Exploring the Art of Karl Christian Krumpholz: A Journey Through Cities

Swell AI Transcript: Karl Christian Krumpholz Interview.mp3
Rob Lee: Welcome to The Truth in His Art. I am your host, Rob Lee. And thank you for joining us as we celebrate diverse voices in arts, culture, and community. Today, special treat, I am joined by an award-winning cartoonist with a unique artistic voice. Originally from the East Coast, his work has left an indelible mark in various publications like Vice, Birdie, and Denverite. From contributing to documentaries for Colorado Public Television to illustrating captivating short stories, his versatile talent shines through. Please welcome Karl Christian Krumpholz. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, great to be here. You know how I like really hit that T at the end, the T that's not there.
Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yes, yes. Totally fine. I, you know, I've known this name my entire life, so I've heard it pronounced all different ways.

Rob Lee: I got that directly from a podcast and I wrote about it and I was like, stop stepping on my man, Karl. I want to hear his bid. Yeah. So again, you know, thank you for making the time. And I'm glad we were able to sort of, you know, reconnect in this latter part of the year. We're recording this, you know, in December. And I think I met you initially and became aware of your work. And I'll have like several pieces of your work in the studio. We became I became aware of you at the Small Press Expo. So I want to go back before that, obviously, and could you tell us a bit about your journey? I see sort of, you know, East Coast as the origination of it, like you're a star, you're an East Coast guy. And then you've moved into, you know, the sort of West and this renowned career and working with various publications. But I want to get that sort of, you know, origin story, if you will.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah, sure. Well, I grew up in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. And I used to work this back in the 90s. I used to work at a comic shop on South Street. So that's kind of like where. I like when I started doing comics that was around that time and my original comics that I did, I did this. comic called Anx Boy Comics, which was basically a depressing take on my own life. And it was very, you know, it was very rough, primitive, very zine-like, you know, I was just kind of starting out, seeing how to do stuff like how to put together pages, how to put together panels, how to tell a story. And I continued doing that comic. For a couple years I moved, I left Philly, I moved up to Boston, I was settled in there and continued doing it. Printing more issues, I started going to comic shows, I started going out of state to comic shows. So at one of those trips, I was down in, I was asked to exhibit in New Orleans at a show. So I was down there for the weekend. And I met this young lady who eventually became my wife. The problem is she lived in Denver. And I lived in Boston. So we did a long distance thing for about two years. And then after about two years, we're like, okay, you know, one of us has to move. And of course, then my girlfriend, she was kind of like, Well, I just bought an apartment. So I guess I have to move. That's how that's basically how I got to Denver. And it's been a bit over 10 years since I've been here. And then once I came here, you know, I started falling in with the comic crowd here. And I started Developing my style and my stories like I moved on from angst boy and I did some work with SLG publishing. I moved on from that and I started basically telling. City stories. I did a comic series called 30 miles of crazy. Which is basically true stories about people I've met an. something odd happened to them, and so I illustrated it. And I did a bunch of issues of that, you know, and again, developing, developing the talent, developing talent. And I met another cartoonist, Noah VanSkyver, who was living out here at the time, and he was just about to leave Denver. I think this is when he was moving to Vermont. And he was doing a weekly comic for the Westward, which is the local independent alternative newspaper out here. And basically after he left, I got his gig. He suggested, he's like, let Karl do it. And so that's how I got to do even more stories about the city, specifically in this case, specifically Denver, Colorado. And in doing that comic, a weekly comic for the Westward, that was the basis, became the basis of my later book, which was Queen City, which is all just just about Denver, Colorado, because I started doing that basically to learn about this city because again, you know, I'm from the East Coast. This is my wife's town. So I was like, okay, let me learn about the history. Let me learn about the buildings. And that's how that basically developed. And things kind of just went on from there. My weekly comic was canceled, but it was canceled because of the lockdowns and COVID and stuff like that. But, you know, the newspaper is kind of like, We can't do a weekly comic because we can't pay our bills because everything's closed, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I still I still do work for the Westward, but it's not weekly, like maybe once every couple of months I do a feature for them. But that's when I started doing my comic called Lighthouse in the City. And that was basically it was an exercise. I want to say, can I do a daily comic to do a comic page every every day? Yeah. And especially at that time, now my wife was going through surgery. So I was like, OK, this is a good way to document her surgery, her recovery, and just kind of see what happens. But what I didn't know, when I started the comic in January of 2020, about three months later is when the pandemic and the lockdowns and everything happened. So it became a way of documenting just basically how crazy everything was. So I did that for three years. And after three years, I was like, I cannot do a daily comic anymore. Like, I was totally burned out and everything. But the thing was, since I did that daily comic for three years, it helped my storytelling and help my illustration. It just, I became a better artist. And that's what I wanted. So this year, I started my new comic, my new project, it's called in the city. which in a way is a weird extension of 30 Miles of Crazy, Queen City, and Lighthouse in the City, with the idea of telling stories set in a city, but instead of separate little vignettes and little short stories, trying to merge all these stories into a single narrative. And I do that like within the city, it's basically me and Kelly, wandering the city and encountering people and situations. You know, the good and bad of urban life, you know, and just taking a moment to pause and look around the city around you and all the like, huge skyscrapers of brick, glass, and steel. That's basically what I'm doing. The first part came out at SPX. The second part came out just a month ago when I was exhibiting at Thought Bubble in the UK, and I had the second issue ready. And I'm hoping to third for MoCA in the spring. And it's my plan is to tell it like I know I know where it's going. So it's going to be probably five parts for the full story.

