How long have you been drawing?
Ever since I was very small. I loved Garfield a lot, and tried my best to make funny comics like that. I was also really into drawing eyeballs for a while. Just eyeballs, over and over. Were my parents worried about me? Maybe?
Which authors and books inspire you?
SO MANY!!! I was a huge reader when I was young, and some of my big inspirations growing up were Diana Wynne Jones (Howl’s Moving Castle, The Chrestomanci Quartet) and K.A. Applegate (Animorphs), as well as Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha).
Right now, I really love N.K. Jemisin (The Broken Earth Series), Sarah Rees Brennan (In Other Lands), Jen Wang (Prince and the Dressmaker, Stargazing), Yuko Ota and Ananth Hirsh (Johnny Wander, Barbarous), Ngozi Ukazu (Check, Please!), Cathy G. Johnson (Breakaways), and sooooo many more. I could go on forever.
Will you be making more Baby-Sitters Club books?
The eighth BSC graphic novel adaptation, Logan Likes Mary Anne!, was my fourth contribution to the series, and my last for now. I’ve stepped away from BSC to work on my original graphic novels – but that doesn’t mean it’s over! Chan Chau, Gabriela Epstein, Cynthia Yuan Cheng, and Ellen Crenshaw are all incredible cartoonists whose contributions to the series are blowing me away. I love being a part of this club, and I am so excited to read their books along with you. ♥
What tools do you use to make comics?
This is an evolving answer! There are tools that I like better to convey different moods, and some feel easier than others because I’ve practiced more. I love to play around and find new tools and methods that work for what I’m trying to show. So don’t feel like there’s one thing you need to use if you want to make comics – the answer is different for everyone.
That said! Right now, I thumbnail and pencil my pages digitally in two programs, Clip Studio and Procreate. When I inked BSC pages, I was using 11×17 vellum bristol paper, a G nib (for most of my lines), Deleter 4 black ink, a brush pen (for thicker lines), and Deleter 2 whiteout, which I would then scan in, clean up, and letter with Photoshop (complicated!). You can see what those pages looked like here!
I went fully digital for my most recent graphic novel, Freestyle, and would love to go back to using paper again soon. Point is, processes keep changing, and figuring out what you like is part of the fun.
I have a great idea for a book! Will you illustrate it for me?
Unfortunately, my projects are very time-consuming, but may I give you a suggestion? When I was in grade school, I also loved to tell stories, and wanted to make comics very badly. So I tried to draw my own comics! Even when I didn’t think they were as good as I wanted, I still learned a lot, and I got to show them to all my friends afterwards. I also liked to team up with my friends to make comic books together! Is there anyone you know who might be interested in creating a story with you? It’s a lot of fun, and you’ll make some wonderful memories. (If you’re an adult, please reach out to my agent. Thank you!)
Will you come visit my school or library?
I’d love to! The best thing you can do is tell your teacher or librarian when there’s an author you’d like to see. Sometimes they can arrange visits, virtual or physical! (If you are an adult: hello, and thank you for your interest! Please visit this page.)
Who is your favorite BSC character?
It’s Claudia!! I’m jealous of her style, and I also love candy very much. I still remember when I was a kid reading the original Baby-Sitters Club books by Ann M. Martin, waaay back in the 1990s, and realizing for the first time that Claudia was an Asian-American person like me. It was a very special feeling, because it was the first time that had happened for me. And she was so creative and cool!! (You can also see me talk about my Claudia Feelings in The Claudia Kishi Club, a short documentary by Sue Ding. It’s on Netflix! Ahh!)
Did you write the Baby-sitters Club graphic novels or draw them? How did you come up with the ideas?
The BSC was originally a series of prose books that were coming out when I was a kid (I’m a long-time fan!), so what I did was adapt the original books into graphic novel format. This means that the story existed already, but I had to figure out ways to tell it visually – kind of like when you watch a movie and find out it was a book first. So I had to take out some events, swap others around, and write entirely new ones to make everything fit together. It’s a big story puzzle! The adaptation process involves both writing and drawing, and I talk a little more about it here if you’re interested in making comics based on your own favorite books!
I want to learn how to draw!
I’m still working on this myself! The best advice I can give you is to draw mindfully and often. What this means is that it really helps to practice a lot, while also taking the time to think about what you’re drawing and why. Do you want to draw more like somebody? Do you want to draw hands or horses better? Learning to draw is kind of like getting better at a sport – if you’re thinking about what muscles you want to strengthen, or trying to get better at one part of your game, you can do exercises focused on improving those things. But also, don’t be afraid to mess up! The best thing about drawings is that you can always make more, and every drawing you make is going to be a little bit better than the last one. Especially with comics, where you have to make so many drawings!!
How long does it take you to make a book?
This is a question that everyone has a different answer for! Some people take ten years, some people take six months (how??), and there’s nothing wrong with either of those options. So please remember that it’s perfectly okay to take as long as you need on your own comics!
With that caveat in mind, my own answer to this question is: a bit over a year for each BSC book. For me personally, I took about three months on scripting and thumbnails, and then the rest of the bit-over-a-year went to pencils, inks, cleanup, and lettering. Because I was adapting books that already exist, I didn’t have to come up with the whole plot from scratch (although there is writing involved in adaptations!); and because I was working with a wonderful colorist, Braden Lamb, I didn’t have to do the hard work of coloring the book – that would have taken much longer. Books are a lot of work, and they’re also a team effort!
(Now I’m working on my own original books, and they definitely take a bit longer! Please look forward to them.)
Can I mail you a letter?
Absolutely, I love getting letters! You can find more info here.