented and humble people every day (a rarity in Hollywood). Ideally, I would keep that environment, but instead of working on a tv show, I’d like to be drawing comics.
-. What kind of people do you enjoy socializing with? Associating yourself with?
I usually associate with cartoonists or animation artists, but I enjoy being with anyone who has a passion for things as long as it’s not about getting rich or American Idol.
-. Have you ever had a super tight deadline? What was the solution you came up with?
Oh yeah. The only solution that I know of is espresso (see above) and working through the night.
-. What mediums do you wish you had more time to explore? Why?
I regret not taking a printmaking class in college. I have since taken a silk screening class and do prints on my dining room table. Someday I’d like to get a letterpress, but that takes space I don’t have. I’d also love to try lithography and making lawn sculptures.
-. What is your favorite medium to work in?
My brush pen. I can draw a line a hair’s width or super fat. It responds to every subtle movement I make with my hand. You can see in my line if I feel confident or tentative. My tentative drawings tend to be pretty poor.
-. If you never went into art, what do you think you’d be doing instead?
Jeez, I think it would have to be art related. Perhaps I’d try and direct low-budget movies, or create a coffee shop / indy comic store. Maybe I’d try architecture and design a crazy mini-golf course.
-. What do you do when you’re not doing art?
I read, watch movies, listen to or watch Angel baseball games. I like to travel, but usually do all of my traveling to comic conventions. I hang out with friends, walk my dog, and search for old Jack Kirby comics.
-. What would make you feel accomplished in your goals? Fame? Reputation?
I’ve always judged success by earning the respect of those that I respect. Groupies wouldn’t be bad, either.
-. How do you feel about the business side of art?
A necessary evil.
-. Do you have your own studio? Do you share a studio with others?
My studio is currently in a closet that is 3 feet wide. Sometimes I’ll spin in my chair and bang my knees on the legs of my drawing table that I made myself to fit the confines of the space. It’s very womblike.
-. If you could change one thing about your workplace, what would it be?
To move my studio out of the closet.
-. What would be your ideal working situation?
To have complete freedom to go where the muse takes me and make a living at it.
-. Do you enjoy sharing your ideas? Why/why not?
I’m always showing my comics to friends and my wife for feedback. It’s very important to me that my storytelling be clear and the dialog not be too clunky. They have all been very helpful in those regards.
-. Are you on any social networking sites? Portfolio sites?
I’m on Facebook and MySpace. I have a website at www.robertgoodin.com.
-. What are you working on now that you can tell us about?
I just finished up a stand alone 30 page comic for Top Shelf called,The Man Who Loved Breasts.It will have the title story as well as a couple of back-up stories. I’m very excited about this book and I hope that people will enjoy it. If readers likedThe Fart of Lovethat I did forProject:Romantic, then this is for them. It’s the same sort of humor. I will also have a short story in an upcoming issue ofMomecalledLiving like a Pig. This will be the fifth fable from India that I have adapted to comics form.
I’ve also recently finished some hand-made sketchbooks / journals that have a silkscreened cover on 1/8″ plywood covers. They are extremely limited (I made 25 of them) and I sell them at comic conventions and will try to get them on my website soon.
In February of 2009 I will be having an art show at Secret Headquarters in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. I’ll be doing a bunch of new paintings for that.
In addition to those, I have a lot of projects in various stages of development and all of them are comics. One is a kid’s comic, another a graphic novel about a horse, a third is a 20+ page story about Carl Jung. It’s hard to say which of those I will focus on next or when “next” will be due to economics. None of these projects are likely to earn much, if any money. Sadly, a lot of energy is spent on trying to figure out ways to earn a living and doing these very time consuming comics at the same time. I’m not alone in this dilemma and somehow I have been able to get work done. I just can’t help but wonder how my life might be different if I could make a living doing the comics that I want to do. All this said, I’m not mining coal or digging through land fills looking for food, so I’m doing all right.
-. Whose style influenced your work the most?
I look at everything and learn from everything. Hopefully there are so many of them, that no single person seems apparent when one looks at my work. I’ll study how Rembrandt drew leaves, and how Robert Crumb can cross hatch a comic and not have it get too busy. I’ve looked at how Dick Oden would draw the corners of a woman’s mouth, how Alex Toth lays down ink or how Paul Pope uses white space. I’ve looked at Egon Scheile’s protruding scapulas, Lorenzo Mattotti’s virtuoso line, and tried in vain to figure out how Jack Kirby could draw figures that looked unbelievably massive but could still fly. All of this and more goes into my brain, mixes with my experiences and comes out my arm.
