The Commission: Nicholas Breutzman

Local art made exclusively for METRO

Image credit: Nicholas Breutzman

Recommended by the Editor

The Commission: Kara Hendershot

By: Nicholas Breutzman |   December 2011   |  From the print edition

Nicholas Breutzman, a cartoonist, student and sign painter living in Minneapolis, contributed METRO's December commission piece (to see the high res image of Breutzman's December commission click here).

Writer Lauren Peck recently caught up with Breutzman to talk about his work,  aversion to spandex and love of Scandinavian comics. To buy Breutzman's books visit 2Dcloud.com or email him at nicholasismyname@gmail.com.

METRO: How did you get into art and doing comics specifically?

Nicholas Breutzman: I’ve read comics and wanted to draw since I can remember, so I just did. I’ve always done it. I moved to New York when I was 19 and went to school to draw comics, actually. I’ve just been doing it ever since. It’s the way I know how to express myself. I read a lot; narrative is really interesting to me, constructing it. I get more out of that than making a nice-looking picture.  

M: How would you describe your artistic style?

NB: When I go to conventions, I’m referred to as an indie cartoonist, not superhero type stuff, just a group of creators who do a lot of autobiographical or historical work or whatever they want really. Most people write and draw their own stuff, which is different from the mainstream. [Mainstream cartoonists] have a penciler, an inker and a writer and by the end, it’s this weird homogenous story about people who wear spandex.

M: Going to your December commission piece, what made you want to do a comic about the early history of St. Paul?

NB:  It was almost kind of homesickness. I lived in New York for seven years, and I came back one time, and I was talking to my friend’s dad. He was telling the story about Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant, this guy who basically started St. Paul and that St. Paul’s first name was actually Pig’s Eye Landing. I thought that was so crazy and weird. I’d never heard of that.  I started researching it as much as I could. There’s not really a whole lot written about it. People know that he existed and there’s things here and there, so mostly it’s just speculation. It just sounded like a great story. I took the framework of it, and now it’s about 100 pages long. It’s not exactly historically accurate. I kind of made up a bunch of it, but it’s based in historical context. I researched things, what was going on at the time, etc.

M: What’s it like being a comic artist in the Twin Cities?

NB: It’s great for me because it’s so much cheaper to live here. I drew as much as I could in New York, but rent is just so outrageous and with bills and worrying about eating, having enough time to draw, it’s a lot harder there. Here I don’t have to work as much, the rent is cheaper. I can actually afford to do things, which is nice. I have a lot more time to draw and more space. There’s a lot of artists and a lot of really good cartoonists here. My friends from high school started 2D Cloud, which is a local publisher here and they put out all my stuff. There’s a lot going on here as far as art. I’ve actually done more fun jobs like what I did for METRO here than I ever did in New York.

M: What’s it been like working with a local comic publisher like 2D Cloud?

NB: It’s great because it takes the pressure off of me. They get the books published, they do Kickstarter campaigns, get the funding together, get tables for conventions. Once and a while they actually pay me, which is cool! I also meet a lot of other artists through them. They’re putting out some really good work now, and I’m pretty excited about it. They just put out this book called “Things You Carry” by King Mini (AKA Vincent Stall), another local guy and he’s totally incredible. 2D seems to be getting more of a name around town, people know who they are.

M: What fellow comic artists are you most inspired by right now?

NB: My all-time favorite is Dan Clowes, who did Ghost World and Eightball. There’s some obscure ones – a weird Scandinavian comic, I’ve been reading a lot of those.  I’ve been reading a lot of French kids’ comics for some reason, I love those. I’m going back to school for web design too, so I’m learning about different designers, which is pretty inspiring as well.

M: What’s next for you?

NB: I don’t know. I kind of want to get a real job, whatever that means. I do art now. I’m a fine artist at Trader Joe’s, which is kind of sweet, but it’s really hard to make a living off of comics. I’m always going to do them, but I guess in the future I want to have a “jobby job,” not just working drawing pictures in a liquor room in a grocery store.  I also want to get that Minnesota comic published. I’ve had some interest expressed by Fantagraphics and some bigger publishers, but the economy is so screwed up now that they’re not taking huge chances on long books from people that no one has really heard of in a national scheme of things.

+ See all of METRO's previously commissioned artwork here.