Keeping your creative Compass pointed South with Batgirl Writer Hope Larson

The Business of Art

This week on the show I’m excited to have Hope Larson as a guest. Hope is the current writer for Batgirl, but I know her from her amazing work on Chiggers, Compass South, and the A Wrinkle in Time graphic novel, along with having the most reasonably priced original art I’ve ever seen. I picked up three of her original pieces at ComicART two years ago for $25. Here is here bio, from Wikipedia:

While Larson was still in college, Scott McCloud took an interest in her illustrations, encouraging her to create comics. Soon after, she was invited to the webcomics anthology site Girlamatic and produced her first professional comic, a web serial entitled I Was There & Just Returned.[4] Afterward, Larson concentrated on a number of small, handmade minicomics, combining her interests in comics, screenprinting, and bookmaking.

She contributed to comics anthologies Flight, True Porn 2, and You Ain't No Dancer, while working on a web-serialized graphic novel, Salamander Dream. This eventually became her first full-length book, published by AdHouse Books in September 2005; she moved to Oni Press for her second graphic novel, Gray Horses (released March 2006).

In 2006, Larson signed a two-book contract with New York publishing house Simon & Schuster. The first book under this deal, Chiggers (released June 18, 2008, under the Atheneum Books Ginee Seo imprint), is a graphic novel about "nerdy teenaged girls" who meet at summer camp. Chiggers is intended for a 9- to 12-year-old audience.[5]

March 26, 2016, It was announced she would be the new writer for DC Comics Batgirl A run that saw the character go on a backpacking trip through China on a voyage of self-discovery.

In addition to comics, Larson has worked as a freelance illustrator for various clients, including the New York Times.

She has also worked as a letterer on such books as Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly's Local.

Hope is awesome, and another in a truly small amount of comic book creators I’ve had on the show which has been published by traditional publishing houses AND mainstream comic book publishers.

Listen to this episode is you want to know:

How to learn to write better as an artist, even if you are self-taught The But…Therefore strategy made famous by Trey Parker and Matt Stone from South Park (listen to the original by clicking here) What Hope would tell little Hope about pitching to editors How to sustainably build a career (newsflash: it’s hard) The ins and out of publishing contracts, like what does being paid in thirds mean and how do you earn out The difference between mainstream publishers and direct market ones

If you like this episode, head on over to Twitter @hopelarson or Instagram @despairlarson, and check out her slow-updating webcomic at solocomic.net.

And if you haven’t checked out Compass South, pick it up here, and make sure to also buy her new book Knife’s Edge by clicking here. I loved Compass South and can’t wait for my copy of Knife’s Edge!

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