Rob Lee: Thank you. I mean, you're answering all of my questions. So thank you. And if I do go back in and delve into a bit further, you know, just, you know, humor me in that regard. Oh, no, no problem. And and I dig it. Like I said, I have like two. I think I have two over here because I have it in the studio. And, you know, it's it's one is it's a unique style. I really dig the way you go about your work or what have you. And. you know, obviously seeing sort of the work that I have and the work that you were describing a moment ago, city, city, city is the theme there. Right. And what is it specifically about like cities that really, you know, gets your attention that you want to cover this, you know, a couple of the city from this standpoint, or maybe, you know, spend a little bit more time or like those skyscrapers or maybe those alleys or, you know, things of that nature. What is it about the city that is a big part of your storytelling?

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Well, it wasn't planned to have every project have the name City. It just kind of happened that way. Well, I mean, the basic answer is I've only lived in cities. I've lived in Philly. I've lived in Boston. I've lived in Denver. I travel a lot. When I was living in Boston and Philly, I was in New York every so often because it's right in the middle. And I want to travel you know i'm not traveling out into the country and traveling to other cities I just got back from London and it's great and the thing I love about cities, I mean there's there's there's so much you know. People from everywhere, like here in Denver, I can count on one hand the amount of people that are actually from Denver. Everyone seems to be from elsewhere and they come with a different perspective, different culture, different cuisine. It's just the diversity of the people. I love the idea of all of us living on top of one another. You can't get away. And yeah, that can bring problems and clashes and stuff like that, but it also, I think, can bring a bit of empathy for the people around you, you know, and then it's just the buildings, just skyscrapers, you know, you see these buildings, especially when I was living in Boston, where you would see these old brownstones buildings that were made back in the 19th century. And they're right next to like a modern skyscraper. I think that's fantastic. Especially like, you know, in here, like, in America, you know, a bunch of Brits were kind of razzing me going like you Americans think 100 years is like a long time ago when you go to London, and it's been there for like five, six, 700 years. So all of that, And like, you know, I just love being in cities and seeing what's around the next corner and talking to people in cafes and bars and getting their story. And because of the diversity, you get this wide array of stories. And, you know, I just feel safer in cities than any other part of the country. And yeah, I just love being there. Again, I love being in a city that I've never been to before.

Rob Lee: You're giving me rapid fire questions to ask you later. So you'll hear me type it. You'll see. I'm definitely a big fan of cities as well. You know, I say this and maybe it's more of a blunter thing, a less refined thing. But I just think that that's that's where your culture is. I think that's where. It's sort of concentrated. And, you know, one thing I'll add in it, and you touched on the empathy component, you know, I think we had to sort of reset, you know, back in 2020. And then sort of I think we're removing we're moving away from it, unfortunately. But yeah, I'll say, you know, I'm not spending too much time on Instagram these days. But at that time, you know, I was on Instagram and it was some rando dude that just got on the video thing that was in Spain. And he was like, hope you guys are safe there. He's wanted to have a quick conversation with me. Never met him. And he was like, yeah, we're all here. We're all taking care of, you know, just a human moment. And I was really trying to process it. And, you know, it was it was just interesting. And he's like, yeah, we're in a city. The city has this going on. And I'm like, oh, right. This is just another human checking on me and seeing like these sort of really condensed populations and and what things might be looking like where you're at. So that was just you know, a really cool moment. And, you know, almost four years ago at this point, I still think about it. Yeah, I still think about that human moment.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: That's brilliant. That's right. I mean, I also I also love the idea of like, you know, it's it's less here in Denver was more pronounced when I was living out east, like it's just the neighborhood feels of certain parts of the city, like one part of the city might not feel like another part of the city. And again, you know, it's more prevalent out on the East Coast. Cities are older. Denver, Denver is a little over 100 years old.

