SEVEN AT ONE STROKE – that’s seven questions a day for comic artists and illustrators. This time: Paul Winck.
Paul Winck was born in 1992, in Strasbourg. Currently based in Berlin.
Why did you start drawing?
To pass time. My parents always took us, my sister and I, to restaurants with them and we didn’t have much to do as the evening dragged on and on and they got into never ending political debates with their friends. We would draw on the paper tablecloth. It was amazing. Everybody got annoyed, from the restaurant owners, rightly scared for their table linen, to my dad who feared for his prized ink pens, to the friends who got their plates rudely shoved around to make more space for the drawings. Nobody dared to say a thing though as they didn’t want to be the ones to put an end to our mad creative impulse. I guess drawing has always been a way for me to escape a sometimes disappointing reality all the while being in a prime position to irritate people!
How would you describe your style?
My style is… No style? People often say that my drawing style keeps changing but I see it more like one style with different levels of realism to it. I often draw directly on the paper without sketching first so it sometimes looks rushed or careless but it is how I express myself best. My dream is to reach a level where I could draw as fast and as fluidly as I can write, like a drawn writing of sorts.
Which topics are particularly close to your heart?
I focus very much on humans, and I like to explore the doubts and fears we’re all facing in our lives. And whatever I talk about, it often seems to come back to themes like self acceptance and fear of conformism, don’t ask me why.
How do you find inspiration?
I don’t try to force it, if I feel like I have no inspiration then it’s usually a good sign that I shouldn’t be drawing right now. I go do something else, like taking a walk. If it’s more lasting then it means I should probably leave my drawing table for a while and go on live a real life adventure!
What can comics, cartoons and illustrations accomplish that other media can’t?
With text and images, comics have a double language. It’s like the right and left hands simultaneously playing different parts on a piano. This gives comics a depth that is difficult for other media to compete with. Practically it allows to explain extremely complex ideas or emotions in a very concise manner. I also have the feeling that one remembers things easier when they are presented in a comic form. Maybe because they stimulate the visual memory?
Your most beautiful/worst experience as a comic artist/illustrator?
I think my best memory is when the entire comic community in Berlin got together to save the Renate Comic Library during the pandemic. It really showed that we could band together to protect was is dear to us and it worked!
Can you complete the sentence: „It matters to me that…” for us?
It matters to me that people keep expressing their creativity.
I would like to advertise this project of mine:
The Comic Book is my latest project and the closest I’ve been so far to achieving this drawn writing. It’s a very detailed account of one evening between friends that goes horribly wrong. It touches on a lot of my obsessions and also talks about art, It’s quite big (about 80 pages) but it’s vindictive, you read it in one go! The easiest way to get it is here.
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