Ivan Veljković on “Utility”

I wrote “Utility” for a young Hebrew artist whom I’ve ‘met’ on Discord once (I still have the early sketches), but he didn’t have the time to do it. Then, back in 2018 at the Balkans Festival of Young Comics Creators in Leskovac, Serbia, I came across Efi. I say ‘came across’ because we didn’t actually meet then and there. But roughly a month later, I added her on Messenger and we got to talking. Then I did some research of her art and I found it to my taste.

If I recall correctly, it was in early 2019 that I sent Efi Theodoropoulou several of my scripts, “Utility” included. She chose that one and we started working on it, trying to reach a deadline for a Slovenian comic book competition. Naturally, we also considered publishing the short comic somewhere. However, both Serbia and Greece are known as countries whose publishers don’t pay their comic book artists or writers jack shi—I mean, diddly-squat. Needless to say, we couldn’t hope to earn any money from domestic publication. Sadly, I can’t pay my artists anything either, and Efi was aware of this. That’s why I decided to enter “Utility” in as many competitions as possible, to send it to as many editors and as many publishers as possible, and she did the same. I didn’t and still don’t want her art to go to waste, so the least I can do is get it published. Fortunately, Split Rock Review liked our lovely little creation, and here we all are.

There is very little to say about the creative process, at least on my end (Efi will surely read this text before publication, so she might provide more info regarding the subject, at least from her perspective as an artist). There wasn’t any grandiose moment of revelation that made me write “Utility.” I just liked the idea of seeing a red-haired girl and a dog walk in the woods, so I wrote it. As dull as that is, that’s how it happened.

You’ll permit me to say a few words about Efi, however. She did both the art and the coloring for this piece and, interestingly, during our working process, the only thing I asked her to change was two very minor details in two panels. She literally drew the piece almost exactly as I wanted it; if I recall correctly, she just shifted a few of the panels around to fit the narrative better, which I always appreciate with my artists. She never complained, never argued and never showed any signs of stress or fatigue, even though I know for a fact that she works extremely hard on about a billion other things.

But more interestingly, I finally got to meet Efi this year in person, again at the Balkans Festival in Leskovac. She is not only an amazing artist, but also an honest, real friend. A proper pal, so to speak. I never saw a person that adorable who loves a good swig of beer. We became friends quickly, as most Balkan-based comics authors do. Hopefully, if luck will have it, we will stay in touch for some years to come. Neither one of us is sure that we will work together on a new project in the near future, but there will always be room for beer. And, depending on where we are, either a gyros or a ćevap (Google those, you won’t regret it).