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[music] A rabbit librarian, absurd adventures, and a West Tennessee artist who's brought his unique style to everything from SpongeBob comics to Mad magazine.

Hello, I'm Julie Cook.

On this edition of Tennessee is Talking, meet Martin's own Charles Brubaker, cartoonist, writer, and storyteller.

He's sharing his journey into the world of comics and what inspires him.

Let the conversation begin.

We are rolling.

[music] Confirm record.

Can we get a mic check?

Check, check.

Standby, Camera 2, Take 2.

Standby, announcer, in three, two.

West Tennessee PBS presents Tennessee is Talking.

Let the conversation begin.

[music] Thank you for joining us on Tennessee is Talking.

Hello, I'm Julie Cook.

Today, we're taking a look at the funny, quirky, and imaginative world of cartooning through the pen of local artist who's making his mark in print and online.

Today, we are joined by Charles Brubaker, who's here to talk about his journey, his inspiration, and life as a working cartoonist.

Charles, thanks so much for being with us today.

Yes, thanks for having me.

How did you start going into artwork and then go to a cartoonist?

I've been reading comics since I was a kid.

I grew up reading The Sunday Funnies and read a lot of books.

Of course, I read Mad magazine as a kid as well.

I knew that it's something I wanted to do since I was a kid.

You have traveled, grew up in Japan.

Yes.

Was that a type of inspiration for you, or did you get ideas there?

Oh yes, I definitely read a lot of Japanese comics growing up.

Of course, there's a big scene over there.

We also had access to American comics as well.

I grew up in a multicultural household, as they say.

You had two different influences, or I guess a lot of the world influences.

For those who aren't familiar, if you can introduce us to your Lauren Ipsum and her world.

Lauren Ipsum is about a rabbit librarian who goes into wacky misadventures with her friend and sidekick, Dewey DeSmall, a little blue fox who's obsessed with eggs, and their co-worker at the library, Gutenberg, who's a cat obsessed with plush dolls, and a frequent patron, Mr. Wolf, who's always late returning a library book, as well as two mermaids with musical ambitions.

Aqua and Coral.

Dewey DeSmall and Gutenberg, that must be some type of influence I'm hearing there.

Yes, they work at a library, so punny names are required, yes.

What was the reason for animals as your main characters?

Animals are very fun to draw, and I think people relate to cartoon animals a lot, even when they act humans.

How do you come up with the style?

If you want to give each character, if a fox is a fox, a rabbit is a rabbit, how do you know when you've got just those right features that you want to convey?

Comics is a visual medium.

I want to decide how to make the character designs look unique among the cast, so readers can pick up on them.

Even though the characters act humans, there are certain traits that they take up based on their species like Dewey the fox loves eggs.

It's his favorite food.

Like real foxes, they like eggs.

Then Gutenberg the cat is obsessed with plush dolls like real cats who like to play and wrestle with the dolls, of course.

[laughs] Oh, that's so funny.

Did you base these characters from people that you know?

Oh yes, there's a mix of myself and people I know.

Lauren is based on a lot of other artists and writers that I've known over the years.

She's the main character, though.

She's in the library.

Is she the glue that holds everybody together?

Oh yes, absolutely.

I know that you've brought some books or a book, but what are these other drawings that you've brought for us to see?

This is one of the original art for the comic strip.

This is how I draw them.

This is how I draw the comics.

You do that first in a rough sketch, and then I guess send it off to print.

What is that process?

Okay.

Well, what I would do is I would write a batch of strips in one go, especially for a story arc like maybe six strips.

Sometimes more.

Then I would rough it out digitally with my tablet, and then I show the sketches with my other artists, friends, and peers, who give me feedback on how it could be improved like an editing process sort of thing.

Then once I'm satisfied with that, I would print out the sketches, I'd ink them on paper with my markers.

Then once that's done, I scan it in, digitize it, and then clean it up.

