An Interview With Iain Laurie, Illustrator

This month we turn our attention to Edinburgh illustrator and comic artist Iain Laurie. Iain has to be one of the most prolific illustrators I’ve met in recent years. He seems to have no less than four projects going on at once at any given time.

We got a chance to interview Iain early last month. I also took the occasional opportunity to bombard him about his love for Doctor Who. Although, it turns out that he’s not nearly as geek for it as I am. What can I say, up until last month I was out in Florida where nobody has ever heard of the programme. I have to take every opportunity I get. Sorry Iain.

When you draw, do you have much of a preconceived idea of what you want to express or do you just let it develop right there and then and establish the meaning afterwards?

If I’m doing a comic then there’s always a preconceived idea in there, even if it’s a loose one. Even though people might look at Powwkipsie, All The Dead Superheroes or my Horror Mountain stuff and think its random there’s always a point or structure to what I’m doing. With Mothwicke, which is just single drawings, it’s a bit looser, usually just me trying to catch a certain type of person.

My favourite project you’ve done in recent times is  ‘Mothwicke’ where you collaborated with Fraser Campbell. Who has been your favourite person to collaborate with over the years and how do much of these collaborations come about?

Thanks. Fraser and me have been mates for about 20 odd years and I love collaborating with him. We’re about the same age, come from the same area of Scotland and have a lot of similar influences-‘Twin Peaks’, Reeves and Mortimer, Dennis Potter-and the same sense of humour. So working with him is easy. With Mothwicke I basically send him the drawings and he writes the stories based on what he sees or feels about them. I also like working with Craig Collins who I’ve worked with on a few things now, Roachwell being the most well known I guess. Craig’s stuff is like nobody else’s in terms of a weird obtuse humour that permeates everything he writes. I’m working on a new thing with him just now and I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. Those 2 are my main collaborators and I enjoy working with them a lot. I’m about to start working with another writer just now called John Lees. Johns a star in the making without a doubt. His comic The Standard is excellent and we’re collaborating on something just now that’s a bit hush-hush and it’s been a challenge and a pleasure so far. I’ve been very lucky with writers.

Classic “Who” or new “Who”?

Oooh, well I have to admit I’m late to the game with Dr Who. I remember it being on when I was a kid but I always watched US shows instead.I watched some of the Russel T Davies/ DavidTennant stuff but it was too camp and over emotional for me. Then Steven Moffat and Matt Smith took over and it became absolute must-see TV. I absolutely love it now. I will say that I remember odd flashes of liking Tom Baker though.

If you were ever approached by a major comic publisher to breath new life into an aging and tired superhero character which one would you most like it to be?

That’s a good question. I’m a huge Marvel and DC fan so that’s a lot of scope. Batman is the Holy Grail for me, but I’m not sure I could handle doing a Batman story. I think, based on the types of things I tend to write, that my choice would be Dr Strange. I think I could do a good Dr Strange story.Marvel, if your reading this, call me.

Were you freaked out, sad or non-plussed when Adric died at the end of Earthshock?

At first I thought this was a game reference so I googled it and it’s a Dr Who character right? Sorry Gregor, I have no idea who that is. I’ve let you down.

Did you study illustration at college or are you self-trained?

Well, I went back to college late in life and studied Graphic Design (which I disliked) and then moved to Illustration. It was a bit of a pointless course that didn’t really teach me much, but I did get to meet my mate artist Garry Brown who was on the course. Now he’s doing stuff for Marvel, DC and Dark Horse. Crazy to think somebody of his talent was told by lecturers that he didn’t have what it takes. It says a lot about illustration courses.

If you ever hit a brick wall with one of your projects or illustrations, what’s your remedy?

It depends. I tend to just put it to one side and watch a film or some TV and that helps. Or read a comic or go to an exhibition. I remember hitting a serious block and seeing Charles Avery’s ‘Islanders” and just left the exhibition full of ideas. I think Mothwicke definitely started there for sure, the idea of creating your own environment and the people within it.

Your work has a definite narrative running through it. how do the majority of them start out life? Do you tend to sketch first or start by writing some dialogue?

That’s a tough one. They just come to me, to be honest. There’s a distance from it, which is healthy I think. I usually see a random image in my head and stuff starts forming around that and I sort of edit that in my head. ‘Where do you get your ideas’ is the toughest question.

Which is more of a challenge? Writing or illustrating?

Drawing, 100%. I’ve written stuff for other artists in the last few years and that’s a real pleasure for me. Id love to do more of that as you don’t have the burden of “..I have to draw this now”.

George Clooney once said that he forces himself to watch the movie “Batman and Robin” at least once a year in order to remind himself of what can happen when you don’t try. What do you do in order to ensure that you maintain your high standards?*

I put pins in a Joel Schumacher doll. No, I am my own harshest critic, as anybody who has worked with me will tell you. Anything of mine that you’ve seen has been the subject of much inner turmoil..and I guarantee I’ll hate it in a few months time. Except for All The Dead Superheroes. I’m oddly proud of that for some reason.

Finally, what’s in the future for Iain Laurie?

Well, Mothwickes ongoing. We’ve been slack with that recently as Fraser is really busy with proper writing stuff just now but we’ll probably end up doing that till we’re old(er) men.

I’ve got a lot of stuff on the go just now. I’ve just finished a 4 pager for an Edinburgh science-fiction magazine produced by Bram Gieben, and a 2-page story for the Glasgow League Of Writers Anthology 2 written by Gordon Robertson. I’ve written a script for the Glasgow artist Garry McLaughlin for a future GloW anthology too.Theyre a good bunch of guiys and I like doling stuff with them. These are mostly small things but my main stuff coming up are the projects with Craig and John although hopefully down the line I’ll get round to some of my own stuff.

I can see me and Fraser doing something longer and more in depth at some point, and me and Elph are always on the verge of collaborating on something too.

* Disclaimer: I am in no way suggesting that Iain Laurie has ever done anything as unworthy as this pile of shit movie.

See below for more Iain Laurie.

http://powwkipsie.blogspot.com/

http://mothwicke.blogspot.com/

http://allthedeadsuperheroes.blogspot.com/

Iain Laurie’s Horror Mountain is available for download here