Rok Comics Creators: Paul Harrison-Davies
First Published: 8 March 2008
Paul Harrison-Davies is a modest but accomplished comics artist popular in British indie circles, whose work has been published in the Mammoth Book of Best New Manga. His upcoming strip for Accent Press' Robots anthology, "MY Robot!" has been adapted into a ROK Comic series.
Questions compiled by David Hailwood
How did you discover Rok Comics?
John Freeman told me about it.
How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based comics?
Nothing beats paper for reading, but as long as it's good comics then I have no preference.
What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?
I haven't really achieved anything 'great' yet. Working up the nerve to show my work is my greatest achievement so far.
What projects (both Rok Comics and non Rok Comics related) are you working on at the moment?
Nothing Rok Comics specifically [apart from MY Robot - Ed], but I am working on a couple of kid friendly comics as well as attempting some more 'manga' style work.
What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?
I'm not really in a position to give advice. There's two things I wish I'd done though.
1) Practice more, never get lazy, just because you draw something well once doesn't mean you'll always draw it well.
2) Enjoy what you do. I tried for a long time to force myself to draw in a way that I wasn't interested in. It's best to decide if you just want to be published or if being published is secondary to what you want to create.
What's your favourite comics related website?
When I remember to look it's The Comics Reporter, mostly I just like looking at random blogs.
Where else has your work appeared?
The first Mammoth Book of Best New Manga, AccentUK's Zombies and Robots (released May 2008) anthologies and the odd small press title over the years - Solar Wind, Violent! and a few of Jason Cobley's Bulldog comics. I did my own self publishing for a bit, under the name 'Mo!' too.
Where/when did you get your first comics break?
Think I'm still waiting for my 'break', drawing 'MY
robot!'
has been closest to a break, just because I enjoyed it.
What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?
Ongoing titles I read are Jack Staff, Nexus, The Spirit, Glister by Andi Watson, Dungeon, Disney Comics and Stories and Uncle Scrooge. But I read a lot of one offs/GNs and the like, such as Kazu Kibuishi's Flight (and anything solo by the contributors), anything by Jason and Richard Sala, uh, a lot of Fantagraphics titles, Drawn and Quarterly, First Second, Top Shelf, that kind of thing. I also read lots of reprints of classic work (Popeye, Moomins, Gasoline Alley, Dick Tracy, Steel Claw, The Spider etc) that are coming out too which I often pick up.
Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?
Alan Moore, for being brilliant. James Kochalka for just following his muse. Lewis Trondheim for being so incredibly prolific and entertaining. It's an endless list in terms of talent though, so I'm even going to try!