Visiting Artist: Dylan Horrocks

In September, CCS was fortunate to have Dylan Horrocks come all the way from New Zealand to lecture. Dylan was equally excited to see CCS. If anywhere in the world is Hicksville, the fictional city his breakout graphic novel is named after, he said it would be the hometown of CCS, White River Junction, VT.

Dylan Horrocks speaking to the CCS students and faculty

One of the important lessons he passed on to the glowing crowd of students was about how every time he got a bigger book deal—his first comic published in Australia, his first comic with DC, a book deal with Drawn and Quarterly—he thought, “This is it. This is easy street.” But lo and behold, it was not. Dylan expressed that he still has to work and work.

One of Dylan’s first big projects was Pickle, ended up as a serialization of his first graphic novel

A pivotal point in Dylan’s career dealt with a personal comics crises. He wasn’t happy with the way he drew, so he studied European comics and old children’s books and worked toward emulating their fluidity. However, it felt like he was fighting his natural drawing style and that struggle slowed him to a stop. Fortunately, one day he was speaking with Carla Speed McNeil and she told him, “Kid, if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” So he realized he wanted to draw comics. He wanted to do it for pleasure! Who cared if it was bad! He moved on from his fancy art supplies back to his felt tip pens and cheap paper. With fancy tools, he was too slow and tight. This change allowed him to loosen up, to draw by instinct.

Students Steve Thueson ’16, Kazimir Lee Iskander ’16, Jarad Greene ’17, and Jacob Boussiere ’17 listening intently

As with most cartoonists, this was not the end of Dylan’s emotional woes. He began to wonder about the purpose of making comics, feeling ambivalent toward the whole process. As can be the case with cartoonists, he explored these thoughts in his newest work Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen. Are we morally responsible for our fantasies? How do we behave if we don’t know what our comics will do? In making Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen, Dylan realized that he finds pleasure in drawing. He concluded that if he thinks deeply about why he draws, he is more comfortable living with these questions.

Dylan’s parting words: “Here’s your blank paper. Now make a mess.”

Portrait by Kane Lynch ’16

Portrait by Jarad Greene ’17

Photos of the Visiting Artist Seminar courtesy Abe Olson.