ALL ABOUT THE SMALL: RENEE FRENCH ON MICROGRAPHICA

[MattBrady]

by Michael Lorah

How do the scavengers of the world live? What is life to a rodent?

Renee French apparently wonders about these things, and she's about to share her musings with the world. Meet trash-talking Moe and Preston; charming Aldo who loves playing will balls of crap, literally; big dumb Nubbins; and a festering corpse/playground. Combined, you've the elements of Renee French's Ignatz-nominated Micrographica. Currently running online, the strip is also coming to print in May from Top Shelf Comics.

Over the last few years, French has authored the idiosyncratically personal The Ticking, the twisted children's book The Soap Lady, as well as slightly more traditional children's books Tinka and My Best Sweet Potato. Micrographica is a throwback to her early indie projects, a peculiar blend of surreal naturalism, black humor and discomforting images.

She took time out to answer some of our questions.

NRAMA: Renee, Micrographica is currently available online, although the solicitation says that the book version is turned "way up." How much is "way up"?

Renee French: I guess it's just that it's got more trash talk about Preston's mother, more bonding, more hurt feelings, more poop...a LOT more poop, and then the extras too. Some formal portraits of the characters, and lots of guests’ drawings and background stuff from my sketchbook, and some other stuff I can't think of right now. Oh, and more story.

NRAMA: What guest artists do you have lined up? They'll all be drawing characters from the book?

RF: They're all drawings of crapballs and general poop. We have James Gunn (director/writer of Slither), Jim Woodring, Dylan Williams, Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller), Dean Cameron (star of Ski School), Rob Pike (Plan 9 from Bell Labs), Scott Teplin (teplin.com), Sean Tejaratchi (Crap Hound), my brother and more.

NRAMA: Will the online strips also be collected in the book, or is this entirely new material?

RF: The book includes the online material and then continues their lives to make a proper comic book story. The online strip will continue as an online strip, going in another direction from the book. So they won't be the same. Does that make sense?

[b]NRAMA[b]: It does. So the online and print version will each go on their own – that means you plan to continue the online version indefinitely?

RF: Yes. That's the plan. I think after the book comes out, the online version will pick up speed and go on and on.

NRAMA: Does the process of working for the web differ from working for print?

RF: I've had strips online before that were right off the page, drawn exactly like my print work, and in fact were done for print and then just posted online. But this particular project is very different from my print work because of the drawing process I used this time. I wanted to have some fun, and I wanted to force myself to somehow draw in a more spontaneous, less detailed way, and so I decided to draw the originals at around one centimeter square with a really teensy nib. I figured if the drawings were that small, there would be no way I could obsess over textures and noodle for hours on a drawing. It worked, and it seemed to effect my writing too. The writing on this project is more spontaneous than my other work.

NRAMA: I read that Micrographica was inspired by bird watching in Australia. I hesitate to ask, but what did you see that inspired a story about rodents playing in feces and corpses?

RF: Ha! I was having lunch on Hunter's Hill in Sydney at a restaurant with a great view and a big patch of grass next to the tables. And there were a few myna birds hanging out and one of them was completely bald from the shoulders up. He wasn't very pretty and the other myna birds were seriously ignoring him. I watched for a long time and they were so mean to him. My character, Aldo, in Micrographica is based on that bird. Yeah, I know, Aldo is a tiny rodent, not a bird, but his personality is the same as that bird.
I have nothing to say about the dead body.

NRAMA: You've done work in a wide range of styles – creepy, edgy work to children's books. Where does Micrographica fall on the sweetness-creepy spectrum?

RF: That's a good question for probably anyone but me to answer. I suck at being able to tell what's creepy and what's not in my own work. I'd say this is funnier and goofier than almost any of my other work, but the people who have read the whole book say it's somehow touching, and creepy too. Not sure where to put it. The artwork is way, way different from my recent work. It's done in pen and ink, not soft pencil drawings (but there are some of those in the book) and because of the size of the originals, they don't have a polished look to them.

NRAMA: As you're working on Micrographica, what types of themes, if any, do you find surfacing in the work?

RF: I started with these three characters (now there are four) and their basic personalities and went from there, not knowing where it would go. Right away it turned into a story about good friends who know each other too well and have a sort of rough love for each other, and an outcast who I fell in love with in the first chapter. So I guess it's about friendship, bullies, outcasts, love, cruelty and loneliness. Same as always.

NRAMA: What other projects do you have in progress?

RF: A little book collection of my deformed and/or prosthetic-wearing girl drawings and deformed and/or prosthetic-wearing bunny drawings for Sparkplug, which should come out for San Diego Comic-Con. A few short pieces for anthologies, and a short piece for an exhibition in Paris, and finally a book project for Picturebox.

[render man]

I read what was online and loved it. Reminds me a little of what Jon Lewis did with his True Swamp comic, which I also loved. The Micrographica book will probably be too expensive for me to buy when its released, but we'll see.

[Syzlak]

Renee is awsome! Go out and get Marbles in my Underpants. There are stories there that are so creepingly disturbing they are difficult to describe. The 9th Gland is particularly notable. I was so effected by Marbles that I have since picked up every new thing she has put out. Thank you for covering her work Matt.

[JimmyKitty]

I've always supported French's work. She's a talent that should not be missed, and highly appreciated. Kudos to Newsarama for making this a front page article. Perhaps others will fall in love with the subtle and unique work of Renee French.

[genetic freak]

One of my top 3 favorite cartoonists right now. Love the web comic strips that I've seen. I'm going to buy this printed version!!!