An exclusive interview with Iain McCaig

"I’m much more interested in telling my own stories these days than working on anyone else’s.  Books are and always have been my first love..."

Smalltown is a special place. Think of it as Lake Wobegon or Norman Rockwell, with monsters. These 12 illustrated short stories are introductions to the people and creatures who live there.

The ghosts Frightwood and Po—who we discover on a petrified park bench floating on a rock through space—are our guides. Meet the Smalltown vampire, the Sirens in the Sound, hear how the Bell-Ringer finds an apprentice and Albert Moon falls in love and discover the story of the First War of The Worlds.

Written and illustrated by renowned American artist, author and film maker Iain McCaig, creator of the iconic designs for Darth Maul and Queen Amidala for the Star Wars franchise, and who has worked on many successful films, such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, this is a beguiling, quirky collection that will delight and captivate.

Team Titan spoke to Iain McCaig about Smalltown Tales, the processes of writing it and the inspiration behind it. Scroll down to read the full interview, and an exclusive excerpt!

What has been the difference between drawing conceptual art versus storyboarding?

Conceptual art is a fine art term, where the idea or concept behind the art is more important than the art itself. It’s very different from Concept Art, which is what we create in the Entertainment Industry. Concept Art is art in service of a STORY. Film-makers and game-producers use it to peek at their film or game before they’ve made it, and to guide their teams who make it for real. Unlike the Fine Art term, Concept Art demands excellence in drawing, painting, and storytelling, and these days, digital sculpting, lighting, and rendering too.  

Storyboarding, on the other hand, is a sequential art—story-telling through a series of images. It’s a lot like comics or graphic novels and a not-too-distant cousin to animation. While concept art looks at individual pieces of a story, like characters, costumes, creatures, and environments, or sums up the dynamics of a moment in a keyframe illustration, storyboards explore the telling of the story itself. Needless to say, it is a delight to do both!

What is the TV or Film project you still dream about working on?

I’m much more interested in telling my own stories these days than working on anyone else’s. Books are and always have been my first love, so I’m focused on turning my tales into novels and short stories now.  

Do you ever imagine Smalltown Tales ever being adapted for TV or Film?

The ‘Smalltown Tales’ all started life as ideas for films and novels. If any of those stories connect with a wide enough audience, I’m sure I could be lured into adapting them for film or streaming television. I have already written a screenplay for a short film version of ‘The Smalltown Vampire’, which I hope to shoot next year.

What were the inspirations behind the illustrations for Smalltown Tales - did you have any influences?

Stories are my biggest inspiration. I devoured Ray Bradbury stories as a kid and ran to my sketchbook to capture the zillion pictures they inspired before my head exploded.

The Smalltown illustrations sprung to life in exactly the same way. No time to ponder style or influence—I was too busy catching visual fireflies from my own stories.

Do you have a routine when you're working on a project? What does it involve and does it differ from project to project?

My writing routine is always the same—I write my first drafts on paper, then re-write digitally. My image-making invariably begins as pencil sketches too, my final illustrations split between traditional and digital paint. Even the answers to these questions were scribbled on a pad of paper first.  

I don’t have a set working time—I draw and write at all hours of the day, interspersed with power naps, long walks, and arpeggios on my piano.

Where did the concept for Smalltown Tales come from?

Smalltown Tales was born from a near fatal heart attack I had seven years ago. Coming home, I realized that all my unfinished novels and unproduced screenplays would have died with me, and I decided to do something about that. Since  finishing them as intended would take me well into the afterlife, I collected a couple dozen and re-wrote them as short stories, twelve of which make up this first book.  

As I was writing, I realized that all of the tales took place in the same town at different places in the timeline, from 65 million years ago to beyond the end of the world. Amazingly, they fit together like puzzle pieces.  

Which is your favourite short story from Smalltown Tales and why?

My stories are all my children and I don’t have any favorites there. They are also all true stories—not non-fiction true, but true to a real encounter or event that happened in my life. If some have changed into monsters or ghosts or space aliens, that’s just how my imagination remembers them. Call it an unreliable memoir. 

SMALLTOWN TALES is out on August 27th, pre-order your copy now!: https://bit.ly/3YxUzxp

Click the image below to read an exclusive excerpt!