Who are you, and what do you do?
My name is Nicole Goux and I'm a cartoonist and illustrator. I've self published multiple books with my partner Dave Baker including Fuck Off Squad, Murders, and Suicide Forest as well as worked with numerous publishers on properties like Star Trek and Jem and the Holograms. My most recent work with writer Sarah Kuhn comes out this February is a YA graphic novel for DC Comics called Shadow of the Batgirl. I also do cover work for comics and books and enjoy getting into more in depth, full color illustrations than are sometimes possible on a comics page.
What hardware do you use?
Every project is a little different, but recently I've been working with a 12.9" iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. Changed the whole game for me! I usually start with traditional thumbnails, roughly about 3 inches, to get an idea for page layout and then move on to setup and layout/pencils digitally. Then I either ink and color digitally or print out blue lines on an Epson WorkForce WF-7610, which is good for oversized printing and scanning.
For traditional inks I use a variety of pens, some of my favorites being Zebra and Staetdlers or a brush and Dr. Martins Black Star ink.
And what software?
I use Procreate on the iPad, with the occasional assist from Photoshop or Illustrator on my laptop (just an old MacBook Pro from 2012). Surprisingly, my favorite brush that I use for almost everything is just the standard Tech Pencil that comes with Procreate, but I've started to expand and explore with some brush packs that I've been having a lot of fun with. Procreate and most of the other iPad-compatible apps still don't work with CMYK (I've heard Procreate 5 will have it!) which can be a problem because I am usually working for print. Because of this I often have to pull my files into PS and make some adjustments - depending on the colors of the piece they can be small or major.
When I self publish books I also make good use of InDesign (I have the whole CC suite, but only use about 4 programs regularly). InDesign has been really essential in the process of teaching myself to lay out a book for print, and while I still sometimes use Illustrator or Acrobat to make smaller PDFs, having the ability to easily edit and move around pages makes it the best way I've found to put together a comic book.
What would be your dream setup?
I currently live and work in a studio apartment. My setup is pretty mobile, so I often go out and work in coffee shop, but the dream would be to have a house with a granny flat studio behind. Having a separate area for work that's still super near my living space so I can work late or go back and forth between house and studio as needed would be amazing. I'd love something with lots of good natural light, a drafting board (I currently have one of these), possibly lots of plants if I can keep them alive and big bookshelves for comics and reference.
I also haven't had a desktop computer since I was in high school, so having one with a large retina monitor and lots of storage would make things much easier - I feel like I'm constantly running out of space on my laptop (baffling that's it's still functioning at all.)