I worked between 2008 and 2019 at the School of Creative Arts, Wrexham (formerly the North Wales School of Art & Design) running the illustration department. We ran illustration, comics and children’s books degree courses. I got to work with a lot of very talented and driven young artists and I got a real sense of excitement from watching people embarking on creative adventures. Now, I’m a freelance comic artist, illustrator, pen manufacturer and podcaster. Amongst many other things.

At the end of 2010, I decided to interview as many comic artists as I could. I’d been interested for a long time in how artists approach their work, how they rationalise what they do and how they saw themselves fitting in to the wider world. It was a real pleasure interviewing so many people and I learned a lot and had a lot of great feedback from people that enjoyed reading them. Also, I enjoyed doing it.

A couple of years later I was asked by Lizz Lunney whether I wanted to do a talk or something at the Birmingham Zine Festival in 2012. I wanted to interview some of my favourite artists so we came up with Make It Then Tell Everybody. Kristyna Baczynski did a wonderful job of designing the poster and we booked in to do them at the Patrick Centre at the Hippodrome in Birmingham. They went well so I decided to do some more.

I’m interested in the way that comic artists work, what they think about the process of making comics and how they go about making a living from that. If you like what I do, consider supporting the show. It’d help me out, especially as this is now a big part of my job.

The theme music is by Jim Guthrie. It’s his song Hug Me Til I’m Blue from his album Now More Than Ever. I strongly recommend you go and buy all of his music.

Dan Berry