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that inspire me often come from outside of my medium,” Jenkins said. She mentioned “reading a lot of everything,” as an inspiration for her work. As an example, she tries to integrate certain academic theories into her art. Meanwhile, her friend and fellow artist, Graeme Adams, started drawing at the age of five. It quickly and permanently became an integral part of his identity. He eventually pursued an education in the Fine Arts program at Concordia. He graduated in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in studio arts. “I work at a restaurant with a couple of small gigs on the side. I think I live a pretty typical millennial life in a lot of ways,” Adams said. For Adams, making zines is a lengthy, emotional process that forces you to reckon with your own limitations. It’s a “totally isolating process” that only he can complete alone. Since creating comics takes him a while, he can only create a substantial amount of work by spending time by himself. Consequently, he can go long periods of time without talking to anyone and often ends up “sitting in front of a table stewing in frustration and confusion.” It may not be the most healthy lifestyle, but he’s gotten used to it nonetheless. Perhaps making art gives him a sense of control that he feels is lacking elsewhere in his life, he pondered. Comic-making is as a way of “Energizing the planes of life we all occupy, but that it doesn’t have any spatial or temporal presence, like the mental life, emotional life, spiritual life,” Adams mused. Like Jenkins, he gets inspiration from reading, but also by simply from the world he’s living in. “If making one drawing is like walking a tightrope, making a comic is like walking a tightrope while juggling,” he said. Part of why Adams views it as more difficult is that an individual drawing must only speak for itself, whereas a theme has to be continued throughout a comic. Adams wants each drawing to stand on its own as an individual work of art, while also forming aesthetic coherence with the whole comic. A consistent visual connection must be maintained through a line T HEL INK NE W SPA P ER .C A
COURTESY GRAEME ADAMS
of narrative and action. He thinks comics are an unwieldy art form that, if done correctly, provides him with a stronger sense of satisfaction. Adams suffers from what he describes as a common problem for artists that, “They end up hating their work weeks, days or even hours after they’ve made it.” He explained that even though he ended up really disliking the drawings he made in a comic entitled Spells a few years ago, the extra positive response he received from readers helped to make it worth the distress he put into making it. His work jumps between different styles of drawing. It might not be the best idea in terms of self branding, but he finds drawing to be so interesting that it feels limiting to create his comics in one style. “I think life tends to be full of uncomfortable syntheses of moods, so having
goofiness and bleakness in close proximity is kind of an ongoing goal for my drawing,” Adams said. He admitted that in many respects he’s still a beginner, which means that every drawing he makes still has the thrill of being novel and exciting. His comics vary in tone, some being serious and gloomy and others being silly and irreverent. “I think I’m a pretty serious person who has trouble lightening up, so the sillier drawings are a way of challenging myself to do that,” he continued. “But there’s often a serious intent behind them too, to the extent that they provide contrast with the gloomier material. I see Expozine as a mass expression of solidarity among people who toil over their creative projects, instead of doing more pragmatic things. It gets hot, crowded and smelly, but at the same time it’s totally exhilarating.”