Rob Lee: So, you know, 100 years is not that not that long.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah.

Rob Lee: Yeah, I like Philly a lot. I go up there, you know, semi regularly and have done like a series of interviews up there as well. So, you know, definitely I see sort of those those similarities between where I'm based in Baltimore and in other sort of East Coast cities. Like it's it's literally right there. And you can almost look at the sort of layout is go up there a few times. You're like, oh, that's the way this is configured. Oh, that's the same as ours in this way.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah, and Philly and like Boston are completely different. Like Philly was built like just on a grid. They deliberately planned the city to be on a grid because they wanted to avoid the way London is because London is just the streets are all over the place. But like Boston, the streets are all over the place. There is no grid. It's just you got nowhere you're going. And Philly right now, I'm like kind of shocked and surprised because I left it a very long time ago. I left it like over 20 years ago. And it's it's like recently becoming a really big comic book cartoonist town. A lot of people, a lot of a lot of creators coming out of there. A lot of creators are moving there.

Rob Lee: Yeah. And definitely is a spot that I enjoy doing stuff. And I'm having a having a conversation very soon about doing some more work in the very near future. So I'm looking forward to it.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah, I'm going to get back to Philly. Probably my family is still there. So I have to go back and visit all that.

Rob Lee: Oh, yeah. So you touched on sort of like the it's a stamina thing, right? You know, for me, last year, I put out three hundred and thirty three interviews in it. Wow. And I have a day job. I have all of the things. It's a stamina thing. Right. And you were mentioning earlier about sort of doing the daily comic. It's like, I don't know. Talk a bit about your like, you know, drawing routine. How often are you drawing? How many hours per per day? How do you structure your your time around illustration, around drawing?

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Well, pretty much this is my full time gig. Yeah. Yeah. Doing comics and illustration. So I'm pretty much drawing every day. I try to take off weekends unless, you know, again, there's something that really needs to get done ASAP. So I'm mostly working on my comics. Because of the Queen City book, which is all about Denver, I get a lot of commissions. Not just places here in Denver that want an illustration or something like that, but in other places, too. Boston, because there's still contacts there. And so I do a lot of pieces for them back there. Yeah, so I basically work Monday through Friday. in the morning is basically answering emails and seeing what else needs to get done. I usually start drawing whatever I need to get done that day around maybe 10, 10 in the morning. And I work usually till at least 5 p.m. The way it usually goes is you can't see her, but my wife is literally behind me working. She still works from home. And so we're in this room together. She's working her job. I'm doing my illustrations. And she, she's a little more rigid than I am. She's like, okay, it's five o'clock, I'm off. And when she starts breaking down her computer and all that, and of course, the cat knows it's feeding time, everything starts getting chaotic in here. So I'm like, okay, it's time to slowly break everything, stop what I'm doing and maybe make myself a cocktail or go out to the bar for an hour or two before coming back. And yeah, and that's for the most part my routine. You know, some things change if, as I said, if something really needs to get done, I might work late into the night or like, you know, I was working a bit later trying to get the new comic ready for Thought Bubble.

Rob Lee: Yeah. Yeah. No, I think, you know, I'm very interested and curious about like sort of what folks routines are and like how their stuff, because I think it's something that that's crossover in a way where it's like, well, I do this. I just throw I just throw a hammer at it in terms of time. It's just like, oh, I'm just going to keep doing this. And that leads to burnout, you know. But seeing kind of how other people do their stuff, maybe you can put it through that filter, that sieve, if you will, and just figure out how you can apply that approach to what you're doing or what I'm doing or what someone listening to this is is doing. And I think it's important.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah, burnout, burnout's a complete thing. It does happen. I mean, as I said, like I was doing my lighthouse series for three years and what started off as like, OK, I'll do a single four panel comic a day. as the story I wanted to tell for that day became like, it might be longer. So some of my stories were like three pages. And so that to me was one comic that I put out one day and the next day I had to put out something completely new. And also the burnout, like, what the hell am I going to write about today or draw about today? And usually like when I rush, like, um, When I got my when I got the second part of IndyCity finished and it was a rush to get it done, get it to the printer, make sure I had copies in time. I had a couple of days of burnout like and just worked on other stuff, commissions and stuff like that. You know, I'm probably not going to start the next IndyCity comic for another week or two because I've got other stuff I need to get done.

