Hart Fisher Tells Us Crazy Stories: In The Beginning
As a publisher and co-owner of a burgeoning start-up, I wanted to pay homage to some of the veterans of indie publishing. Back in 2007 Hart D. Fisher was on my shortlist of people to talk to. He contacted me a few months later about another matter. I suggested an interview with him. I wanted to know the stories behind the stories at Boneyard Press.
He warned me that I was going to be in for a hell of a read. He wasn’t kidding.
His story is one of the most unique in American comics publishing history. He came under the gun of his peers, the media and a lot of the comics industry for the controversial books that he published along with pulling off some pretty ballsy stunts. It was guerilla marketing at its’ finest and most shocking.
A lot of what happened occurred between 1991-1995. 12 years later, Hart was ready to talk about what went on behind the scenes. We ended up with 10,000 words that have to be broken up into several installments. It’s a long harrowing, heartbreaking, sometimes funny and always incendiary read. Hart has lost none of his passion. This is NOT easy reading. Discretion is advised for the faint of heart. Here’s the first installment.
By Hart D Fisher
On starting the comic company, Boneyard Press.
You can blame one man, and one man only for inspiring me to go it on my own – Mark Beachum. I was home from college driving a mosquito spray truck for the summer. Mark Beachum was working for Northstar Studios (the original home of Faust, and yeah, I was there for the beginning of Faust) and living there. Dan Madsen, the publisher and high school friend of mine, told me it was the only way to get any work out of Mark. You practically had to chain him to a drawing table before he would produce. I crashed my truck (long story) and lost my job two weeks before the end of summer and I started hanging out with Mark. Mark was like “Why do you want to spend all of your artistic energy on something someone else owns?” and I just kind of shook my head. He said why work on Spiderman when I could create my own Spiderman.
No one ever said that to me before. Dan was doing it and making a living. Why couldn’t I? I’d been doing my own comic books since I was five. I used to have my mother Xerox them at work (she worked for the department of public aid. She was the welfare lady in some of the worst projects Chicago had to offer) and I would sell them at school. Bill the Bull started out as something I drew in Freshman Algebra. One of my buddies was sitting next to me in class, it was boring, I turned him into Bill the Bull and he was more of a super hero private eye thing then. Nowhere near as dark as the character is now. Dark Angel appeared in 5th and 6th issue of this run of Bill the Bull books when I was a junior in high school.
Inspirations
My comics were more lighthearted and funny growing up, but as my life become more and more violent, the comics went to a much darker place. My work wasn’t a product of the books I was reading, it was a product of my environment and my life experiences. My father was a nut for Mickey Spillane and Ian Flemming. Spillane created Mike Hammer and Flemming created James Bond. My father was enamored with the writer’s lives and those of their literary creations. This influenced me greatly. My father spoke often about Mickey Spillane, pounding out books when he needed some cash.
At the same time he was filling my head with these stories, my friends were getting into drugs, my uncle killed himself, my cousin drowned in Florida on a church trip, I lived on the south side of Chicago which meant when I got into a fight, it was normally with a group of people, not one on one and that was never pleasant, a friend’s father shot himself in the head, another friend od’d, several of my friends in high school had been molested (male and female) or were still in the situation of being molested actively. One of my friends had been molested by her step father repeatedly and got her pregnant. She had to leave for awhile to go have the baby in another state. Her father was a cop.
As I got older, I found myself in deeper and deeper. In college, things grew more and more dark. I was dating women that had been molested when they were young. One poor girl had a problem being photographed. My artwork in college was always under assault from instructors. They wanted to know where my violent art was coming from. They didn’t know I knew people that had had their heads beaten in between two phone books with a bat. My work comes from the world around me, but I have never been able to explain it much more explicitly than that.
