About me
"I draw comics."
Profile
My name is Karen Rubins, and I am an award-winning comics artist living and working in London, UK. I have just finished a Residency at the V&A museum, South Kensington, London. I was chosen from over 140 applicants to become the official "Comics Artist in Residence". For six months I worked in a studio at the V&A museum, using the collections as inspiration and research, and running workshops for different groups of museum visitors, including young people, school groups, adult refugees, and a general adult audience.
I have drawn comics set in many different locations and periods, from modern day England to sixteenth century Japan, and through a range of genres from surreal modern adventure, through to comedy and horror. I have been making comics for around eight years, most of which have been small-press, independently-produced titles, and have been active on the comics scene in the UK. I enjoy exploring the boundaries of the formal elements in comics storytelling and experimenting with different media. I very much enjoy the exchange of ideas and the unique outcomes that occur when working with other creators, but also work on comics as both writer and artist, and find this to be a much more intense and challenging, but ultimately satisfying experience.
Thematically, I am very interested in mythology and how personal experience relates to the universal perception of reality. Dreams and symbols are an important part of this, as well as those elements of human experience that can make stories and concepts resonate despite differences in culture, language or time. I am fascinated by spirit animals, mythical beings and gods, with Greek, Japanese and Native American concepts turning up in my work.
I take influence from many diverse sources. I have been influenced by American indie comics, and Japanese manga. Artists such as De Chirico and Paul Delvaux have influenced me for their atmosphere, and their ambiguous yet resonant imagery. Japanese artists such as Yoshitoshi and Hokusai have also inspired me, as have books on mythology and myths and legends themselves. Speculative fiction, animation and computer games also have coloured my thought processes, as has a love of history, and a fascination with different cultures.
I graduated from Middlesex University in 2001 with a degree in Visual Communication Design (Illustration). During this course I specialised in making comics, and the indie mini-series 'Dark' was born. 'Dark', written by my sister, Anna Rubins, and ran for 112 pages over four issues. It garnered critical acclaim from the comics community. Through 'Dark', I became involved with the comics scene, attending events and conventions where I regularly speak on panels and at comics groups, discussing diverse topics from self-publishing to manga in the UK to the experience of being an Artist in Residence.
After 'Dark' came to an end, I worked with on a variety comics projects with a wide range of writers, of which, most were published by independent publishers. My first full-length solo comic, 'Tsuchigumo', explored my fascination with dreams and myths and was published in the 'Mammoth Book of Best New Manga 2' (Constable and Robinson) in 2007.
Please feel free to email me at k_rubins(at)yahoo.com.
Selected Works
2010 The Mistaken Magpie, (Writer, Artist)
4 page comic strip, comedy/horror/historical. Co-writer: Andy Smith. Published in V&A Magazine, Cultureshock Publishing.
2009 Urban Beasts 1, (Co-creator, Artist)
24 page black and white comic, part 1 of 2, modern fantasy. Writers: Daniel Hartwell and Anna Rubins. Published by ITCH.
2008 Tales by Ghost Light, (Artist, editor)
8 page manga story, historical comedy/horror. Writer: Andy Smith. Published in ITCH publishing’s “Manga Jiman 150” book, February 2009 and exhibited at the Embassy of Japan, London, February – April 2009.
2008 Shinagami (Produce Spirit), (Artist)
13 page manga, parody/fantasy. Writer: Gwen Kortsen. Published by ITCH publishing, “The Witch and other tales of the Supernatural”.
2007 Tsuchigumo (The Earth Spider), (Writer/Artist)
21 page manga comic, historical mythological horror, set in feudal Japan. Published by Constable and Robinson in “Mammoth Book of Best New Manga 2”.
2007 Across the Nightingale Floor, (Artist/Adaptation)
sample pages created for Hachette Livre Australia, based on Lian Hearn’s feudal Japan fantasy novel. Writer: Lian Hearn, Adapted by: Anna Rubins and Karen Rubins.
2007 The Witch, (Artist)
20 page manga-influenced story, drama/allegory, set in 17th century England, about a suspected witch’s execution. Writer: Willie Hewes. Published by ITCH publishing, “The Witch and other tales of the Supernatural”.
2001 - 2006 Dark, (Artist/Co-creator/Co-editor)
112 page, 4 issue mini-series, modern fantasy/allegory. Writer: Anna Rubins. Self-published in separate issues. Issue 1 also translated and published in French, 2006. (Ad and Bron's Odyssey, a 4 page Dark spin-off was published in French in “BDZine” and in English in “The Web and Minicomix Thing Anthology”.)
2006 Perfect Match, (Artist)
1 page comic, full colour, comedy/science fiction. Published by Factor Fiction in “The Girly Comic” and in France in “BDZine”. Writer: Daniel Hartwell.
2003 Grave Mistakes: The Cemetery Sitcom (Inker and letterer)
8 page mini-comic, black and white, comedy. Writer/Penciller: Anna Rubins.
2001 The Dust, (Writer/Artist)
8 page mini-comic, full colour, comedy/crime. Hand-made, limited edition.
Awards
2009 Neo Awards: Leek and Sushi's Manga Show (containing Tales by Ghost Light) nominated for Best Manga award
2009: "Comics Artist in Residence", Victoria and Albert Museum, July - December
2008 Embassy of Japan “Manga Jiman 150” competition for a short manga story, runner-up
2007 Mecal International Short Film Festival, featured
2006 International Manga and Anime Festival awards, Character Brief category, second place
2001 D&AD Student Awards, Mixed Media category, commended
2001 South-West Arts Start-Up Grant for “Dark”