IN THE TUB WITH … CAANAN GRALL

Hello and welcome to the second of my “In the Tub” interviews – this time with Caanan Grall the creator of Zuda hit Celadore now well into it’s second season. Catch up with it now right now – links above and below – no excuses. Belated congrats on the second season and welcome to my tub Caanan. Sorry there’s no plasma screen this time, David Gallaher knocked it off the wall getting out of tub after my last interview. Big ass bastard!

CG: It’s okay. We’ll cuddle up to the iPod and go blind from eyestrain. S’cool.

Now then, down to business. Are you Australian or not? Canadian? American? What is it? Can’t make your mind up? Only kidding. It’s a long held traditional national past-time shared by Brits and Aussies to take the piss outta one another before being friendly. Seriously where are you based?

CG: Didn’t take long to get into the whinging did it, pommy. ;o) I am indeed Australian, but I am living in Toronto. I aim to make it my home because I love snow. And Degrassi. Also, Australia is running out of water fast. Seriously, people laugh at climate change, and the ‘inconvenient truth’ but damn, we’ve been living with it in Australia for the last 7 – 8 years. Farms are dying off. Animals are dying off. The 6km (3.7 miles) circumference lake in my home town of Ballarat is completely dried up. That’s a BIG lake! They had to re-home the swans and the ducks and the solitary goose! … So I sought greener pastures, as it were.

Do you know that Foz character who the won the last contest? I mean Australia’s not that big is it?

CG: No I don’t. I didn’t know Sheldon was Australian either til I met him, and we’re from the same city. When I meet people at conventions they always offer up some Australian comicker’s name they know and maybe 50% of the time I know who they’re talking about. Yeah, Australia’s pretty small. The comic scene even smaller.

Now Celadore. All going according to plan? I seem to remember that despite winning many moons ago you came in for some unfavourable (and unwarranted) Buffy comparisons. How did you feel about that then and has it influenced where you’ve gone with Celadore?

CG: No. It is not going according to plan. Not at all! I had a very specific plan in mind for a three chapter arc (formed back before I didn’t even know I’d get a second go at it) and it was a very finite story. The third part took place 12 years later with Eve all grown up, and the new Cel (Jason) married, with kids, living a normal life (with a winery named Celadore – ha! She is a viticulturist, after all). Anyway, some very dark things happened (mostly to Sam – poor Sam) and Kwanza got back to me with some great editorial suggestions on keeping it lighter, and less melodramatic. I got totally on board with that, and everything changed. This second chapter is still the main story I intended with some details changed, mostly the ending, but it’s in a better place now, (thanks to Kwanza kick-starting the better half of my unused brain), and if I get to do part 3, you’ll really see it go into some nutty, fun, territory.

Now, the Buffy comparisons? When I was coming up with the story idea and the world to play in, Buffy never even entered my mind – I never watched it – but when people started pointing out the Buffy thing, I didn’t mind. It’s just a comparison. Who cares? Plus, I knew the whole story and had way more information about what I was doing than everyone else, so it never fazed me. When people came out and accused me of basically watching Buffy and thinking I could do it better myself? THAT I took issue with. Draw all the comparisons you like, but don’t accuse me of plagiarism. Thanks.

It seems to me that the interplay between your characters is almost as important to you as the story. There’s a lot of conversational back ‘n’ forth going on. Is that a story plan or are you just enjoying yourself?

CG: Oh, I’m definitely enjoying myself. The thing is, I don’t like captions – narrative, or interior monologue, whichever – unless they tell you something you can’t get across in a natural way. Or a simpler way. Conversation, or visual detail. You should never, say, have a caption stating it’s night time if you can just colour the sky black, for example.

I’m also an observer. I’m one of those people who kinda sits back and listens more than talks just because I love the timbre of my own waffling. Anyone observing conversations knows people talk mostly in short, sharp sentences. Not ALL the time, of course, but mostly. So, I write like that. I have long sentences when I need to, like people do in real life, but I like to keep it mostly quick. I like to think using this conversational tone draws people in to the story. Lets people figure out who these characters are on their own. I also think it maintains an air of uncertainty. The more people are drawn in watching these scenes unfold, the easier it is to catch them off guard. They even catch me off guard. I have a story plan, but the conversations, to me, are malleable, and they almost always change from the script. The characters really do write it for me. It’s a cliche, but it’s true.

Your main characters are children and even most of the adults are young adults it’s seems (despite signs of immortality). What’s the attraction of writing about kids adventures over, say more adult ones?

CG: Well, Wax is physically 25. When he was made that was practically at the end of the average human lifespan. It’s also not his original body, but I’m just getting way off topic now.