When I created Dark Angel, it was coming from a dark pit. What most people, or non creative people, don’t understand, is that the artist creates to survive. I didn’t decide to create Dark Angel, he walked right out of my head and introduced himself and let me get to know him. At the time I was reading a lot of Eugene Izzi
I was also a movie freak. I watched movies. Tons of them. Horror movies, crime movies and action movies. I bought comics by the truckload in those days. I’d been reading comics since I was 5 and I had an appetite for it all. Legion of Super Heroes? If Keith Giffen
When I started Boneyard Press, the first issue of the company was Dark Angel. I wrote and drew the book from my basement apartment in Champaign Illinois. It was so cold I had to duct tape newspapers on the walls in the winter time to stay warm. My landlord lived above me and was a religious midget. He collected little religious figurines and they covered every flat surface of his place. I had a big ass stereo that I would crank whenever I was working. I had visions of his figures rattling around on the tables like those old vibrating hockey games. Boneyard Press at that point wasn’t meant to be anything more than a one shot. But I felt the only way to truly test it out was to do a series. So I borrowed a chunk of change from my grandfather and went forward with it. The rest is just another old scar.
Head on over to American Horrors for Hart’s latest antics.
Forming an Alliance with Heavy Ink
A few months before we put out Rex I got in touch with the guys at HeavyInk.com. They’re a new online store aiming to become the Amazon of the comic book industry.
I had read the interview with Heavy Ink head honcho, Travis Corcoran last April at Comics Reporter and really liked what he had to say. I figured we’re a new publisher and they’re a new store. Let’s try to make something happen.
When Rex was finally published in May so I sent Travis a copy. By the summer Heavy Ink was carrying a healthy supply of the graphic novel in their inventory.
I’m still new on their system but on top of the online store they have a full blown social network, forum and RSS feeds for every comic series which you can subscribe to.
I think the main selling point to consumers is the 20% off every item that they carry and the free shipping. There’s A LOT of people who don’t live close to a comic store that this will appeal to.
I’ll revisit this later in the year after I’ve had a chance to explore their system in further deal.
In the meantime you can now buy Danijel Zezelj’s Rex at Heavy Ink.
-Jay
12 questions with artist Erik Rose
August 12, 2008 by admin
Filed under masters of ink
By Jason Thibault
Like most of my artist discoveries I found Erik Rose on the internets. His black and white work immediately struck a chord with me. I believe that if he stays on his present course, he’ll go far in comics and illustration. You can find more info on Erik at his website and myspace page.
First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.
My first pro piece was for an article about female skateboarders in Clamor Magazine. I was still in collage and a buddy of mine; Dave Crosland hooked me up with it. I still remember what it felt like to see that thing in print. In fact, to this day a piece doesn’t feel real or finished to me until it’s been reproduced
Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)
Definitely a mixture of both. I received a BFA in illustration at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio in 2003 but I don’t really feel like I established a style or method of working until a couple years later. And even that was mostly through trial and error. I’ve heard people say this before and I definitely believe that you learn as much your first year out of school as you do the whole time you were there. There is no substitution for learning “on the job” and I recommend trying to do freelance while in school. It will force you to look at what instructors are trying to teach you in a practical way.
Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?
I draw with a Mars Staedtler lead holder using HB leads but most of my “pencils” for my comic pages are generally done with a flair felt tip marker and then light box those “pencils” onto the boards I’m inking on. I use mainly Microns for line work, filling in blacks and thickening some lines with Higgen’s Black Magic and a Windsor and #1 Newton Series 7 Sable brush. I always heard pros going on and on about the Series 7 brushes and after I tried one there’s no way I could go back to anything else. I have all kinds of weird odds and ends I use as well; toothbrush and Blo Pen for spatters, some sumi brushes for dry brush, masking fluid for negative lines, Presto whiteout pens, gouache and white jellyroll pens for corrections and effects. I use a water brush filled with Higgen’s Black Magic ink and Faber Castell brush markers when I’m working on stuff outside of the studio. The covers for The Roberts were drawn in human blood so I used a 102 and 107 crow quill pen and a brush for that. It was surprisingly easy to work with. I thought I might have to water it down or add red ink to it to make it work but nope it looked great and was surprisingly red even when dry.
