We chat with co-illustrator Sarah Winifred Searle about Ruined, a Regency-era romance graphic novel about the unexpected passion that blooms from a marriage of convenience from author Sarah Vaughn and co-illustrators Sarah Winifred Searle and Niki Smith.
Hi, Sarah! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I’m a writer and drawer of comics and prose. I grew up in Maine and lived around Boston before moving to Perth, Australia, where I’ve grown roots. I live here with my lovely spouse and a weirdly tiny cat. I read too much manga.
When did you first discover your love for illustrating?
I can’t remember a time I ever didn’t love drawing –– my early elementary school journals are full of illustrated stories!
Your latest graphic novel, Ruined, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Steamy, indulgent, slow-burn Regency romance.
What can readers expect?
While we started work on it long before Bridgerton’s screen adaptation, I’m pleased that show’s been so popular. It makes Ruined really easy to pitch! If people like one, they’re very likely to enjoy the other. Just Ruined is a graphic novel, so the format is fun in different ways.
Where did the inspiration for Ruined come from?
Writer Sarah Vaughn and I originally met aeons ago through our mutual love for another historical romance comic series. We’ve both always loved the classic Regency romance, and as we’re both storytellers, it’s no surprise we ended up giving our own try at the genre!
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed creating?
Adding a hunting dog was my idea back in the early days of the project, and Sarah Vaughn wrote him officially into the final script. There’s a bit where Catherine’s walking into the greenhouse and you can see that the dog has smudged his nose and paws all along the bottom of the glass in the door. I was proud of myself for thinking of that detail. I love little things like that, they humanize an otherwise romanticized and otherworldly-feeling setting.
Can you tell us a bit about the process in bringing this graphic novel to life with author Sarah Vaughn and co-illustrator Niki Smith?
Ruined was Sarah Vaughn’s concept first. I’ve been really fortunate to have a wonderful collaborator in them, in that they recognize that I usually write the books I draw, and so they treated my ideas and suggestions with great consideration. But while I also have written my own historical romance (Patience & Esther), it was really great to see what Sarah does differently than me and learn from their strengths. For example, they’ve got a wonderful way with words and a snappy kind of dialogue that I’ve never been able to pull off. I put a lot of thought into how I designed the layout of the word balloons, to do justice to those breezy exchanges.
So Sarah handed me a script (with plentiful visual references), and I did the “pencils”. In comics lingo, that means I came up with a tight rough draft that problem-solved all the panel layouts and flow. Plus I lettered it.
Then, because I was still recovering from just having inked another long book (both The Greatest Thing and Ruined are over 300 pages!), I asked for help with the inks. Niki Smith is a good friend who uses the same software and a similar workflow, so I knew we could hand files off really easily. Plus she’s a wonderful cartoonist in her own right (look up her books!), so I knew she’d do it justice.
Niki then inked (drew the final lineart on top of my pencils) and dropped in flats, which are blocks of color underneath the lines that make it much easier to finish coloring later.
Then she handed the files back and I polished them off by doing tiny tweaks, finalizing lettering, and finishing the colors, giving the pages the final look you see in the book.
What’s next for you?
My next graphic novel with First Second is one that I both wrote and drew on my own, called The Sweetness Between Us, due late 2024. It’s a YA vampire rom-com about a teenager who was recently diagnosed with diabetes and his classmate, a vampire who can taste his blood sugar levels.
Plus I’m working on a personal project that I’m hoping to release in 2024, called A Home in Her. That one is a strange, steamy romance for adults. More info on my website for both these projects: https://swinsea.com/a-home-in-her.
Lastly, are there any graphic novels you’re looking forward to releasing in 2024 that our readers should have on their radar?
I suggest everyone keep their eyes on Bulgilhan Press, Silver Sprocket, and ShortBox Comics. Indie publishers like them are giving platforms to some of the most interesting and exciting work in comics right now.
