Behind The Comics (22) - Aseyn

'Behind The Comics' continues, this time with Aseyn. He contributed 'Deep Shit Honey' to š! #25 'Gaijin Mangaka' and here he tells a bit how he creates his comics.

Aseyn / // *1980, France. Aseyn is a cartoonist living in Paris since forever. He varies techniques according to the story he wants to tell, from the softest to the hardest. Aseyn has published several comic books since 2010 and is currently working on a long sci-fi saga. His favourite manga is a short story by Katsuhiro Otomo called "Speed."

Aseyn: I'm living in Paris and I work at home. I use computer or traditional techniques to draw my comics, it depends on what I want to say, but mainly it depends on what I want to see once the work is finished.

As I work every day for comics and illustration, mostly mainstream, when it comes to my own stuff, I consider different ways to tell a story, leaving aside the usual codes. I'm counting on the reader to fill in the blanks. It's not a lazy statement, I prefer to rely on the cleverness and feelings of people. Anyway, I keep the panels. When we see panels, we think "it's a graphic novel, there's a story". That's a clue.

In my work, I depict things that make me dream, fantasise, or just interest me to draw. But things that can speak to everyone who sees them, just by their nature. A palm tree, a cell phone, a girl walking. So why would I tell the story if you can do it yourself?

Technically I draw a lot of stuff, without thinking or any method. After I've done like 20 of drawings, I look at the whole thing, and I put together the pieces. As you can see in these images, it's not sexy, and most of the time, I erase things that I consider useless.

In the particular case of my story for Gaijin Mangaka: Environment is important ; not only what we can see but what we can hear. That's why I use lyrics, or quotes from songs or book that touch me. That's not original but as an illustrator I must rely on other people’s work and this work is often words that accompanies your illustration. And of course I prefer drawing text than writing it.

The song in the comics is 'I Follow Rivers' by Lykke Li. I do not particularly like this song. It just came from a misunderstanding I had. I remembered "deep shit honey" instead of "deep sea baby". As the songs are often found in love stories, in the beginning as well as in the end (and it's often the same song), I thought it could make a good short story, this story of misinterpreted lyrics. Here, we are at the end of a love story and of course the two characters are in a deep shit.

To see in how deep shit they really are, better read Aseyn's finished comics in š! #25 'Gaijin Mangaka'.