Then I send it off to my print clients that are posted on the web.

Is it printed locally or do you-- Yes, the Weakley County Press in Martin, Tennessee does run Lauren Ipsum every week.

You have the comic strip, and then you have the book.

Yes, this is a book collection, yes.

I'm Seeing Double... Four Lauren Ipsums.

Yes, I'm Seeing Double... Four Lauren Ipsums.

It's my brand-new book.

That got released this month and available online and in bookstores.

We'll have that information for you, but that's the look of the book by Charles Brubaker, and Martin-based, of course, but you do other work, and this is full-time.

This is full-time?

Yes.

What other publications do you work on?

You have your own, but you've contributed to other publications as well.

Yes, I do freelance.

They come and go, but I work for freelance for other publications.

I take the jobs as they come.

I also do drawing commissions as well.

If people want me to draw certain things, I'll work on that as well.

I guess you have to do things in a different style, or do you pretty much put your mark on whatever characters you-- Yes, I pretty much put my mark on, even when I work on established franchises like the SpongeBob comic books.

The SpongeBob comics, they specialize in hiring independent cartoonists across the world and across the country to draw in their unique styles because that's how they wanted it.

They would have stories that was drawn in a show style, but they also had other stories drawn in each cartoonist's unique style.

That's how I was able to get my foot in the door that way.

Is that right?

How did that come about for Mad magazine, SpongeBob, those kinds of jobs?

I heard from a grapevine because cartoonists talk to each other all the time that they were seeking independent cartoonists to draw, contribute to them in their unique style.

I took up on it.

I sent off my samples to the editors and .. Now, this is different.

It's not called animation.

What do you call it when you draw cartoons for, say, the SpongeBob TV show?

Is that a different type of artist, or is that something that you could do if you wanted?

Oh yes, they had different people doing the TV shows, and I only worked on the comic books, yes.

Do you ever have any interest in doing that?

Oh yes, I have done freelance storyboards for a number of years, and that was fun and interesting.

There are some similarities with working in animation, but also a lot more steps are involved as well.

Much more collaborative than with comic strips.

It takes a whole team.

Yes, it takes a whole team, yes.

Do you work with a team, or do you primarily do all the book and the .. All you?

I did work with teams on a few projects.

With Lauren Ipsum, it's pretty much me doing everything from drawing to coloring and everything.

Where do you get your stories?

Do you run out of funny things or funny notions or funny instances that you think-- Sometimes it does feel like I'm running out of materials, but then I would get a flash of inspiration.

Then all of a sudden, I have months' worth of materials I can work with.

You have to watch people a lot, don't you, I guess?

Oh yes.

When you have strong characters, they pretty much write themselves.

I see Lauren as her own person, and then it's just a matter of me watching her, what she does, and then just writing down the most interesting parts of her life and putting in the comic.

That is so interesting.

There's probably not too many people around West Tennessee who do what you do.

Do you collaborate with anyone, or do you all keep in touch and do your own thing?

How does that work?

I pretty much do my ow..

I wonder who you hang out with at work.

[laughs] I guess it's you.

Yes, not much at Martin, yes.

There's another cartoonist who works at Weakley County Press.

We do keep in touch from time to time.

Otherwise, we pretty much do our own things.

Now, have you ever done paintings or other type of things that we would see on a wall, or is this primarily your cartoon?

I've done some painting at University of Tennessee at Martin.

I took painting classes here and there.

Sometimes I dabble a little bit, but cartooning is my main bread and butter.

You're an art major or-- Yes, I graduated with a graphic design degree from University of Tennessee at Martin in 2012.

Obviously, a lot of folks have a reaction, or you must have some fans out there.

How do you react, or how do you feel about people reacting to your work?

Oh, I'm just happy people are reading my work.

People took a strong liking to Lauren and find the comic relatable.

People, all age groups, enjoy seeing the funny antics of a rabbit librarian.