I’d really like to do more inking with the crow quill but I have a lot of practice to do before I reach that stage. I do some watercolors for certain pieces but most of my colors are done in Photoshop.
Favorite brand of ink:
I’ve really been digging the Higgins Black Magic lately although I usually have to leave the bottle sit open for an hour before I use it the first time to let it thicken up a little. It’s rare for me to get any light spots in my blacks when I let it sit out first it’s completely opaque. I love sumi ink but the fact that it’s not waterproof scares me and I lost a few projects years back because of it.
Type of paper:
Strathmore 400 series Bristol with a smooth finish for illustration work. I’ve been using the Canson Fanboy paper for my comic pages but I use the back so I don’t have to screw around with erasing the blue lines.
Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration?
Man there are so many out there — Tony Harris, Danijel Zezelj, Jae Lee, Greg Ruth, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave McKean, Ted McKeever, Joel Peter-Witkin, J.C. Lyndecker, Alex Maleev, Lee Bermejo, James Jean, Scott Morse, Bob Peak, Egon Schiele, Jonathan Hickman, Teddy Kristensen – I could probably go on for days. This is not even including directors like Peter Greenaway, Terry Gilliam, and David Lynch who have had a major impact on me.
Who are the masters of ink?
Bill Sienkiewicz is near the top of the list – I used to carry his phone number around in my wallet when I was in Junior High School. Let’s see…Jae Lee ( I hope he goes back to inking after this Dark Tower project), John Paul Leon, David Mazzucelli, Tim Bradstreet, Charles Burns, Tommy Lee Edwards Greg Ruth for sure. When it comes to pure draftsmanship Dave McKean, Duncan Fegredo and Danijel Zezelj are just the pinnacle of what can be done with human hands
Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job? Could you give us a quick overview of your process.?
The first step is always research; what era is it, what type of clothes, props, environments am I going to need? I usually collect a ton of research and maybe use 5% of it but I have it and it helps me wrap my brain around the idea. Then thumbnail sketches — these are usually so loose I have to write a paragraph to them to the client if I’m sending them. I’m really just working out composition at this stage, camera angles, lights and darks, etc. Once we decide on a composition sometimes I’ll do a tighter sketch but most of the time I go right to shooting photo reference if I need it. I’ll do a tighter drawing to size on marker paper or vellum using the flair and then light box that up to finish inking. I’ll scan everything into the computer maybe scan some extra textures or old bits of paintings I have laying around and then get to work on doing grayscale toning or coloring.
What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?
I have to listen to music when I’m working and I have a lot of different tastes so it can be anything from Saul Williams to Sigur Ros, from Meshuggah to Andrew Bird. You’ll usually catch me screaming along with whatever it is. It helps me get into the zone. As I’ve been working on The Roberts I’ve been listening to a lot of Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s Murder Ballads – it seems very appropriate. I’d say my top ten as of today (because it changes daily) would be:
Ours – Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy
Nine Inch Nails – The Slip
Interpol – Our Love to Admire
Saul Williams – The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
The Violet Burning – The Violet Burning
Jellyfish – Bellybutton
Nick Cave – Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
Mew – And the Glass Handed Kites
Imogen Heap – Speak for yourself
Def Harmonic – All These Worldz
Jon Brion — Meaningless
What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?
I have a bunch of original art up on the walls of my studio and in a glance around the room I can see Jae Lee, Lee Bermejo, Greg Ruth, Bill Sienkiewicz, Geoff Darrow, Tony Harris, Guy Davis, Ashley Wood, Shelton Bryant, Dave Crosland, dwellephant, Phil Noto, Al Columbia, Michael Zulli, Adi Granov, and Therese Nielsen. Just being surrounded by that level of work is like a religious experience. It can be tough on those days when you’re fighting with your own illustrations and you look around and see these masterpieces though. Probably my favorite is a Lee Bermejo piece from Global Frequency although it’s hard to choose. I’d kill a small child for a Dave McKean page from Cages. One day. I mean one day I’ll have a McKean not that one day I’ll kill a small child.
Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend)?
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do much reading recently I love Jonathan Carroll though and I’m a couple books behind on his stuff. Last good book I read was probably World War Z. Last movie was Wanted which was fun – not as good as the comic – but fun.
Current and upcoming projects.
Right now I’m finishing up issue two of The Roberts, which is being published by Image/Shadowline. It’s about The Zodiac Killer and The Boston Strangler living in the same retirement home and it’s written by Wayne Chinsang (Heaven LLC, Bad Ideas). Issue 1 is out Aug 6th and issue 2 is out in September. I have several pieces in some White Wolf books that should be out soon. After the Roberts wraps I’m doing a horror story called The Pieces of Meat by Sam Costello for Split Lip web comics. I’m in talks to do a fill in issue for Vincent Price Presents and then I have a couple pitches for books that I’m writing and drawing so I’m excited to see where that goes.
What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?
You have to love it and live for this because if it’s just about a paycheck there are much easier ways to get one. I would say do want you want to do because it makes you happy. Don’t do work because you think someone else may like it do what feels right to you. People will either get on board or they won’t but at the end of the day you’re the only one who needs to love it. Just keep at it, find your weaknesses and work on them. That way at the end of it all you’ll have no regrets and no compromises just work that you are proud of.
Previous Masters of Ink:
Tony Moore
Chris Weston
Jim Blanchard
Nathan Fox
Tom Denney
Richard Serrao
Dan Mumford
Ryan Jones
Rufus Dayglo
Kody Chamberlain
Masters of Ink #10 – Tony Moore answers 12 questions
July 11, 2008 by admin
Filed under masters of ink
Over the last few months we spoke with an incredible line-up of comic creators, poster artists and illustrators. Here’s one of the twelve interviews.
By Richard Serrao & Jason Thibault
12 Questions with Tony Moore
Tony Moore first came to my attention as a comic book artist during the first year of The Walking Dead. Richard sent me over a few copies in the mail to check out and I was immediately taken with Tony’s style. He drew the first 6 issues and stayed on as the cover artist through issue 24. He has made his mark as serious creator of genre works and has continued on with The Exterminators (with Simon Oliver) and Fear Agent (with Rick Remender).
First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.
I don’t know if you can call it “professional” but my first book was Battle Pope, which Robert Kirkman and I released in 2000, under our independent label Funk-O-tron. We’d been friends since we were 12, which at that point had been about 8 years. He had some ideas and wanted to try publishing and he gave me a call. I was finishing my freshman year of art school and was down to try anything. It was a learning experience, and led to the job which allowed to quit my day job at UPS, which was Masters of the Universe’s Icons of Evil:
Beastman, a one-shot featuring the He-man villain.
Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)
Much of what I know about comics was from obsessively reading and studying them. as far as comics illustration goes, I’d say I’m self-taught. But, I did go to art school, where I majored in Drawing and endeavored to learn as much about fine art as I could. I took a lot of Life Drawing classes, as well as Painting and Printmaking. I think I learned a lot, most of which translated into some insight into drawing comics in one way or another, if not directly.
Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?
My standbys are Pilot v7 pens, Micron pigment liners (sizes 005, 01, 03), and round sable watercolor brushes. I used to buy small brushes, like size 0 or 2, but I recently fell in love with this ratty cheap size 8 brush. It’s giant and ugly, but it holds a load of ink, and has a miraculously fine point, which allows me to do a ton of work with it. Also, I like those Sharpie white poster paint pens for small corrections and negative drawing.
Favorite brand of ink:
Yasutomo & Co Sumi ink. Doesn’t appear to have shellac in it, so it’s easy to work with and washes out of my brushes if I carelessly forget to wash them.
