Indoor Voice

by Jillian Tamaki

Sketches, thoughts, and comics from the artist of Skim

Jillian Tamaki has taken the visual world by storm. A sought-after illustrator, she has racked up accolades and awards from the Society of Illustrators and Society of Publication Designers, and has a client list that includes The New York Times , The New Yorker , and Esquire . Her breathtaking talent was further established with the debut of the graphic novel Skim –selected by The NewYork Times as a Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2008–which was written by her cousin Mariko Tamaki, and drawn with moody black-and-white nuance by Tamaki. Skim completely reinvented the young adult graphic novel genre with an utterly original and sincere portrait of being a teenage outsider. Indoor Voice collects pen, brush, ink, watercolor, and collage experiments that show how Tamaki arrives at her illustration work, as well as more polished and personal comics work examining her relationship to her parents and their influence on her art.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Art, Graphic Novels Comics, Canada, Comics Manga, Short Stories

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Jillian Tamaki is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Toronto. A professional artist since 2003, she has worked for publications around the world and taught extensively in New York at the undergraduate and graduate level. She is the co-creator, with her cousin Mariko Tamaki, of Skim and This One Summer, the latter of which won a Caldecott Honor in 2015. She is the author of the graphic novels SuperMutant Magic Academy, originally a serialized webcomic, and Boundless, a collection of short comic stories for adults. Her first picture book, They Say Blue, was released in 2018.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have loved Jillian's collaborations with her cousin Mariko in Skim and This One Summer that seem to have catapulted them to the international stage. But the narratives in those two books seem to have been primarily written by Mariko, who works so well with Jillian's illustrations. So I was curious to hear Jillian's voice more in this, a solo project.

Well, Jillian warns us that she is 1) "not that creative" and 2) she likes to make comics when she is angry. For the latter, we get Bad Mood Comics and griping like any New Yorker about filth and obnoxious public behavior. As to not being creative, this little book is sort of a sketchbook, or a compilation of sketchy mini-comics and drawings, some of them with splashes of color. I like it that a book this random exists, a comics journal, sort of, not polished but just fun and odd and informal and very uneven and the overall effect is quirky and likeable.

[M Aghazarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the sketchbook format. I wish there were page numbers.

[Bob Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of the Tamakis :)

[Jari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een fijn boek gevuld met verscheidene humoristische kortverhalen en gags. Met enkele verhalen die ik poëtisch zou omschrijven. Ook bevat het boek schetsen en verschillende tekeningen van Tamaki, hoewel niet altijd interessant, wel altijd een meerwaarde. Er is iets voor ieder wat wils.
Kortom: een fijn, rustig boekje dat hét kijkje waard is. Aanrader.

[Susie]

A slight & magnificent glimpse into Jillian's diverse talents. You know, I really do love her work and commentary.

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book is a combination of sketched comics, paintings, and line drawn portraits. It explores a negative side of life in Brooklyn, women's body image, and aging. There are some two page spreads that I spent a lot of time on, including one of a couple of pigeons walking with distinct attitude. I love everything that Jillian Tamaki does, and the honesty and artistry of this one really struck me.

[Peter Herrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of creative illustrations. Varied - in appearance, media, subject. Some humor. Never heard of this illustrator/writer before, but had gone to my library searching shelves in the graphic novels section for something not labeled 'teen', with decent art work, and maybe even some interesting text .. and this caught my eye. (I also thought her "Author's Notes" at the end very helpful). Graphics novels not my usual genre, but never hurts to learn something new.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A much more engaging collection than I expected- Tamaki's sketches are beautiful and well-varied, the ratio of comics to illustrations was good, and I found a lot of the comics funny. The main thing I wish was different about this book is how many instances there were of spread illustrations losing details to the page divide.

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this was someone’s notebook I was flipping through, I’d be blown away- the art is very accomplished. However as a curated collection it lacked the cohesion I was searching for. This didn’t grab me.

[Nick Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Nicely presented sketchbook that includes some quick author's notes at the end, which I appreciated in helping me rethink my impressions of her impressions.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted more of a theme or story.

[Barbara McEwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars - Simple but enjoyable, inspired me to doodle more.

[Katlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky and beautiful. I'm excited to read more of Jillian's quarterlies.

[Khalid Albaih · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice artbook to look at

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful.

[Eric Orchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this little book. It’s beautiful.

[Kristin Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm kind of in love with Jillian Tamaki.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super under appreciated masterpiece

[King]

Gah!!! All the styles of drawing!!

[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked some of the art then I read her panel that spread the misinformed concept that laziness causes diabetes -_- like JFC.

[cyrus · Rating 4 out of 5]

#iheartjilliantamaki

[Liz Yerby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like sketchbook comics by my messy comics heroes don't judge

[edel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is like reading someone's sketchbook. It's not picture perfect, a little chaotic, and pretty personal. While I did enjoy Tamaki's art, her witty observations, and casual approach, it was just another book. If you're interested, read it. If you're not particularly drawn to it, maybe just skip it.

First: Harrison?
Last: I'm not running a restaurant here, you know.

[Amory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really a narrative book, probably shouldn't qualify for this list, but I'm putting it here anyway, so that I remember I read/looked at it already. More of a pint-sized art book, with a handful of comic sketches, and a lot of other portraits, paintings, etc. Not quite my cup of tea... cynical, angry.. okay, not that I always dislike such things but just... nothing really grabbed me, positively either. On the other hand, a lot of the artwork was very striking.. especially the calligraphy-like brush work painting.. some of those were very nice, though then I'd enjoy them at a larger art-book size. Unlike her cousin's work (see Emiko elsewhere) didn't really get me super excited to seek out more... then again, their collaborations might be cool... will find out soon.

[Sarah Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely little art book. Nice to see a glimpse of the type of things Jillian Tamaki is inspired by and also the variety of styles that she likes to work in - many quite different from what we get from her full length graphic novels. Some great little comics and illustrations but as I was going I was thinking it would be nice to get a little context/insight from Tamaki about where she was and what she was thinking about when creating some of the drawings. I was then happy so see she addressed this at the end of the book, referencing pages by numbers but the pages don't have numbers! So had to count along myself - not the end of the world but if referencing page numbers, you sorta need the pages to be numbered...

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not actually a novel, just a lovely, brief collection of sketches, images, cartoons, and other visual responses to life, particularly as the artist sees it getting used to living in BK. a few of the panels were pitch-perfect; the collection as a whole left me wanting the heftier interaction of a clear narrative, or something thematically more developed, but the images stuck with me and I'll be returning to spend another afternoon absorbing this. The opening cartoon of mother and son on Atlantic Ave crammed so much into one little page; I'm becoming a big fan of Ms. Tamaki's work.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally unprepared for this morning's comix club, as in not having a finalized idea of what I will work on, that I grabbed this sketchbook-y comic by Jillian Tamaki and it eased me with its looseness,
its quickness

Meanwhile I still struggle with my blank panels and drawing a waterfall that looks like a sky blue strip of bacon

[Emilia P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay! Jillian Tamaki is just beautiful! Or, her work is -- East meets West in a completely surprising, uncliched way -- detail and brushstroke-wise. Also, her grumpy but loving tone comes across in all her stuff. I could look at her sketches of naked old ladies and cats and Bad Mood Comics all day.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this little curiosity while I was checking out the comics section of the library for other books that interested me. This was a lot of fun in not a whole lot of reading time, like the rest of Tamaki's work. Some beautiful visuals and great observations.

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too gestational to achieve what it could.