“The birds developed out of gag strips and short experiments I had started with. They began to develop personalities….But I didn’t really know how to draw comics. To a great extent, the story of this book is the story of me trying to figure out what I’m doing exactly. For as long as I can remember, I’ve spent a lot of time drawing pictures, and probably for that reason it was something I had become reasonably good at. Making comics, however, is about more than just being able to draw well. It involves rhythm and timing, directing the reader’s focus, making objects and faces recognizable from one panel to the next. Things as subtle as a character’s posture and the way a panel is framed convey information, whether intentionally or not. Part of the pleasure of drawing for me has always been to watch an image take shape in front of me, and to adapt and respond as it unfolds. There’s a way that drawing can be very improvisational. But in comics, if it isn’t consistent, you risk confusing your reader. If that happens more than once or twice, she will take her attention elsewhere.”

-Author and artist Anders Nilsen on his magnum opus, Big Questions, recently published by Drawn and Quarterly