READERSVOICE.COM: Did you attend the Serieskolan, or Comic Art School in Malmo, and what was that like?

ELIAS ERICSON: I’m currently studying my second year at Serieskolan. The course will end in June 2016. I’ve learned a lot and met plenty of talented people that have influenced me both artistically and as a person! The first year we did a lot of different smaller assignments as practice, while in year two, I focus on one or several projects of my own.

RV: Sweden also has the Stockholm International Comics Festival, the Comic Con Malmo, and the Gothenburg Book Fair, which you’ve spoken at. Are a lot of people in Sweden interested in what comics can do, or is it a small sector of the population?

EE: I think the interest for comics in Sweden is growing, especially for left-wing feminist comic artists. The comics scene in Sweden is mostly either black and white autobiographical comics or informative comics about different political subjects. I’m highly influenced by the Swedish comics scene, but I’m also influenced by other culture’s comics.

RV: When you started writing and drawing Espaced, your webcomic, did you just start with two teenagers in a country town and see what happened and just add characters like aliens, or did you plan the whole thing out?

EE: I planned the whole thing out, but ended up making changes as the story went on. Things never go as you think they will, both in real life and when writing fiction! Espaced is currently taking a break as it’s a huge story that needs me to be at a calmer point in my life.

RV: I like how your comics have a lot of movement, with hatching and expressive lines around the characters, and closeups on characters, and different angles on characters. What other ways do you try to get movement in your comics?

EE: I try to make the sketch as simple as possible and then do lineart in a sketchy spontaneous style. It leads to some mess ups sometimes, but linearting quickly and spontaneously gives my style the feeling of movement and strong emotions that I aim for.

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– copyright Simon Sandall.