Bored Panda got in touch with Hector Janse van Rensburg and asked some further questions regarding his work. Firstly, we were wondering how the artist comes up with ideas for his new strips. The comic creator shared with us: “For the cat comics, I used to do one every day. I wouldn’t get out of bed until I thought of one. The comics usually followed a similar pattern of a mental trap that is resolved over the 4 panels, so thinking of bad patterns of thought was where I began. Working through them with the involvement of my cat then led to the comic. My cat died before I started that series, but just thinking of what she might say if she could talk helped me come up with ideas.”
Asked how his style has evolved over time, and what factors influenced these changes, Hector said: “When I started, I was awful. I’d churn out about 30 paintings a day without much thought, and I’m not sure what was going through my head as I drew. As I became more popular, I think self consciousness kicked in and I felt the need to be more aware of what I was doing, and to be more proper about the whole business of anatomy and perspective and such. I’m still not very good but I practice a lot, read a lot, and look at work I admire with profound confusion. I think a lot of my style is down to the fact that I am effectively unable to visualise anything, so a lot of it amounts to groping around in the dark, relying on symbols more than form.”
We also wanted to find out Hector’s opinion on some topics related to the art of comics. The illustrator told us what makes a good comic, and what common mistakes artists should avoid: “I’m far from an expert, but I think for a good comic or any creative work, you should begin with a thought or impulse and by the end you should see something of that impulse looking back at you. Everything - story, perspective, form, anatomy, medium, length, etc. - is to be employed in service of that basic idea. And for people to take an interest in what you make, you need to make sure people care about that initial impulse you had. If you’re really good then you can make them care.”
Lastly, we asked the illustrator about the most rewarding aspects of being a comic artist. We found out: “Comics in particular are interesting because you can control time in a way that you can’t do so well in a normal illustration, where everything happens at once. So seeing people respond positively, and knowing that we shared a moment of time, is rewarding. And from a creative point of view, I think you will make better work if you are curious about life, which is something I’d like to push myself to be. I have the philosophy that if I can’t draw something, it’s because I don’t understand it well enough. And I can’t draw well, so I will keep trying to understand. Maybe forever!”
