‘I've always wanted a body that makes people go ‘hubba hubba’

By Simone Vos

150 international and recently graduated talents sent in their work for Wobby’s ‘Open Call for Graduates 2020 & 2021’. Wobby #29 shows four participants: Corinne Ang (PH/US), Inger Bierma (DE/NL), Kyle Canyon (US), Elianne van Elderen (NL). “It was such a joy to make this work. I wish I could work on a project like this every few weeks. I will say it was nerve-racking to make work for a new audience. I really tried to push myself to make something unique and honest”, states illustrator and comic artist Kyle Canyon.

Inger Bierma graduated in 2020 from the Academie Minerva Groningen in Illustration & Animation, lives in Hamburg and made a spread for this Wobby. “I really liked making one specific image. A lot of my jobs are currently animation jobs and then I make a lot of illustrations for one animation. For Wobby I could focus on one image and add more details in the illustration. It was also a challenge to think in ‘riso’ it was a long time ago since I did that. So, I enjoyed that as well”, she states. “I didn’t really have a plan when I started to illustrate for Wobby. I get my inspiration from my daily life and everything that has a connection with that. I wanted to add more frames in my drawings, and this seemed the perfect opportunity. Besides that, it was a free and flowing creative process.”

Pumping iron around
For Corinne Ang, 2021 graduate in Graphic Design from Rhode Island School of Design US, the theme ‘Pumping Iron’ immediately made sense. “The first time I heard about the theme, I thought of a documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger and his bodybuilding. I saw it when I was young. The physical exercise, bodybuilding and crafting your body in a form that is extremely exaggerated; I wanted to show that in my work”, she says. “And it reminded me of the iron in our blood, pumping around. I thought about a lot of metaphorical expressions like ‘ruling with an iron fist’ and put that together with the psychical aspect. So, these two ideas together are connected in my illustration.”

‘Hubba hubba’
The inspiration for his spread didn’t come all at once, states Kyle Canyon. He graduated in 2020 from Parsons School of Design (The New School) US in Product Design (BFA) Comics and Graphic Narrative (Minor). “I got the theme for this issue and let it sit in my head for about a week. I took the obvious path and kept thinking about the theme's relation to fitness. Specifically, its connections to vanity and self-image. I dislike most sports and can’t stand fitness culture. Mostly because I’ve never fit in within those spaces”, Kyle says. “But I’ve always wanted a body that makes people look and go ‘hubba hubba!’. I never go to the gym and end up watching from afar full of envy. Anyway, after a week of all this thought, I started thumbnailing a possible composition. So, these ideas all got thrown in while sketching.”

“After thinking about the theme and its relation to vanity, I kept imagining this image of this fool-type character wandering around endlessly with all his personal baggage, one being his low self-esteem. Funnily enough I’ve really been into donkeys these past few weeks, and haven’t really figured out why”, Kyle states. “I realized a donkey tied to a cart full of objects would be a great way to represent this wandering fool. The donkey can’t remove or touch any of the baggage on its cart, and it is forced to travel aimlessly with no direction or goals. The donkey carries around a mirrored reflection of its ideal form. I could go on with why I chose certain imagery, but I want the viewer to find or define the symbolism for themselves. I’m always interested in what people see within my work since it's so personal to me.”

Freedom to write
Elianne van Elderen wrote the opening text for Wobby #29. She graduated in 2021 from ArtEZ University of the Arts (Arnhem) in Creative Writing. “I’m a big fan of Wobby, with all the colours and the funny themes. This Open Call gave me a lot of freedom, to write whatever I wanted. A lot of assignments have restrictions, which is okay of course, but with Wobby I could go totally crazy”, Elianne says. “The theme ‘Pumping Iron’ was kind of a challenge. I didn’t know immediately what to do with it, so I googled. In the end I came up with a story about an ex-bodybuilder that doesn’t like his life, so he brags about his career. The story just came up, I read a lot and then the associations just flowed.”

About the Open Call
In September 2021, Wobby launched the first ‘Open Call for Graduates’ for artists that graduated in the years 2020 & 2021. The 150 applicants came from all over the world, including Colombia, China, Nigeria, US, the Netherlands and Germany. “Because of Covid, there were hardly any graduation shows to discover new, international talent”, Marjolein Schalk, chief editor of Wobby states. “We wanted to provide an opportunity for illustrators, artists and writers to show their work to a worldwide community of illustration, art and riso-lovers. A chance to get their first assignment, within the challenging technical framework of the risoprint, and with guidance from our team.”

Wobby #29 – Pumping Iron is now available in our webshop.