Today we’d like to introduce you to Sage Coffey.
Hi Sage, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been drawing since I could hold a crayon and just never stopped, haha! Sincerely though, I was very lucky to have a mom who encouraged my drawing and from childhood on it felt like the obvious path for me. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I had went to school at Savannah College of Art and Design: Atlanta Campus to foster my skill and eventually that led me down the road of pitching stories to sites like The Nib. It all felt like it snowballed into a larger career but really it took a lot of time and hard work to fully understand the comics I wanted to make and to find the outlets and audience that would connect with them.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course! One thing I will say is that the stereotype of “the starving artist” can be very real. With cartooning, and working in the arts in general, it can be difficult to make ends meet and so juggling a day job or multiple freelance jobs is the reality for a lot of folks. Myself included! In school, I was a full-time student and working at Disco Kroger in Buckhead. After I moved, I hopped from restaurant job to restaurant job until I was finally able to pull in enough freelance work to eventually move to being a full-time artist. There is absolutely no shame in having non-art jobs while also working in the arts. It shouldn’t be this way and truly, regardless of profession, everyone deserves housing and food.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a cartoonist who does a mix of things! I’ve worked on illustrations for books like I AM NOT A WOLF and a whole slew of both autobiographical comics and fiction comics for various outlets. I’m probably best known for my work for The New Yorker and the GLAAD award-nominated video game BUGSNAX. Currently, I’m most proud of finishing my debut graphic novel Wine Ghost Goes to Hell with Iron Circus Comics! It’s an 80-page full-color comic that mixes psychedelic and goofy visuals with a story incredibly close to my heart. It being my first graphic novel, that I think that emotional realism mixed with such whack-a-doodle design is what makes my work stand out. Wine Ghost Goes to Hell will be on Backerkit from now until June 1st, 2023!
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Flexibility! I think as creatives, we have this end goal of what we want everything to look like and how we want everything to go and while cartooning in particular can be a solitary practice, nothing gets down without others’ help as well. The flexibility to relinquish control of certain elements while maintaining your vision of the work is important as well as being open to learning from people outside of your practice too!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sagecoffey.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sagemcoffey/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sagecoffey
