Ted Naifeh Quotes & Sayings

“A story really isn't truly a story until it reaches its climax and conclusion.”

“Character design, like story design, requires a hook to grab the reader's attention.”

“I think all artists need to try to improve, or their work gets stale.”

“I think there's too much saturated color in comics, thanks to digital color techniques.”

“There's something about girls and unicorns that's deep and meaningful. Something about childhood.”

“Artists forget than the first purpose of a comic character is to convey emotion. Everything else, like realism, or other kinds of virtuosity, is an optional extra. If you sacrifice expression for the sake of other concerns, you're putting the cart before the horse.”

“Basically, Urban Fantasy means D&D in New York. Ordinary people have no idea that they share the world with fantastic, supernatural creatures. It can't just be vampires or werewolves; it has to be a whole continuum of fantastic beings, with their own society within society.”

“Color comes very easy to me. And watercolors have a particular tendency to stay grounded, unlike digital color. I find that digital color wants to go wild, to lose control and be as bright and loud as possible. With watercolor, it's the opposite. It's harder to get bright, vivid colors when you need them. But that's okay; I prefer it that way.”

“'Courtney' is a more punk-rock kids' book. It has this precious veneer that Courtney's terrible behavior trashes. And it's basically about how miserable it is being in junior high, watching your childhood fantasies vanish, realizing how hard life is actually going to be. Whereas 'Polly' is much more of a positive look at impending adulthood.”

“I dug up some old John Buscema 'Conan' comics. Man, when Alfredo Alcala was inking, that was some of the most beautiful black and white comic art ever published. The stories are good, too, though early '70s comics based on Conan is a festival of sexist, racist stereotypes.”