Review Fix chats with Dolphin Girl’s Zach Smith, who discusses his origin in comics and his goals for the comic moving forward.
About Dolphin Girl:
Dive headfirst into a hilarious new middle grade graphic novel series starring superhero-in-training Dolphin Girl. The young superhero helps her father, Captain Dugong, run a tropical-themed restaurant, Pizza Paradise. But danger is never far away. When they get word that their rivals are up to no good, Dolphin Girl must summon her inner sea mammal to face off against fearsome(-ish) foes and save the day.
Review Fix: How did you know a career in comics/graphic novels was for you?
Zach Smith: It came kind of late for me honestly! I have worked a lot of odd jobs within the animation industry for the past ten or eleven years; started off as a designer and animator, then gravitated toward character design, then slowly but surely toward storyboarding, writing, and development. I have always loved to make narrative art, draw cartoons, and make people laugh, so when I got the opportunity to do books of my own (and smoosh all of those loves together) it worked out nicely!
Review Fix: Who inspires you creatively?
Smith: Artistic inspiration is something that isn’t fixed for me, I am constantly looking for little bits and pieces to pick up from other artists, writers, and just people in general. Right now I have been super into 70s and 80s book illustration, I feel like my guiding lights (at this juncture) are James Marshall (of The Stupids fame), Beth and Joe Krush (who did the illustrations in the American version of the Borrowers books), and New Yorker cartoonists like Roz Chast, Edward Steed, Charles Addams, and William Steig. I tend to get inspired for story ideas from things that happen in my actual non-art life; whether that’s a weird person I saw driving in LA with a parrot on their shoulder, or a place Like Caesarland (which was the Little Caesars version of Chuck E. Cheese’s we had in Detroit) I remember from childhood. I will sort of obsess on these things for a long time until they show up in my work.
Review Fix: How are your comics/graphic novels different or special?
Smith: I think that most of my technique comes from working as a storyboard artist in the animation industry for so many years. It took me a long time to figure out how to bend and break a character, to stretch and squash them around in a sophisticated way, but also keep it super dumb and simple. I like drawings that are just funny to look at without context, so it’s something I’m always turning over in my head while I’m drawing. “Is this dumb enough?†“Does this look stupid enough?†“Can I see the inner turmoil of the character seeping through underneath that smile?!†There is a lightness and quickness to storyboarding that I try to take with me. Everything must be tight enough for an animator to work from, but still loose enough that you are able to draw hundreds of drawings a day to make a deadline. So, I’ve carried some of that over to my books, whether that’s consciously or not—I’M NOT QUITE SURE!
Review Fix: Who do you think will dig it the most?
Smith: Probably my Mom—let’s face the facts.
Review Fix: How do you want your books to be remembered?
Smith: I read a review on Amazon of Trouble in Pizza Paradise, my first Dolphin Girl book, that said Captain Dugong had bad morals, and was a bad example—a bad parent or something. “He’s teaching his daughter to steal cable!†Which I thought was hilarious. I thought it was such a weird concept—like some kid would be coming to this middle-aged cartoon man in a dugong suit for moral advice, and that said kid’s parent was so humorless and confused that they took the time to write a review warning other parents that this thing might teach their kids to steal cable. Anyway, I love it. Let’s keep some of that weird energy going. Love the fans, love the fans!
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?
Smith: Yes, I am trying to offload these frisbee’s that I just bought in bulk from a company called, FRIZ-ME! It’s not a pyramid scheme! It’s a lifestyle! You are the business owner, that’s the beauty of it. You make your own hours! Anyway, I need to sell these things like yesterday or bad things are gonna happen for ol’ Zach. IF INTERESTED DM FOR DETAILS.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Smith: I am currently illustrating another book which will be out next year for Viking Books, and I am also in the process of producing a show that I created for Nick Jr called “Hamster Show†which is a working title, so…(You can’t see me, but I’m shrugging).
Review Fix: Where can people find out more?
Smith: For FRIZZ-ME! lifestyle updates, elaborate branding exercises, and pictures of myself at the gym (just at the gym, not actually exercising): instagram.com/zachsmithdraws
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