萝莉社

Trishelle Jeffery, a 萝莉社School of Art, Design and Creative Industries alumna, recently reached an exciting career milestone. Her graphic novel, Best Breasts in the West, has been published as part of Fieldmouse Press鈥� Summer 2024 season of books! Trishelle sat down with us to discuss the process of getting Best Breasts in the West published, reflect on her time as a graduate printmaking student and share advice she has for aspiring graphic novelists.

Courtesy of Trishelle Jeffery, Fieldmouse Press

Congratulations on the release of your debut graphic novel, Best Breasts in the West! Is this your first published work?

Thank you! Yes, Best Breasts in the West was the first time I had an opportunity to work with a publisher. Before this, I did a lot of handprinted zines鈥攕maller stuff that I was 100% in control of. My publisher is Fieldmouse Press, they are a small publisher that primarily prints comics. They release a few books a year on a seasonal basis, so my book is part of the Summer 2024 season. I鈥檝e been going to conventions over the last several weeks trying to sell the book with Fieldmouse Press, which has been really nice.

Is Best Breasts in the West autobiographical?

Best Breasts in the West is very, very autobiographical. It is a true story, a lot of it takes place in 2017 to 2018 when I was a graduate student at 萝莉社 University.

Printmaking as a studio art isn't commonly associated with comics or graphic novels. What made you decide to share this story in a graphic novel format?

I think there exists in peoples鈥� minds a very particular separation between fine art and Pop art such as illustration and comics. I find that, particularly in this independent comic scene, that鈥檚 where the stuff I鈥檓 most excited about is happening. There are a lot of folks who are doing screen printing, things being printed with risographs and all that kind of stuff. The most recent convention I went to was Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC), and they had a talk with Art Spiegelman, Fran莽oise Mouly and Jeff Smith. A lot of the talk was Fran莽oise talking about the printing press that her and Art moved into their New York apartment years ago so that they could print the comics that they were making and selling. Originally when I was going to art school, I knew I wanted to do comics. Finding out that Art Spiegelman had a degree in printmaking made me consider it a little bit more, which is why it was so full circle to meet him. 

I think there鈥檚 a lot of conceptual reasoning as to why those two artforms would overlap as well. When you think about printmaking specifically鈥攚hat the early printing presses were doing was making art for the masses. It wasn鈥檛 what we think of printmaking now as being a way to make limited edition fine art pieces. It was newspapers, and in those newspapers, you start to see drawings鈥攖hen, well, there鈥檚 comics.

Best Breasts in the West began as part of your thesis work as a printmaking MFA student here at 萝莉社 University. How long has the project been in development?

Best Breasts in the West started in 2017鈥攖hat would鈥檝e been when I had the first chapter for my thesis proposal. In 2018, for my thesis exhibition, was when I initially considered it 鈥榙one.鈥� I did hand-printed, hand-bound artist books in a very limited edition of eight. They were printed with lithography, screen printing and monoprinting techniques. At a certain point, I was running out of time, so I did do some digital printing, but still all hand-bound. After I graduated and moved back to Salt Lake City, I was able to do an exhibition with those books at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) which was really exciting.

To have it in the form it was just released as for Fieldmouse Press, I had an editor, Rob Clough, who I worked with on the book. He was fantastic to work with鈥攈e helped me push this book to be the best that it could be鈥�more finished in a way that I wouldn鈥檛 have been able to accomplish with the time I had to do my thesis committee and the amount of work that I had decided to do. I ended up adding roughly thirty pages to the book in the time since. I turned everything in on February 1, 2024, so I guess 2017 to 2024 was the overall time period for development. There was a time that I stepped away in there, but it took that long to get Best Breasts in the West to where it is.

How were you able to stay motived to work towards the completion of Best Breasts in the West during this seven-year period of navigating life circumstances?

I think something that I've had to remind myself, and sometimes the people that I love, often is that no amount of your art practice, nothing that you make, is wasted time. Even if you make a drawing or some kind of thing that you absolutely hate鈥�that was practice. That was learning. You鈥檙e never starting from scratch. Every piece of art that you鈥檝e done builds on itself in order to create the practice you want to have over time. You鈥檙e never going to lose the knowledge, practice and things you have done鈥攜ou will always have that to pull from for the rest of your life. It鈥檚 all cumulative.

