Interview with Jennifer Contino of The Pulse.com, March 2005.
Unlike the final Interview online, I've chosen to post the full interview here within the complete context of questions asked and answers given:
THE PULSE: How did you get interested in making your own comics?
FAWSTIN: I always wanted to be involved in making comics ever since I was first exposed to them as a kid. I loved the fact that there were people who created these wonderful things by hand and knew I wanted to do the same. After a few flirtations with other artistic endeavors, I decided to turn my love of comics into a career. And I'm proud to say that Table for One is the first professional work of my comic book career. It was always important for me to introduce myself to this field that I love with an original graphic novel.
THE PULSE: How long did it take you to come up with the concept for Table for One?
FAWSTIN: It's a very simple idea. I've been working in the restaurant business for a long time and one night in particular I had a stronger longing than usual to be doing something else, namely writing and drawing comics for a living. But I knew that I wasn't good enough yet, and I thought of a scenario where, what if the first girl I ever loved walked through the door of the restaurant that night? It would drastically change the night for me. From there, I started making notes and built from that small spark into a story that takes place in one night where anything and everything can and does happen. I've taken all of my experiences in the restaurant business and exaggerated and pushed them as far as they can go within the confines of the limited setting that I imposed on the story. I began evaluating my writing/drawing skills seriously and I knew that I needed some formal training. I began taking night classes at SVA (School of Visual Arts in Manhattan), getting my skills to the point where I believed they were good enough for me to create this graphic novel. Meanwhile, I was still working full time as a waiter and getting daily material from each day's events to consider for the book.
THE PULSE: Why name it Table for One? That title might make one think of sitting alone in a restaurant or some other type of solitary activity.
FAWSTIN: I wanted the title to focus on the Individual and also suggest the setting of the story. The One in Table for One is dominant on the cover, emphasizing that point. One of the main focuses of the story is placing a sharp spotlight on the Individual, a man who devoutly follows his conscience and lives and acts by his own standards, and place him in the 'conformist society' of the restaurant.
THE PULSE: What did you want people to think this was about from just hearing the title?
FAWSTIN: I felt that the title Table for One suggests aloneness...even among others. And even further than that, Will is a writer who longs to be at a Table for One writing full time. Even In the meeting at the end, he sits at a table by himself apart from the rest of the workers as well, emphasizing that point further. And of course, the title is uttered by a major character who enters the story and changes the whole dynamics of it from thereon.
THE PULSE: What is Table for One? [tell as much about the story as possible]
FAWSTIN: Table for One is the story of one night in the life of William Howland, a writer who works for a living as a waiter until he can write full time. Will has always preferred one on one encounters with others, so after years in the restaurant business, where loud crowds are common, he comes off as nearly misanthropic. Will becomes the kind of invisible waiter who simply gets the job done. His boss noticed Will's growing contempt for his job, so he bet against him lasting a year in his restaurant. The following is on my website's homepage:
" I walk into the crowded room...not a soul in sight."
Meet William Howland, who's hated by those he can't stand and admired by those few he respects. Counting on Will's temperament to trump him, his boss bet against him lasting a year in his underground restaurant in Manhattan. One year later, it's time to pay up. But on this night, Will's code to treat all as they deserve to be treated doesn't serve anyone well, especially him. And he might not even last the night. Then she walks in...
THE PULSE: Why set it at a restaurant?
FAWSTIN: I know the ins and outs of the restaurant business so well that I thought placing my hero in a background I was familiar with would add authenticity to the story. I've always seen the restaurant as a mini society with all types of people just begging for drama and conflict.
THE PULSE: Why set this at such an important time in US history?