Type of paper:
Strathmore 500 2 ply. All rag content, holds up to some abuse, and I can run it through my printer.
Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?
I keep a lot of EC comics around. Jack Davis, Wally Wood, John Severin, Will Elder.. those guys are my heroes. I also keep Joe Kubert, Moebius, Robert Crumb, and Guarnido nearby, as well. All these guys draw their asses off and have been a pretty definite influence on how I draw.
Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. Could you give us a quick overview of your process?
I read the script and break down the pages at 2″ x 3″. Working this small allows me to focus on the storytelling and not get hung up in needless details. Then I scan those, and add gutter spacing and resize panels where needed, composing my final layout in Photoshop, where I print it out in 6% Cyan at 10″ x 15″. Then, I lay in some loose pencils to get started and start inking. I do a lot of the drawing work in ink, and rarely do a lot of tight penciling beforehand. Sometimes I’ll have someone else inking me, in which case I spend quite a bit of time penciling all the details in instead of inking it. This usually only saves me a couple of hours, but a couple hours on each page and 22 pages per book, sometimes it adds up to quite a bit of time saved. Then, finally, I scan the pages, and in the cases where I have an inker, I mail them off to have the book finished.
What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?
A lot. I listen to music all day every day. I really love honkytonk, outlaw country, and alt-country. A lot of today’s new stuff has gotten so pop, it’s just soft-rock garbage. Country’s a natural fit for me, because it’s storytelling. Johnny Cash, Shel Silverstein, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, Neko Case, Gram Parsons, Southern Culture on the Skids, Buck Owens, Allison Krauss, Flatt and Scruggs, and all 3 Hank Williams, just to name a few. That’s not to say I don’t mix it up. I love the guys on the Rhymesayers label, and have a big collection of Norwegian black metal. Two of my all-time favorite bands are They Might Be Giants and Queen. My random playlists sound like crazy person programmed them.
What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?
Surprisingly little hanging on my studio walls, actually, but my favorite piece of artwork I own is the original painting of Fear Agent done by my hero, Jack Davis. The guy is 82 and still doesn’t miss a beat. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and to have an original EC comics master draw my character is a career high. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t get any better than that.
Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend)?
Unfortunately, I can’t remember the last novel I read. typically if I’m awake enough to read and comprehend, I figure I should be using the energy to work. The last book I read on a whim was The Stranger by Camus, and it was years ago. I bought The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard, and never got more than a handful of pages into it. The last movie I watched was High Plains Drifter, which is a load of awesome. The last new movie I watched was probably No Country For Old Men, which I also enjoyed greatly.
Current and upcoming projects.
Right now, I’m working on Fear Agent: I Against I, which is a 6 issue arc of space western madness on the book I co-created with Rick Remender. Beyond that, nothing is set in stone, but I have talked to some editors about some potentially tasty projects.
What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?
Keep at it and chase the dream. Always be studious and working to improve yourself. When you’re complacent, you’re dead. Working in comics is kinda like that fight scene in Cool Hand Luke, where Newman gets the hell beaten out of him but won’t stay down. If, like me, you’re too dumb to stay down, then don’t compromise, either. You only get one go-round on this ride, so make it a ride worth taking. Also, don’t mistake working on a ‘big’ book or that ‘next level’ for an
answer to happiness. A lot of guys find that these dream books that look like an oasis on the horizon are actually just mirages, slaving away on someone else’s book with no control or stake in it to show for it. If it ain’t what you want to do, then figure out what makes you happy and go do it, because you never know when your time is up, and if you put off your own happiness, you might never get the chance to pursue it.
