From an animation about the unassuming friendship between a kite and a bicycle to a minicomic layering fairytale text over the everyday morning routine of an elderly lady, the Alberta-born animator and illustrator has built a solid portfolio largely around the emphasis of life’s simpler pleasures.

Even in the more fantastically-themed minicomics she has worked on, (either independently or collaboratively) whether the setting is a post-apocalyptic snowy landscape or a future where off-planet colonization is a reality, the actual focus of the art is still generally on the simple, relatable quirks that define everyday life.

Strange as that might sound, Colleen actually pulls it off quite well.

However, I don’t want to paint her into a corner here – lest you assume the extent of Ms. macIsaac’s talent begins and ends with the un-extraordinary, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Why, one such example to the contrary could be found in the form of a webcomic macIsaac did collaboratively with Jordyn Bochon. The webcomic – titled ‘May’ – follows the oddly-mannered title character as she sells suspicious ice pops that may or may not be poisoned to children, enjoys a good mid-evening bludgeoning, and generally wears less (or more) clothing than is appropriate.

Bochon, who has the humble distinction of being a 2009 Fabler interviewee herself, wrote the story, and macIsaac brought it to colorful, illustrated life.

The two have actually known each other for going on seven years now, and have collaborated on a number of comics together.

In macIsaac’s own words,

“Jordyn is an amazingly talented lady, and she’s working on a lot of exciting projects right now. I’m proud to know her!”

Well, Fablerites – we’re proud to present an interview with the (also) extremely talented Colleen macIsaac.

Without further ado:

KD: You’ve done some serious cross-Canadian bouncing around; from Spruce Grove to Vancouver all the way to the other coast.

Can you tell me a little more about your adventures in trans-provincial relocation?

CM: I grew up in Spruce Grove, a suburban Albertan city, but went to school in Edmonton; upon graduating high school I moved out to Vancouver to study animation at Emily Carr.

When I finished my undergrad my partner Dorian and I decided to explore a different part of Canada. Neither of us had ever been to Halifax (he hadn’t been East of the Saskatchewan border), but it sounded like a creative and fun city, so we took the plunge and headed towards the Atlantic!

KD: Is illustration/animation/drawing comics a full-time occupation for you, or if not, what else do you do for  work?

CM: I work a number of part-time jobs to make ends meet – I do freelance illustration and animation work, but it’s always an ebb and flow; it’s nice to have flexible employment that I can go back to during dry periods that also lets me take time off when things get hectic.

Right now I’m mainly working as an actor on a historical brewery tour where I wear a costume and pretend that it’s 1863. I also work in a few theatre box offices and at an art gallery from time to time, and I feel very lucky to be working in places that are related to things that I enjoy.

I find that I enjoy working in a variety of places; it keeps me on my toes!

KD: From perusing your work online, I’ve noticed a recurring theme of people presented in context of their everyday life, often combined with a focus on nature and simplicity.

Is this totally off the mark? What can you tell me about what you like to draw the most?

CM: I would say that’s a pretty fair assessment! I feel very scattered in terms of my artwork; there’s definitely things that I keep coming back to when I draw, but I don’t really have a conscious focus with my work at this point.

I enjoy making small and quiet drawings about people going about their lives in their communities, I suppose. I’ve become drawn to the idea of art with a local slant, of connecting to people through geography, and I think that’s a theme I’d like to explore more in the future.

KD: Who (or what) do you consider to have influenced your style the most?

CM: I think the single biggest influence on my style would have to be access to the internet. I tend to spend more time online than I should, looking at the work of artists from hundreds of years ago to people producing amazing
contemporary work.

I’ve never worked at having a specific style and sometimes I fear that’s a big detriment and leaves me too open to influence by what I see around me, but at the same time I think that living in an age when we can call up a million different images at a single click has been a huge boon.

KD: How far back does your interest in comics go? What got you into making them yourself?

CM: I’ve been interested in comics since I was in elementary school and have been making awful little comics since childhood.

In high school, I was lucky enough to get involved with a group of artists who published a trilogy of perfect-bound anthology comics. Once in university I continued on with making little books and sending them out into the world, this time with a collective called The Radar Friends (which included Jordyn as well).

Most of the comics that we made during that time were collaborative photocopied minicomic anthologies, as it made things easier when it came to amount of content and sharing printing costs and table fees at the Vancouver Comic Con.

KD: What sort of comics interest you? What sort of comics don’t?

CM: I’m interested in comics that have a story to tell, comics that challenge me, comics that are beautifully drawn, smart, funny, original, and comics that have a good heart.

I’ve never really gotten into superhero comics, and I enjoy reading comics in longer books or graphic novel format rather than in tiny chunks where the story is broken up into a million different issues. I’m generally willing to give most things a shot.

KD: Where do your ideas for comics typically come from?

CM: I’m a really scattered person when it comes to a ideas….I have many half-finished notebooks with jots here and there about stories that get abandoned halfway through.

I don’t think that I’m a very good writer and I find it extremely difficult to just come up with a coherent story, so a lot of my notes are just scribbling down an idea or an image that I think might be able to be twisted into something.

When I decided to go for it and make a comic I’ll look through the random ideas I’ve compiled and try to make something out of them.

KD: It seems that making Kate and Bradbury was a pretty big focus for you in 2009. What can you tell me about that animated short, and the inspiration behind it?

CM: I originally pitched Kate and Bradbury for the Atlantic Filmmaker’s Coop One Minute Film Scholarship (http://afcoop.ca/omf), which is a really great program where people who have never made a film before get a chance to learn all the steps involved in making a 16mm black and white film.

I came up with the original idea with my partner Dorian Lang, and we fleshed out a storyboard from there. The idea originally germinated in the new bicycle that I had purchased recently and the people who fly kites on Citadel Hill here in Halifax, which is up the street from our house. It was a definite learning experience, but I had a lot of fun with it and I’m happy how it turned out.

KD: Animation-wise, what are you planning to follow it up with?

CM: I’m currently working on a new film that I hope to finish sometime in 2010 about a girl who is obsessed with items she finds on the ground. It’s still in the fairly early stages and I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m looking forward to tackling it. It will be about 5 minutes long and animated with watercolours and crayons, and if all goes according to plan I will shoot it on 35mm.

KD: What else are you presently working on, by way of minicomics/illustration projects/et cetera?

CM: I’ve gotten pretty distracted by theatre recently and haven’t been doing as much drawing as I’d like to, but I will probably be attending TCAF this year and I’d really like to make some new comics for that.

I’m in the midst of a whirlwind of projects during March, so I’ve decided I’m going to try and make a small comic every week and then focus on something bigger in April. I’m also slowly edging back into the groove by making some tiny watercolour illustrations based on old photos. There’s so many things that I want to be doing all at once – comics, animation, theatre, drawing, being involved in my community – that sometimes it’s a challenge to fit everything in. I sure enjoy trying, though!

For more about Colleen macIsaac, you can visit her website littlefoible.net or check out her Twitter feed. Below is her animated short kate and bradbury, linked from Vimeo.

-Interview by Kevin de Vlaming