At JewCE! 2024, we spoke with Chari Pere, winner of Artist of the Year for “Miscarried.” She shares what her career journey has been like thus far and tells the tale of what it was like to work on her first animated short in this interview.
Noam Steinerman: Which comics did you read growing up and who are some cartoonists that inspire you?
Chari Pere: I was an avid comic strip fan growing up. When I read Calvin & Hobbes at the age of 11, I knew instantly that I wanted to be a cartoonist. I read whatever comics were in the daily papers at the time – Zits, Get Fuzzy, The Far Side, Family Circus, The Wizard of Id, The Lockhorns, Pearls Before Swines, Rhymes with Orange; everything and anything that the papers would print. My dad was a big comic book fan too, so he’d bring home bags of comic books as well. My favorites growing up were The Teen Titans and The Fantastic Four. MAD Magazine was also a formative publication that I read cover-to-cover. It absolutely shaped my sense of humor. Getting to intern there in college and sell a two-page spread will always be one of the highlights of my life!
Steinerman: From comic to animated short––What was your experience working with your husband Elliot to tell your story?
Pere: My husband Elliot (aka Eli) and I bonded over our love of storytelling and the entertainment world before we even started dating. He’s a fantastic writer and editor, in addition to being an award-winning voiceover actor, and we have similar tastes in many films and TV shows–so it was natural for me to run my ideas past him. I quickly found that he was always spot on with his revisions and insights. While he had edited many of my comics and we’d worked on some projects together, telling our own story about our personal miscarriage took our work to a whole new level. “Miscarried” and the rest of the “UNSPOKEN” comics that we worked on were not only important stories that helped thousands of others feel less alone, but were really healing experiences for us, too. We’ve heard similar experiences from the collaborators we work with. It’s very personal work.
As for the process, I would write a script, and Eli would edit and revise until we were happy with it. We’d then show the draft around to additional editors/trusted friends, including Keren Hantman on the original comics and this year with the directors and fellows in my Jewish Writers’ Initiative Digital Storytellers Lab Fellowship. Once we were happy with our draft, I’d sketch the pages out and send it to Eli for review. Each step of the process, I enjoyed getting Eli’s input both for his wordsmanship and visual astuteness.
At the launch of my first comic, I didn’t have any experience putting together my own animated short. But by the time I received my fellowship in 2024, I had 6 years of experience in creative direction for different advertising and marketing agencies. I’ve worked on video and animated ads for clients such as Red Bull, Disney, FIFA, Kim Kardashian Hollywood, and many more. I would write the briefs, create the storyboards, choose the assets, pick out the sound FX, choose the voice talent, and essentially do everything needed to create animated videos except for the actual animation. So I finally had the skills to create animated shorts from my own work! I cut down my comics by half (with the help of Eli helping me cut it down even more!). Eli casts the characters and records all the voiceovers. I then put together the animatic, or static images from the comic to match up with the voiceover recordings. Eli and I watch and re-watch the animatics until we cut it down to make it as tight as possible. I send the animatics around to get some feedback, but once it’s hammered down I then create all the artwork needed for animation and pick out all the sound effects to send over to my amazing animator Ricardo Calero, who then animates everything. It’s a pretty crazy process, especially since I take the characters directly from the comics to then break them down by joints, add facial expression options, and fill in the backgrounds to make them work for animation. It takes a few rounds to get it all correct, but I’m very lucky to have such a supportive and talented partner to go through it all with. I was so honored that the first two films in the animated series, “Miscarried” and “Michael’s Miscarriage”, received awards in film festivals, and most recently earned me Artist of the Year at JewCE: The Jewish Comic Experience Awards.
Steinerman: “Miscarried” is your first animated short and directorial debut, what was it like collaborating with animator Ricardo Calero and creative consultant Vincent Scala to develop your comic into an animated film?
Pere: People throw around the term “dream team” all the time, but that is truly what it felt like to work with such an incredibly talented support team. Vincent Scala is my close buddy from our days at SVA, and it was our dream to work together. A few years ago, he brought me on to work with him at our former company Consumer Acquisition, which was a delight. We were a tight-knit team filled with creative directors, brief writers, animators and illustrators that worked on mobile gaming ads for major clients. Sadly, our company was sold and just about the entire team of about 60 employees were let go. I miss working with him every day, and was thrilled that he was so eager to help me get this project off the ground. He majored in Animation at SVA whereas I did Cartooning, so he really gave me some great suggestions about what directions to take the “UNSPOKEN” series given my budget limitations through my fellowship’s grant. Ricardo Calero was one of the best animators we worked with at Consumer Acquisitions, and I was thrilled that he was available and willing to work on this project with me. He’s taken my vision of “a comic brought to life” to the screen, and nails my entire vision for the project. Both Vincent and Ricardo are also just the kindest and most hardworking people. It’s my honor and joy to have their support in helping make this very important project a reality.
Steinerman: What did you learn after sharing your story to an audience and has audience feedback shaped your perspective on the project?
