A Quick, Little Interview with Billy McKay!

So, Billy, why don't you give us some personal history on drawing and publishing?

        Well, I always drew as a kid, but I was never any good at it and I never had a specific drawing style until about 5 years ago...That's when I decided, I love drawing...It's very hard for me, but I'm going to sit down and teach myself how to do it better.  That's what I did with my TILE comic...It was my own self-help course in forcing myself to try and draw as good as I could.

        I first found out about self-publishing back in 1997.  My friend Matt Traxler was doing a music zine called Lousy and he gave me a copy of Fact Sheet Five, which reviewed everything by everybody at the time.  I was thrilled that people did art and comics through the mail...so I got a P.O. Box, came up with my spacey comic called TILE and sent it in to Fact Sheet for a review.  I was reviewed by Seth in the very last Fact Sheet magazine (before they went under) and a couple people sent me mail....That's how it all started.

What are some of your favorite comix and who are some of your favorite artists?

        My friend Jeff Heidel is my favorite artist.  I met him in college and we've been friends ever since.  Jeff does a lot of monsters and creepy artwork in addition to making his own giant articulated action figures out of metal, bone, fur...etc.  I love creepy cool art.

        Other artists I really really like that I currently trade with include Carrie McNinch, Paul Houston, Chad Woody, Bruce Orr, Bob Corby, Steve Willis, Joe Marshall, Morgan Parducci, Jim Coon, Ryan Holgersen, Jamie Easter, Greig, B. Winter and Micah Liesenfeld....whew!

        Famous artists I like include Tim Burton, Henry Selick, & any artists from the old E.C. Horror Comics, and Berkeley Breathed (from the old Bloom County comic strips).

Have there been any specific influences on your artwork?

        Well, i do like Shel Silverstein too....the way he rhymes his stories so well and shows his crazy drawings with each tale...I like him, and Dr. Seuss, and the old cartoons I watched growing up...Transformers, Thundarr the Barbarian, Voltron, Space Ghost,....I sometimes have something from my childhood pop in my head when I draw and I get excited and think, yeah!, I'll make it feel like that old cartoon!....but my stuff never ends up looking like I think it will when I'm done. For the record I also love Dexter's Lab.

You kindly drew a great cover for an issue of my zine Thoughtworm, and  I've seen your work in a lot of other zines and comix, too.  How do you get involved in so many projects and find the time to be so productive?

        Well, Its tough...I just really want people to like my art so I try and put it out there as much as possible.  I love it when I get a letter from someone saying how much they like something I drew.  This just makes me want to draw more and more and more.

I know that you like to trade a lot, so how about sharing what your criteria for trading are and how you keep track of it all?

        I'll trade with anyone.  One guy I trade with who calls himself art-warp sends me original artwork drawn on the blank side of old cereal and cracker boxes, another guy, Mr. D. Young sends me robots he makes out of old television parts....The stranger the better. This hobby is very fun and I'm very organized.  I have this theory that only people who have obsessive compulsive disorders are involved in small press.  It takes someone like that to keep track of all this poop.  I basically have a system where I stack  my mail in a row and answer every piece of mail I get in the order it was received.  When I receive my third piece of mail from someone, they get their own file in my filing cabinets and I keep a detailed list of what I send everyone in each file so I don't double up on my trades with them.

Your new series, Shot by a ray gun, is a bit different than your other  comix.  Could you explain a little about it? And what's happening with TILE?

TILE was the first comic I ever tried...But after a while I got a bit bored with drawing the same characters over and over again and went on to do invisible robot fish and some other minis....I am currently working on 10 issues of shot by a ray gun.  This is my new idea of an anything goes comic.  I combo'd a couple issues with other artists, one is a card game, another is a story on tape....its fun to go nuts with it.  But I'm doing these to hold me over with trading people while I finish my 4th and final TILE comic.  I know everyone has been holding out for a couple years to see how this wacky story ends, so I really will finish it....I promise!!

Since we're talking about new projects, would you like to explain what  Featherless Exercycle is?

        Sure...Featherless Exercycle is my secret video project i do with my friends I grew up with.  Me and my pals are dumb enough to think we are our own sort of kids in the hall group or something.  We have put together these 38 minute vhs video tapes of silly skits and I sell them for 5 bucks each.  I have never really advertised them because they are a little costly and time consuming to make...but if anyone really wants to check one out, I'll send them one for a fiver.  We act like total fools.  We are currently working on volume #8.

Any last comments?

        Anyone can draw! If you have the desire, go for it!!

        ...and thank you very much Sean, Greig, and everyone else at comixville who chose to interview me and have me do the cover.

        if anyone who reads this wants to trade with me, please write!  if you don't draw, you can still get some free comix by sending me a story of a very embarrassing moment that has happened to you in this crazy life.... peace.  

Experience the wonder of Billy McKay yourself.  He has tons of comics, zines and cool projects available for you to order.  Most can be had for only $1 from PO Box 542, N. Olmsted, OH 44070.

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