Rob Lee: Yeah. I mean, you know, I pick up gigs on occasion to host a thing or to do a movie screening or anything along those lines. And it's a it's a bit of a shakeup. And I've gotten, you know, a lot better. And this is not my full time gig. This is a side project, but I'm very passionate and I spend a lot of time doing it and just figuring out how to like carve out those pieces of time, because this is very important to me. I've been doing this for 15 years. So, you know, being able to sort of make my own lane, I think that's a very important thing to do. And, you know, I look at, you know, success, right, as, you know, can I continue doing this? Do I feel like I'm satisfied? Am I happy doing it? And does it still feel fun? How do you look at, like, success in your career? Like, this is your full time thing and you're crushing it. Like I said, I had no intention of buying any books. And I was like, I got to talk to Karl. I got to buy something. And now we're doing this. So I think this was a successful interaction in that regard.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: I mean, how do I measure success? I'm hoping just people read my comics. You know, there's a small part, it was like, am I paying my bills? Yes, I'm paying my bills. I'm getting by. You know, yes, we're in a small place. But, you know, we have, you know, enough funds to go to travel to New York to do mocha or down to Bethesda to do SPX. As long as I'm getting by, I'm not struggling as badly as I was a couple of years ago. Again, as your career goes on, hopefully it gets a little easier. Um, so yeah, that's my measure of success. You know, of course, there's other things I would love to accomplish, like getting my work more out there for people to see. Because right now, you know, I'm an indie cartoonist, you know, it's hard, it's hard getting this distribution or finding a publisher that believes in your work. So yeah, so you always have goals. But as long as you're getting by, yeah, you're successful. you know, the fact that like, you know, I was when I was just in the UK, you know, doing a show and people were approaching me knowing my work. Yeah, that's, that's kind of a blast. It was like, Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah.

Rob Lee: I, um, my, my partner, she, she reminded me, uh, she was there with me at SPX and she reminded me, cause you know, you, you get down, it's that part of the year where it's like, I don't know, guys, I don't know, I don't know how this thing is going to go. And she was like, you had someone stopping traffic with like, Hey man, I don't mean to fan boy out, but I know you, you're Rob Lee. And I was like, Oh, Hey man.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: And that's, that's, that's always appreciated. You know, I never, you know, you're never going to go, like, someone approaches you going, hey, I really like your work. You're not going to go, oh, fuck off. No, you appreciate it.

Rob Lee: I never, maybe I've said that in my mind, but not in a real way.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: The only time someone approached me, someone approached me in Toronto when I was, I was exhibiting at TCAF. And they were talking, they were like, oh, you know, they approached me like they knew me and all that. And they started talking to me and I realized quickly they had no idea who I was. You know, they were like, oh, I love all the work you did for DC. And I'm like, I never worked for DC, you know, stuff like that. That's a bit weird, but you play it cool, go, oh, thank you very much and stuff like that. Yeah.

Rob Lee: I'm a very, I don't know how well you remember, but I'm a very tall and I always get confused with the other podcasters, the other people. I'm like, look, there's more than two different black people here. Can we act in accordance? And but yeah, it's like. When someone makes that sort of thing that they dig what I'm doing, I always try to like, you know, do the chitchat. I talk a lot because of the nature of this. So I'm much better in this sort of capacity versus, you know, in person, like I'm one to one. And I think that's why. you know, I like SPX and things of that nature with sort of the, you know, the indie folks, you know, like you guys are much more accessible. You guys are much more like open to have a dialogue. And, you know, this is the second year that I've gone and I'll go again in the future. But I always leave out buying a bunch of books, a bunch of stuff, because it's like I actually feel like I'm supporting folks or what have you who are going at it on their own. And I just like sort of value and admire that lifestyle because tangentially I'm kind of doing my own version of that.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: All of us are doing the same thing. And this industry is very small. So the best I was like, don't be a dick, you know, we're all in this together, you know, treat other people with respect, and you'll get respect back, you know, even the most famous of our indie cartoonists, we're all still indie cartoonists. No one knows who we are, aside from our little community.

