Intro: Hey hey hey! It’s me with another #NewStorySunday! If you read my blogs then you know every Sunday I try to interview someone and lately it hasn’t been like that. Regardless, today I have the wonderful and well-known Abby with me! She is probably most known for her famous comic series called @eggandbee, but she is also just the kind of person that does it all. So in this episode she’ll be talking to you about that!
V: Tell me a bit about yourself.
ABBY: I am a sophomore Tyler student, and I just got accepted into the Graphic & Design program. I consider myself a Philly resident now since I’ve been living in Philly permanently for the past two years now. Last year, I interned for the Philadelphia Flyers as their graphic design intern. I also run a comic series called @eggandbee.
V: When did you start drawing?
ABBY: I started drawing when I was really young, kind of around when most kids start drawing, but I did it a lot. I went through a phase of drawing buildings and more technical structures; that’s when I knew I was different in the drawing aspect. While everyone else was drawing puppies and stick figures, I was focusing more on the technical part of drawing. I really liked it too so I just kept going with it.
V: Were you always talented at drawing? I know I can’t draw for my life.
ABBY: It definitely helped that my peers and teachers always encouraged and supported me. They’d tell me things like, “Oh that’s really good.” That allowed me to keep going, even if I didn’t think it was special. It definitely came somewhat naturally to me because I paid so much attention to detail.
V: What was the transition like into graphic design?
ABBY: I think going into graphic design is a deliberate choice. In high school, I was very focused on typography which got me into design. The first college I went to, Bentley University, was strictly a business college. I went there for Information Design and Corporate Communication, the design part of marketing. It was very business focused, so I decided to transfer to Tyler instead, and focus more on the graphic design aspect of business.
V: What’s the inspiration behind your comic series, @eggandbee?
ABBY: I started it a month before I came to Temple. It was mostly because I was really bored. I wanted a very creative project, and I had no idea it would take off the way it did. Most of the series is based off of little stories that happen to me and my friends in college. I wanted a very specific drawing style- simple and childish- but with more adult content. I just wanted to start a series that was more about young adult life.
V: Okay so I love dogs, and I know you always feature a corgi in your comic series. I have to ask: why a corgi? Do you have one?
ABBY: I actually don’t have a corgi, but I’ve always just loved corgis. Whenever I see a corgi around, I freak out. But I’m allergic to them so I can’t actually have one.
V: Oh no! That’s horrible. On another note, how long do you spend making each drawing/creating content?
ABBY: The comics themself vary. If the background is more complicated on one sketch then it could take a lot longer. But some don’t even have a background so those definitely take less time. I would say they could take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours. I used to plan out the posts, when I had more content to post. But now I go post to post. I used to plan out more when I would post, because of Instagram’s algorithm, but now I plan less since it’s not chronological anymore.
V: Wow, you must have so much creativity! What’s the future looking like for your comic series, and in general?
ABBY: For the series, I just want to put out more content right now. It’s really slow right now because I don’t have the inspiration for it. All I do right now is go to work and go to class, which doesn’t make for the best content. I got a comic book deal, that I’ve been bad about working on. But ideally, the book will be published soon and it will help me grow my social media presence with the series.
Personally, I’d love to work in Philadelphia for awhile, but then I would want to move out to San Francisco where there is a large design community. Ideally, I’d love to work at Google but there aren’t as many designing jobs for Google. They’re also usually for people that go to Ivy leagues, but that would be amazing at some point.
V: Do you have any word of advice for anyone trying to be an artist like you on social media?
ABBY: I would say be consistent about it and be committed to it. A lot of times people think things will happen overnight. I posted very consistently in the beginning. I think networking with other accounts is also good to get traction going- have other accounts repost your work. A lot of artists underestimate the aspect of being a business person. While you may be a great artist, you need to also be a great business person, and you need to be able to network and talk to people. You need to also be collaborative, which is what a lot of artists lack.
V: That is such good advice, I totally agree. Thank you so much, Abby, it was great learning more about you! Make sure to go follow this girl’s comic series @eggandbee and see what she’s up to 🙂 Stay tuned for the next interview @femalesoffiladelphia
Xoxo, V