Our "Best Of" Week wouldn't fly without a look at the best of the Gracieland. Please visit: http://greetingsfromgracieland.com/
to see all of the strips.
Below is a Q and A Jimmy and I did before the first Gracieland came out. Hope you enjoy!
What inspired the creation of Gracieland?
Ellen: Jimmy was helping me create the AGOG website and my Mother-in-law suggested
that we combine our talents and create something for Catholic kids.
Jimmy: Yes, I remember very clearly getting the call from Ellen. My favorite moment was when she suggested we do a "comic type thing." It was hilarious, because she couldn't QUITE bring herself to say "comic strip" or "comic book.
Ellen: Since most of my memories from high school involve Jimmy rambling on about things like Cerebus and Zot, I choked on my own words when I suggested the idea.
Jimmy: Which was mild really considering my first reaction to her suggesting it was to have an aneurysm. But once we both got used to the idea, it started to sound like fun.
Ellen: It is difficult for me to believe that less than a year later, I have a Scott McCloud book on my nightstand.
Q: How did you go about the actual work of developing the idea?
Jimmy: The first step was to create the characters. Obviously, this is the most important part of creating a new property, because people need to love the characters. But it can also be the most fun. One of the weird things about this particular project is that it was accomplished almost completely on Skype or over the phone as we live like five states away from each other.
Ellen: This was a totally new experience for me. This stuff is second nature to Jimmy. What struck me was how easy it was for me to catch up. The characters quickly took on lives of their own.
Jimmy: Actually, that was very surprising. Comics are an odd medium, and collaboration is always tricky. But it was unbelievably smooth, really. My main concern was to make sure that Gracie was not just a Catholic school version of Amelia McBride. I think we accomplished that. Gracie feels very much like her own person to me.
Ellen: Gracie was the focus from the beginning and she is very much her own person. I thought it was neat to see Anthony develop in the background only to emerge in his own way through Gracie's story.
Q: So tell us about these characters. What can we expect from them?
Ellen: Gracie is a free spirited second grader who gets into trouble quite a bit. Yet she has a sweet side and always wants to do the right thing. Plus I love the glimmer in her eye.
oh, and the band-aid
Jimmy: For me, the neat thing about Gracie, and the main difference between her and Amelia is that Gracie isn't quite as... ahead of the curve let's say... as Amelia is. But my favorite character might be her brother Anthony. Most of my characters tend to be boisterous eccentrics, and I love that he's a much more gentle and mild little boy Most of my characters tend to be boisterous eccentrics, and I love that he's a much more gentle and mild little boy.
Ellen: Anthony is so sweet. As the mother of a son, he stole my heart but mostly because he loves baseball. Since the series will encompass the whole family and some of Anthony and Gracie's friends, I think that most people will find a character they relate to, both kids and adults.
Jimmy: Plus there's a dog, Donut. I resisted doing a "funny animal" for my whole career, but the thing I like drawing best in Gracieland is her dog, Donut. That's the type of thing that can only come out of collaboration... something that pushes you outside of the comfort zone of what you would normally do.
Q: Can you tell us about how a Gracieland strip is created?
Jimmy: Sure. The first thing we did was to just brainstorm a list of Catholic School things. We decided we really want to focus on that aspect a lot in the webstrip. Once we had the list, we whittled it down to the ones we thought would be the most fun to work on, and which would give us a chance to show off all of our characters. Then we would just take a topic and start looking at it through they eyes of these characters. Tossing scenarios and dialog back and forth between Ellen and myself. The whole time we're doing this, I'm doing sketches and taking notes. By the end of that process, we have a fully scripted and roughly sketched comic strip which I then take and do the finished art for.
Ellen: We are also working on a series of Gracieland books but publishing can be a slow process. We wanted to find a way to get the characters out quickly so we thought of the webstrip.