Rob Lee: Right. I tell people that in this sort of podcast sector. I was like, we're just podcasters from Baltimore. We're going to get washed out in the algorithm. It's fine. It's all good.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: And it's also weird, like we're all creating on our own, like cartoonists, right? You know, I just sit here at my drawing table and draw my little stories and stuff like that. So 95% of the time I'm working by myself. It's those 5% of the time where I'm actually talking to other people at shows and stuff like that, that you're like, oh wait, someone's reading what I'm doing. Oh, that's awesome.

Rob Lee: Well, that's that's almost a really good segue into this sort of next chunk of questions that. So could you could you speak on any like mentors or like pivotal experience that kind of shape where you're at and how you approach your work? You know, sort of having your philosophy on how you do your work, your philosophy on sort of the networking component, even doing something like this. Is there anything sort of like pivotal that comes to mind in terms of mentors or in terms of like experiences that has been really impactful in your career thus far?

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Well, the first, you know, I don't know if I can ever say I had a mentor. Sure. However, when I was when I was very young in Philadelphia, my uncle was a painter. It wasn't his full time job. He wasn't doing it professionally, but he was a painter. And so, like, sitting in a studio, like, you know, you're eight years old, watching him paint, that kind of made me want to start creating stuff and do my own thing. And he stopped painting probably while I was a teenager. And so when I went over his places, there was all these unfinished canvases and stuff like that. And he was also, I actually kind of appreciate this. He was a very low rent painter. Like he would go to the, you know, he wouldn't go buy canvases. He would go to the junkyard, buy pieces of wood that he would find wicked cheap and just paint on those. And so after he passed a few years ago, I had to go back into a studio and start going through his things. Okay, we can get rid of this. I found his files of all his rejection letters. Which I kept. I was like, you know, keep you humble. Here's what here's what Bob went through. So yeah, so that and then it was the reason I started doing comics was because when I was working at the comic book shop in Philly. I was always like I should do a comic about this. I should do a comic about this and it was my coworkers who are friends. I'm still friends with them. They kind of like. Just do it. Like, just do it. Why do you keep talking? Just do it. And a friend of mine who actually was doing a comic at the time said, you know, hey, if you do a comic, I'll put it in, I'll include it in my comic. And that was my first published work. It wasn't very good, but it was my first published work. And that kind of put me on the road. As for like, you know, other things like, like, people that I admire, and stuff like that, like, you know, the first name that springs to mind is Evan Dorkin. I, you know, I was growing up with his work, and it was kind of like punk rock, milk and cheese, and pyrocore, and all that, Hectic Planet, and all that. I love, I adored that. And basically, that was my first entry because before that I was reading, you know, like everyone else, I was reading X-Men, you know, and that was my start of reading, getting into the indie world, which led to Love and Rockets, 8-Ball and all that. And 8-Ball, when they were doing, when he was doing the Ghost World series, that along with Seth's Palookaville, that kind of, That was a huge influence on me in terms of color, because both use this blue in their stories that I adopted as well, because I thought the blue work, like I, most of my work is in blue and gray, all my coloring work. And I thought it worked. A, I like it. And I thought it brought, since I'm telling stories about the city, it brought this kind of noir feel to it, a little melancholy, you know, I just really, really like it. And that so those were a huge influence on me. And lastly, I mean, just having other peers in the comic book community, someone to talk to, because all as I said, all of us are going through these things. All of us are like, you know, have moments of doubt and stuff like that and having another cartoonist to talk to is is great you know i'm on a couple comic book threads like just messaging groups and just like hey what are you working on right now just kind of keep us all together and uh moving forward yeah community is super important in that regard you know i i i've talked about it um a few times in this pod but

