Candice Goodman is a cartoonist that has been living in Portland for seven years now. She started getting into comics two years ago and is now earning her comics certificate through the Independent Publishing Resource Center.
When she takes small breaks from working full time and drawing she enjoys eating burritos on her bed while watching Broad City with her best friend Binks (her cat).
Find Candice Goodman’s stuff at The Stray Comics and on Instagram @rainisunshine
INTERVIEWER
Cats?
CANDICE
Cats are still the best!!!!
INTERVIEWER
What comic artists do you take style inspiration from?
CANDICE
Recently I feel inspired by Hellen Jo, Daniel Clowes, and Simon Hanselmann.
INTERVIEWER
What about narrative inspiration?
CANDICE
I find myself going back and forth from being inspired with the type of storytelling Daniel Clowes and Simon Hanselmann have versus my own life experiences.
INTERVIEWER
What do you like about Daniel Clowes’ narrative style? Which comic by him is your favorite?
CANDICE
I love how easily he can put a story together and make you really feel like you know his characters. I guess its easy to tell that my favorite comic from him is probably Ghost World. He was able to create a very relatable world of two angsty teenage girls and how it felt to live in that time period. I love how he is able to capture the most creepy and weird characters from life too, like in his comics ‘Wilson’ or ’ Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron’.
INTERVIEWER
Did you like comics when you were growing up?
CANDICE
I did! I grew up reading Archie and comics in the local newspaper. I didn’t start reading other comics until two years ago when I dated a guy briefly who introduced some Image stuff to me. After that though, I found that I enjoyed a lot of stuff that Fantagraphics has been putting out.
INTERVIEWER
What do you like by Fantagraphics?
CANDICE
I like Patience, An Age of Liscense, Megahex, Mox Nox, and Bright Eyed at Midnight.
INTERVIEWER
Are there any comics you sit back and enjoy without thinking of your own craft?
CANDICE
I have recently been loving Cat Eyed Boy and all of the manga that Junji Ito puts out! Both artists work so hard on their ink work that it blows my mind and I get so caught up in their detail and creepy stories.
INTERVIEWER
Do you like cartoons?
CANDICE
LOVE THEM. I grew up outside of LA and my parents both worked full time jobs, so I was stuck at home a lot watching cartoons. Some of my favorites that still influence my work and what I enjoy reading include Courage the Cowardly Dog, Spongebob, Ren and Stimpy, and Hey Arnold.
INTERVIEWER
How long have you been making art?
CANDICE
I spent my whole life doodling but didn’t take my craft extremely seriously until almost two years ago, when I decided I was going to make time to draw every single day.
INTERVIEWER
Do you start with images and then add text in? Do you draw a character hoping to express a particular emotion or do you let the face do it’s thing, then interpret its emotion, then add in text?
CANDICE
I do start with images. I usually have a vague idea of what I want my comic to be about and then I start trying to interpret what I am imaging in the form of thumbnails and from there I just ink and figure out what I imagine the characters would say in that moment if anything at all. I find that I don’t use a lot of text but rely more heavily on expressing how the character is feeling from the character’s facial expression.
INTERVIEWER
How are your shrinky dinks going?
CANDICE
Great! My first round was more of an experiment to figure out how large I need to draw them and how to make them into pins, but I plan on making more to hopefully sell at Linework!
INTERVIEWER
What do you like about Linework?
CANDICE
I enjoy how open and wonderful the comic community is, and how easy it is in general to have conversations with both artists I have been following, and new ones. I am especially excited this year since I do know more people that have tables, and hopefully I will feel more comfortable talking to more people. I am stoked to see what people put out this year for sure! Goodbye money haha.
INTERVIEWER
Is there anyone at Linework this year you really want to meet?
CANDICE
Hazel Newlevant and Htmlflowers.
INTERVIEWER
Where do you draw?
CANDICE
Coffee shops mostly, pie shops, parks, anywhere I can drink or eat. I bring my stuff everywhere to be honest.
INTERVIEWER
What materials do you like using?
