BIOGRAPHY:

"Don't wait for someone, someday to publish your dream project. Do it yourself with the photocopier. Forget about fancy full colour covers and whatnot; use whatever is at hand."
Andi Watson, from the Comicology interview

In 1992 - inspired by skateboarding, manga and Love & Rockets - Andi Watson set about self-publishing 3 issues of Samurai Jam. The series was later continued at Slave Labor Publishing for a further 4 issues, using a different art style for each issue - a factor contributing to it's cancellation. Undeterred, he commenced work on Skeleton Key an all ages mix of fantasy adventure and teenage relationships that was to last for 30 issues.

His next series marked a significant turning point for Andi. Although Geisha was originally intended as an action based robotic-girl story, it quickly evolved into a character study of a struggling android artist overcoming doubt and prejudice. More importantly, his art style evolved from it's heavy manga influence due to his recent discovery of clean-line European artists, such as Sergé Clerc, Yves Chaland, François Avril, Dupuy and Berberian.

However, it was with Breakfast After Noon that Andi Watson dispensed with the trappings of the action genre and began to ground his stories in more contemporary surroundings. Based on his home town in the Midlands, he drew on his own experience of unemployment to tell a story about the decline of British industry and its destructive impact on the lives of ordinary people. The series is also notable for the simpler, yet stronger, art style used, with the looser brush work helping to communicate the rawness of feelings in the story.

"I have been consciously simplifying the art for the longest time. It's a process of only including the things that are relevant. I think that it comes back to storytelling - everything should be there for a reason. There's no point in putting a ton of detail in unless it says something about the character or sense of place. You create a stronger impression using one detail well used instead of many badly. The same goes for facial expressions. You can use a few lines to communicate any emotion... Of course, the fewer lines you use, the harder it gets."
Andi Watson, from the Comicology interview

Andi Watson lives in Staffordshire, England with his wife, Philippa and their daughter.

Interviews:
Leonie O'Moore (2006)
Pulse (2005)
Pulse (2004)
Book Slut (2003)
Sequential Tart (2003)
Silver Bullet Comic Books (2003)
The Comics Journal #248 (2003)
Ninth Art (2002)
Comicology Vol 2 #3 (2001)

Resources:
Andi Watson.biz

On-Line Comics:
Art Bomb

Reviews:
iComics: Love Fights
iComics: Dumped
iComics: Slow News Day
Time.com: Slow News Day
iComics: Breakfast After Noon
Time.com: Breakfast After Noon

Little Star
Oni Press, 2006
Simon Adams is certainly not one of those dead-beat dads. Watch him stagger through the pee, the poo and the puke in a sleep-deprived haze. Observe as he becomes a second class citIzen in his X-chromosome controlled domicile. And feel as Simon tries to juggle career ambitions and his family in an act worthy of the best circus performer.

"I really wanted to tell a story from the father's perspective. Simon Adams experiences the dirty diapers and sleepless nights along with the joy, panic, and the occasional cute moment. It seems like whenever fathers are characterized in fiction they're either incompetent or absent. I wanted to present a more accurate picture. Simon is a lot of things, but alone is not one of them. His experience is universal. If I do my job right, readers will know his joys, chuckle at his misfortunes, and empathize with his frustrations. People should recognize the Simons around them and with any luck that'll make the experience of Little Star that much more enjoyable."
Andi Watson

Breakfast After Noon
Oni Press, 2001
Rob Grafton and Louise Bright are in love and engaged to be married. When they unexpectedly find themselves unemployed, marriage plans are derailed and they are forced to rethink the direction of their lives. While Louise turns to school, Rob maintains a staunch desire to regain his old job, but when the company is itself shut down and hope is lost, Rob's depression not only keeps him from finding another job, but ends up repelling Louise, as well.

"The bad, and all-too-common way to validate an audience, is to reinforce its beliefs of itself. The good way, the Breakfast After Noon way, allows you to see your world or, even better, yourself, depicted in a work of art. Some of you, like the ex-dot-commers out there, sitting in your bathrobe reading this, will know just what Rob feels like. The rest of you can learn."
Andrew D. Arnold, Time.com

Dumped
Oni Press, 2002
A poignant story about things abandoned, feelings rejected, and what we just can't leave behind... A girl who collects vintage closes and a boy who loves old books attend the same party. When he catches her throwing out a box of her possessions, he discovers she is discarding a book that was one of his favourites as a child. It becomes a catalyst for them to start talking, but will true love ensue?

"... his writing and art have acquired a still lighter touch, as sensitive and fragile as the hearts of his tentative romantics."
Paul Gravett, columnist for Comics International

Slow News Day
Slave Labor, 2002
Katharine Washington arrives in England from California expecting the social whirl of London and work on a national newspaper. She's disappointed to find the Wheatstone Mercury is far away from the bright lights of the capital and has no fashion column or foreign correspondent. Will it be enough to lure her away from the bright lights and opportunities of home?

"A sharp, sassy comedy of manners, like the social satire movies of the Ealing Studio. Slow News Day sparks with quick fire repartee and wittily pinpoints the misgivings and misunderstandings, on both sides, between Americans and the English."
Paul Gravett, columnist for Comics International

Love Fights Vol 1 & 2
Oni Press, 2004
It's hard enough for your average person to get a date with all the anxieties we have in the modern world. For Jack it's even worse. Where he lives, superheroes are a common sight, flying through the air and showing off their outrageous muscles in skintight outfits. In comparison, a regular guy must seem boring and puny. Even Jack's cat has superpowers... and it seems to have have taken a dislike to Jack's new girl friend.

"Andi Watson's masterful brush strokes convey so much with such clarity and wit it makes me sick. Plus he's a really top fellow, the bastard."
John McCrea, artist of Hitman and Dicks

Graphic Novels:
Little Star (2006)
Love Fights Vol 1 & 2 (2004)
The Complete Geisha (2003)
The Complete Samurai Jam (2003)
Dumped (2002)
Slow News Day (2002)
Breakfast After Noon (2001)
Skeleton Key Vol 5: Roots (2000)
Skeleton Key Vol 4: Cats & Dogs (1998)
Skeleton Key Vol 3: Telling Tales (1998)
Skeleton Key Vol 2: The Celestial Calendar (1997)
Skeleton Key Vol 1: Beyond The Threshold (1996)

Periodicals:
Little Star #1-6 (2005)
Love Fights #1-12 (2003-2004)
Slow News Day #1-6 (2001-2002)
Breakfast After Noon #1-6 (2000-2001)
Geisha: Out Of Tune (2000)
Geisha #1-4 (1998)
Skeleton Key/Sugar Cat Special (1998) with Woodrow Phoenix
Skeleton Key #1-30 (1995-1998)
Samurai Jam #1-4 (1993-1994)

Short Stories In:
Family Ties in Love In Tights #3 (1999)
Loser in Toxic Paradise #1 (1999)