Tom Humberstone's bold and expressive mark-making invokes a highly cinematic feel through his work – unsurprising, considering his love of film. Even when re-presenting familiar moments from movies, there are suggestions of something deeper going on in his use of framing, colour and composition - making the viewer rethink the moment and its meaning. He is the author of Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis and his comics have appeared in the Ignatz award-winning The Nib, the New Statesman, Vox and Buzzfeed amongst others. He is also the editor and publisher of the critically acclaimed UK comics anthology Solipsistic Pop and co-editor of Over The Line: An Introduction to Poetry Comics. Here Tom discusses his process, shares his thoughts on style and introduces into our vocabulary the word 'aphantasia'.
Could you define the style/approach of your work Tom?
My illustration work tends to be quite representational and broadly realistic, but also highly influenced by comics, cartooning and traditional mid-Century printing methods. The quality of modern printing means we don't need to think in the same way about inking artwork for reproduction - but I still like the look and the process of working like that. When it comes to an artist's style, I often think your style is what happens in your failure to draw what's in your head. In my head, my style is something completely different to reality.
Which piece of work or project have you learned the most from?
I'm still learning on every project and commission I take on, but I probably learned the most from Suzanne - my 200 page graphic novel about the 1920s French tennis star, Suzanne Lenglen. It took two years to research and another two years to write and draw. That process necessarily means you learn a lot about yourself and your drawing. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I'm also proud of the way I was able to, very early on, establish routines and workflows that helped me in the final stages.
How important is research to your work and why does it matter?
Because I write and draw comics alongside illustration work, I always feel I'm researching one subject or another. I love it. It's obviously important in terms of writing non-fiction comics. But in terms of illustration - I always like to know more about the subject I'm illustrating. It helps massively in being able to conceptualise a response to a brief and come at it from an interesting angle that isn't strictly obvious to begin with. In terms of visual research, it's crucial for me. I suspect I have aphantasia as I struggle to visualise anything in my head. So I tend to make a lot of my own photo reference and create boards of useful visuals that I can refer to if I need to.
'I often think your style is what happens in your failure to draw what's in your head. In my head, my style is something completely different to reality.'
Which illustrator alive or dead do you most admire and why?
On any given day I could probably mention a different illustrator or comic artist. But the name that's leaping out at me today is Alex Toth. His comics probably find the perfect balance - for me - between representational and cartoony. His panel composition was second to none, and his simplicity and clarity of line have always been northstars for me. I think whatever my comics style is - it is a result of being unable to successfully draw like Toth. His art has such vitality and movement and grace to it. I love artists who make drawing look fun and easy - because I think that's something I struggle with. Toth was a master of it.
What is the most challenging aspect for you of being a ‘jobbing illustrator?
It's tempting to say something like: making enough money to make it a sustainable career. Because even though I'm 15 years into this being my full-time job, there are still some tricky months.
But I think the more interesting, and existential, difficulty is making sure you retain your enjoyment of drawing. When you take something you love doing and make it a career, you run the risk of flattening your own joy of it. There are days when drawing feels hard, and not at all fun. There are days when you stop feeling like an artist and feel more like a hack. More often than not, one type of work will beget more of that type of work. That's not the fault of art directors or clients - people are going to come to you for more of what they've seen you already do. But that can start to feel stifling and you can stop learning and challenging yourself. It's our job to keep experimenting and pushing ourselves. To keep doing art for ourselves and finding ways to keep it exciting, fresh and new. I've struggled with that in the past. But it's probably the most important (and difficult) part of the job.
'When you take something you love doing and make it a career, you run the risk of flattening your own joy of it... It's our job to keep experimenting and pushing ourselves. To keep doing art for ourselves and finding ways to keep it exciting, fresh and new.'
Who would be your ideal client to work for and why?
I'd love to work with a director on storyboarding a film. Would love to illustrate a horror film poster. It would be a dream to work with a tennis tournament like Wimbledon to create a poster for one of their events. It would be incredibly fun to design and illustrate covers for a book series. I would probably eat my non-drawing arm to do a Criterion Collection cover. I guess I don't have a specific client in mind and I'm just pitching jobs I'd like.
I suppose my ideal client would be someone who respected me, my art, and my input. A client that paid me a reasonable fee, enjoyed working collaboratively, and paid on time! In that sense, I've had plenty of ideal clients already, thankfully.
What do you think defines ‘good illustration’?
Oof. That's a tough one. I think it has to have good storytelling. The image needs to communicate an idea clearly and immediately. But I don't even know if I believe that. Because there are illustrations I love that don't do that. Probably a sign of a good illustration is something that makes me interested in reading/exploring something I wouldn't have necessarily given a second thought.
What film do you recommend to others most often and why?
Recently it's been Punishment Park because of its relevance to now, and how people/the media have treated the worldwide college/university campus peace protests.
Read/see Tom's piece 'Bloodsport: The Most Dangerous Game, Screen Adaptations and Cinematic Class War' in the Fun and Games Issue, out in October.
