My name is Hiller Goodspeed. I am an artist and illustrator from Florida, currently living and working in Vancouver (Canada). I live in an apartment in the West End with my partner Erin, where we like to explore the neighbourhood and ride bikes to the beach.

My style is kind of rudimentary. I draw mostly with regular and coloured pencils, and usually with a limited colour palette. I draw most of the time but also use gouache, collage elements, and Letraset in my work. My drawings most often depict wayward characters who putter around and get into trouble. I use simple colours and shapes in my work, mostly because I think I can communicate what I want to say most clearly with them. The meanings of the drawings themselves can be quite complex, depending on how the illustration came to be, if there’s a story behind it, etc., but they’re also easy to just look at and appreciate for what they are.

I take a lot of time to think about things before actually physically working on them. Some drawings consist of ideas I’ve been thinking about for months, though some drawings, I get an idea for and I draw it within a few minutes. It really depends on what the drawing is and what I think I have to do to make it successful.
I have made quite a few small books, and generally, it’s the same process for those. There are times when I have an idea, execute it, and make an edition of eighty books within twenty-four hours. There are also times when creating the content is somewhat arduous and the book takes me a long time to finish. Each approach has its own benefits though and I appreciate the variety.

I don’t think I’m trying to evoke any one response from my work. It is always charming when people have a strong reaction to the things I’ve made, though. Because my artwork is open to interpretations people take away many different things from it and I enjoy hearing what they think. Most often I am attempting to make some kind of joke with my drawings, jokes about myself and things I experience that I think others would recognise. Those jokes paired with my drawing style can result in an oddly comforting image, which is what I think resonates with my audience.

It’s a little bit of all of that mixed together. I thought the image of someone who is perfectly content with not being the best was funny, sweet, and a good way to be. There is always someone better, probably, and as soon as you can accept that, you can continue on with whatever you are doing. There isn’t generally a lot of criticism in my work, it’s mostly just for fun. I don’t like creating work that relies on a dig or sarcasm to be successful.

It’s hard to say. Ultimately, people like what they’re going to like and if what people want is mediocre, then that’s their choice. I would not recommend mediocrity though. It does take more effort to find the most interesting stuff, so maybe it’s just that people don’t have enough time to search for all of the good things that are out there.

I think it’s incredible. I am always honoured when someone shows me a tattoo they’ve gotten of something I’ve drawn. I think people get them because they see something in the drawings that reminds them of themselves, which is very sweet.

I don’t think I could choose a favourite, every time someone sends me a photo of their tattoo, it becomes my new favourite.

When I was younger, it was easier for me to communicate what I wanted to say by making fun of myself and others. I think it’s that way for a lot of people. It was certainly more difficult to express something genuine and sincere. As time has passed though, I’ve realised that if I have something meaningful to say, I better say it while people are listening, and that changed my outlook a bit. I don’t think of creating positive work as an obligation though. And I also still make self-deprecating things on occasion.

When I create artwork, it’s almost always for myself. It's something that I'm feeling or need to hear or want to express. The benefit to keeping the meaning of my illustrations somewhat elusive means it can be interpreted in many ways. I don't think I've ever started out wanting to make a comic about mental wellness, but when I step back and look at everything I've done, it certainly seems to be a continuing theme. Talking about mental health is important, and though I'm not addressing it head on, I’m happy to be a part of the conversation. If my artwork provides some kind of cathartic release for people who subscribe to it, then that is a good thing and I support it.

Oh, there are so many! On a really deep level, the friendships and media I had and was exposed to as a child were highly influential. More recent influences would include music from artists such as the Magnetic Fields and the Elephant 6 Collective, and the books and artwork of Tove Jansson. A lot of ideas come from reading books; some current favourite authors of mine are Truman Capote, Isaac Asimov and Byrd Baylor.
I am always learning from so many contemporary artists and illustrators I follow online. There are so many people out there doing incredible things in ways I’ve never even considered before. Every time I browse feeds and read through graphic anthologies, I become overwhelmed with the variety and greatness of work out there. I am also influenced by the things I come across in my daily life: dreams, conversations, things I observe while walking around my neighbourhood, and things like this. Inspiration comes from new and unexpected things all the time.

No, I don’t think so. I studied to be a librarian because I’ve already tried doing full-time freelance illustration work and it wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. I also genuinely enjoy working in libraries, answering questions and showing people how to use computers. I get to have conversations everyday with curious people who are in search of things, which I love. Also, librarians are cool as hell and are good people to be friends with.

Oh, lots of things! I just recently had two books come out, In The Grass published by Ryan Cecil Smith, and Simple Things published by Perfectly Acceptable Press. I also participated in TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) and VanCAF (Vancouver Comic Arts Festival) this year, which were both very exciting. There’s a lot of stuff that I want to do and things in the process of happening. I myself don’t really know what’s going to happen for sure but I know there will be future things to look forward to.