Asaf Hanuka needs no big introductions. A world-renowned illustrator, gold metal recipient from the Society of Illustrators, and winner of an Award of Excellence from the Communication Arts Annual, Hanuka has managed to inspire a whole new generation of illustrators with his unique take on everyday existence. Having worked with some of the world’s leading organizations such as Nike, Canal +, New York Times, Forbes, etc., he now lives in Tel Aviv with his family where he splits his time between teaching at the Shankar College of Engineering and Design and working on his next graphic novel.
Ever since 2010, you have been working on The Realist, an award winning weekly comic where you document your life. What triggered your desire to illustrate your daily adventures?
Actually it was a commission by a news paper based in Tel Aviv, where I live. It’s a business paper called “Calcalist” and the comic is published in the last page of the weekend edition. Since the paper deals with financial issues they asked me if I would be interested in doing a strip about my efforts to finance an apartment in Tel Aviv. That’s how it started, but after a few months it drifted toward more personal issues.
How far can one push their creative boundaries, when they serve as the main figures of their own comics?
Using real life materials and characters is just a way for me to ‘cheat’ since I’m not really a writer and it would be nearly impossible for me to invent a story line. So I present real life events and try to tell them in an interesting way. I believe that there is a lot of freedom from that starting point, in my case at least, because in the end I’m using the outside to draw the inside.
Your art is a wonderful mix of visually enticing images and strong political statements. Do you find comics to be a great medium of expressing such ideas?
The advantage of doing comics is that often you can say things that will not pass in other forms of expression, because people still believe that if it’s drawn it must be a joke, or for kids. And especially in Israel, where politics is in the centre of every day life, comics are a fresh way to tackle these issues.
Bipolar has been one of your earliest collaborative projects with your twin brother and world-renowned illustrator Tomer Hanuka. In what ways, have you seen yourself evolving since then?
Tomer’s work in Bipolar, published as a collection in “Placebo Man” (Alternative Comics), served as a main inspiration for the Realist comics. Tomer took childhood memories and turned them into story lines. It was like a door opened then, and years later I opened it again. Back in the Bipolar days I worked with writer Etgar Keret and I would adapt his stories. Over time I felt like I had stuff to say in my own voice but I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off, for a while. I’m still not sure, but doing it on a weekly basis helps me focus on improving.
What is the usual working process behind any new project?
It starts with me really stressing out on a Saturday night since I know I have to send the comics to the news paper on Tuesday. On Sunday I start by writing a few sentences about the passing week, trying to fish an idea. If I’m lucky I get a sketch of the page by Monday and then ink and colour on Tuesday.
Has there ever been a particular piece which you had a really hard time working on?
Every piece is really hard, each has a breaking point somewhere where I feel it is useless and I should just burn everything and then kill myself but then I look at the clock , think of the deadline that is coming and that I must send something. I just have to live with it.
You are teaching illustration and comics at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design. What, in your opinion, has the new generation of illustrators, to offer?
Life, energy, a fresh point of view, originality, new trends, all the stuff we had when we started out.
For many people comics serve as an escapade from the daily routine. Being constantly surrendered by art, where do you find solace?
I really like walking.
What’s next for Asaf Hanuka?
A 150 pages, full colour, graphic novel done in collaboration with my brother Tomer and writer Boaz Lavie. It’s called “The Divine”.