How I Make It Work: Illustrator & Graphic Novelist Alex Scott

With her first graphic novel, Episodes, out October 13, Alex Scott tells Viva about how it all came together.

A coming-of-age story, comic style and set between 1993 and 2020, Episodes is a graphic novel with a distinctive Auckland flavour.

“I think I’d been passively researching the book my whole life,” says Alex Scott, who grew up in front of the TV, before studying film and television and working in magazines. “The first draft kind of poured out of me.”

It’s set in Tāmaki Makaurau, but how fictional is it — are there things people will recognise? Alex hopes so.

“I really wanted to convey a sense of the Auckland I grew up in but also how it’s evolved since the 90s,” she says. “I spent a long time gathering reference material of 90s Ponsonby from the incredible archive that is Digital NZ.”

She changed some store and brand names, but some of the houses in the book are real ones that she grew up in. There are locations based on Victoria Park Market, Western Springs College, Auckland Museum, St Luke’s and Paratai Drive.

“My trajectory hasn’t necessarily felt straightforward or logical, but it’s all fed into the creation of Episodes.”

She’d always wanted to write movies. “I studied scriptwriting at uni then somehow spent three years painting miniature oil paintings on matchboxes, which intersected with my first job, as a sub-editor at New Zealand Woman’s Weekly. (Magazines run in my family and I needed some paid work to fund the painting.)”

Graphic novels weren’t something she was hugely into — she’d read a few — let alone saw as a medium. But something clicked when she picked up Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina in 2018. “It’s so cinematic and beautifully paced and there’s a complete absence of first-person narration.” The book resonated with her, and she saw long-form comics as a creative medium with potential.

“I’m inspired by everyday life, noticing and drawing attention to things that are strange or amusing or poetic in their ordinariness. Also in human dynamics, experienced or observed. I find people endlessly fascinating.”

How did the book come together?

“I didn’t know how to make a graphic novel, but I knew I could figure it out. Before this, I’d only drawn single-frame cartoons.”

She started by mapping out a series of stories about different characters, and from there, the narrative came together quite quickly. Outlines were worked into a screenplay — the form she knows — and then the script was storyboarded.

“Turning the script into something visual that flowed and made sense and had a clear style was the most challenging part going into the project. There are endless decisions to make throughout the process, but I think it worked to my advantage that I didn’t have fixed ideas about how a comic should look or operate or be put together.”

Creative New Zealand funding had, luckily, covered the time and work required for the illustration process.

“Every part of the illustration was first drawn in pencil in exercise books, then scanned and pieced together bit by bit, frame by frame and page by individual page in Procreate on my iPad,” Alex explains. “I also created a coding system to annotate and assign each sketch to its frame in the book — a coding system I can no longer decipher. It was quite the process.”

The final outlining and colouring took a physical toll on Alex, which she hadn’t expected.

She was also surprised at how time-consuming the project ended up being. “I started writing the book when I was 34 and I’m now 800.”

By the time she’d “finished” her illustration style had refined considerably.

“I was tempted to go back and redraw things. But you have to draw a line at some point so you can move on to the next thing.”

When that was done she put out a call for a publisher on Instagram. Earth’s End got back to her the next day. “I sent them the manuscript and a couple of days later they got back in touch and said they wanted to publish it.”

As its name suggests, Episodes borrows heavily from TV conventions. Frames vary from 3:4 to 16:9, depending on the dominant aspect ratio of the story (they’re set between 1993 and 2020. Dialogue is visualised as subtitles rather than speech bubbles – which meant easy editing even at the 11th hour — and stories are separated by TV-style ads.

What’s her process like?

Alex wears a lot of hats. A cartoonist, artist and copy editor, her weekly cartoons can be found in The Listener and she is a sub-editor at Here magazine. The rest of her time is devoted to personal creative projects – drawing, painting and writing — and she works from home.

“We moved to Ōwairaka about a month ago. I work from my studio in the front bedroom, which I’m yet to fully unpack. I see lots of potential for making a lot of work — and a lot of mess — in here.”

Her new studio is in what used to be a bedroom. There’s a faux-crystal chandelier and a full wall of mirrored wardrobes, which are “slightly unnerving” but great for storage.

“I’m still figuring out the light in here and how to set the space up for all the different facets of my work. It’s quite different from the concrete-floored cinder-block studio I had in the garage of our last place. Ideally, I’ll have separate work surfaces for dry work (computer and paper stuff) and wet work (painting).”

