An Interview With Charles Brubaker
Unbound #430 || Bonus Scribbles
An Interview with Charles Brubaker of the Comic Strip Lauren Ipsum
Charles Brubaker is possibly the hardest working guy in indie comics. His current comic, Lauren Ipsum, recently reached its third anniversary, but I’m told he is well ahead of deadline. You will be seeing Lauren for years to come, trust me! There are links galore in this interview, but Charles can be found everywhere including:
I always enjoy getting to chat with Charles. He and I both came into the National Cartoonist Society around the same time and we both draw funny animal strips that center around libraries. Please enjoy the interview!
Q: What is your earliest memory of being attracted to drawing? And when did you realize you wanted to make comics for a living?
A: I think it was during kindergarten when we were tasked with drawing ourselves. I was hesitant, but my teacher encouraged me to try. I drew a face, and it felt like that was the spark that I needed. I knew right then that I wanted to draw more.
Q: Possibly related to the first question, what was your favorite childhood cartoon/comic?
A: As a kid living in Japan, I watched a lot of anime airing at the time, like “Dragon Ball” and “Doraemon.” I eventually fell in love with American animation, too, mostly “Looney Tunes” and Nick shows like “Rocko’s Modern Life.”
I was also an avid reader of newspaper strips. I remember reading “Garfield,” “Peanuts” and “Piranha Club” a lot as a kid.
Q: Who are some artists you admire/who inspire you? (These don’t have to be cartoonists)
A: Too many to list, but people like Charles Schulz, Johnny Hart and Brant Parker, Fujio Akatsuka, Dana Simpson, Sergio Aragones, Bill Amend and others are among them.
Q: A lot of artists have really bad experiences with art teachers. As a teaching artist myself I have to ask, did you have any bad experiences in school with art?
A: I actually had a decent experience with mine, some even encouraging me to take up cartooning, so I don’t really have any “bad art teacher” stories to tell.
Q: Lauren Ipsum is a strip that, to me, feels really big. How did you develop it? What was the inspiration? Did the character of Lauren come first or the premise of the library? I ask because for my strip, Unbound, the premise came first.
A: Before starting Lauren, I was doing a comic called “The Fuzzy Princess” about a cat princess who ends up living with humans. I had big plans for “Fuzzy,” hoping to sell it as a graphic novel, and maybe turning it into an animated series. But after 5 years of doing it as a webcomic, and producing two animated shorts, that plan fell through.
Towards the end of the comic’s run, however, I introduced Lauren, who worked at the castle library. I was drawing her on the side beforehand and was loving how she was coming along. Even after I stopped doing “Fuzzy,” I kept drawing the rabbit and played around with her. Eventually I decided that she was a strong enough character to sustain her own comic, so I started drawing strips featuring the character in 2022, which eventually launched on Halloween day of that year.
Q: What does a typical work day look like for you? Do you have a set schedule?
A: It varies, but typically, when I need to write more strips I grab a bag, where I keep a folder full of idea and story notes and loose paper, and walk to the coffee shop or a library, where I would then sit down and thumbnail strips. After I get a batch of them written, I would then sketch them out, usually at night. While the exact days and schedules vary, I do have a routine set up.
Q: I really admire your consistent dedication and method of posting online. It’s like you shotgun blast everything everywhere all at once. It seems to work really well! Social media is a hot topic right now. Any advice about using the socials? Because as far as I’m concerned, you’re the master.
A: With comics, I would schedule and queue them in advance using Postybirb, a software that lets you post arts on multiple sites at the same time. It really makes it easy to share my cartoons everywhere at once. I recommend it to any artist who wants to share arts in more than one place.
I tend to use my socials only to share arts. I recommend really focusing on that if you want to gain traction for your cartooning, while keeping sharing funny memes to a minimum.
Q: You’ve worked with several cartoonists to collect their work and get their comics back in print. What was the impetus for that? And what has that been like?
A: Years back I learned about a 1980s comic strip called “Arnold,” a strip about a weird kid that bewildered everyone around him. I thought it was one of the funniest strips around, and I would share around copies I found online to anyone who would listen. I learned that it was never collected into books, and since I had experience with self-publishing my own comics into books, I figured maybe I can handle the challenge of reprinting other creators’ strips. It took years for this to happen, but it did and I’m glad I took up on it.
Q: If you weren’t making comics, what would you be doing?
A: Maybe running a video store (HA!)
Q: Final question. I’m always most interested in the other media that artists consume. Do you have any book or movie or music recommendations? Anything at all?
A: I like to listen to music when I’m drawing. It can range from movie soundtracks, stock music (many of them are really fun to listen to, especially APM music), bands like the Beatles or They Might Be Giants, etc. Whatever gets me going!
Thank you Charles! Charles can be found all over the internet. Seriously, he’s the most prolific poster I’ve ever seen in my life and I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time on the internet. Check out his comics online and head over to his online shop to see his extensive list of book collections available!
Bonus Scribbles
I find Charles' work a regular delight, and definitely advocate for it to be turned into animated television projects.