Forum Interview with Greg Evans, Creator of Luann

Phi Kappa Phi Forum, Summer 2004

Greg Evans was named 2003 Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society. Luann deals with the daily life and tribulations of 16-year-old Luann, her parents, her big brother Brad, and her various friends.

Forum: Tell our readers a little about your background. Were you interested in comics and drawing more than the average kid, and did you have some idea early on that you might want to be a cartoonist?

Evans: I was born with CD, Cartoonist Disease. All I ever did as a kid was sit in my room and draw cartoons. I grew up in Burbank, near Disney Studios, and I wanted to be an animator. In my teens, I discovered MAD magazine and wanted to work there. Then I fell into comic-strip reading and realized that a comic strip was exactly what I wanted to do. I submitted my first (lame) strip at age twenty-two.

Forum: Do you have any formal training in art or drawing or design?

Evans: I have a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in art and a minor in English.

Forum: Who or what inspired you to get into this field?

Evans: Ask comic strip artists who inspired them, and 99 percent will say Charles Schulz. No different with me. Schulz made it look so easy. We all admire his deceptively simple, expressive art, his deeply defined characters, and the humanity of his writing.

Forum: At what point did you seriously begin to entertain the notion of making this your livelihood? How long did it take you to get into the field?

Evans: I was serious at age twenty-two, but I wasn't ready. I didn't have the life experiences to season my writing and give it reality. So my first dozen or so submissions were lousy rip-offs and shallow, contrived "hook" strips. I didn't come up with Luann until age thirty-five.

Forum: How did you originally come up with the idea for Luannl Was it the first/only strip that you attempted?

Evans: Luann was around strip number twelve. Yet another one of my lame, contrived, rip-off strips had been rejected, and I was feeling pretty down. I decided to give it one last try, then move on with a "real" life. I was watching my nine-year-old daughter parade around in her mom's high heels and lipstick, and I thought, "Hmmm. Maybe a strip about a saucy little girl . . . ." But as I began work, I realized that nine was too limiting an age, so I graduated my character to thirteen, and Luann was born. The strip was the first that came from my heart, my life, my experiences.

Forum: How has the strip evolved over the years?

Evans: When Luann debuted on March 17, 1985, she was thirteen, her parents were not shown, and the art style was very Peanuts-like. Since then, Luann has aged to sixteen (three years in nineteen - wish I could do that), and the art is more life-like. And the parents appeared late in the first year.

Forum: Was it a struggle to begin to get the strip into newspapers? How did you begin getting it placed?

Evans: The syndicate began selling it several months before the premier date. It launched in seventy-five papers. Now it is in 350. Adding new clients is always a struggle. I thank the sales staff every day for the work that they do.

Forum: Tell us about how you like to work - how do you generate ideas? What do you do to get the creative juices flowing? How do you deal with "cartoonist's block," if that ever happens? Does the strip flow from the drawing or the writing for you?

Evans: I find that the calendar is the best boost to creativity. A looming deadline always gets the juices flowing. I really do not have a method or trick or system. I just sit and think. And the writing always comes first.

Forum: Which is harder for you - the drawing or the writing?

Evans: It varies. Some ideas flow right out, while others you have to pry with a crowbar. Some strips are fun and easy to draw, while others require liberal applications of White-Out.

Forum: How far ahead do you produce strips? Evans: I stay two months ahead.

Forum: Whom do you admire among your contemporaries - whose strips would you just not miss?

Evans: I'll pass on this one. They're all friends, and I'm not willing to praise some and overlook others.

Forum: What forms of cartooning other than daily strips interest you - whom and what do you enjoy in the world of comic books, manga, and so on?

Evans: Some cartoonists who are brilliant: Sergio Aragones, Rick Geary, Mike Mignola, Mort Drucker.

Forum: If someone wanted to get started as a cartoonist, what sage advice would you give them?

Evans: Get a good education, read a lot, listen, observe. You need to fill yourself with life before you can put it down in ink.