The creator behind Cooper Lit Comics has a unique talent for telling stories that range from funny and lighthearted to deeply emotional and thought-provoking. What started as an idea to adapt a play into a graphic novel turned into a journey of making comics with depth and personality.
The artist shared that free writing helps keep their creative process playful, allowing them to move past the fear of the blank page and surprise themselves. By embracing mistakes and focusing on drawing with confidence, they’ve developed a style that evolves naturally and feels honest. They also value connecting with their readers, saying, “Encouragement is super helpful, but these interactions can also spark new ideas.”
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© Photo: cooperlitcomics
As always, given the chance Bored Panda reached out to the artist with some questions! When asked about the role of free writing as a creative tool, the artist explained, “Free writing does a few important things. One is it clears out the junk that’s spinning in your head so you can get to other things. Another is it forces you to move past the moment of fear at the empty page. You can’t sit and tell yourself you have nothing to say or you’re no good because you’re too busy writing the next word. If you can get ahead of the internal critic, you have a chance to surprise yourself.”
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Reflecting on how their art has evolved over time, they shared with us, “I think it’s just a matter of drawing with confidence. I can see it in my work and the work of others if it was made with confidence or timidity. Evolution is so gradual for the most part. Every once in a while, I surprise myself and make something I feel pretty happy with. When that happens, I try to notice what I was doing and how I was feeling when it happened.”
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When considering the challenge of overworking and the pitfalls of perfectionism, the artist admitted, “A big one for me is overworking stuff and being too perfectionistic. I have to really force myself to leave things alone and not keep going back to fix every little thing. The art becomes dead when you do that. I remind myself of the kind of art I love looking at, and it tends to be stuff that’s confidently childish and primitive. Sometimes I’ll copy art that excites me to remind myself what’s good.”
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© Photo: cooperlitcomics
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The artist also described their creative routine and how they generate new ideas. “Every day I do a little free writing to see what comes out. Usually nothing usable, but I try not to judge it so I can stay playful until the next idea emerges that excites me. Another thing I’ve started doing recently is an exercise I got from cartoonist Ryan Hudson. I use a random word generator to give me 6 words, and from those, I pick 4 and draw quick, bad comic strips based on each word. Most of it is also unusable, but every once in a while something good happens.”
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© Photo: cooperlitcomics
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Finally, for aspiring comic artists looking for advice, they offered a simple but powerful message: “Just start now and draw a ton. Don’t be overly critical and perfectionist or it will tighten you up. Find the joy in making what you had as a kid and just explore. My girlfriend Yvee is a great artist and I’m begging her to put her drawings online so others can enjoy them. She doesn’t really get how good she is.”
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