This page is from 2008, when I was drawing in my sketchbook pretty much every day. In the upper left is a true story about being handed a religious pamphlet, which ended up in my 2012 book A Matter Of Life. The book was meant to be about religion and growing up with a minister father, but ended up becoming a story about my relationship with my dad and my son. At the same time, I was working on an 80-page fight scene for my own amusement. I usually balance out autobiography with goofy, amusing stuff to help keep the humour in my more serious work
Illustration: Jeffrey Brown
This is the sketchbook in which I drew A Matter Of Life. I tend to be fairly cavalier with it, leaving it lying on the porch, or where my son could grab it and colour in it. I don’t want the work to become overly precious. My books should feel like you’re getting a peek into a private world, a diary no one was meant to read. As soon as I start thinking, “This book is going to be published”, my drawing becomes calculated and deliberate. It’s one of the ways I trick myself
Illustration: Jeffrey Brown
I used this chart to track the making of A Matter Of Life. There are the page numbers of the book, the dates when I first pencilled them, when I finished the linework, the colouring and the whole page. Tracking my progress makes things feel more manageable
Illustration: Jeffrey Brown
The book Sulk is a collection of some autobiographical things, some more random. I made little covers and taped them on. These books were from around 2004-2005. Any Easy Intimacy was the start of moving away from writing autobiographically; Sulk was more like my older everyday sketchbooks. I made new covers for the final versions. The Sulk one has a fairly different look; Any Easy Intimacy is similar, but without black around the drawing
Illustration: Jeffrey Brown
By 2012, I found I was drawing less and less in my sketchbooks, so I started this one with the plan to draw one page a day. Unfortunately, the book lasted only a few months. These days I’m working on three or four books at a time, with tight deadlines and two kids. It’s a lot to keep up with
Illustration: Jeffrey Brown
Illustration: Jeffrey Brown
These are the end sleeves of the blank sketchbook in which I drew Unlikely, the story of my first relationship. I started drawing it about a year and a half after we broke up. I was 26 and at art school, and I liked the idea of there being only one hand-drawn copy of a comic book, so this is also the final artwork
Illustration: Jeffrey Brown
A Matter Of Life was actually drawn in a blank book that I got at the Tate Modern when I was in England in 2007. When you're looking for a sketchbook you've got to find the right paper for the pens you like to use. I like to draw on both sides of the page. I found that with these Tate sketchbooks, I could do full colour with the kind of markers I use without having it bleed through. I bought two while I was there, then I ordered more. Then they stopped making them the same way, so I have my stash that I'm saving for the special project
Illustration: Jeffrey Brown