For further reading head on over to Tony’s Myspace page or his website
More Masters of Ink:
Jacen Burrows
Erik Rose
Chris Weston
Jim Blanchard
Nathan Fox
Tom Denney
Richard Serrao
Dan Mumford
Ryan Jones
Rufus Dayglo
Kody Chamberlain
Chris Weston stops in to talk about art & comics
July 10, 2008 by admin
Filed under masters of ink
By Jason Thibault
I’ve been reading comics drawn by Chris Weston for over a decade now. Whether it’s a Garth Ennis penned war story or a certain chapter of Grant Morrison’s Invisibles, I’ve always been more than impressed with the amount of sheer skill and detail that Chris puts into a page. This interview was a joy to put together as I got to revisit artwork and certain comics that have brought me a lot of pleasure over the years. Chris strikes me as a creator who carefully picks his projects and as a result has gotten to work with some of the best writers in the biz.
You’ll find that he’s infused the answers with that good natured humor that he’s known for.
First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it?
My first published work was a Judge Dredd pin-up I painted as a speculative piece. This was presented to 2000ad and they bought it and ran it on the back cover. I was instantly offered a six-page Judge Dredd story, “Night at the Circus”… and did a spectacularly bad job on it. But it wasn’t enough to prevent me from getting more work, unfortunately for the readers…. and it wasn’t embarrassing enough that I needed to airbrush it out of my career-history like others have done to their 2000ad stints! You know who you are!
Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)
Unofficially educated by the late, great Don Lawrence, artist of “The Trigan Empire” and “Storm”. As a kid I was a huge fan of his fully-painted, photo-realistic style which he pioneered thirty years before Alex Ross… so, imagine my astonishment when I discovered he lived about two miles from my house. I’m ashamed to say I used to pester him for advice and eventually he offered me a good old-fashioned apprenticeship in the art of comic-strip illustration. At the end of my year under his tuition I had a portfolio strong enough to present to 2000ad. Liam Sharp is also one of Don’s protégés.
Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?
I’m mainly a felt-tip guy, unfortunately. I do prefer the look of art that has been done with a brush and Indian ink; the finished art looks so much better done like that: the blacks are more solid. But for some reason, the moment I pick up a brush, my productivity slows down to a standstill. Felt-tips, however, just seem to glide across the paper with no problems at all. They do leave a tiny little blob on the end of a stroke which is the bane of my life… I’m then compelled me to “sharpen” up the lines in Photoshop… but that’s just the sort of anal, autistic task I relish.
My favourite pen? The FINEPOINT SYSTEM 0.1, made in Japan. Lovely … especially when it’s on the verge of wearing out… that’s when I get the best results out of it.
Favorite brand of ink:
Daler-Rowney “Calli”, a jet-black Indian ink, made for calligraphy purposes.
Type of paper:
The cheapest photocopy paper I can get my hands on. Something that will go almost transparent on my light box.
Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration?
Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Jean “Moebius” Giraud, Jesus Blasco and Brendan McCarthy remain an inspiration. Other artists come along whose sheer quality force me to raise my own game, like Sean Phillips, Dave Taylor, Frazer Irving and Laurence Campbell… but I’m not sure if that’s inspiration or envy. Fear of unemployment, most likely.
To be honest, I don’t really refer to other artists any more. I’m pretty comfortable with my own techniques and my style is pretty much set in stone now, however hard I try to change it. In the old days my desk would be buried under all sorts of comics that acted as reference material. Not anymore… now it’s buried under empty Digestive Biscuit packets.
Who are the masters of ink?
Well, Brian Bolland was THE Master before his work went all-digital. I grieve for the pages of original art we’ve been deprived of thanks to this technique… and Bolland really should have his computer forcefully confiscated by “The Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport” to prevent further losses to this country’s comic-strip heritage.
Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. Could you give us a quick overview of your process?
Ah, this is the moment I reveal the fact my career is triumph of technique over talent!
First of all, I read the script over and over, and run through the events in my head… as if I’m watching a movie. Once the script is memorized I throw it to one side and never again refer to it.
I then set up the camera on a tripod, activate the timer, jump in front and act out the events of the script, chronologically. These reference photos are basically the stills from the film I have running in my head. I’ve got all sorts of costumes, capes, hats and weapons lying around… and they all get used.
