Deez Interviews: Liana Finck on her driftiest time of day, how confidence influenced her visual style, and posting on the ‘gram
Happy Friday, Deezers! Today’s interview is with Liana Finck, a cartoonist / author / illustrator whose work you’ve definitely seen in The New Yorker and Instagram. We talked about her tools of the trade, how her work on Instagram comes about a bit differently, and bringing her art to Pop-Up Magazine’s latest issue.
What is an average work day like for you?
When I️ wake up, I️ like to go straight to a cafe — ideally somewhere about a mile away, so I️ feel like I’m going to work. I️ sit in the cafe for 1-3 hours, and work on something portable (the portable work tends to be the most idea-heavy, with the least percentage of busywork; my computer gear isn’t portable).
It’s my driftiest time of day, and my favorite time to work. The cafe I️ like best these days is never crowded and has a lot of dogs in it. Then I️ go back home and often get sucked into the reality of fixing things laboriously in Photoshop (the worst part of my job — so many computer glitches), reviewing contracts, emailing, fielding out-of-the-blue requests and complaints from friends, acquaintances, colleagues and strangers, cleaning my house, resentfully making food for people who just lost parents or had babies or invited me over for dinner (I actually don’t do this nearly enough, but spend a lot of time considering doing it), ineptly cleaning my apartment (I’m a neat freak who never learned proper cleaning techniques — like a liger, who is drawn to the water, but doesn’t know how to swim).
Then I️ go for a run in Prospect Park, also like a liger. I️ get my concentration back around 3, as the sun is sinking lower in the sky, but by then, I️ often have to leave for some meeting or other. Every day is different.
Night is another wonderful time to work, but I’m rarely home at night. I do social things, which often dovetail with work things (book launches, performances), since a lot of my friends are in related fields. On Friday nights, I meet my boyfriend, Scott, at a museum, then he comes over, and we work together all weekend and ideally don’t do anything social besides taking walks and maybe seeing a movie. My ideal vacation is a working vacation.
This is suuuch a basic question, but I'm curious about the literal process you use to create your cartoons.
I️ don’t use pencil, because I’ve never learned how to use an eraser without smearing the pen. (I️ think this would involve using a different pen/paper, but I️ like the pen and paper I️ use: a Muji .38 gel pen and bright white printer paper from Staples). The paper I use is somewhat translucent, so I️ often do two or three versions of a drawing before I️ make the final one. I️ trace loosely.
For more complex drawings, I’ll use a light-box and trace more precisely. I️ scan things in batches: a week’s worth of New Yorker cartoons, or a chapter of a graphic novel. I️ use the document feeder on my scanner. Then I️ make edits in photoshop using a Wacom Cyntiq companion.
I️ make several drafts of chapters when I’m working on a graphic novel. Scan, correct, put into pdf, print, mark up in pen, retrace with changes, retrace again with more changes once or twice, scan, repeat.
You have more than 400K followers on Instagram, which is basically like a third of The New Yorker's print circulation, if each follower were a subscriber. How does your Instagram presence fit into your creative and professional life?
I️ would love one day to make something more complete out of the rough ideas I️ put in my Instagram — some kind of nonlinear narrative. But so far, I️ keep the different streams of my work — Instagram, New Yorker cartoons, graphic novel, various freelance things — separate.
Instagram is the only one that comes spontaneously and effortlessly, although the other streams are gradually catching up. Instagram has been extremely valuable in teaching me to work fast and not too preciously, and not squash my quickness under layers of technique.
It’s also been very good for my career (a lot more people know my work through Instagram than through my cartoons or books), which is good and bad. The more afraid I️ am of losing my Instagram following, the less free and experimental I️ am in what I️ post on there. But there have been good changes, too.
What has been the greatest factor influencing your style over the years?
Since I️ was a kid, I’ve loved to draw and make things, and also struggled with the terror of people seeing what I’ve drawn/made: What if, after seeing my true self, they turn away in confusion and disgust? (This is not an idle fear. I was basically invisible as a kid, and teenager, and twenty-something.)
When I️ was starting out as a comics artist and cartoonist, I tried very hard to make my drawings look acceptable — like other comics and cartoons. I️ was never great at it, because I don’t like to learn how to use techniques, and I couldn’t afford good materials at that point.
Since I’ve gained an audience, I️’ve been able to get away with trying less hard to fit in, and have drawn much more simply and less fussily. It’s been very nice. I️ feel happier and more connected to what I’m drawing. And I think the drawings are better. There are still large pockets of my work where I️ try to be more professional than feels honest to me — but I️ hope to try less and less as I️ get older and more confident(?), and to put my energy more into figuring out what I want to say than in how to say it.
Finally, what can you tell us about your piece for the upcoming winter issue of Pop-Up Magazine?
I️ have no idea what to expect, but I’m so excited to see what happens. I️ think of drawing — especially for Instagram — as a kind of performance, and hate to be sequestered away in my apartment while I work — so I️ think this will be fun. I’ve heard so many good things about Pop-Up over the years, but I’ve never seen the show — so I️ feel like I’ll be going to Oz or something.
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Don’t forget to follow @lianafinck on IG, and have a dreamy walks-and-movie-filled weekend!
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