Drawing her own path

Illustrator and comic artist Hannah Adamson had no idea where it would lead her when she first started creating her signature “ominous,” comic book-style posters for shows and events at Eclipse Coffee & Books in Montevallo in 2016. 

More and more people were able to see her illustrations around town and online, she said, until it “opened up doors in Birmingham, which ended up opening doors for other people around the county,” even people like former Saturday Night Live comic Sasheer Zamata. 

Adamson, who moved to Birmingham a little over a year ago, said even though she got her bachelor’s degree in printmaking at the University of Montevallo, her focus since graduating has been primarily on comics and illustrations.  

“That’s what set off all the commissions I do around town — I realized I really like illustrations in particular. So that’s kind of how I got to the place I am now — I fell in love with illustrations,” Adamson said. 

When Adamson did an event poster for Zamata, who performed a comedy show at the Syndicate Lounge in 2017, the famed comic absolutely loved her style, so much so that she asked Adamson to do more of her posters. 

This allowed Adamson to create more illustrations for Zamata and other famous comics performing with her at shows across the nation, all the way from L.A. to New York.

Adamson said she grew up obsessed with artsy-style comic books, many of which influenced her illustration style. Over the years, she collected hundreds of them from thrift stores.

“I think that’s where I got the love for that ‘old-school’ comic book style, like the ‘50s and ‘60s- looking illustrations, the horror comics and romance comics, which are really funny and super cheesy. There’s usually a woman plotting to kill a man or something,” she said, which often is a theme that makes it into her own posters and comics.

She said she first favored Gustav Klimt’s artwork and emulated his methods of drawing women, but as she continued to develop her style, she realized she didn’t need to put herself in a box with only one style.

“When I was in college, I thought art had to be serious and have a message behind it, but I finally let go of that. … I just want to have fun with my art, just make funny things or weird things or pretty things sometimes,” she said, which has eliminated some fear and allowed her art to expand.

Since that realization, she’s been able to enjoy her art much more and develop as an artist, she said. In order to create her more signature illustration style, Adamson said, she took the drama from the romance comics, injected it with a dark, playful sense of humor, and styled it with “noir” elements, which stems from her other love, filmmaking. 

Since her start in Birmingham, Adamson has done posters for various events at the Syndicate Lounge, the Punk Rock Flea Market, bands booking through Barbara Jean Sound Machine, events at Saturn, Seasick Record’s Birthday Bash, Birmingham Comedy Festival and Beautiful Bodies of Birmingham. 

She’s also done commissions for couples getting married or illustrated individual portraits, as well as a few screen-printed T-shirts for various occasions or groups.

For commissions, she said, some people have very specific ideas for what they want, while others let her draw inspiration from the subject matter and create whatever she thinks will be the best fit, which is what she loves best. 

When she draws her comics or comic-style posters, she said, she treats each panel like a shot in a movie.

“I think about what would I want to see in a movie, and that’s how I come up with the compositions in each little panel and what the scene is and the colors,” she said.

Each poster or illustration she first draws by hand, ink to paper. To color them in, she scans them unto her computer and uses Photoshop to add in those smooth, flat colors and green tones like the signature comic book dots. The average-sized poster takes about a full work day to complete, she said.

Even though Adamson gets the occasional joke that her boyfriend needs to watch out, she said, most people find her work funny and dark-humored.

“With the whole climate right now, I think a lot of women are being a little more upfront about their frustration with men in general and stuff like that. My comics are kind of like an intense regurgitation of that, like an over-exaggerated interpretation, one about women taking back their power and not letting a man destroy them or dictate how their life is going to go,” she said. 

She does this by showing women from the ‘50s, who usually took the role of a mother or wife who relied on a man, and showing a different, “humorous, but often murderous” reaction to expectations and frustrations.

Much of her illustration work has been inspired by underground comics from the ’80s and ’90s, in addition to some of her comic “heroes,” she said, like Daniel Clowes and the Hernandez brothers. 

Although she loves being locally involved through band and event posters, what she really wants to accomplish is publishing her own comic book, which she is currently working on.

“I feel very intimidated by the thought of building a whole world and a group of characters and them living in this world and trying to develop that. but I would love to get to that space one day,” she said. 

For more information about her work and commissions, visit Adamson’s Facebook @hannahadamsonart or her website, htadamson.wixsite.com/htadamson. Email her directly at htadamson@gmail.com.