We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Deirdre Noonan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Deirdre, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I’ve always wanted to be an artist. But the first moment that I can really pinpoint is when I picked up my first comic book.
When I was about 9, we moved into a house that had some things left behind from the previous tenants, and in the room that would be my room, there was the first issue of Batman Shaman by Dennis O’Neal. I was just so transfixed by the method of story telling, and I instantly adopted it.
Comics opened up a space for me to tell and to be a part of the story. I could keep my daydreams going. The first comic I actually made was a little fan comic of Aladdin. I LOVED the movie, and LOVED the show – but we didn’t have cable or anything. So making this comic of a certain street rat going on hi jinx let me keep the story going.
But of course growing up, so much of our society always pushed me to “get a real job” or minimized the importance of art as a pursuit (as if we don’t all take in art all day every day with everything we look at and touch).
There was a point then in my twenties, where I was drawing signs for work, and leaving sketches all around my friend’s apartments that I realized: even though I *could* be successful in a more traditional career – that just wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to be telling stories, and making art through comics.
And it is work, I want stress that. The “if you do what you love you don’t work a day in your life.” is bull. It’s absolutely work – but I just know that I’d be absolutely miserable doing anything else.
Deirdre, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a visual story-teller, who uses comics and illustrations to share diverse perspectives with the world through art.
As a queer hispanic woman, I want to take part in not only through sharing my own unique perspective through comics and art, diversifying my industry, but encouraging and assisting other creators in doing the same.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
The best thing that society can do to support artists and creatives is to actively recognize how vital these industries are to our every day life. Stop telling your children to get a “real job”, or demanding work without pay. Encourage the artist in the people around you, treat people in the industry with respect, and pay them so that they can continue to create.
Early on in the days of the pandemic, I remember a survey that went viral about jobs people considered most and least vital, and artists were the LEAST vital job. And I was struck by that – thinking about the way that everyone was at home, throwing themselves into movies and TV and games and music and books just to get by; spending most every waking hour browsing websites that had to be designed by massive teams of artists, filled with content created by artists of multiple mediums, and sitting on furniture in comfy rooms that all needed to be dreamed of somewhere down the line. Our lives as we know them would be impossible without art, on a basic fundamental level. Yet, our society treats it as a glorified hobby that doesn’t deserve the pay or respect of a “real job.”
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, nothing beats the validation of seeing that my art struck a chord with someone else on this planet.
There was a time that I shared some illustrations of mine on reddit, and the thread had people making up entire stories that the image had inspired in them. There was even one person who commented that the way I had designed the main character happened to remind them of their significant other who had passed. And while I was sorry to have unintentionally brought up that pain of loss while they were just browsing online – it was so impactful to me that, through my art, this complete stranger and I were sharing such an intimate moment of life.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://deenoonandraws.com
- Instagram: @DeeNoonanDraws
- Twitter: @DeeNoonanDraws