37 Darkly Humorous Comics That Illustrate Surreal Stories, By Alex Gamsu Jenkins

Alex shared that prior to becoming a comic artist, he worked in a lot of jobs like at a supermarket, gardening, or call center. We asked if any of his previous jobs had an influence on his art.

Alex wrote: “Absolutely. I feel working these jobs had a massive influence. Around that time I had completely stopped making any art since I was a child. I didn’t draw anything from the age of 12 till I was about 22. During that break, I was particularly unfocused and didn’t know what direction to take in terms of a career. I worked these jobs, like mentioned, the supermarket, and I was also fairly frustrated by the mundanity of it all. When it came to me rediscovering my drive for drawing again, I felt the work flowed out of me at the time, due to all that pent-up frustration! The boredom and lack of direction helped me to gain wind in my sails and give me an initial push. Also, another thing was I never really felt I was any good at these jobs, so with art, I at least felt there was some talent deep down in there.”

We were wondering if the artist himself had a favorite comic that he created. Alex shared: “Yes, of course. The ideas I find are my favorites are the ones that probably feel the least labored to think up and an idea just comes out of the blue and really quickly. For example, these 2 I made for the Adult Swim website, I knew I had pressure to make something and fortunately, 5 minutes into sketching the idea was set and ready to be finalized. Whilst much of the time I feel I can be stuck on something for days, or just endlessly sketch but struggle to make the idea clever. So my favorites are those comics where the moment just clicks with little pressure.”

There will always be people who won’t understand, criticize, or will give negative feedback. Alex shared how he deals with it.

“It’s a learning process, really. I’m pretty introverted as I’m sure a lot of artists are, and the idea of handing over my work in person for someone to validate or observe always filled me with dread or made me feel awkward. The internet and having social media has made the process of putting work out there in the world a lot easier and I can just upload something and then not feel paranoid by someone's facial expression when they look at my drawing! There are moments when a negative comment can still leave its mark, I can almost look over all the good ones and my attention will just focus on that 1 bad one which will cut deep. I think this is normal, though, just try and focus on the positive comments and if there is one that is negative, see it in a constructive light. Being self-aware is good.”

Next year, Alex has announced releasing a book. We asked what we could expect from it. Alex responded: “The book is a collection of comics from over the past 4/5 years. They were intended originally to be web-based but there is something satisfying for me to finally have some work in the physical real world.”

And lastly, Alex added: “Anyone who wants any advice or tips, etc., don't hesitate to get in touch and I can share anything I may have picked up along the way. Or maybe I can get some tips from you… cheers!”