Women In Comics Month: Interview with Sara Richard

In honor of Women in Comics this March, PREVIEWSworld talks with artist Sara Richard!

PREVIEWSworld: Tell us a little bit about yourself! What are you currently working on?

Sara Richard: Hi! My name is Sara, and I'm an artist from New Hampshire, now living in Portlandia. When I'm not making art, I hang glide, go ghost hunting, and sing way too much karaoke for one person. Favorite color is tangerine and I'm scared of centipedes. Currently I'm working on subscription covers for Jem and The Holograms (IDW) and illustrating a story for Vertigo's SFX Quarterly. I'm also working on a couple personal projects, one being HautePopC.com, where I'm drawing conceptual fashion illustration based on pop culture. Also lots of new art for a collected book of my work.

PREVIEWSworld: How long have you been working with sequential art? What titles, companies, and creators have you worked with over your time in comics?

Sara Richard: I've mostly worked on cover art, but sequential work includes Kitty & Dino (2013 Eisner-nominated, Yen Press), a short story in Womanthology (IDW) issue #5, a short story for My Little Pony (IDW) issue #25, and a short story (see a pattern here? haha!)  Zombie Bomb (Terminal Press), and also a short story about Astrid for Riders of Berk (Titan Entertainment). I'm a huge fan of short stories though. I have the attention span of a squirrel sometimes. For cover work, I've recently done a variant cover for Deadpool (Marvel),  Jem and the Holograms, Littlest Pet Shop, Powerpuff Girls, and My Little Pony (all IDW), and a variant cover for Run By The Gun (RBG Entertainment). Also I've just finished a full Tarot set for DC Collectibles that I am really thrilled to have been a part of. I also just finished a variant cover for Otis Frampton's Oddly Normal (Image) that I got to use a lot of fun neon paints on.

PREVIEWSworld: Did you have a mentor or hero in the industry that inspired you to pursue a career in comics?

Sara Richard: I've always liked comics and read a bunch of X-Men when I was younger, Joe Madureira was my favorite. The Angel Reborn Issue was beaten to hell since I read it so much. I stopped reading a lot of western comics and went really heavy into anime and manga in high school, and it wasn't until college when I found a copy of Deadpool vs. The Marvel Universe with Skottie Young's art on the cover and I was drawn in. I became a fan of his work and Deadpool as well, and I read all the Deadpool I could find. This bringing me to a comic store frequently, I found other titles and was brought back into comics. I started showing my art at artist alleys at conventions, and I remember it was C2E2 about 4 years ago when I met editors from Yen Press and was given the opportunity to work on Kitty & Dino. Also, at that show I got to meet my now very good friend, Eric Canete. I wasn't familiar with his work at the time, but he was so genuinely nice and really was interested in my work and gave me some words of wisdom that I'll never forget. He is such a sweet person and amazing artist, and I am so inspired by his work. Thanks, Eric!

PREVIEWSworld: In your opinion, how has the comic book industry evolved in terms of gender?

Sara Richard: I came into comics so recently that I don't feel like I've encountered any negativity in any of my professional projects. While I do remember a few offhand comments made at conventions that were very sexist, I just mentally roll my eyes at that and pay them no mind. Hater's gonna hate (hate hate hate), right? And I've referenced T. Swift now because of those comments, so ending that thought now. I've heard stories from veteran female creators at various panels, but I can't speak on anything personally. I've always met my deadlines and everything's been working out great. 

PREVIEWSworld: What stereotypes do you see surrounding women in comics? How could people of all genders go about breaking those stereotypes?

Sara Richard: I guess maybe if I have to put aside all reason to come up with something, it would be that women can't draw traditional Golden Age comic styles or, even, the super beefy, action-packed comics of more recent times… I don't know, it even sounds stupid writing this. I would say to break that stereotype though, is to just open your mind to other styles, both for the readers and artists, and realize its 2015 and not 1960, haha!

PREVIEWSworld: How do you want to see women represented in comic books 10 years from now?

Sara Richard: For women creators, no more specialized "Females in Comics" panels at conventions, in ten years I feel it will, hopefully, be split equally between the genders and it won't be a big deal that OMG Comix Haz Grlz. I've been on female creators panels, but I usually feel like I say this same thing in them. Which, in a weird way, I guess for now, if a girl needs to hear that from another girl, then maybe it's worth it to have these panels… for now, and I'll keep doing them to make the aforementioned statement. I'm looking forward to equal representation of genders in more panels of "Comic Creators Q & A" As for women characters, its hard to say "no more useless body armor (or lack of)" because sometimes a little cleavage or long, exposed legs looks good on a character. Especially when it works towards that character's, well, character. There are plenty of titles with realistic and/or modest female characters who are great role models, and I think if you're more into that, there will be that outlet in ten years as well.

PREVIEWSworld: If you could give advice to any aspiring editors, executives, writers, or artists, what would you tell them?

Sara Richard: Aspiring comic people, boys and girls. Don't take critiques personally. Treat it like business and if you want, do what I do and sing Katy Perry's "Fireworks" in your head to cheer you up if you have to after a particularly gritty critique. I feel this is the first glass-covered, barb wired, electrified step that deters a lot of beginning artists from becoming a professional.  You're not going to please everyone, and you can always count on your work making YOU happy. But you gotta pay dem bills, so you will need to form the skill of collaboration and cunning to make a project fun for yourself—even if it's not a subject matter you're too jazzed about. I had a portfolio review with IDW a couple years before starting working on MLP and it didn't go well. I took the advice of the editor and kept doing what I do, working on a style to call my own and refining compositions and painting techniques. The more you create, the greater the chance something neat will happen. I found an outlet to speak to another IDW editor years later through a Kickstarter reward, and from there, I got my toe into the MLP pool and eventually worked my way up to the diving board. You just never know! Go to conventions! Show your work; get feedback! See where your fellow creators are at and ask them questions too. Do art for yourself as well; sometimes I feel artists get trapped in the groove of just making art for work, and you'll get burnt out. Personally, after sculpting for Hasbro for a couple years for just a paycheck and tight deadlines, I have been burnt out on sculpting for the last 5 years or so. I'm just starting to consider picking up a wax pen again though. Explore mediums (I'm a fan of acrylic paint!) and study artists of the past and today for inspiration. Color theory and figure drawing are always good to dive into too.

PREVIEWSworld: And lastly, are there any up-and-coming women creators who you would recommend readers check out?

Sara Richard: I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth Beals and Electra Stanley. Elizabeth is super sweet and good Lord, I love her art. The way she draws eyes is so cool, and she drew me a cool portrait some conventions ago. Electra Stanley, I met at a convention and got an amazing Merida from Brave drawn as a commission. I love it so much I'm trying to get it as a tattoo. I love her line work and whimsical characters!

Check out more Women In Comics Month interviews in our special section on PREVIEWSworld!