Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Goux.
Hi Nicole, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been drawing since I was a little kid. I think at some point someone told me that I was good at it, and my brain said, “hey, I like this!”. Luckily, I ended up being truly passionate about making art, I very quickly learned that I wasn’t just doing it for praise. As a kid, my family did a great job of immersing us in cultural opportunities, going to museums, watching movies, playing instruments. I was able to develop a true appreciation for art and a desire to find my own voice within it. Fast forward to post-college, I had spent most of my childhood and higher education studying art and trying to find my path. I still felt very lost. Art school can be great, but often you’re not left with a lot of direction or a career plan afterward. I had gone from wanting to be an animator, to wanting to be a painter, to wanting to be an illustrator, to graduating without any real plan or idea of how to do that. I floundered a bit, doing design work, some illustration for toy companies, but still unsure of how to make the real connections in the art world that I felt would help me find a career.
A year or so later, some friends invited me to go to LA Zine Fest and I had an epiphany. Comics (which I had been a big fan of as a kid) could be anything. I think in the west, we think of comics as three very narrow categories: superheroes, manga, and political cartoons. None of those fit what I wanted to make, but at zine fest I saw artists of all types making zines and comics in all different styles and mediums. With the help of my partner Dave Baker, I started making mini-comics to sell at zine shows and was completely hooked. There is something so satisfying about making a piece of art, printing it as a physical object, and getting to hand it directly to people who love and care about it. They take it home and (hopefully) cherish it and you get to be a little part of their life. I’ve been making comics ever since.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Making comics is hard. There’s no bones about it. It’s not an industry with a lot of money behind it and it’s very competitive. It’s also very time-consuming and hard on your body. So many professional cartoonists I know still have to work other jobs to make ends meet. I did that for several years before I was able to gain any real traction in the industry. I’m finally able to make it as a full-time artist, but I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones and it took a lot of hard work. When we first started, Dave and I were tabling at 20-30 shows and conventions, trying to make connections and build a fan base. That’s on top of working jobs and having to actually draw the things! It was exhausting, but also incredibly rewarding and we made so many friends and peers in the process. People always talk about “breaking in” to comics as if it’s some magic right of passage. Once you have it, you’re set and you just get work. That’s not really the case and once you’re “in”, you still have to hustle (I’ve grown to hate that word) to get work and stay relevant. At the end of the day, you’re a freelancer. Work is never guaranteed and there can be a lot of ups and downs, but I’ve never been happier.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an illustrator and cartoonist. What that means is that mostly, I make comics, sometimes writing, sometimes illustrating, sometimes both. I also do illustration work. This includes book covers, editorial pieces for magazines, and any other odds and ends that people might need art for. I’m most known for my work on DC Comic’s Shadow of the Batgirl with Sarah Kuhn and the books I’ve co-created with my partner Dave Baker: F*ck Off Squad, Everyone is Tulip, and the upcoming Forest Hills Bootleg Society.
I love telling human stories about how hard it is to just exist in our world, particularly the trials and tribulations of growing up and finding yourself, navigating relationships, and finding creative direction. I try to make work that’s accessible to new audiences but also makes the most out of the medium of comics, using the format of words and pictures in ways that you can only do on the page. I look at every new book as an experiment. How can I tell this story in a new way. How can I push the already explored structure of comics? I don’t know if I’m always successful, but the intent is there. It’s where I find the most excitement when creating a book.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
That was pretty thorough! As I said before, making comics is a long process. When I’m on a book, I can’t take on a lot of other comics work, but I’m always open to inquiries in other departments. I love working on book covers and bringing articles to life with some fun art. It gives me a wonderful opportunity to make work that I can put into the world quicker than the several years it takes to make comics. It’s hard to stay relevant in our fast-paced social media world and when you’re working on the same thing for years at a time, it can be frustrating to feel like you have nothing to show. Smaller projects are satisfying in that you get to make something cool and show people much sooner. Also, I’m not sure when this article comes out, but Dave and I have a new book. If you have a chance, check out Forest Hills Bootleg Society from Simon and Schuster: Atheneum. If you like stories about teen girls, bootleg anime distribution, and navigating friendships and new relationships it might be for you!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nicolegoux.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ngoux/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ngoux/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/NicoleGoux
Image Credits
Photo credit Taylor Woodworth
