We were lucky to catch up with Carla Wyzgala recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carla, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I never thought comic books would be the career path that my art would take me on. After graduating with big dreams and high hopes from the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 2009, the reality was that there was a recession and I had a lot of student loan debt. All of the big fancy companies that we were prepared in college to interview for weren’t exactly hiring at the time, but there was this one industry that was about to blow up- comic conventions. My first time selling art at a comic convention was the first time I had ever attended a comic convention, and it was a game changer. I had already loved all the same pop culture being sold everywhere at the event and was completely unprepared for how successful it would be for me. I was now obsessed. My first set up included a bulletin board resting on an easel, a cheetah print curtain, and prints thumb-tacked up with hand-written price tags and a sign saying “watercolor commissions $50”. Let’s just say my artwork and display has thus improved. I am now filling 10’x10′ booths with pink and white stripes and black sparkling fringe to compliment my watercolor boudoir art style.
Art prints are not the full story, as my love for sequential story-telling developed as I was surrounded by comic books almost every weekend. In truth, I always wanted to be a Fairytale book illustrator or novel cover artist but telling the whole story from start to finish, showing facial expressions and scenes play out, was very satisfying. I worked on very small projects and often collaborated with friends in the beginning to find my own language in this new format and eventually stopped pencil and inking the way you are “supposed to” and attempted a style that matched my art prints- hand painted watercolor.
Now I’m exhibiting at all the top comic conventions, from San Diego Comic Con to New York Comic Con and am devoted to bridging the gap between macabre femme art and comic books. My goal is to bring in readers who love my watercolor art but are new to comic book reading with my fairytale graphic novel Blue Eyes and the Beastling and my painting series turned comic, Skull Maskerade!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

What is pin-up art? Think of the classically illustrated vintage ladies in garter belts and pin-curled hair from old magazines and publications. I’ve taken that as my main inspiration and put my twist on it combining influences like Dita Von Teese and modern gothic fashions. I use the art of burlesque to depict anything from the popular female characters of pop culture to my own versions of the Zodiac signs as Burlesque Goddesses. I often times find myself caught in the middle of two different worlds; the world of pin-ups and femme fashion vs. the world of comic books and super heroes. It has been my personal mission to bridge the gap between the two and make a world of my own where I couldn’t find one by Illustrating comics in my hand-painted feminine style to re-tell fairytales and invent new stories with strong female lead characters who wear gowns instead of capes.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There is no right way to break into comics. I had been told that you don’t get to work on the things you like without first making your way through the work that no one wants first and “paying your dues”. I think this may have been a motto for an entire generation and I whole-heartedly ignored it. I kept working on art that made sense to me and made me happy and fulfilled, that I knew others liked too, and just rolled with it. Now, this did not get me comic book jobs, but it helped me discover a sense of individuality and within that I found my voice as a visual storyteller. I began self-publishing comics as soon as Kickstarter was available and have crowd-funded every project since. I still have to unlearn the idea that I’m doing this wrong and I’m not a real comic book artist because I haven’t worked for the big publishers first and instead must appreciate that I have been able to build my own audience through my art and can continue to work on new original ideas that feed my soul.
I was recently told by Rick Remender at NYCC last year, at a critical time for me to hear it as I was feeling severe imposter syndrome; “No one can stop you from making comic books.”

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

As with anything- hard work and perseverance, of course! I think that I have stayed true to myself and my personal interests within my style and how I’ve built my brand and it shows. It has taken over a decade to define my art style in a way that is recognizably mine, but so very worth it. Many trials and many errors. It would have been easy so many times to just do what everyone else is doing and follow trends, but I pride myself in staying as uniquely me as I can. Quite frankly, I try to create art that I would want to buy and it seems to be what other people want as well and I am thankful of that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carlations.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carlawyzgala/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carlations
• Other: https://carlationsart.etsy.com