FAWSTIN: 9/11 has had such a profound effect on me that I felt a need to comment on it through parts of the book, especially the two page spread on pages 28 & 29 where New Yorkers have their say about what happened and how they feel about it. It was the first raw responses that I was going for here, since I placed the story shortly after the atrocity. I tried to convey the anger and shock of New Yorkers in particular who were waiting for another bomb to go off. The story takes place in New York City and I could not pretend to ignore what happened there. A week after the attacks I was walking in Manhattan and a plane flew overhead. A plane was no longer a plane anymore so people slowly turned their heads to look at it as it flew by. I put that on page two where it looks as if a plane is flying into the Empire State Building and Will is transfixed and reminded again about what just happened.
THE PULSE: How did you come up with William Howland?
FAWSTIN: I've always been attracted to strong characters that follow their own code of right and wrong, even if no one around them understands them. Characters whose very nature will bring them into conflict with others. I've been inspired by characters like Howard Roark, from Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead and Cyrano De Bergerac, whose contempt for mediocrity is shared by Will. Though he holds onto his ideals very strongly, Will is not an ideologue at all, he is simply determined to be himself at all times. He's a character who's both disliked and liked by those on the left and right. That's as good a testament as any to his individuality.
William Howland has struck a nerve with those who define themselves politically because he is not a political character in the least. I'd even call him an anti-PC character. He eschews politics, which is why he may attract this kind of reaction. Ultimately, the gratifying thing is that his character riles them up to the point where they refer to him as if he were real, even going so far as wishing physical harm on him in a few of the reviews of Table for One. He is a character you love or hate and I wouldn't have it any other way.
THE PULSE: What did you want people to immediately get about this man just from reading a few pages?
FAWSTIN: That he's a solitary man who enjoys his own company. That he hates being interrupted while writing, as he is in the first few pages when his boss calls him to work on his day off. That he takes very good care of himself and that he has a quick wit. The rest of the story expands on that initial first impression, and either compels or repels the reader.
FAWSTIN: I admire art that gets to the point in as simple and elegant a way as possible, with no insecure cover up lines. So I attempted to do the best I could with that ethic in mind, making things very simple and clear while not skimping on things that had to be drawn out in clear authentic detail. In regards to the characters, I chose a style that clearly gives one a good first impression about who these characters are through their physicality. I used caricature on some characters and somewhat of a more realistic style in designing other characters. I intended to draw each character in regard to their relationship to reality. The morally ambitious characters were drawn with clear definition and physical integrity, whereas the morally ambiguous characters were drawn as soft and as loose as their 'morals' or their pretense at morals.
THE PULSE: How did you want to be distinctive with each character, yet also have something that makes the art look cohesive?
FAWSTIN: I wanted to keep the characters Very distinct from one another. I don't think there are any two characters that look alike throughout the whole book, even background characters, though of course there are subtle variations on certain themes here and there. This was an attempt to be clear that we are all individuals, even if only physically when it comes to some. There's very limited line work in the characters' faces and that means that I had to be consistent with them through every angle I drew them. I think I succeeded in making them fit into this story.
Also, there are visual puns strewn throughout the book, from the cover until the end that helps in defining some of the characters. Here's one: If you look past Kripnik's obviously greasy hair, try to make out the shapes of the black parts of his hair above his head. There are two objects in there that define who is. The same thing is repeated, in a more extreme degree in Ritchie's hair from the last meeting on. If a reader finds three or more, they get a free, signed sketch of Will. Details are on my website's forum.
THE PULSE: How long did it take you to get this tale created?
FAWSTIN: While working full time as a waiter, I was taking night classes and studying on my own, writing and drawing at home. I read many books on illustrating and writing and I've taken Robert McKee's great Story seminar a few times as well. I'd say from first spark to finished book it was about 2 years. The final 5 months of those 2 years were spent working on the book full time, while only waiting tables on weekends, and finishing all of the penciling/lettering(rewriting) and inking in that span.
THE PULSE: What were some of the biggest challenges in terms of your artwork to making the pages appear exactly as you envisioned them to be?