Rob Lee: You know, I've been afforded the opportunity to do some educating, some teaching at a few different, you know, high school and college. Right. And teaching specifically podcasting, because it can be a very lonely thing. And then there's no one out there to to teach you. And you get really caught on the numbers or you get into a bad deal that doesn't really fit. And, you know, like I said, I've been doing it for a very long time. So I'm like, learn from my mistakes. I've made them all. And being able to sort of share that, but also being a resource like anyone who's, you know, doing a podcast or doing something in sort of that new media space. I try to make myself available in that way of, hey, I can run an idea about me, you know, or if you need help with how you go about something or if you just need someone to edit something for you, I can help out. And because I think You know, one, I didn't really have that there. And eventually you find some folks that, you know, know a few things and you kind of like learn some stuff. But, you know, for the first five years of me doing podcasting at all, I didn't have anyone. I was just figuring it out, see to my pants style and investing money in different places. And, you know, at the time, you mentioned that, hey, I got this bill for this editor or what have you. Someone looks at you like you're crazy. But it's just like, this is what I'm doing. And now when I have the opportunity to talk with someone and make their load a little bit lighter, especially when it comes to podcasting, that's what I'm there to do, whether it be knowledge, whether it be someone as a sounding board, someone to commiserate with, what have you.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah, same thing. I mean, there are a couple like, you know, comic book schools. I didn't go to one. I, you know, I'd learned, I went to school for photography. So, you know, basically it's, okay, this seems to work. And again, since, you know, sometimes something cool comes out of it because you don't know what you're doing, something cool comes out. And it's also like cool, like, you know, talking to cartoonists, seeing what tools they're using, what kind of brush they're using, what kind of paper they're using. It's all great. And I mean, that's the one thing is like it seems like a lot of cartoonists now are just switching all to digital, which I really don't. I use my Mac for coloring, but all my pages are like ink on Bristol.

Rob Lee: Yeah, I'm looking over your shoulder right now.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah, well, there's a print on my drawing table right now that someone is coming by to purchase. Yeah.

Rob Lee: And so I got, I got like two more real questions. And then I have those rapid fire questions I'm usually editing. So I want to talk a little bit about collaboration. You know, like previously, you're the second interview of from the folks that I connected with at SPX. Jonathan Bayless was the first one. And I remember you being on a panel with Jonathan. I mean, he's an Aquarius, so I have to, like, show love. Me and him have, like, very similar versions. I'm like, oh, OK, cool.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: I'm a Libra, so I'm not like a typical Libra.

Rob Lee: Oh, air sign gang, you know? Um, so, so what do you think is, like, that's sort of, like, key, um, to, like, successful collaboration? Like, you know, and for setting the stage, like, you know, as Jonathan said, he's the writer and you worked on some, some projects with him and you were the illustrator. And, um, you know, my partner's in a similar spot now where she's a writer, doesn't know how to draw, and I'm kind of a writer. I used to know how to draw. So it's kind of like, I'm very curious about, sort of what does collaboration, successful collaboration, in your opinion, look like?

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Well, it was much easier with Jonathan. Since I've known Jonathan, I'm friends with Jonathan, you know, we didn't go into this cold. I've known him for a couple of years. So, you know, we razz each other all the time because, you know, he's unfortunately from New York City. That's why in my comment, that was also the interesting thing with when he approached me with the story, I'm in it. Most of the stories is just him talking about a certain subject or something that happened to him. But in this case, I'm actually in the story. So I got to draw myself. And of course, he threw in a bunch of Boston, ragging on Boston. So I drew him in a Red Sox cap to rag on him. But anyway, like, but still there was a trust and respect between the two of us. So it was really easy to work with him. You know, it was only a three page story. But there were still times where, like, I had to approach him going, OK, you have because he breaks down the panel. He sends me a comic book script on panel one, panel two, panel three. And there's a couple of times I was like, oh, I can. I think this would work better if we slow it down and maybe extend it into two three panels. So, you know, I tell him my ideas and, you know, thankfully he's kind of like, if it works, it works. Go for it. But it also works both ways, too, because when I actually finished the pages and I was showing them like, you know, emailing them to him, There was a couple times he's like, I don't like your color choices here. Can you change this and change this? Which, of course, I'm like, that's fine. I have no problem with that. He's paying me, so I want him to be happy. So yeah, so it was easy. Basically, when you go into a collaboration like this, you've got to have the respect. You've got to have an open mind to be able to discuss things. And the main thing is not to act like an artistic diva of some sort, like going, oh, no, my work is perfect. No, it's not. So yeah, it was really easy to work with him. I'd do it again. And then, of course, after I did the pages, he came back to me because, of course, he's seen my other work. Um, and he asked me to do the cover as well, which again, we sat down at, um, we were together at a mocha last year and that's when we were hashing, hashing through everything. And he gave me a couple ideas that he wanted for the cover, all of which we didn't use. That's great. I was like, what about that? I sent him a couple sketches. He's like, oh yeah, that works. And again, since I draw cityscapes, it was a cityscape with a big billboard advertising his comic. It worked, yeah.

Rob Lee: So this is this is the sort of last real question. And and this is sort of in that space of, you know, sort of final thoughts, those gems that folks put out there. What is what is one thing like towards the top that you wish you knew earlier about the indie comics, cartooning, about the about the industry that you're in?