Pere: When I shared my personal “Miscarried” story seven years ago, I realized how little miscarriages and reproductive health issues are discussed. Actress Mayim Bialik helped launch the comic, and suddenly I was receiving messages from hundreds of others from all over the world. The social media algorithms were wonderful then, so it really made a huge impact and reached tens of thousands of readers. I realized how much of a need there was to share stories like mine. A few days after the launch, I had told my husband that I should really consider telling stories from a husband’s perspective, because as little as women talk about their traumas, men don’t discuss them at all. An hour later, a fan of “Miscarried” reached out asking me to consider telling a story from a male perspective, because her husband had really struggled during their miscarriage. That’s how the second story,
“Michael’s Miscarriage”, came to be! Ever since launching the first comic, people have reached out to me with their personal stories, from stillbirths to infertility to second infertility to postpartum depression and more. I hope to eventually tell them all through this medium. Having the comics adapted into animated shorts also helps to reach a broader audience, so that people can take in these stories in whichever way they prefer to view them. So far I’ve also tackled a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis (“The Diagnosis”) and a dream IVF twin pregnancy turned nightmare when one mom had to decide whether or not to reduce a much-wanted pregnancy to save one of her twins and herself (“DETERMINATION”.)
Steinerman: What do you enjoy most as a Creative Director, illustrator and storyboard artist?
Pere: I love telling stories in as succinct and clean a way as possible. At SVA I focused on becoming a comic strip artist; my dream was to have a syndicated comic in newspapers. However, a month after graduation, the first iPhone came out and completely shifted the way that we receive our entertainment. The newspaper industry, which was already struggling, suffered even more. But once I discovered storytelling through storyboarding and Creative Directing, I realized it was a very similar process to comic strips. You have to take a story and make it as short and impactful as possible. My ads for Red Bull ran from :06-:15 long, with a few running at :30. My ads for Consumer Acquisition ran from :15-1:30, so I was able to build out my “longer” storytelling muscles. I also enjoyed having a range of clients and voices; some ads require humor, some need to tug the emotional heartstrings, and some are more corporate. I’m a big fan of collaboration, so I love the opportunity to work with others and to tap into my full range of writing skills. I also adore illustration, because there is something about putting pen to paper (or, since I work on mostly iPads these days, stylus to tablet) to create your own artwork that is so rewarding. There is something so nice about being able to create an illustration just using your own brain and talents, without relying on anyone else. I value both the writing and artistic sides of storytelling, and I never take either part for granted.
Steinerman: You have worked with household names including Disney, Red Bull and Comedy Central…what was it like creating for Mad Magazine?
Pere: Getting to intern at Mad Magazine was my dream. It was the first internship I applied for in college, back when it was still in the NY DC Comics offices. The six weeks I was there really gave me the foundation for my entire career. They treated the interns like actual staff; no coffee runs or photocopying for us! We sat in on all the meetings, got to contribute our input to articles, and I even sold an article while I was there. They truly meant it when they said no idea was too dumb, which we appreciated as a part of The Usual Gang of Idiots! The only disappointing part about being there was that Weird Al didn’t stop by, because I heard he was prone to pop in and even did guest edit the magazine once. I did get to meet him eventually when the National Cartoonists Society honored him with their ACE award (the Amateur Cartoonist Extraordinary award given to celebrities who at one point aspired to become a cartoonist, but whose path led them to a totally different career.) I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to have worked there, and continue to use the lessons I learned from the editors throughout the rest of my career.
Steinerman: As an artist how does it feel to contribute to legacy and are there any dream collaborations of you’d like to work with?
Pere: I’ve been working for so many years now in the industry, and only now do I feel like I’m really getting started. All I hope is that my work makes a positive impact in the world, and can help people feel less alone–or in the case of my more humorous work, that it helps them have a smile and a pick-me-up whenever they need it.
My hope for the “UNSPOKEN” series is to tackle more story topics, and collaborate with celebrities to share their stories and normalize these issues for a broader audience. I believe that when household names like Tiffany Haddish or Chrissy Teigen open up, it sparks meaningful change in how we communicate. I’d love to partner with them and others, as well as a major streaming service, to expand the series. Beyond pregnancy loss, I want to cover topics like menopause, autism, ADHD, and grief. My dream is for “UNSPOKEN” to become today’s “Chicken Soup for the Soul” through graphic novels and animations.
Steinerman: What advice would you give to other creators who are hesitant to tackle sensitive or personal stories in their art?
Pere: I honestly feel like I would not have healed from my traumas in life without sharing them. Sharing our own stories not only frees us from the weight of buried emotions but also helps others who might not realize they need to hear about similar experiences. I’ll never forget the time that after “Miscarried” came out in 2017, I was brought to speak at a conference in England. A woman told me my comic was released the same week she had a miscarriage, and said it helped her and her husband through one of the worst times in their lives. Years later, a childhood friend shared that my comic was a valuable resource during her own miscarriage. Ultimately, I am creating the content that I wish I had 7 years ago. If anyone has your own story to share, I highly encourage you to share it when you are ready. It took me 3 years to feel like I was in the right place to launch my comic, and I thought it would be a one-time project. Seeing how much it made an impact motivated me to tackle other topics. Helping others through storytelling is incredibly rewarding, and now more than ever, we should do what we can to make a positive impact.
This year’s awards were hosted by Roy Schwartz, Danny Fingeroth, Miriam Mora, and Fabrice Sapolsky. JewCE 2024 honorees.
Additional reporting by Christian Angeles
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