4 lessons a fancy mansion can teach about comics
Surprising similarities between interior design and graphic novels
I recently visited the Pillsbury Castle, an English Gothic Tudor mansion that was gorgeously renovated in Minneapolis. In collaboration with the new owners, each room was designed by a different interior design team, and then the mansion was opened to the public for a short time.
I took myself there on an artist date and brought along my sketchbook. It occurred to me as I moved through the gorgeously designed spaces that there were a lot of similarities between making a graphic novel and interior design:
1. Layer patterns and textures
Throughout the home, the interior designers used bold and varied patterns and textures which created a lush and stunning affect. For me, it drew me into the space and I felt enveloped by them.
In graphic novels, texture and patterns can have a similar effect, drawing the reader into the world and making it feel more vivid and real.
This is why I love working with watercolor since it tends to create gorgeous textures on its own and the layering of colors adds to the depth and lushness to the world.
Between us, I could probably work on adding more texture to my line art, but I tend to let the watercolor do much of the work.
2. Surprise them with whimsy
There were repeated moments of whimsy and laughter as I moved through the mansion. A giraffe head holding a crystal chandelier in the back staircase, ceramic monkeys climbing over a room, and a modern chair that looked like a face with its tongue sticking out.
One of the things I love about graphic novels is that the medium is particularly well suited to flights of fancy, humor, and not being restricted by reality.
An example of this in my own work is when I took F. Scott Fitzgerald’s description of a movie star being like an orchid, and drew her as an actual orchid in my graphic novel adaptation of The Great Gatsby:
I’m a bit surprised that my publisher, Candlewick Press, let me get away with that!
3. Know your audience
The children’s bedroom stood in contrast to the design in the rest of the house which was darker, glitzier, and bolder. The designer, Lucy Penfield, clearly had her audience, the children, in mind when designing the space. The bedroom was charmingly old-fashioned, playful, and imaginative. An ideal space for children!
The audience is something I always try to keep in mind when I’m working on my graphic novels, although it can be easy to lose sight of them when deep in the details of a project, or thinking about historical accuracy.
For example, people today think that the roaring twenties were filled with flappers wearing tons of fringe and feathers, but in reality those accessories weren’t as ubiquitous as we think. However, I realized that readers would certainly expect them in Gatsby, and be disappointed not to see them if I didn’t include them in my adaptation of The Great Gatsby so I made sure to add them throughout
.
4. Make them gasp
There were so many times in the house where I’d go around a corner and find myself gasping and the dramatic interior.
The equivalent in graphic novels is the page turn. A page turn is what it sounds like—when you turn the page of a book. Basically, as a creator, you always want the reader to keep turning the page, so you put interesting or surprising information after the page turn.
Like the expectation of something new and exciting in the next room of the mansion, well-crafted page turns creates anticipation in the reader to expect something surprising on the next page. And, in particularly dramatic moments, you want them to gasp as they turn the page and see a (hopefully stunning) double-page spread:
I’d love to hear from you:
Do you like touring fancy houses as much as I do? What did I miss in this list of similarities? I’m sure there are plenty more!
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Leif love
Although Leif spent his puppy years cautious of water, he was positively frolicking beneath this waterfall in southeastern Minnesota last weekend.
Take care and keep creating!
–Katharine
I'm still blown away by your Gatsby illustrations. So so cool. And what a cool house!
It’s so intriguing to see the BTS of an artists day, processes, and how you find inspiration. Fun quick read this has been!