Q: What are some of your favorite things about living and working in New York?

A: I'm from North Carolina. In New York, there's very little that I could want that isn't immediately available. But also, my friends are here. So even when I don't see them, I have this feeling of being architecturally not-alone. Does that make sense? 

Q: Do you keep a sketchbook? What is the balance between the art you create on paper versus In the computer?

A: Yep. I try to keep a few at once. Different sizes. Since I got my Cintiq I do less sketching for jobs in my sketchbooks, which means I finish [the volumes] more slowly.  And that is extremely frustrating to me. I had this idea of myself as a three-month sketchbook kind of girl. I wanted an archive that looked like an archive! And I enjoyed the feeling of everything being in one singular, literal place. But I think ideally a person ought to move back and forth from digital to paper in a relaxed and unjudgemental way.

To Eternity by Barrie Potter and Wesley Allsbrook, for tor.com and MSG Comics, AD Irene Gallo

Q: What do you like best about your workspace?

A: My studio mates. Working around people with my job or more-than my job makes my work as a freelancer seem more real. 

Q: Do you think it needs improvement, if so, what would you change?

A: More space. Another wall. A screen-printing setup. A wing chair. A rug. 

Q: What is the most important item in your studio?

A: My headphones.

Q: What is your favorite part of the creative process? 

A: Drawing. The permanent-mark kind, with ink or pen or gouache or anything that you can't erase. I can pretend I'm making headstones. 

Q: What was the strangest or most unusual assignment you’ve taken? What made it a success or a failure?

A: I think, maybe, working with my writer for the first time. It was the feeling of someone having expectations of me that I wasn't certain that I could meet. I wasn't confident that I could work with another person in a truly collaborative sense. And I can't, with most people. Working for and working with. There's a difference. But working with my writer made my personal work more real, more vital. I've decided that it's a success.

Q: What was your favorite book as a child?

A: Not sure. In fifth grade I read I read Jane Eyre and the Hobbit one after the other, and I've decided that they're the same kind of story. Quest-stories.  

Spartacus for The New Yorker, AD Jordan Awan

Q: What is the best book you’ve recently read?

A: Frederick Peters Pachyderm. And Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assasin. 

Q: What was your first professional assignment and how did you get it?

A: My first professional assignment *for which I was paid* was with SooJin Buzelli for Asset International. It was her famous “Bells and Whistles” assignment. I think it's since been retired. It was a failure, at first. I did it in class and submitted it, and I was told the main figure in the piece looked too manic, and that it could be published if I would change his expression. I couldn't use Photoshop at the time. I was inking on top of screen prints.  But within 2 weeks it was accepted for publication. 

Q: What did you learn from the experience?

A: I learned that people are afraid of me when I smile. No, I learned that certain subjects are unsuited to certain job applications. In the first year especially this happened a lot. "This is too sexual." "This character looks too angry." "This isn't a funny job." Producing an emotional match to your subject.  When I start drawing things come out about who I am and not what the job is. And you should always be who or what you are. But people like it when you put your clothes on first.

Q: I noticed that you have been creating comics in collaboration with another artist, Barrie Potter—what makes the collaboration work and why did you decide to team up? 

A: Before I met Barrie Potter, I knew about him. And I think for most people it will be that way. "Barrie's not going to be doing this forever.  Barrie's going to do something.  He's going to be famous." My boyfriend was training him as a barback.  And I met him a little bit and I was intimidated. But at the time I didn't talk to boys as a rule and I was afraid of everyone, and I knew of him and that was enough. I saw him later at a party at a particularly low point in my life and we started talking and I was doing the thing where you keep the conversation alive by asking for things.  I didn't want to talk to anyone I didn't know. I got drunk and he sent me a script, which I'd asked for, enthusiastically. We've been working on it and many others ever since. I want to make everything he suggests. We like the same things. He understands me and, to a certain extent, I understand him. His work compliments mine, and I think it's the same in the other direction.  And of course, he's my friend. It works. It's good. It's great. 

Left: One for an essay by Sarah Nicole Prickett for The Hairpin, AD Haley Mlotek. Right: One for MSG comics, by Barrie Potter and Wesley Allsbrook.

Q: What advice would you give a young artist about applying to an art school?

A: Dont. Just don't. Or, if you must, be sure. I don't have regrets in this area. I only want to draw.  That's the extent of what I want, in general. But art school has absolutely ruined the lives of so many people I know, and more. Be sure.

Q: What is your hobby?

A: Now, it's ceramics.  I'm making a sake set, and a porcelain absinthe spoon. And a coffee mug.

Q: If you could be anywhere but where you are now, where would that be?

A: I'm not sure. I'm good here.

Q: What would be your last supper?

A: If I eat before I die I'll look fat at the funeral. Come on. 

Wesley Allsbrook is an illustrator living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated from RISD in 2007. She's been in the usual annuals and won the usual awards. She does editorial, book, ad, and comic work.  She's growing out her hair. Blog. Blog. Blog.