First Comics News: What first got you interested in making your comics?
Jem Milton: I’ve always perked up seeing a cartoon. Always held my engagement more for some reason. I grew up drawing in front of cartoons on TV, and while it took me a while to find comics that I loved to read, I always liked making sequential art in one form or another – the marriage of visuals and story has always been something I respond to and that helps me express my ideas, so when I discovered Manga around age 8 I started to hone in on what I loved about storytelling in comics.
1st: What audience are your books geared to?
Jem: I think they are best suited to young adults and older children. There are some adult themes in places but a lot of the issues are around things that start coming into play around early adolescence or sometimes even earlier, and sometimes things that go on well into adulthood, so I think there’s a broad range of people who can relate to stories of self-discovery and acceptance like this.
1st: How would you describe “Hungry Heart”?
Jem: I would describe it as a layered love story – it’s about two characters building a relationship between them, but also how that relationship informs their relationship with themselves and the world around them, with the London food scene as a backdrop. It’s also an exploration of queerness in our modern era, body image, and the nature of human value.
1st: Why are Laurie Gale and Oryan Adjei characters people will love?
Jem: Well, I think they each have their special traits! Oryan has a sparkly, charming personality despite his insecurities, and his goofy sense of humor and playfulness is the thing that makes him so much fun to be around. And Laurie is like the Bravest little toaster, navigating every setback with a sarcastic joke and a grimace. He can be quite dry and nihilistic, but he has a heart of gold and is very quietly observant, which gives him a lot of empathy.
Laurie and Oryan are quite different and yet in some ways very similar. They have their foibles but they both deal with anxiety, pressure, self-doubt, and insecurities that affect the way they go about their lives in a stressful city environment, and I think that is very relatable in our fast-paced world. It’s a love story, but it’s also a navigating life story!
1st: What makes Laurie and Oryan a perfect match for each other?
Jem: They are a great team! When one of them is down the other picks them up, they’re like a couple in a rowboat each with one oar, keeping the boat moving steadily forward.
That’s so important for a healthy relationship, moving away from one person taking the lead into the two of you working together. And they like and appreciate each other’s flaws too! They have a very specific dynamic that allows them to navigate quite complex issues around class, wealth, race, and work, which keeps them mutually respectful of each other and supporting each other.
1st: How does a culinary critic deal with an eating disorder?
Jem: This is such a great question! I came up with this idea for Laurie’s character because I wanted him to be the sort of anxiety-driven person who believes he has to just ‘get on with things.’ Even if it’s very uncomfortable, he feels it’s on him to suck up his issues and just do what he can with the knowledge and interests he has. But in reality, he’s thrusting himself into a very difficult role, where something has to give, and that something is usually his mental state. If he took a moment to consider what would be right for him, he might see that this is hurting more than helping. It’s kind of a comment on how the pressure of our modern world encourages us to define ourselves by the value of what we produce, rather than the value of a life lived simply and honestly.
1st: How did you go from a webcomic to a printed book?
Jem: This was something that I was approached about through Tapas, the website that hosts Hungry Heart! I loved the idea of the story being read in book form as if Laurie and Oryan’s romance could be carried around with someone in their bag or sitting next to their bed. I was a boarding school kid, and my comic books were as important to me as my teddy bears, if not more. So it’s nice to imagine this book could be like that for someone too.
1st: What is an infographic?
Jem: An infographic is an illustration that explains complex information in a simple, visual way. So you can have things like statistics, quotes, graphs, ideas, and all kinds of information together, linking the relationships between ideas, all laid out nicely with simple illustrations – any variation on that can be an infographic. They often have a crisp, clean look to them or a more hand-drawn cartoon feel. The main goal is to make the information easy to understand and remember. I’ve been doing infographics or the live, in-person version (sometimes called Graphic Recording) for over a decade!! (God I’m so old…)
1st: What is “The Flying Ship” about and who are Dobrina and Brick?
Jem: The Flying Ship is a fantasy comic about a grumpy girl called Dobrinia who is stranded in a forgotten military outpost after a war outlawing magic. She seems antisocial and curmudgeonly, but she just wants to get away and look for her father who she lost track of during the war. But when she meets a mysterious sorcerer who gives her a flying ship, she begins a twisting journey through the magical world of Glass to win the hand of a princess, and just maybe find her dad. Brick is her loveable, big, smelly dog who is also her best friend! The Flying Ship is something I have worked on in some
form since I was a teenager at boarding school, inspired by my love of Russian and Slavic folklore. But the comic as it is now has been going since about 2016! There have been a couple of books, but the webcomic is ongoing, so there’s lots more story to come. You can read it here: www.flyingshipcomic.com/ or on Tapas: https://tapas.io/episode/514490 for free!
1st: What will people find on your website www.jmiltondraws.com?
Jem: There’s a mix of different work there, some of it is book illustration and comics, and some are more business-based like infographics, animation assets, and corporate illustration. I try to work in a range of styles for different purposes, but at the core of all my work are expressive, human characters representing a diverse range of people.
1st: Do you like to include magic in your stories?
Jem: Yessssss! I love magic. I love coincidences, fate, and symbolism too – in a way those are all a kind of magic! But I love writing fantasy worlds and stories inspired by myths and folklore. I like keeping people guessing and rewarding those who read multiple times or keep track of the details :}
1st: What hardships have you faced in your career?
Chronic pain has been a constant companion for me throughout my work life, literally caused by obsessively drawing with poor posture around my teens. I have a bad shoulder and my arm, wrist, and fingers hurt a lot, as well as my neck. It used to affect my mental health and my stress levels were through the roof, and I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to become some incredible genius quickly, in case my body stopped working before I could make something amazing. But I think learning to accept yourself, your limitations, your real interests, and your flaws is such a massive part of growing as an artist and a person. So sometimes now I prioritize comfort and well-being over my art and career, and that’s actually okay and rather healthy sometimes too.
1st: What have been some shining moments in your life?
Jem: Ah, let me see *rocks in a chair while knitting* – I went on a trip – without any parents – to Japan with a school friend for three weeks when I was 14. Considering my high anxiety and love of Japanese culture, that was such a profound experience! (…But my mum has not forgiven me yet.)
– The day my partner and I brought home my first cat, Yuki. And the morning after when I woke up he was still there in the house, living with us.
– The day I learned how to set short keys in Photoshop. What a game-changer
1st: What would you like to say to the fans of your work?
Jem: Firstly, just thank you so much for reading. I love making art and I always will, but it makes such a massive difference when you see people enjoying what you make and relating to your stories. I believe all art is personal on some level, so it just feels like a very roundabout, socially anxious way to connect with people.
Secondly, I would say, the greatest gift I would love to share is the gift of self-acceptance. It is the top-shelf, good-life stuff. I think people are sometimes drawn to my work because I write a lot of insecure, flawed characters who keep pushing through and fighting even though they have raw, difficult, and sometimes ugly feelings.
That’s so human. I wish I could say I feel self-love all the time, but I don’t – that’s also very human! Whoever you are, whatever challenges you are facing, your wellbeing matters and your value is so much more than your output, or what you produce or contribute financially. Your perception of the world based on your unique point of view is a gift, and however you wish to express that or not is up to you. So think about that and the power you wield, because you just don’t know how your actions and words can change someone’s whole outlook on life.
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