Comic Artists - Brenda Hickey & Troy Little
What are the odds of finding two
comic artists living in Charlottetown, under the same roof, who are in love? Have no
idea! But husband and wife, Troy Little and Brenda Hickey, fit the bill! We
decided to have a little fun with the couple, asking each to answer questions
about the other. Learn how Troy and Brenda met, how Brenda describes Troy’s
creative process, how Troy admires Brenda’s dedicated passion, how each has developed
their own distinctive artistic style and how their individual talents have
blossomed into thriving professions!
Troy Little describes Brenda
Hickey…
Q: How and when did Brenda start expressing her love for drawing/creating
illustrated stories?
TL: Long
before I came on the scene! She has dozens of binders filled with comics drawn
on lined paper—HUNDREDS of pages long from when she was a kid! If there was
ever a person who was put on this planet for the sole purpose of making comics,
it’s Brenda.
Q: When you met Brenda (and fell in love) was it through some sort of art
connection?
TL: Yep - we
worked together at an animation studio for a few years and over time got to
know each other pretty well. I was immediately smitten with her. She’s not only
beautiful and talented but she’s also the most kind and genuine person I’ve
ever met. I’m a very lucky guy!
Q: How would you describe Brenda's artistic style?
TL: Early on it
was very anime and manga-inspired owing to her obsession with things like
Sailor Moon, Kenshin, Cardcaptor and Fruits Basket. Since then it’s evolved
into an expressive, cartoony and playful style uniquely her own. She’s been
doing this from such an early age and is still constantly growing as an artist.
I can only imagine where that dedication will take her down the road.
“If there was ever a person who was put on this planet
for the sole purpose of making comics, it’s Brenda.”
Q: How would you
describe Brenda's creative process?
TL: Many of her
ideas are still drawn out from those many binders of her childhood but taken on
in a more mature and professional way. She also has a real talent for doodling
and filling sketchbooks with characters and ideas that have no doubt spawned
more then a few comic stories.
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| www.crazyary.com |
Q: What has been one of the major highlights in Brenda's art career so far?
TL: She just hit
the big time with IDW Publishing on My Little Pony as the
artist for the Applejack micro-series coming out in late July.
She is also doing a series of original MLP art sketch cards for the IDW Limited
Collected Edition of the comic series. Hopefully this will be a big break
exposing her talent to a mainstream audience.
Q: When Brenda
is not creating art, how does she spend her time?
TL: Drawing and
creating is her essence so it’s very seldom I’ll see her taking much time away
from working on something. On occasion she will get wrapped up in a Zelda game,
reading graphic novels, making characters out of clay or watching movies and
cartoons with me and the kids but the majority of her time is given to drawing.
“She just hit the big time with IDW Publishing on My
Little Pony as the artist for the Applejack micro-series coming
out in late July.”
Q: What is your favorite work by Brenda?
TL: She’s been
working on a graphic novel trilogy, the first of which is called “Tatian in the
Halls of the Turnip King”. It’s a goofy fantasy adventure of elves and dwarves
spawned from those old comics of hers. It’s been on hiatus for a while due to
freelance commitments but I can’t wait for her to return to it so I can read
more!
Brenda Hickey describes Troy Little…
Q: How and when
did Troy start expressing his love for drawing/creating illustrated stories?
BH: Like me, drawing was something that Troy always enjoyed doing from an
early age. It wasn't until later in his life that he found that comics
were his true calling, though he always enjoyed scribbling out comic ideas to
amuse him and his friends since the beginning.
Q: When you
met Troy (and fell in love) was it through some sort of art connection?
BH: Yep, we both worked at an animation studio (Trapeze) here in
Charlottetown. Comics, our common interest, sparked a lot of those early
conversations.
Q: How would
you describe Troy's artistic style?
BH: In the early days of Troy's first book, Chiaroscuro, you can
see a lot of comic artist Dave Sim's influence over Troy's art style. Makes
sense since it was Dave Sim's series Cerebus that made Troy realise his
love for the comics medium. Over the years, with Troy's Angora
Napkin series, his style became more loose and cartoony - definitely
more his own thing. However, Troy likes to challenge himself with changing up
his art style for the different titles he works on. I'm sure we'll see a whole
new side of Troy's art style in his upcoming projects.
“Troy's tried and true way of coming up with ideas is
to brainstorm in the shower.”
Q: How would
you describe Troy's creative process?
BH: First off,
Troy's tried and true way of coming up with ideas is to brainstorm in the
shower. Once the idea is fully formed, he moves on to writing a script, jotting
down dialogue and visual ideas. Then comes the drawing stage. Troy roughs are
pretty tight and detailed, and he'll take those and trace them onto thick card
stock paper to ink.
Q: What has
been one of the major highlights in Troy's art career so far?
BH: He's had a quite a few now, but I'll focus on just a couple here. The
Eisner Award nomination for his first book Angora Napkin (2009)
was a pretty big deal - the award is the equivalent to the Oscars in the comic
world. Although, in the end, he didn't win, he was satisfied with just being
nominated. Now he's got a second chance at the Eisners as his new Angora
Napkin book titled Harvest of Revenge (2012) has now
received a nomination as well!
Q: When Troy
is not creating art, how does he spend his time?
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| www.meanwhilestudios.com |
BH: Watching movies, playing video games... more drawing...
“The Eisner
Award nomination for his first book Angora Napkin (2009) was a pretty
big deal - the award is the equivalent to the Oscars in the comic world.”
BH: I enjoy his
Angora Napkin series, particularly the new book "Harvest of Revenge".
It's fun to see how the Angora girls have evolved visually since the first book
and the coloured pages are beautiful. I also love all the nerd references, even
if my knowledge of pop culture is a lot more limited than Troy's and some maaay
go over my head.
Brenda Hickey www.crazyary.com
Troy Little www.meanwhilestudios.com