When I was in the program, one of the things that my thesis committee and professors would remind me of as well鈥攖he ideal situation when you鈥檙e getting an MFA is that you鈥檙e creating the body of work that you want to be doing for a long time. You鈥檙e just getting started on the thing that you鈥檙e going to be doing for the rest of your life, so if you鈥檝e already gotten to the bottom of the well by the time your thesis exhibition goes up, I think that鈥檚 a lot harder. Being patient, letting the art build on itself and do what it needs to do to help you grow in the way you need to grow is always a good thing.

How impactful was your time at 萝莉社 in making Best Breasts in the West a reality?

萝莉社gave me the time to devote to the project. I have a day job now, so I can鈥檛 have my whole entire day be sixteen hours of drawing and eight hours of sleep the way that it was for those last few months of graduate school. You don鈥檛 accomplish nearly as much when you don鈥檛 have that amount of time to devote to meeting deadlines or expectations set on you. It definitely helped me make things happen.

It wasn鈥檛 just the amount of time I got to work, but it was also the space I got from the rest of my life because I was in Wichita. I came to 萝莉社 from Utah鈥擨 didn鈥檛 have family here, the friends I had were my cohort, so it was a space very much devoted to work. It was also a space where I didn鈥檛 have anybody that I felt like was looking over my shoulder that knew me. I was able to be a completely unfiltered version of myself when I lived in Wichita because of that distance. I was able to make the work that I was able to make, which is very vulnerable, because I didn鈥檛 have to think about how my coworkers or family would see me. I feel like I was able to make the most authentic and complete version of this book that could have existed because I was at 萝莉社specifically with that time, space and faculty support.

So far, what has been the most rewarding aspect of the book鈥檚 launch?

I think that the best part is going to come soon. There鈥檝e been a few people who have bought the book, but I haven鈥檛 talked to very many people who have read the book鈥擨鈥檓 very excited for that part! I really want people to say nice things to me about my book.

There was a moment at CXC where artist John Hankiewicz and I were there representing the publisher. I bought his book, he bought my book, and we both signed each other鈥檚 books. The next day, I came in to take over for my shift as he finished with his signing time, and that night, apparently, he had read my book. He said, 鈥淚 read your book, and I really loved it! Keep going.鈥� Those sort of moments where it resonates with somebody are huge.

When I had the show at UMOCA, there was a big opening for the whole museum. A lot of people went and looked through my books, and I was able to sit in the corner of the room and watch them鈥攂e a little gremlin about it. Somebody came up to me at the event and said that the books meant a lot to them, and that they really loved the narrative. I had a huge reaction to that. I got teary-eyed and gave her a hug, which I鈥檓 sure was too much, but that鈥檚 really the reward of making the work.

I think people have this idea of what being a published author means based on hearing the stories of people who are very successful and therefore have the opportunity to tell their stories more widely and鈥�it is not the way it works for the vast majority of people. For me, I have to think about what the real reward is with whatever I鈥檓 making. If the reward has to be money, a lot of the time that's going to be a disappointment; but if the reward can be meeting other artists and reaching people with your artwork, that鈥檚 pretty cool. That鈥檚 definitely the perk for me.

What advice do you have for other independent artists who have goals of getting their graphic novels, comics, etc. published?

It鈥檚 really great to think about what your specific goals are. If you鈥檙e somebody who really wants to see your book on a shelf in Barnes & Noble for example, then your goal has to be to work with a publisher that is going to get you there. That might mean you need a variety of things like paying for an agent. If you鈥檙e not looking for your work to be in a specific bookstore, there鈥檙e lots of smaller press publications that are fantastic! There鈥檚 also the option of self-publishing鈥攖here鈥檚 no shame in that. A lot of cool comics that became really big started that way. That can be a great place to start.

The place you have to start is actually making the thing. It can鈥檛 be an idea. It can鈥檛 be half-made. Whatever your hang-up is, you have to get over it in order to actually make it possible. There aren鈥檛 any worthwhile shortcuts to make that happen. Once you have the thing, get it out into the world in whatever way feels right to you.

Fieldmouse Press has launched a campaign to support the publication of their Summer 2024 season of books. Perks include, but are not limited to, Best Breasts in the West t-shirts, screen prints, and special edition chapters. Interested contributors have until Nov. 2 to place their orders.