Karl Christian Krumpholz: There is no money. There is no money, especially in the indie comic world. You're doing it. for the love of the art. Sure, I mean, it's nice when you do make some money, but in the long term, there really isn't. I make, as I said, most of my money from prints and commissions and stuff like that. And hopefully people who've picked up my Queen City book, they like these illustrations, so hopefully they'll come around to the comics. Um, you, there is a lot of hustling, a lot. And it seems like even the people that you think, Oh my God, like, you know, the people that you look up to, all of us are flying by the cedar or flying by the cedar pants, just getting by, you know, again, we're indie cartoonists, we're not doing superheroes, we're doing our little stories about life, you know, so yeah, there's a lot of hustle. Yeah. Which also, you know, at the same time, you know, things could look bleak, like, you know, because you're not getting the feedback you like, you want to get, you know, break through that next level and stuff like that. But yeah, you got to keep going. Cause this is, this is, this is, this is the life we've chosen for ourselves.

Rob Lee: No, it's, it's, it's a great answer.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah. And they basically, you know, the thing like, there's places I want to get to, there's goals I want to get to. And there's times like you want to jump forward ahead a couple feet. And you actually realize no, no, no, you're moving in inches, inches, inches, inches, inches, but you're still moving. And once you get to a point and goal, you can look behind you and going, wow, I, you know, came pretty far. So yeah, so again, yeah, there's, there's times it's going to be like really rough, but you know, keep that's, again, what I said earlier about having a cartoonist community to kind of be a, be almost a support group.

Rob Lee: Yeah. So it's, it's keep going. It's, uh, you know, in, in that first year I referenced earlier, like what I did last year at 300 plus and that first year of me doing this, I only did 20 interviews. I couldn't get anywhere. and seeing that. And now, like, there's a degree of exclusivity here. There is a degree of no, this is a rite of passage. Have you been on this podcast yet? Have you come on, shared your story yet? That's right. Yeah. And it's, you know, really being able to look at that and seeing sort of the progression at that time. But then at the same time, getting that sort of that kick in the dick, if you will, of, oh, right, this had two downloads. That sucks. And you put so much energy and time into it. But at the same time, it's like that's one of those those sort of inches, I guess.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah. And social media does not help you. I mean, what I mean is you see other people on social media going, oh, they're doing they're doing great. Why? Why did I only get two likes? You got to kind of like push that out. One of the things I try to do is like when I see another cartoonist and like their work only has one or two likes, just hit like, it might make his day, you know?

Rob Lee: Absolutely.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah. And again, like, like with your podcasts and stuff like that, you know, a good, a good feeling is when you've been working on something for a long time. And like, I look at my comics that I was doing three years ago compared to the comics I'm doing today. You can see it definitely an improvement. And that's, that's a great feeling. Yeah.

Rob Lee: All right. Thank you. I think that was a good spot for us to end on the real questions. And now, you know, I got these rapid fire questions as I tell everyone, do not overthink these, whatever.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: This is just like,

Rob Lee: Like right off the top of your head, off the top of the dome. All right. Here's the first one. I can't help but notice that you're a very, very, very stylish individual. I'm looking at your glasses and I'm kind of jealous. You know, if I must, if I must be honest. What is your favorite type of accessory or article of clothing? Like, I've seen some really cool hats that you've had on, things of that nature. My hats.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: My hats. I love my hats. My hats and my glasses. Like, you know, it's funny, like, you know. I started wearing hats before I left Philly, just because of Tom Waits. Loved Tom Waits hats. I wanted a Tom Waits hat. I now have a collection of many, many hats, to the point where I had to get rid of a bunch of them. I also love my glasses. I love the round glasses. When you hit a certain age, and your warranty's off, and your eyes start to go, It happens, so I started wearing reading glasses. And one day I was in a shop with my wife, Kelly, and I just saw these pair of round glasses. I was like, oh, let me try these on. And Kelly's like, you're going to look like an idiot. And I put them on and Kelly's like. Oh, wait a minute. That looks pretty good. That looks pretty good. So I've been having round glasses and the hat for years now, and I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse. It gets me recognized all the time because of the glasses and the hat. It's a signature. It's a signature. I remember, I remember, I think it was years ago, the Krumm documentary that I think in it, he said he got rid of his hat because it became basically, oh, it's a hat. It's Krumm's hat. And he just got rid of it.

