“I was putting too much pressure on myself about the next pencil comic, so I kind of forced myself into something where the lines really didn’t matter.” You also made that book Lydian that was all made in the pixel art program Paintbrush.
fected you and the work you were making while you were there?
Oh yeah, except for that! I forgot haha. I was doing that one when I was putting too much pressure on myself about the next pencil comic, so I kind of forced myself into something where the lines really didn’t matter. It was all about shapes and colors. I think the narrative moved pretty organically from that? That book, Lydian, is kind of an old school video game narrative. But it obviously came about because I was making pixel art.
I think what I was saying about atmosphere plays a lot into it. When I lived in New Orleans, for a few years after that all of my stories were set there in that world. When I was in Montreal I just wanted to do a bunch of snowstorm stories—it’s so basic, right!? You just see something directly in front of you and you go “That’ll be my story.” You’re in the shower and you’re like “I’ll make a story about a guy in the shower. But yeah, I don’t know. It’s the same reason I keep switching medias. It’s like an impatience. I like LA because I actually want to stay here for a few years, which is a big deal for me.
You’ve lived in a lot of places across the country over the past few years. How have each of those places ef-
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