Organised and efficient by nature, Alex works from an “endlessly expanding” collection of to-do lists and mostly keeps to an 8.30am-5pm hours.

A normal day could include anything from cartoon concepts to filling orders or proofreading copy.

“My favourite kind of day is one where I start writing at 6am, take a short break and keep writing until 2pm. Then I’ve still got three hours left in the day for painting or drawing before it’s time to start on dinner.”

A productive person inspired by everything around her, it’s not surprising that she admits finding it hard to stop sometimes.

“Often, when I’m not working, I’m thinking about working. But I also love hanging out with my partner Imogen, going to the movies (new ones and old ones), checking out all the cool galleries scattered around Auckland and probably drinking too much coffee.”

How does she maintain balance?

It’s something she’s still working on, but retooling her process has helped with that.

“I’ve tried to refine and refocus my creative practice, so it draws from my everyday life and then feeds back into it. The process is: live life, take notes, take photos, draw and paint those photos, develop those notes into stories and books,” Alex says.

“I feel like I’ve finally found a line I can follow forever — a self-perpetuating creative practice that simply requires me to live my life and keep producing work.”

What’s next on that line? “I’d love to develop future books into screenplays/films, but I also like the idea of continuing to develop and move forward by creating and sharing brand-new stories,” she says. “I won’t say too much just yet, but I have started work on a second graphic novel set in the world of women’s magazines.”

That said, Alex doesn’t like to think too far ahead. “As long as what I’m doing in the moment feels right, then I know I’m on the right track — wherever that track might be heading.”

The most important thing is to keep making. “Write down every idea — even the bad ones. Don’t wait for an invitation to be creative or make art. If you love it, do it, otherwise it won’t get done.”

Alex Scott’s favourite things

A favourite modern movie is ... Kajillionaire.

My favourite classic film is ... Harold and Maude.

The movie that had the biggest impact on me was ... Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which I saw at the movies age 9.

For animation I love ... The Simpsons.

The thing I rewatch the most is ... Carol (every Christmas and sometimes mid-winter Christmas).

My favourite novel is ... No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July. It’s strange, earnest and original. I’ve listened to the audiobook so much I’m this close to being able to recite it. It’s fiction, but it feels so honest.

My favourite graphic novel is ... Sabrina by Nick Drnaso.

My favourite non-fiction book is ... Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton.

The TV show I’m enjoying at the moment is ... Celebrity Treasure Island.

A podcast I’m tuning in to is ... Handsome with Fortune Feimster, Tig Notaro and Mae Martin.

Instagram I like following ... Animation Resources @animation_resources, which breaks down short clips of classic animated sequences to show how they work.

An album I’ll always have time for is ... Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.

In the morning I usually listen to ... the sound of my own thoughts, but every Monday morning my dad sends through a different piece of classical music which is a very nice way to start the week.

As far as studio music goes ... if I’m working with words: nothing or maybe something classical. If I’m drawing or painting: RNZ, podcasts or CDs (Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams, Alanis).

When it comes to favourite creatives ... this is getting too Miranda-July heavy, so Lisa Hanawalt.

My favourite time of the day is ... early in the morning, with the potential of the whole day stretched out in front of me.

The best place in Auckland is ... The Hollywood cinema in Avondale. It fills the void in my life left by the closure of my previous favourite place, Video Ezy Ponsonby, which appears in Episodes (sans signage). I just realised they’re both pink.

My favourite restaurant is ... Lilian. The food is always good and it’s in the neighbourhood where I grew up, so it feels like home.

A fashion or accessory shop I like ... If perfume is an accessory, then Curionoir. If not, Amazon St Luke’s circa 2001.

Clothing I need ... to replace my 501s! But what I really want is to get all my current favourites mended so I can wear them forever and ever.

An event I’m looking forward to is ... Laneway! Cause I have a good feeling about the line-up and I want to listen to some music outside.

What’s exciting me right now is ... I recently discovered the comedy stylings of Abby Howells and I am fully invested.

Episodes is out from October 14, available at all good book stores, including Women’s Bookshop, Timeout and Lamplight.

Emma Gleason is the Herald’s deputy editor of lifestyle and entertainment (audience), and has worked on Viva for more than four years, contributing stories on culture, fashion and what’s going on in Auckland.

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