Women In Comics Month: Interview With Sabine Rich

In honor of Women in Comics this March, PREVIEWSworld talks with artist Sabine Rich!

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

Sabine Rich: I'm a French/British freelance artist and I live in Berlin. I'm currently working on interior colors and covers for Lady Death.  Covers for Zenescope, JP Roth, and also do color work for Lady Mechanika and work on different things that come up. I also got some personal projects in the works that I'd like to make some progress on this year

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

Sabine Rich: I started working in comics 4 years ago. So far I've gotten to work for:Lady Death, La Muerta -- Coffin Comics. Southern Nightgown, Ancient Dreams, Theory of Magic, Rem8 --  Rothic. Lady Mechanika, Wraithborn--Joe Benitez. Aspen, Dynamite, Knightingale, and Zenescope.

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

Sabine Rich: Well I've been inspired by so many different artists, I also grew up with French comics so I got a lot of influence and love of the art form from them. But again there are too many amazing artist in the industry that I love to actually number.   

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

Sabine Rich: Well, I haven't been in the comic industry very long but I definitely feel there continues to be a lot more females working in the industry and also just more females interested in comic books as well.  Which I think helps the industry to continue to evolve and opens it up for more genres that appeal to a great audience. Which is always good :)

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

Sabine Rich: Hurm... difficult to say, but I think the important thing for properly presently woman, is that there is variety in their portrayal. When there is a stereotype of something it means that it is always portrayed in the same way.  So having variety in how woman and characters are in books and how they can look, act and be, should be as original and varied as possible.. There should be also allowance for everyone's likes and preference, something for everyone, but I hope there will be many interesting and creative characters in the future that bring something new to comics.

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

Sabine Rich: I would say don't wait on someone to hire you to do what you love, or what you have a passion for, start figuring out ways to get it done and find others that are like minded , this will continue to give you skill and help have work to show, and with the internet so much is possible. 

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