Hello, hello! We’re back starting the week with another of our wonderful Changeling comic artists, PJ!
Emmy: Hello! What is your name, where are you based in the world, and what is your artistic practice?
PJ: Hi! I’m PJ, and I’m a Leeds based art gremlin. Guess that answers all 3 questions huh? Specifically I’d say I’m a cartoonist…!
Emmy: What inspired your Changeling comic, “Dr. Malaise’s House of Monsters”?
PJ: I’ve loved monsters my entire life, so it felt like a good match for my piece! I knew I wanted to make a short comic that encourages the reader to get creative, so these things melded to form “Dr. Malaise’s House of Monsters”. The world needed an autistic mad scientist lizardy lady.
Emmy: How long have you been creating art?
PJ: Ever since I was a little homunculi! I doodled anywhere and any time I could, and uh… Still do!
Emmy: Where is your favourite place to create?
PJ: At my comfy desk surrounded by my trinkets and figurines. 🙂
Emmy: What was your favourite media when you were young?
PJ: That’s a toughie as there’s almost too many to list! I’ll try and keep it brief… Tim Burton and Henry Selick and their gothic stop motion work and stories about misfits, vivid 90s cartoons like Rocko’s Modern Life (by Joe Murray!) and Ed, Edd and Eddy (by Dan Antonucci), comics like Sam & Max (by Steve Purcell) and TMNT (by Eastman & Laird) alongside a whole bunch of video games (Nintendo, Sega and most of all Rare. Banjo-Kazooie was ace!) and I feel like I have to mention a fascination with Doctor Who and the many outlandish aliens and creatures they’d meet.
Emmy: What were you passionate about when you were a child?
PJ: Lots and lots of things! Drawing was a big one, as was being a class clown, animals, Pokémon, and most of all I think were monsters! I just identified with being different I suppose.
Emmy: What is your favourite thing about being neurodivergent?
PJ: People zig and I zag. I like being different, and creative, and the zany, outside of the box thinking it comes with.
Emmy: What is your favourite thing about creating art?
PJ: Seeing a small idea, a thought, become real and tangible. It’s magical!
Emmy: Do you think being neurodivergent impacts your creativity in any way?
PJ: 100%! I think it helps me come up with ideas and solutions to things that are out of the left field and completely unique.
Emmy: What would you say to encourage any aspiring artists reading this?
PJ: I’d say that I wish you all the very best! The only thing you need to do to be an artist, a writer, a cartoonist, a poet, is to create. Just keep creating. Then create some more!
Find PJ @pj.art.gremlin on Instagram.
Changeling Annual 2023 will be published in Spring — keep an eye out for updates by following our Instagram.
Changeling Annual 