How do you hear from people?

Are they on Facebook?

Mostly from online and trade shows and conventions.

It's always a nice feeling that your comic is making an impact with other people.

What is that like when you go to those conventions?

Very fun, very enjoyable, very overwhelming, but in a good way.

You get to talk to people.

I guess people are in different areas of the comics.

Absolutely.

Sometimes people don't really discover their artistic abilities when they're young.

How was that for you?

Even as a kid, I wanted to be a cartoonist growing up because I watched a lot of cartoons, and I read a lot of comics growing up.

Just a matter of how am I going to get my work out there, that's a challenge.

How did you manage that?

You have to make those connections.

Yes, there are various ways like post online.

Thanks to the internet, you can post your work online easily.

Of course, there are conventions in Tennessee and other states that I made trips to.

If you have something out there like a zine that you print yourself or in newspapers like Weakley County Press, something I can show to people that, "Hey, I do this.

Check it out," and just go from there.

Do you work pretty much every day, or do you have certain days that you maybe work two or three hours every day or an hour a day, three days a week, or how does that work?

I have a very flexible schedule.

Sometimes there are days where I don't do much, but there are days where I work on a comic for several hours.

Maybe I can sketch out five or six comics for a few hours and then ink them all day.

It's a very flexible schedule.

That's a wonderful thing about cartooning.

It's not a strict 9:00 to 5:00 schedule.

Yes, I think a lot of people are going for that at-home work a lot these da.. Do you think about other characters?

Sometimes, yes.

I worked on other comics before.

Sometimes I still dabble with them.

Lauren Ipsum itself has multiple characters that I rotate around sometimes.

I have a pretty big population of characters that I can work with.

You could do another story.

Would Lauren get a spinoff or something like that?

Yes, Lauren Ipsum itself is a spinoff from an earlier comic I did called The Fuzzy Princess.

Okay, so this has relation to the first book?

Yes, she appeared in the other comic late in the run.

You could do a series and then put the characters in there like you would write any other book, a series like that?

Yes.

Do you ever imagine that that mi.. into a television show one day?

It's a nice thought.

I absolutely would love to have that happen someday if a producer ever approaches me for a cartoon, yes.

Would you ever pitch something like that?

Oh, I'd love to.

I'd love to, yes.

Probably when you grew up, but I know it hasn't always been a real friendly environment, or maybe kids don't always get the encouragement they need, whether in school or home or whatever as far as developing that talent.

Do you ever work with younger kids or other people who like to draw?

There are times where I appeared at libraries and schools where I talked about cartooning and talked about what I do.

I think that can encourage kids when they see other working artists discussing their craft.

Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it.

What do you think kept you encouraged when you were a kid?

I made sure to read a lot about cartooning, the history, and the people behind it whenever I could, whether through a book or through online articles.

If there's an interview with a cartoonist that's on TV or on the radio or internet, I make sure to check that out.

I love seeing behind-the-scenes clips.

Even at Martin, I talked to the local cartoonist, Beth Cravens, at Weakley County Press.

It was nice knowing there was another cartoonist at Martin that I could talk to.

Of course, I go to conventions a lot and got to meet a lot of cartoonists in person.

That was always encouraging.

Is it pretty standard now that there's a mix of hand-drawn and digital work in the commercial art world?

Yes, I definitely do both traditional and digital as well.

There's a mix of both of Lauren.

Like I said, I do primary sketches digitally, and then ink it on paper.

I know some people, they want to do the hand.

They don't want to bring the digital into it.

How do you feel about that?

Oh yes, absolutely.

There's something magical about drawing with a tradition..

It's nice to have a physical media that you can hold on to.

I know people like to receive original arts from others as well for their collections.

Well, digital, from what I understand, makes it a lot easier and probably faster on your work, too.

When you get an idea, you can move the process along.

Is that pretty true?

A little faster maybe?

It depends on the artist.

