Friday, November 02, 2012

Jule K. (comics, illustrations, paintings) - an interview on her childhood and her teen years.





Hello Jule, how are you doing?
On your blog (http://www.julekru.de)people can find out about your work as a comic artist starting from 2005.I am very curious about your childhood and teen years!
How would you describe your kid and teenage self?
For example, I am wondering which were your primary sources of influence as a kid?
Were you making drawings and paintings as a child already?
Regarding your family background, I would love to know whether there were numerous artists in your family and how did they impact your style?
I am very interested in how your teenage years influenced your artistic skills.
Who were the artists you spent your time with?
Which museums did you go to? What kinds of art / comic books were you reading?
Who were your TV / comic strip heroes?
Which bands were your favs?
Obviously, your art has a very strong connection to rock `n roll aesthetics. I am wondering whether you could please tell us who your favorite rock `n roll artists are.
I am also wondering about your readership abroad.
Which of your publications are in English?
In which shop can we order your publications abroad?
Do you work with artists who are just breaking into the comic market?
What are your personal words of encouragement for them?
I hope to hear back from you soon.
Thank you very, very much in advance.



Hello Annabell,
thanks. I´m fine. How are you?
Since my early childhood I loved drawing and painting. Mostly I drew people and horses ; )
My mother always told me, that my first word was „horse".
I also loved to invent stories. As a 9-year-old I wrote a book (of course a horse story ; )
I read very much as a child and teenager. Until the age of thirteen I was kind of a nerd. The art class in school was the opposite of an inspiration to me. I hated it. The teachers were only happy, when the students drew very realistic and I never liked that. Why should I draw the reality like it is? For that they invented photography ; )
I always wanted to picture the reality the way I liked it to be or like it seemed to me. My uncle was an artist, too. He painted landscapes mostly. Whenever he saw a drawing of me, he corrected it. I didn´t liked that.
I started to draw kind of surrealistic pictures with fine liners. Niki de Saint Phalle was one of my favorite artists. As a teenager I started to be very obsessed with music. My first LP was „Actually“ by the Pet Shop Boys and my first single was „Who´s that girl“ by Madonna. I always wanted to go out and have fun, but it was very difficult, because I lived deep in the countryside. As I was seventeen I moved to Bielefeld by myself, to graduate there. I went to an alternative school and we went much to demonstrations and we had to discuss everything.
Then I wrote another book. It was about love, sex, feminism, jobs and so on. I never tried to publish it. It was too autobiographic. I thought it would be embarrassing.
I didn´t know any special comics I liked then. But I decided to combine my two passions: Drawing and storytelling. And so I made my first Comic. I had no idea, how it was done, but I made it the way I liked it.
It was named „Charlottas Lottaleben“
I drew it in color and at this time color copies were very expensive. So I couldn´t publish it. My brother gave 3 comics to me as a birthday present and these became my 3 favorite comic artists: Julie Doucet, Peter Bagge and Roberta Gregory.
Before that, I didn´t know about the existence of comics besides superhero or children comics. Especially I love and loved Julie Doucet. I love her style and the stories. I became a big fan.
At this time I moved to Hamburg and met many other comic artists and then I published my first comic book.
I´m still very inspired by music. My favorite bands are Stereo Total, Moldy Peaches, Magnetic Fields and the Pet Shop Boys.
My pictures were often named after my favorite songs.
Unfortunately my Comics haven´t been published in English. But I hope, some day they will.
I would advise the young comic artists to draw like they want to and not to adopt another style.
It is better to make it how you really like it and to be unique. And it would be helpful, if you had other skills to make money with ; )
Best wishes, Jule


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