I remember the time I was taking my reference photos for the “Secret Original” sequence from The Filth… I was dressed as a super-hero, in a hired wheelchair, throwing spastic shapes whilst waiting for the timer on my camera to go off… and I thought: my parents must be so proud!
I try to avoid using photos or reference from existing films or magazines, ‘cos someone is bound to recognize them and tell Rich Johnston. I have done it a couple of times in the past… I’m not saying where… but I always felt like I was cheating and needed a shower afterwards. I won’t be doing it again.
For the female characters I generally use my wife, or as a final resort use Poser. I’m rubbish at drawing women.
Once all the photo-ref is done I download them onto my Apple Mac, and use them to compose the pages in Photoshop. I’ll add in backgrounds, either taken myself, found in Google or computer-generated in Cinema 4D… and then covert the final page to a black and white image and printed off. This is then traced over on my light box… taking care to convert all the figures into likenesses of the characters… and not just depictions of my own aging features. Noses are reduced in size and the middle-age spreads are erased.
The artwork is then scanned in, tidied up, and sent off by email. Then I have a nice cup of tea and some more digestive biscuits.
What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?
I tend to just listen to the BBC radio channels…. especially those which are a bit more conversation- based. That way I get to pretend that this isn’t the saddest and loneliest profession in the world, and those voices in my room are actually my friends.
What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?
I’ve got a nice Carlos Ezquerra “Strontium Dog” pin-up, which is my pride and joy.
Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend)?
I read “Lord of The Flies” from cover-to-cover on the flight to the New York Comic Con, which was riveting but also really depressing.†Zodiac” was the last film to make a big impression on me; a film that criminally over-looked by the critics, the award ceremonies and the general public. It too was riveting and depressing. Hmmm… I see a pattern emerging…
Current and upcoming projects.
Still working on The Twelve… it’s a long road and there’s no end in sight just yet. However, that hasn’t stopped me lining up work beyond it. I’ve had discussions to re-boot a languishing property; a character I’ve always loved… but nothing’s signed yet, so I can’t talk about it.
But, at the moment I’m totally absorbed by “The Twelve”. I’m really proud of the book… I think it features some of the best art I’ve done for ages. It’s got a great script by Mr. Straczinski; great characters, great dialogue. And it’s a real, page-turner. I’ve no idea where it’s going… and that’s a good thing. Finding an unpredictable story is a rare treat indeed these days.
More people should buy it!
I’ve also done some concept work and storyboards for an upcoming sci-fi movie, which is a dream come true. Nothing green lit just yet, but I’ve been paid, handsomely, and it’s all looking very promising. More news on this once I know what’s happening.
What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level.?
Give up! This industry’s a leaking life-raft and, already, there’s barely enough space for me and my established colleagues!
Well, that’s what I’d like to say… but I’m not cruel enough to crush someone’s dreams like that. I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of negative feedback: I once presented my portfolio to a representative of the Humanoids Publishing Company and his rude and dismissive remarks are now permanently seared into my very being. This was doubly disappointing when you consider how much of a fan I was of their oeuvre… However, I must admit I was so offended by the nature of his criticism that I found it hard not to enjoy a nano-second of schadenfreude when their US deal went sour! I’m SO bitter and twisted… sigh! I still love their work though.
Seriously, I would try to tailor my advice to suit the artist’s personality and style… but in general I would urge them to keep plugging away and never be afraid to ask the publishers what they are looking for. Remember, you’ve only got to be better than the worst artist already in employment in order to get their work.
I’d consider showing the work of newcomers to my editors… if I felt it was good enough to be published… but I’d probably do it with gritted teeth and worry that they were going to do me out of a job! There ain’t nothing going on but the rent, after all! But it would be a nice way of repaying Don Lawrence for his help by giving the same encouragement and assistance to others who needed it.
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