High school is a universal experience – for better or for worse. It seems to leave quite an impression on those who manage to pull through it. For the majority of the population (myself included), those haphazard years are the most gruelling, confusing and humour-filled. Queer literary star Mariko Tamaki teamed up with her renowned illustrator cousin Jillian Tamaki for Skim, a quirky coming of age graphic novel.“I guess in some ways there’s little bits of my personality in Skim,” says Mariko Tamaki, from her Toronto home. “I was pretty quiet in high school and Skim is pretty quiet. I kept a journal that had all my slick fantastic thoughts in it, and so does Skim. She is also little bits of a lot of geeks I’ve known and loved.”
Skim is a nickname for Kimberly Keiko Cameron, the graphic novel’s protagonist, a half Japanese possibly-maybe lesbian Goth. She first appeared in the printed form as a comic book with Kiss Machine in 2004, the story eventually evolved into a theatrical performance with Nightwood Theatre and most recently can be found in hardcover on bookshelves everywhere.
“After the comic came out not much happened for a bit,” says Tamaki. “Eventually I got the opportunity to turn the story into a play for Nightwood Theatre's Groundswell Festival. I got a phone call and the Artistic Director of Nightwood was like, ‘What do you have?’ And I had the story of Skim - so that became a play and the chance to work with actress Julie Tamiko-Manning and watch her embody, in this incredible way, the voice of Skim.”
Tamaki recalls watching her character come alive on stage as surreal and inspiring experience, as it made her meditate on Skim more as a living, feeling creature. Shortly after the play premiered Tamaki’s agent met with Groundwood Books who were interested in publishing Skim as a full-length graphic novel. After months of tailoring, tweaking and expanding, Tamaki turned her once-comic, once-play into a full length graphic novel beautifully illustrated by Jillian Tamaki.
“I think as a writer you're just compelled by some unseen force to record and play with your observations,” she says. “It's like I can't walk by a stationary store without looking in. Notebooks are my drug. Beyond the actual medium I'm fascinated by people: the way people talk, walk, and move through life in general.”
Skim is a character that most off-beat, bookish teenagers can relate to, whether it’s through awkwardness, first loves, sexuality, gender, race, etc. Skim is a cultural misfit – she’s a shy, chubby, pseudo-Wiccan who falls for her English teacher at her all girls’ Toronto private school. Ms. Archer, based on a combination of Tamaki’s own creative writing teachers, is a fairy-like artist whose compassion overwhelms Skim and grows into a spellbinding infatuation.
“Skim was more of a chance to think of a whole story, which wasn't something I had done in a long time,” says Tamaki. “It was a lot of sitting around and taking notes and trying to timeline out the whole piece. I ended up working it like I would a play. So I plotted out a series of acts and scenes and figured out where I wanted to go. Then I went back and tried to put myself in each scene and scratch out the dialogue.”
Skim is brought to life by Jillian Tamaki’s exceptional visual techniques. The New York-based illustrator is one of the finest in the business, as some of her clientele includes: Walrus Magazine, the New York Times, Globe & Mail, Bust Magazine and CBC.
“After the comic came out not much happened for a bit,” says Tamaki. “Eventually I got the opportunity to turn the story into a play for Nightwood Theatre's Groundswell Festival. I got a phone call and the Artistic Director of Nightwood was like, ‘What do you have?’ And I had the story of Skim - so that became a play and the chance to work with actress Julie Tamiko-Manning and watch her embody, in this incredible way, the voice of Skim.”
Tamaki recalls watching her character come alive on stage as surreal and inspiring experience, as it made her meditate on Skim more as a living, feeling creature. Shortly after the play premiered Tamaki’s agent met with Groundwood Books who were interested in publishing Skim as a full-length graphic novel. After months of tailoring, tweaking and expanding, Tamaki turned her once-comic, once-play into a full length graphic novel beautifully illustrated by Jillian Tamaki.
“I think as a writer you're just compelled by some unseen force to record and play with your observations,” she says. “It's like I can't walk by a stationary store without looking in. Notebooks are my drug. Beyond the actual medium I'm fascinated by people: the way people talk, walk, and move through life in general.”
Skim is a character that most off-beat, bookish teenagers can relate to, whether it’s through awkwardness, first loves, sexuality, gender, race, etc. Skim is a cultural misfit – she’s a shy, chubby, pseudo-Wiccan who falls for her English teacher at her all girls’ Toronto private school. Ms. Archer, based on a combination of Tamaki’s own creative writing teachers, is a fairy-like artist whose compassion overwhelms Skim and grows into a spellbinding infatuation.
“Skim was more of a chance to think of a whole story, which wasn't something I had done in a long time,” says Tamaki. “It was a lot of sitting around and taking notes and trying to timeline out the whole piece. I ended up working it like I would a play. So I plotted out a series of acts and scenes and figured out where I wanted to go. Then I went back and tried to put myself in each scene and scratch out the dialogue.”
Skim is brought to life by Jillian Tamaki’s exceptional visual techniques. The New York-based illustrator is one of the finest in the business, as some of her clientele includes: Walrus Magazine, the New York Times, Globe & Mail, Bust Magazine and CBC.
“We may very well be a natural fit as Tamakis. I think we both had some idea of each other's personalities going into this, but truly we're very lucky that it turned out we had a compatible working relationship,” she says. “I had seen a lot of Jillian's artwork on the web and I knew she would be perfect for what I was seeing in my head for this comic. And when she started filtering images my way I knew it was going to be perfect.”
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