An Interview with K. Woodman-Maynard

While working in watercolor complicates my process, it also adds joy so I prefer to work in it.

I had the pleasure of meeting K. Woodman-Maynard over zoom through a workshop a couple years ago, and I loved her watercolor adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Since then, she has begun a fun and informative Substack, Creating Comics. I was delighted when she offered to draw some of her responses to our questions.

Describe your comics journey—how did you get into making comics?

How did you develop your voice/unique comics style?

Some of my style is just inherent, but other elements are influenced by the mood of the story I’m telling and whether I enjoy a technique or not.

My first two (unpublished) graphic novels were set in a medieval Scandinavian world, so the digital style resembled woodcuts which fit the time period and story:

For The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, the woodcut style clearly would not suit a 1920s world so I ended up landing on watercolor which fit the dreaminess and booziness of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original story. I’d never worked in watercolor before, but I felt so strongly that it suited the story that I decided to learn it.

Since I enjoyed working in watercolor so much (and hate digital coloring), all my subsequent graphic novels have been done in watercolor as well.

I spent several years working on a graphic memoir (unpublished as of yet), inking some pages digitally and others traditionally, with watercolor tying everything together visually. It was an emotionally challenging project, but it led to significant growth and helped me process trauma. Looking back, it feels like a necessary step in my development as an artist.

Although I’ve set aside the graphic memoir for now, I share a lot of diary comics in my Substack newsletter, Creating Comics, and my style there is usually quite loose. I don’t pencil ahead of time, but go straight into inking the comics, and watercolor it later.

When I worked on Tuck Everlasting (coming September of 2025), I chose watercolor again. While working in watercolor complicates my process, it also adds joy so I prefer to work in it:

What are some of the joys and challenges of making nonfiction comics compared to your fictional work?

Are you working on something now?

I’ve really been enjoying connecting with creators on Substack, with my newsletter Creating Comics, where I encourage artists to create more and feel less bad about themselves in the process. I share diary comics as well as the tools, structure, and mindset I use to overcome creative obstacles.

My graphic novel adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting is coming out in September of 2025, in celebration of the beloved book’s 50 year anniversary. I’m very excited to share such a beautiful and profound story with the world.

Tuck Everlasting tells of the story of young Winnie Foster who discovers a spring hidden in a nearby wood. Then she meets the Tuck family who drank from the spring and were forever changed by it. She has to decide what to do with that knowledge, and the Tucks have to decide what to do with her.

It’s also an anniversary year for The Great Gatsby, which was published 100 years ago. I was drawn to adapting it because of the emphasis on class separation and the destructive carelessness of those in power which seems particularly relevant today.

I’m hosting an online comics workshop with SAW (Sequential Artists Workshop) on Friday, February 28 on childhood obsessions. The workshop is free, but you have to register here to get the link.

On March 25, cartoonist Susannah Hainley and I are hosting a hands-on lettering workshop where we’re teaching the fundamentals of typography in comics, best practices for integrating text into comics, and how to make a custom font.

I'm thrilled to offer comics coaching and consulting for creators seeking feedback, publishing guidance, or ways to accelerate their comics practice. I love supporting cartoonists on their journey—a path I know from experience can be winding and challenging, but also incredibly rewarding.

---

K. Woodman-Maynard writes and illustrates watercolor graphic novels which explore themes of acceptance and self-expression. She believes in the transformative power and accessibility of comics. Her debut, an adaptation of The Great Gatsby (Candlewick Press), was called "hugely rewarding" by the Wall Street Journal. It was featured in the New York Times, Guardian, and Times Literary Supplement. She has a graphic novel adaptation of Tuck Everlasting (Macmillan) coming in September of 2025. She works as a cartoonist, instructor, and comics coach.