Raven’s Child

The art of Layla Lawlor

By Jason Pitzl-Waters

"There's no luck in life. There's only survival. And I'm still alive, so I suppose yes, you could say I'm lucky." -Deneko, the Snow Fox from “Raven’s Children”

Local artist Layla Lawlor isn’t what some would call a “traditional artist.” Despite starting out in fine arts school, Layla decided to beat her own path and pursue publishing sequential art, or, as the medium is more commonly known, comic books. Layla self-publishes, writes and illustrates a comic called “Raven’s Children” and has recently had art appear in two nationally published comic collections benefiting the victims and families of the September 11^th tragedies.

For Lawlor, the passion to draw comics developed at an early age. She says it started when she was “teeny-tiny,” spurred on by her mother’s collection of classic comics from the 1950’s and 60’s. Lawlor started drawing “on little pieces of paper, writing little books and illustrating them,” at her childhood home in the isolated town of Alexander Creek, Alaska.

While pursuing a degree at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Lawlor says she enjoyed the company of her fellow art students but didn’t necessarily feel she was heading in the same direction as her classmates. “I enjoyed the arts community when I was in college,” Lawlor explains, “but I never really felt like. . . well, I never was really interested in the rarified air, the gallery scene. It never clicked with me. That’s not who I am.” She began to realize she preferred the more accessible and immediate interaction with her audience comics could offer. Though Lawlor was still drawing and writing comics while at college, she was only creating them for her own personal pleasure.

The decision to self-publish and put her comics in the public eye wasn’t an immediate one. It took over two years for Lawlor to make the transition. “After college, (comics) was just a side-line. I felt that I wanted to do this, but. . .it wasn’t until fall of 2000, when I moved down here, that I actually decided to sit down and start drawing and writing something.”

That “something” was a comic book called “Raven’s Children,” a sweeping epic fantasy set in a world of snow and warring clans. When asked if she, like many other creators of fantasy, was influenced by J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Lord of the Rings,” Lawlor responded: “I’m the sort of person who would read Tolkein and wonder where all the farmers were, where all the female orcs were, and think about the underpinnings of their society, rather than get into all the big magical battles and stuff. I kind of see people’s lives as being. . . well, there are ups and there are downs, and somewhere in that gray area is where I am writing.”

“The story of (Raven’s Children) starts at a really bleak point in their history,” Lawlor continues, “Later issues will get away from that and more into the every day lives of these people and the connections between them.” The first three issues of “Raven’s Children” are now available in print at local comic book stores. Lawlor has posted excerpts of these issues on her website at http://www.ravenschildren.com/

These issues are just a beginning. Lawlor says she all ready has the entire story arc of “Raven’s Children” mapped out and believes it will span about 40 bi-monthly comics over the next five to eight years.

Lawlor’s art and writing was recently selected to be included in two compilations of comic and sequential art that explored the tragedies of September 11^th. The first piece “Shattered Fractal Mirror” appeared in Alternative Comics' "9-11: Emergency Relief," a collection featuring some of the biggest names in independent comics, including Will Eisner (creator of “The Spirit” and inventor of the “graphic novel”), Jessica Abel (creator of “Artbabe”) and Ted Rall (a syndicated cartoonist featured in Time magazine.)

“Shattered Fractal Mirror” encapsulates Lawlor’s sense of frustration in trying to tie together the many conflicting emotions and thoughts she had about 9-11. Knowing she couldn’t hope to make sense of it all, Lawlor tried to talk about the randomness itself.

In a recent artist spotlight on PopImage.com, Lawlor explained, “The defining element of Sept. 11 is its randomness. Chaos. I used the idea of trying to put the pieces back together as a central metaphor, because that's what we're all trying to do. Pieces of our lives, of our relationships, of our memories. I took that idea and made a concrete image out of it. You can't see the fragments that make up a shattered life or a jagged and confused memory, but they're there. A thing doesn't have to be seen or touched to be real -- as real as music, imagination, hatred or love.”

A second piece by Lawlor was selected to be featured in the first of a 2-volume collection called, “9-11: United We Draw,” published by a consortium of comic publishers including DC, Image, Chaos! Comics and Oni Press. Lawlor’s work is included alongside pieces by comic professionals such as Alan Moore (“From Hell”, Watchmen), Neil Gaiman (Sandman, American Gods) and Frank Miller (Dark Knight Returns, 3000).

Both 9-11 collections have garnered national praise, and proceeds from both projects will be donated to various 9-11 charities. Lawlor has received several moving letters about her pieces in these collections, but says the highest honor was having her art displayed at the New York City Fire Museum. Though she feels a “bit uncomfortable” with getting recognition for her work under such circumstances, she was glad to be able to participate. “I felt that there was nothing I could personally do, but maybe this is a little something,” Lawlor shares.

In addition to her on-going working on “Raven’s Children”, Lawlor also writes for the web zine, “Sequential Tart,” a publication about the world of comics written from the female perspective and is currently creating a bi-monthly zine featuring her own science fiction stories with illustrations, called “Kismet City Limits,” which will premier in February.