I feel like I can ink comics faster on paper, but there are also other artists who can work more efficiently digitally.

Of course, there are plenty of artists who do both like I do.

When I color the strips, I do that digitally after I scan the artwork.

The coloring is?

Yes, coloring is definitely faster digitally.

What materials?

Are these markers, or what kind of materials do you use?

I use a variety of markers to ink my comics.

I ink on cardstock.

This is a legal-size cardstock, 8.5 x 14 inches.

I used to draw bigger than that.

There are artists who draw a lot bigger, artists who draw a lot smaller than I do.

It's just a matter of deciding what you're comfortable with and lots of experimenting.

You just keep working at it until you get something, "That's what I want"?

Yes, exactly.

Are you one of these who are just not really ev.. and then you just have to let it go, or do you get it right and, "That's it.

That's what I wanted"?

Yes, there's a mix of both that I do.

Some days feels like you can't get anything done, and others, everything just goes smooth.

It's on fire?

Yes, that's the daily life of an artist.

[chuckles] What do you say to kids who really want to think about being a commercial artist, whether comics or other types of work?

It's just a matter of getting your work out there and connecting with people.

The internet makes it easier probably than when you were growing up?

Did you have the online advantage when you were a young person?

Online helps, yes.

It depends on what kind of field of work you want to go into, but it does make it easier to look for who's hiring and where they can send.

If there's a local newspaper or magazine or publication of some sort, always approach them since they do like to hire local artists sometimes.

Did you study graphic arts then?

Is that part of-- Yes, I studied graphic design, .. That helped me with the digital aspect of the art.

That's pretty much all done digital, so you learned that so that you could carry that over into this work.

We've got a few minutes left, but let's go over.

Don't give anything away, but just describe your book, I'm Seeing Double... Four Lauren Ipsums.

Yes, this is a brand-new book, came out this month.

This has the first three years' worth of comic strips collected and hundreds and hundreds of strips.

Is there a favorite character that people enjoy?

The neat thing about cartooning is different people have different favorite characters.

I have people say they like Lauren the most, or Dewey, or the mermaids.

There's always a little something for everybody, so to speak.

It's always a nice feeling.

I guess it's like any other story.

There are characters that people take to because of their own personalities.

Yes, exactly.

Is it hard to develop a personality?

I know you said once you start drawing, it comes together by itself.

Yes, exactly.

When the character first appears, they might look and act differently than later on since you're figuring out who they are as you develop.

That definitely happens a lot, and that's always a neat part of it.

That helps your work.

Yes, exactly.

It's always a neat part of writing.

Where is the book available then?

It'll be available through Amazon and my website at lauren.smallbugstudio.com.

You can order through your local bookstore as well.

Now, do you start another book, or are you promoting this one in different places?

Are you going to go with this for a little while, or have you got something else in the works?

Oh yes, I'm going to a convention in Pittsburgh next month.

Do you think you'll have some ideas when you come back?

Oh yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

That'll be good.

What other conventions do you have planned?

Yes, I have a convention in Pittsburgh coming up and also one in Memphis.

Now, Jackson, I thought I saw advertised not too long ago or at some point.

Does Jackson have some type of comic?

I haven't looked into it.

I have to check that out.

I was thinking there was something at the Civic Center, but I don't know if that was a one-time thing or where it was sponsored.

I'm sure you'll find one wherever it is.

[laughs] Yes.

The closer it is, the better.

The closer to home, the better.

Do you like traveling around and talking about the book?

Oh yes, see the country, become a cartoonist.

Yes, and keep adding to those characters.

Yes, exactly.

Well, that is all the time we have, Cha..

Thank you so much for coming.

Charles Brubaker from Martin, Tennessee.

The book again is I'm Seeing Double... Four Lauren Ipsums.

Just a delightful collection of your comic strips.

Thank you so much.

The creative process, we enjoyed hearing about that.

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