Rob Lee: But as I said, I love my hats. I dig it. Here's the next one I got for you. So you mentioned, you know, like you enjoy the cities. So I enjoy traveling as well. I enjoy going to a city. You know, what is the first thing you do when you get to like a new city, a city you've never been to? Let's say you checked in and all of that stuff. But let's say you're you're going to explore. What is the first thing that you're doing?

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Find a decent bar. find a decent bar, you can tell more about a neighborhood or a city by the bars. What Kelly and I do, what we try to do when we go to a new city is find the oldest bar in the city and go there and have a drink and just meet the locals and stuff like that. That's usually the first thing we do when we travel. I like that. And it just happens we love bars. So, yeah.

Rob Lee: I usually do the coffee shop. You know, it's usually the first thing that I don't have.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: And also, OK, I would also say it depends upon the time you if it's 10 a.m. when you land, you're not going to go up to lunch. Sure. But. But yeah, usually find out like sometimes we look around if we're going to be in a strange city, like before we go, we look around like on Google Maps, you know, OK, this is the area we're going to be in. What's what's cool, cool that we usually look for cool bar. We usually look for a cool vintage shop, cool bookshop. Where's the comic book store? Stuff like that.

Rob Lee: OK, this is this is the last one is the last one. Again, you know, I like having people kind of like put out their their their their dark secrets, their inner secrets. What is a song that you really like that on the low, you're a little ashamed that you like it?

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Okay. Um, I can't think of like anything like, you know, like scandalous or something like that. Someone asked me this the other day. Um, uh, there was a, I was, someone asked me the other day and actually, okay, I can name, I can't name the woman. It was a, what's her name? Um, Australian singer. I can't get you out of my head. Kylie Minogue. Kylie Minogue. Yeah, my my wife is actually behind me on Kylie Minogue. Basically, you know, why do I like it's kind of like an earworm in my head. Someone asked me that the other day because he was putting together like a bingo playlist. He's like, like, what is a shameful secret song? And I said, OK, yeah, that one. Yeah, that's that's one. Yeah.

Rob Lee: It's out there. I like it.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: And there's also been okay. Again, I'm older. I don't I don't know the kids music anyone any right now. And the same guy, the same guy that I just mentioned, who's doing these musical bingos, he does it every couple, like two, three weeks at one of the bars I go to. So I was chatting with him, and he usually plays the video, and if you got a bingo card, you cross off that song that's on your bingo card. And so a lot of the newer songs, I have no idea what it is, and there was some artist that I'm like, what the hell is this? And the song's been going through my head. Someone called Oliver Tree. Do you know this guy? Oh, no, it's he's he looks weird. He's got this bowl haircut that I think is a wig. And he just does this kind of pop song that's been rolling around my head. I think the song is called Alien Boy. That's been rolling around my head. I have no idea who he is.

Rob Lee: Oh, he looks ridiculous. Yeah.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: That's a lot. Yeah.

Rob Lee: I'm starting to age out a little bit myself where me and my partner, she's she's like, is this a tick tock? Is this a tick tock song? I'm not sure what this is. Is this a real song or a tick tock? And I'm getting closer to 40. So I'm like, I don't know what's new or what's not. I just know what I like.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: I remember I remember we were listening when we were in our late thirties, my wife and I were in our late thirties, there was an NPR story talking about how like at 35, you know, 35 is when you stop discovering new music. And we were like, Oh, that's bullshit. That's bullshit. When I hit 40, I'm like, what, what, what's going on now? What are these kids doing today? I have no idea. You know, when you put a Tom Waits album on, put my hat on with it.

Rob Lee: Yeah. I put my hat on. So that's pretty much it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This has been great. And secondly, in me being just a big group here, I want to again, thank you for coming on. And secondly, I want to invite and encourage you to share with the listeners where they can check you out, your work, social media, website, any of that stuff. It's shameless plug time.

Karl Christian Krumpholz: Yeah, you know, it's been great. Thank you very much. You know, I'm on the I'm on the blue sky. I'm on the mastodon. I'm still on Twitter, though I don't go on there very often, but I still have my account there. But it's all Karl C. Krumpholz, at Karl C. Krumpholz. My website's carlchristiankrumholtz.com. I have that website. I have an Etsy shop, Karl C. Krumpholz, that has all my comics on it. Yeah.

Rob Lee: And there you have it, folks. I want to again thank Karl Christian Krumpholz for coming on to the podcast. And I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture and community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just got to look for it.