Today we’d like to introduce you to Chet Presley.
Chet, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I’m the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the independent comic book publisher, Pulp 21. While serving in those roles, I also write and draw my own stories, along with designing our line of books and preparing them for printing. There’s a ton of administrative and marketing stuff peppered into those chores, too, but I won’t bore you with those details. I have loved comics as a storytelling medium for most of my life. You can do anything with comics and we try to reflect that philosophy through Pulp 21.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Right now, I’m in the middle of serializing an H. P. Lovecraft pastiche. I’m taking little bits and pieces of his stories and remixing them into something new that I hope adds to the greater mythos, which is in the public domain. Those stories can be pretty nihilistic and as I’ve searched for my end to the story, I’ve grappled with that. Something is tugging at me to come out of this story with a tinge of hope, maybe. We spent the last half of the 20th Century obsessed with the end times. Maybe it’s time to look ahead.
That said, I hope I unnerve and disturb the readers sufficiently before getting to that point. Atmosphere, tone, and mood are holy grails that I chase after in storytelling, too. The trick in the illusion isn’t necessarily to replicate reality, but to at least make the reading experience immersive and plausible.
And for On Eldritch Waves, my story, I’ve eschewed traditional comic art – which is mostly pen and ink with digital color, these days – and use an ink wash to create values and contrast. I get a lot of fun textures out of it too. For fun, John McElroy, Pulp 21’s digital color artist, has actually colored the flashbacks in lurid and pulpy fashion, and we’ll see more of that as the story is told.
Do you think conditions are generally improving for artists? What more can cities and communities do to improve conditions for artists?
I think conditions have gotten better. It’s so much easier to make something and get it out in front of people. The only real problem other than the little money it might take to manufacture something would be to combat Attention Economy. It’s always been a problem, but with social media it seems more difficult to be heard in the cacaphony of posts, tweets, and grams. The only real way to fight that is through relentless consistency.
I’ve lived in Houston most of my life, born and raised, and I have to say that this is a truly vibrant and exciting time to be involved in the local art scene. I like to count a lot of people in the community as friends of mine and their work never fails to inspire. We still meet a little bit of indifference from the city, and I don’t really know what to chalk that up to. I’d suggest that if you want to help the artists and the health of the scene to attend shows, tell your friends and family about what connected with you, and – if it’s within your means – buy something when you can.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Pulp 21’s product line can be found at: pulp21comics.com We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well. I’m a little behind on updating all of that, but hopefully by time this interview is released a lot of that will have been resolved.
Contact Info:
- Website: pulp21comics.com
- Email: pulp21@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/pulp_21_comics
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pulp21comics
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/pulp21comics
Image Credit:
Pulp 21
pulp21comics.com
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