CANDICE
I am obsessed with my Pentel Technica .05 pen and a bunch of pens that Faber Castell puts out. I also enjoy watercolor and gouache when I have the patience to set it all up.
INTERVIEWER
How do you know a piece is finished?
CANDICE
When I can’t think of any more jokes to fit in I guess haha.
INTERVIEWER
Do you use any styles from manga?
CANDICE
Oh for sure! I have enjoyed incorporating similar facial expressions with Bernie when he is surprised about something or using similar comic pacing if that makes sense. I feel like with manga, they try to hold onto small moments for a longer period of time instead of making every panel a crazy action.
INTERVIEWER
What is your creepy guy comic you’re working on? What’s his name again?
CANDICE
Hahah my creepy guy comic I am working on is loosely based on a true story from a few years ago. His name is Bernie, and he use to be a regular customer at a coffee shop I worked at, and one day he told me he wanted to cut my hair and wear them as earrings. That memory stuck with me and since then I have been working on coming up with a backstory about who this guy is. Also couldn’t forget his eye patch that he would move from the right to the left, or the time that he was wearing a clear eye patch…. he was just obviously meant to be a comic character.
INTERVIEWER
What have you come up with so far for Bernie’s backstory?
CANDICE
That he lives in a trailer that looks a lot like Divines place in Pink Flamingos, with his ‘wife’ who is a real doll named Amber and his son Sid. Besides being a creep, he is sweet to Amber and loves stealing or finding things to give her and loves dressing her.
INTERVIEWER
Anything you can share about your brainstorming sessions for your next project?
CANDICE
Um the only idea I have so far that I might go through with is my experiences with my dad before his death when I was ten and how my life changed after that.
INTERVIEWER
How did your life change after your father died?
CANDICE
I learned to not take life so seriously and just do what makes me happy.
INTERVIEWER
What did it feel like when you first started drawing comics? Did you love it right away?
CANDICE
I loved it! I did feel pretty intimidated trying to come up with stories… so I would just make mini ones about my day to day life and overtime I have become more comfortable coming up with ideas or remembering funny stories.
INTERVIEWER
Do you plan on making any comics based on longer narratives? Like a multiple issue story?
CANDICE
I guess I might be doing a longer narrative about Bernie in a similar way that Simon Hanselmann has done a novel about Megg, Mogg, and Owl!
INTERVIEWER
What are your favorite comics communities in Portland?
CANDICE
I guess I don’t really have one specific community… I have a few illustrator friends that I enjoy drawing with, including some friends that I met through linework last year and the zine symposium!
INTERVIEWER
Is there anything Portland has for comics that nowhere else has?
CANDICE
Oh for sure! I think the whole IPRC comic program is very unique, and has defiantly opened doors for me to know more of the community, and have easily available resources like a scanner, printer, photoshop, and illustrator.
INTERVIEWER
Would you ever consider doing the art for someone else’s story?
CANDICE
I would consider doing it for sure.
INTERVIEWER
Are you planning on doing any collaborations in the future?
CANDICE
No plans yet, but I would be thrilled to work with any of my artists friends… I think Ona Greenburg and I were thinking about playing with animation and maybe doing a short silly cartoon together.
INTERVIEWER
Are you in the middle of any new projects?
CANDICE
Finishing up my investigation comic that’s due in a week! But working on brainstorming my next project! In the meantime I am working on a watercolor commission piece of my manager’s cats.
INTERVIEWER
How do you market your stuff? How do you get your comics out there?
CANDICE
Instagram! I take pictures of my work everyday even if it’s not my favorite drawing. I have learned that people enjoy seeing my work progress and it makes them feel like they are part of my creative journey. I guess besides using that as an outlet I talk about how much I love comics with everyone I meet and carry my work around to show people.
INTERVIEWER
What do you want to try with comics? Like, what directions do you want to take your comics in?
CANDICE
I wanna try working on a more personal comic next, but I do enjoy the direction I have been taking with my comics which is dark humor. I wanna try as many different stories and mediums as possible though, because I think the best way to grow as an cartoonist is being willing to leave your comfort levels.
Self-portrait by Candice Goodman
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