#TheArtistPanel: Tara Abbamondi

Twitter, pass the festering gossip and beef between celebrities is a very cool place to mean creatives. One such creative is Tara Abbamondi. The Pennsylvania-native, amongst other things, is a comic book illustrator and cartoonist. It was in 2010 she first published her indie mini-comic Puddles, and has been quite the busy indie-bee, spearheading numerous creative projects. So we thought, hey, why not catch up with the art mercenary’s recent endeavours and ask Tara Abbamondi those life-affirming questions that would leave the most zen buddhists confused and dazed:

© Tara Abbamondi

How’d you get started in comics?

I sort of just decided that I really loved comics and that I wanted to have a go at drawing them, and since then I’ve been drawing them ever since!
 

Is comics, you feel, a boys’ club?. Has that changed at all over the years?

I hear this often, and I’m frequently asked “What’s it like to be a woman in comics?” And I never really know how to answer that. I think over the years it’s becoming increasingly more common to see women working on comics. For the big 2, maybe not, but the women involved in indie comics is growing daily and they all kick ass.
 

© “Roots” Tara Abbamondi

Any flagship projects on or coming up at the moment?

I’m currently working on my Ireland travelogue, Roots, so I do have that going on at the moment, once that’s finished, I have a few one-shot projects and possibly something a little bigger later next year.
 

How was Ireland? What was your most memorable moment?

It was absolutely amazing! I had many, many memorable moments, that it’s hard to choose just one. I’d say herding cows with a car was pretty memorable.
 

Have you ever created any of the art inebriated?

I’ve drawn when I’ve been drunk and such, but it’s never really been for anything tremendously important, otherwise I’m too giggly and unfocused.
 

Ice cream or yoghurt?

Ice cream, yep. I wanted to lie and look like I’m all healthy and pick yoghurt, but no, ice cream, all of it.
 

© Tara Abbamondi

How best would you describe your technique. Digital? Traditional? A Great weaving of phantasms?

HA, a great weaving of phantasms. I like that. Ah, I go back and forth. Roots will be a mix of both, it’s drawn traditionally, but will be scanned, lettered, and grey-toned. I like to give equal love to both, but a lot of times digital wins out, simply because it’s quicker and cleaner.
 

Definition of success?

Being happy.
 

Last comic you’ve read that you thought was great?

The latest issues of “Cartozia Tales”! Always a great read, go check out their site: http://cartozia.com/
 

What makes a great comic? What’s your formula?

That’s a hard one, hmm… good art, good story, good characters…

Ahhh hmm, my formula? I guess my formula is just to draw what makes me happy, write and draw the stories I would read, and hope that some people like them, too.
 
And who can complain about that? We have a thing for character-led narratives too. If you like Tara like we do, you can check her out on her purdy website about all her upcoming projects on www.taraabba.com and follow her on Twitter. Very friendly chica.

Tara also has a new project out in the form of the comic In Your Wake on Sawdust Press which is available here, as well as other comics and zines she has on sale at http://tarabba.bigcartel.com/