FAWSTIN: I always had a strong idea of what I wanted the book to look like, so I really just kept moving from drawing to drawing until I was happy and confident with the results. I could go from 4 to more than a dozen page designs before I was satisfied and then I could work on a certain drawing over and over again until I knew that was the one. I really believe that one must exhaust oneself in search of that perfect page design/drawing as one sees it.
THE PULSE: What areas of this were the easiest for you to draw?
FAWSTIN: All of it was hard, especially the things that look easy. That's not a complaint or avoidance of the question, but getting things to look on paper exactly as you have it in your mind is a tough thing, but well worth taking the extra effort to achieve.
THE PULSE: Who or what were some of your biggest art influences?
FAWSTIN: Alex Toth above all. He's the single greatest illustrator in the history of comics. His work is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. His ability to get to the point in as direct a way as he can is unsurpassed. No one has a stronger, more unique and elegant line in comics. David Mazzuchelli, who just by Daredevil: Born Again and Batman: Year One I consider to be one of the greatest comic book illustrators of all time. The style he chose for Batman: Year One was itself an homage to Toth, acknowledged or not. Frank Miller, for page composition and brilliant visual storytelling. Salvador Dali, who made the fantastic and surreal look alive without deadening it with 'realism'. Edward Hopper, his stark, isolated landscapes. Norman Rockwell, one of the finest realistic caricaturists ever and just a first-rate illustrator/painter. Today's comic artists that I admire: Javier Pulido, who's doing some great work lately by being more experimental than anyone in today's mainstream, with mostly excellent results. John Romita Jr. who I think is the best of the monthly pencilers working in comics, when he's not being formulaic. He's one of the only 'pencilers' who I take seriously anymore. I always prefer the artist who inks his own work. Outside of Frank Miller and John Byrne, I think each artist is his own best inker and I'd love to see a fully inked Romita Jr. comic, which he's never done. I think he has far more in him than he's allowed himself to show. I follow writer/artists like Batton Lash, the creator of Supernatural Law, which is a joy to read. He has a very savvy way of getting across interesting ideas and takes on current events in an entertaining way. Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze, which after reading his two collections of it, has me hooked on anything he does. It's an incredible piece of work.
THE PULSE: Who or what influenced your writing style for this tale?
FAWSTIN: Table for One is such a personal story that I can't say that any particular writer influenced it, per se, since I was truly just following my own developing voice as completely as I could, so there was no model to follow. That being said, my favorite writer is Ayn Rand. Her work has had the most profound effect in how I think about art in general and heroic fiction in particular. I see her as the most fully realized artist I've ever experienced and my debt to her cannot be overstated. She's written the two finest works of fiction I've ever read, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Frank Miller's work has been one of the main reasons why I became a comic book professional. He creates daring, powerful work that resonates long after its read. I think he's the best storyteller in comics and it was no surprise to me that I found out that Rand inspired his work as well.
THE PULSE What was tougher for you: drawing or writing? Why?:
FAWSTIN: I could easily say that the writing was tougher, but that would be too easy. A big part of me believes that's true, because without a story, there's not a comic to draw, but without the successive drawings, then it's not a comic book. So I really can't separate the two when it comes to importance or difficulty. Comic book writing is not an end in itself; it only carries the story to a certain point until the drawings take over. Each particular craft felt tougher than the other while I was exclusively engaged in one, but they both are geared toward the same goal: telling a story. It's all about achieving a healthy balance between the two where neither craft dominates.
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
FAWSTIN: I'm working on a story that deals with Muslim Terrorism and the ideology behind it, the connection between the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an and today's Muslim terrorism. I want to dig into the mindset of the devout Muslim who truly believes he's on a holy mission from god when he targets and kills non-Muslims. This is a story I feel a very passionate need to tell and one that's been burning within me since that unforgivable day in September, 2001. It deals with two American born brothers, raised in a Muslim family who grow up to be as different as life and death, and who after being estranged for years, are forced to confront one another. It will be in full color, and if all goes according to plan, I'll be finished with it this summer.