When I discovered comics, I was a kid. Started reading old Disney and Archie comics, and Asterix, when I was 6. So I want to produce stuff that the next generation of kids can discover. Comics today, I think, are being written more and more for 20 – 30 year olds. I never see kids in the comic shops I go to. NEVER. I see them when I go up to the internet cafe on the corner with my USB stick to print stuff out, playing network games. I get that comics have become more adult as they’ve tried to gain a little more respect in the wider world, but if we don’t start trying to draw those kids out of their back-breaking, spine-melting swivel chairs and into the comic shops soon, who’s gonna be reading them in 20 years time? Ah, I dunno. It’s a bigger issue than just me, but I’d like to think I’m helping a little by staying in family friendly fare. Not that family friendly means dumbing things down. You’ll win more kids over by not treating them like idiots. Kids are smarter than we are. Smarter than I am, anyway.

Where did you learn how to draw this well? It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan and that for me you’re the biggest ‘find’ on Zuda so far. Like a natural. And I was impressed by that very first thing I saw, before Celadore. Maybe you posted it on the message board or something. I can’t quite remember. But where does the skill come from? Is this studied or just freaky super-natural?

CG: I taught myself. I started by copying Disney characters, Archie, Looney Tunes, etc. My room used to be plastered with large cutout Disney characters I did in colour pencil myself, and my dad even has a lined writing pad of paper FILLED with Hanna Barbera characters I did when I was 10 or so. After that, I moved on to copying Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, etc. and then, when I was 14, I decided never to copy anything again and my art went from Awesome! to Awful and I learned all over again. From scratch. Now, I draw everything from my head. I absorb as much visual information as I can, and only draw on reference when absolutely necessary. I did life drawing. Studied animation books. Anatomy books. And when I got good again, I strived to get simpler. To eliminate as many superfluous lines from my art as possible.

The first thing you saw was probably one of my 24 hour comics. I wish I was healthy enough to keep doing those, they’re so much fun, but I think those days are behind me.

Are you a determined loner, a singular writer/artist/colourist/letterer, or do you see a point where you’d be happy to collaborate? It seems like you’ve got the chops to do pretty much anything and everything yourself, but how do you see that panning out in future? Is there anyone on Zuda that you think “shit I wish I could do that”?

CG: They say Australian actors can do it all. Sing, dance, and play an instrument as well as act because it’s a small industry and they’ve got to be versatile. Well, Australian comickers are similar. We have a VERY small industry in Oz, so if you’re really serious about making it, it’s much easier to rely on yourself than anyone else.

I’m definitely up for collaboration though. On the right projects. I actually had something in the pipeline (5 pages were drawn) with another Zude, but when Celadore was renewed I had to shelve it. I really hope we get to see it again one day. I couldn’t continue it on the side as I did a different art style on it, and to do that and Cel at the same time created a kind of schism in my brain and both projects would have suffered.

I’d love to transition one day to just writing. My spine has suffered a lot at the drawing board, so health-wise, it may even be essential one day. There are a lot of artists on Zuda whose stuff I love. Ellis. Sheldon. Adam Atherton. The Timonys. Amy Pearson. That tenacious Steiner fella. I could go ON. I have the Celadore origin story all plotted out and if I couldn’t do it myself, I’d love to get Amy on it. Her art would fit the story like a glove.

Putting the work on Celadore aside what do you look to for inspiration? And that’s just a general question, not specifically about comics. It could be movies or books or even (god forbid) music.

CG: I look to anything that’s a well told story. Movies. TV. Comics. Books. Music (I’m a lyrics man). I devour creative stuff like mad. The actual things that inspire me to create my own stuff is when I read non-fiction articles. Mostly scientific stuff. New advances. Mysteries. Conspiracies. I love all this stuff that fuels the imagination. When you read about a new breakthrough, or a new product, all of a sudden you have a TON of new stories you could create revolving around these things.

So last question. Got any surprises lined up for Celadore or yourself? What does the future hold?

CG: I honestly have no idea. I don’t know if there’ll be a part 3, and if there is, it’ll probably be the last. I have a TON of stories, but it’s uncertain to me what Zuda’s long term plans are. Failing more Celadore, I will be back with another idea. Most likely the collaboration I started, and probably something else too. I continue to write down gags for my squirrel comic strip but never get to draw them, and I have another kid idea I’m itching to do revolving around the betterment of the planet. ;o) I just want to tell stories and comics are the most immediate way to do so.

I won’t give anything away about Celadore, except to say if you’re wondering where the action is, I drew it today. Two pages of near-dialogue-free craziness. And it’ll only get crazier from there.

Thanks Caanan. Now if I can just give you some advice. Don’t let any of those other dicks talk over you at the next Zuda panel. Stand up for yourself. Hehe!

CG: I was only a figurehead anyway. Not entirely sure what I was representing though.

Well that’s it from me and Caanan. We’re going to dry off and head down to the beach and maybe save some chicks from drowning – something manly anyway. See you all next month for another interview In the Tub with … !!!

CG: I think you should video interview the Timony twins entirely in mime.

I think you should stick to Celadore