10 Questions with Rozalia Finkelstein, cartoonist behind ‘West End Girls’ at Alexandria City High School

ALXNOW: How long have you been getting in trouble for drawing pictures?

Finkelstein: I think I’ve been too much of a Little Goody Two-Shoes to get in trouble, but I’ve been drawing ever since I can pick up a pencil, ever since I could really think about anything. I think a lot of my teachers are creatives themselves, and they kind of understand that it can, at least for me, help me focus. I’ll be sketching in pretty much every class, but thankfully, they don’t get too mad at me.

ALXNOW: Do you come from an artistic family?

Finkelstein: My dad’s a professional writer, and he’s a storyteller. Like, we’ll make up things about people in the cars next to us. I think I started drawing as a way to tell stories. I’ve always been the kid who has a bunch of characters in my head, or a bunch of plot lines going on.

ALXnow: Did you take classes for comics?

Finkelstein: I’ve taken art classes, but never for comics. I mean, the internet has so much stuff now you can really teach yourself anything. So, I’ve watched a lot of tutorials.

ALXNOW: How did you come up with West End Girls?

Finkelstein: When I first made the comic, I wasn’t sure what to name it, and I was talking to my dad. He said, “You should name it West End Girls,” because I’ve always liked the Pet Shop Boys, and I’m from the West End of Alexandria.

When I was designing them, I kind of just thought how I need to make these characters as opposite as possible to make it like the most interesting dynamic. So you know, when you think of opposites, you think of someone who’s very chatty and then someone who’s maybe a little more quiet, a little more reserved. It also helps, because if I want one person to be doing something silly or doing something insane. It helps to have someone who can kind of bring them back down to earth and play the straight man.

ALXNOW: Nyx is the Goth girl, and Soliana is the chatterbox. Are these characters different sides of your own personality? 

Finkelstein: One thousand percent. That is extremely true. Nyx is my fashion inspiration. Soliana is the yapper in me, because I never stop talking. Yeah, I feel they’re just like me if you like, split me down the middle.

ALXNOW: Who are your favorite cartoonists?

Finkelstein: I really love Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. He’s probably my most favorite, because my grandparents had the complete collection just in their attic, and I took it home one day, and I read it front to back, back to front. It was my favorite. I also I loved the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

ALXNOW: Do you see yourself making cartoons in the future? 

Finkelstein: I’m not really sure. This started as a passion project just because I thought it was cool, and I like making stories. And I’ll probably continue like that. I’ll probably just make them as long as I’m happy making them.

ALXnow: You’ve done it for the school newspaper; you’ve done it on deadline. Is it less fun?

Finkelstein: No, because they really let me have free rein. This isn’t even the main thing I do for the newspaper. I mostly cover a lot of events. This is kind of just a passion project. Like, I’m the comics editor. I’m in charge, kind of, so they leave it to me, which is nice having the power, because I don’t have the stress, I guess.

ALXNOW: What’s been the response of this comic in the paper? Do people like it? Do they do they stop you in the middle of the hallway between classes?

Finkelstein: People are really supportive. The most supportive people are probably my friends who know me, but I have felt so famous. I was like, no pictures, please! Someone in my science class came up to me and was like, “Hey, are you the one that does the comics?” My English teacher this year was like, “I already knew you because you do West End Girls.” That was cool.

There was a time I was leaving school, and this is probably my favorite memory, but I saw someone pick up the newspaper, because they just put it out in print, and they flipped it over, and they read my comic, and they laughed out loud. It made me so happy.

ALXNOW: What’s your most controversial cartoon?

Finkelstein: The most controversial one was metal detector one where our advisor was kind of like, “Should you publish that one?” My cartoons are supposed to be funny. They’re supposed to make people laugh and be happier. I never want someone to be hurt by it, But I pushed back on that, because I feel like first of all, it’s a drawing, and second of all it’s always heightened so much that it’s almost like not the real issue anymore. Like, there are definitely concerns at our school about the effectiveness of the metal detectors, and about how if people feel safe or unsafe at school, but people aren’t bringing anime-type battle axes into the school, you know?

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