(Ep 63): Drawing Dreams: Inside WagWorks with Geoff & Ashlee Wagner
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How did Geoff and Ashlee Wagner become a creative duo in children's comics?
Welcome to We Make Children's Books, a podcast that takes us through the imaginative minds of children's book authors and artists. I'm your host, Brian Smith of StoryComic.com, and we're excited to have with us the internationally acclaimed and creative team of Wagworks, Jeff and Ashley Wagner.
Hey. Thanks for having us.
Yeah. It's great talking to you. And this is a before the show. We've been actually I I'm looking at the timer. We've been talking for twenty minutes actually before we even started the interview. So it's been
fun. We've
been talking we've been talking so long with Jeff and Ashley that for our listeners here, it was light coming into their room. When we first started talking. And now it is now you can see the sun setting. Where they are now. That's how long we've been talking before the show even started. That's amazing. So So Jeff and Ashley, tell us a little bit about that. You're here also representing Kids Comic Unite. The two of you are part of the kids comic unite. Inaugural anthology that's gonna be released on Kickstarter. And Talk to us a little bit about how the two of you kinda got involved in this project.
Sure, yeah. Do you want to start? Okay. Yeah, so uh it's been uh just over a year now that they first kind of rolled out this initi initiative to start the anthology. Um and it just in its very formative phases, we were talking about, you know, okay, what committees do we need? um have people sign up for what they want to do. And so from there they they winnowed down into their um into committees. So we're for example on the the publishing committee uh that helps um kind of oversee all the work and coordinate um make some of the bigger bigger decisions involved. just to get this thing made. Um and from there, you know, we kind of let each of the individual committees set to work. Um so aside from publishing, there's also the editorial committee, uh then you've got the marketing committee uh and design committee.
Those are kind of the the major four groups and then each of them have subdivisions. Um And yeah, it's been it's been really interesting. We it's so exciting to be at this point where we've been planning and organizing and kind of building the infrastructure for a year. also while contributors are making their comics. And now like the comics are coming in and like this Friday, the comics will be there and we're getting ready to start the Kickstarter in, you know, just over a month.
What is the ‘Let’s Go’ anthology and how are the Wagners involved?
And it's gonna be, you know, very soon that we can hold this thing in our hands. Um, I think we're all really excited about it.
Yeah. Over a year in the making.
Mm. Wow. And so you two are a team. So a Ashley, you're the writer and Jeff, you're the artist, correct? Mm-hmm.
Yes. Okay.
And and so is a d the two of you actually also, as you mentioned, you're on part of the team, but do you also have a one of the is one of the stories one of your stories?
Yeah, we have a four page comic in the anthology. And it is based on A kid who likes role playing games and he's h struggling with some bullies and he uses his imagination in his role playing game to kind of handle his real life situation.
Okay. And so where was the inspiration behind that story that you were able to tell?
Um it was uh it's kind of Rooted in bits of my childhood. Um and also a bit in what we're we're now doing and exploring with our kids. So we um our library actually started a Dungeons and Dragons uh campaign also just over a year ago. Um and so that's something like I play with our daughter. Um and so really into that and that's been a really good time. As a kid I played um Uh, it wasn't it wasn't Dungeons and Dragons, but it was like a text only online game that was very much Dungeons and Dragons based and I invested probably way more time than I should have, uh, in that with some good friends of mine and um So there's some roots in that. Um there's there's some of that community and friendship aspect in in getting through tougher things with friends.
Um Yeah, and even a little bit of the bullying. Uh it's funny because it's amazing how as you get older your perspective changes and you get a clearer view of things.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Geoff and Ashlee Wagner become a creative duo in children's comics?
0:13–2:42
2
What is the ‘Let’s Go’ anthology and how are the Wagners involved?
2:42–5:05
3
What inspired the four‑page comic about a kid using role‑playing games to handle bullying?
5:05–8:25
4
How do Jeff and Ashley collaborate when writing and illustrating a graphic novel?
8:25–11:10
5
What is the CoreTunes project and how does it serve different age groups?
11:10–13:48
6
How does their scientific background influence their storytelling and art education?
13:48–18:44
7
What are the upcoming projects like the middle‑grade graphic novel and the Kazoon Tite pitch?
18:44–22:42
8
Where can listeners find more of WagWorks’ work and follow their future releases?
22:42–23:16