Get Messy and Get Making with Jackie Davis

We’re pretty excited to have Jackie Davis as our visiting artist for a week in March. Tom first met Jackie at Mocca in New York and he’s insisted she visit us ever since. We asked her a few questions about her biggest lessons in her journey to learn comics in readiness for her workshop March 2-6, 2020.

Can you put your comics-making origin story into three words?  

I just kept drawing. Oh shoot, that's four.

What’s the biggest/hardest lesson you’ve learnt as a comics artist? 

I've learned a lot of difficult embarrassing lessons as a comics artist, but I think that just comes with the territory of trying something new. Even if the path is (sort of) laid out for you, it'll be different because it's yours. No one can warn you about all its perils.

The hardest lesson I've learned though, came before I even made comics. It's that, you won't learn anything if you just sit there moping. For years I fantasized about making great art, without making much of any. If only I'd taken the time I spent fantasizing and comparing on making, who knows where my pencil would have taken me. No regrets though. Like they say, ya don't know what you don't know.

What do you like to teach in workshops? 

I like to teach all kinds of things! It depends on what exactly the students are itching to learn, but I love to teach about storytelling, finding your voice, narrative flow, comics structures, timing, idea generation and watercolor. Oh, and overcoming the I'm-not-good-enough gremlins. Those things really put up a fight.

If people take one thing away from your workshops what would that be? 

Oof, all these question constraints. I wish I could list 10 things, but if I must choose only one it would be, done is better than perfect. I can't remember where I first heard that phrase, but it's really stuck with me. If you want to make something perfect, it's never gonna get made. Perfect is a myth. You can't edit, and you certainly can't learn from something that doesn't exist. So get messy and get making.

Are you working on anything right now?

Heck yeah, I try to always be working on something. In addition to making weekly comics, right now I have a top secret project in the works that requires the signing of a legal document. I won't say a peep until the deep is done, but I will give you a hint: it's more comics!

Thanks Jackie! Check her out on Instagram for regular updates >> @underpantsandoverbites << and make sure you sign up for her week long workshop here in Gainesville before it’s too late!