“I am so excited to be able to share interviews with SAW students with you, so we can learn more about their work and influences and be inspired in our own creative journeys.

Today, I’m talking to David Wagenfeld. David is a 56 year old artist/cartoonist working out of Kalamazoo Michigan. He is always striving to produce art that touches, teaches and allows the viewer to feel something real and expand themselves as a being on this planet. You can learn more about David on Instagram.”

― Donna Druchunas, SAW student & enthusiast

Donna Druchunas: How and when did you get involved with comics?

David Wagenfeld: I started reading comics when I was a kid (6-7 years old) I was in a grocery store with my Mom and I saw a Superman comic and it just grabbed my attention. I begged her to let me get it and I was hooked ever since.

DD: Were you interested in comics as a kid?

DW: Yes, that Superman comic I saw at the store was an Action Comics which featured a cover of Superman where he was half rock and half man. And it just seared its way into my brain , I was hooked instantly. And the medium just felt right to me from the start.

DD: What is your all time favorite comic or long-form graphic book or comics series? What do you love about it?

DW: I would say "Bone" by Jeff Smith. I love it because it starts out all cute and sweet and as it progresses it slowly changes into something very different. I loved seeing that progression and how the characters grew and changed. It is just an amazing achievement and a wonderful example of what the art form is capable of.

DD: Tell me about your comics style and what makes it unique.

DW: I think my style is unique just because it is an expression of the unique vibration that I bring to the world. And that the same idea funneled through the prism of someone else would be totally different because the vibration would be different.

DD: Tell me about your creative process. Do you have a specific process for creating comics from idea to finished pages?

DW: I think my process is an organic one where I might do a sketch that I really like and looking at it sparks an idea that will generate a drawing or a series of drawings. I will then start hearing text that goes with the images and write them down in the sketchbook. I usually will then ink the drawings and figure out a layout for the panels that feels right. Once that has been figured out I will go into Photoshop or Painter and create the panels. Then I will scan in the drawings and place them into the appropriate panel and add the text.

DD: What tools and supplies or apps do you use and why? Digital or Analog?

DW: I am pretty basic. I use a Strathmore hardcover sketchbook, a Pentel Sumo pencil, and both Micron pens and the Pentel pocket brush pen to ink. On the digital side I use Photoshop and Corel Painter for software.

DD: What projects are you working on now? Include links if you have any parts of this project online that you'd like to share.

DW: My latest project was a one pager titled "Standing Tall" it can be viewed on my Instagram page.

DD: What projects do you have planned for the future?

DW: As usual I have a thousand and one ideas floating around in my head right now, I just have not landed on which one is the next I will pursue.

Tell me about some important teachers, artists, courses, or schools that have influenced your work.

DW: I would say that pretty much everything I look at has some sort of influence on me and that just looking at it teaches me something that I did not know before I looked at it. So in that sense I view everyone and everything as being my "teacher". As far as artists that have had the most influence on me I would say the top two are Jack Kirby and Will Eisner. Mainly because they were both fiercely independent in not only their styles but in the way they believed in the medium and its unlimited potential. They were both dedicated to experimenting to break new ground and open the art form up, which is something that I am very attracted to doing.

Thank you, David. It’s been great talking with you and having the opportunity to introduce you to the SAW blog readers!