Q. When you're inking your own pencils for a big publisher like Marvel or
DC, do you send in the pencil work first for approval? Likewise if you're
also colouring your own work.
A. I send in the pencil art if it is being lettered on to the art board, which I
do prefer. I do think as a piece of art after publication, the pages look so
much better with word balloons on them. Now with computer lettering it is
becoming less likely you will have original art with the word balloons in
place. If I have worked with the editor before I don't expect to send
pencils in for approval but we tend to fax copies of the pencils into the
editors before they are inked, as this allows them to make editorial
decisions early into the production process for lettering sound effects,
word balloons and such like.
Q. Speaking of colouring (non-painted work), exactly how is that done?
Simple folk like me can understand how pencils and inks are done, but surely
colouring is extremely complex?
A. Computer technology has bought all forms of comic production forward in
leaps and bounds - and colouring in particular - by light years. Stylistically
you can do anything your imagination demands. Colouring Watchmen and
The Killing Joke I was constrained by the production limitations at that
time but probably would have still coloured them with the same palette.
Colouring a regular page of comic art: you pencil and ink the pages in the
traditional way, then scan the line art onto the computer, dpi (dots-per-inch)
should be about 400 - any less makes the line art less sharp. You keep a "prime" line
layer separate to the colouring layers in Adobe PhotoShop, switching off the
"k" channel so there is no grey in the "cmy", then colour up the art, do filter
effects before you then drop the line art onto the finished "cmyk" file
ensuring the black line is in default black. Is that clear to everyone?
From the webmaster: it's perfectly clear to me, but then I've been working with
computer graphics for twenty years! So just in case other readers aren't so familiar with
these terms... In the printing process, generally four colours are used: Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow (hence "CMY") and Black (from where we get the "K" - they can't
use "B" to refer to Black because the other commonly used colour system is RGB, for
Red, Green and Blue). When these are mixed in various proportions, all other
colours can be created. Adobe PhotoShop allows the artist to have each of these colours
in a separate layer, which means that the artist can edit them individually.
Q. This brings me to something I've been wondering about for years... In
"Marvel-style" scripts (where the dialogue and captions are added after the
artwork has been finished) how difficult is it to judge the amount of space
that will be required for balloons, captions and sound effects? (I realise
it's not that important a question, but I'm curious!)
A. Word balloons should be placed in "dead space." If it is scripted after the
art then you have to trust in the ability of the writer not too overwrite
and the letterer/editor to pick the right dead spaces.
Q. What kind of research do you do? Specifically for real-world objects and
locations.
A. It is very important to to get authentic depictions of historic time, places
and equipment into your work. If it is a story set in a specific time and place
with specific objects they do have to be accurate, and that is the
responsibility of the artist to get the right depictions, but the editor and
writer have to get it right in the beginning, so a .357 Magnum should not
appear before 1950!
Q. Ever been assigned a really, really terrible script? How do you cope
with something like that?
A. Comic art work is very work-intensive, so an affinity with the writer
or subject matter is very important, and if the script is below a certain
standard then it can really affect the end result no matter how hard you
try. You just strive to keep it above a personal professional standard you
do not allow yourself to go below.
Q. Now that computers are powerful enough (and affordable enough!) to be a
part of the artist's toolbox, how has this changed the way you work?
A. I think computers - for all of the visual media, from print to film and video
- have had an effect on image manipulation and image generation that has been
mind blowing. They have raised production values and now any one can, with the
right software and imagination, create incredible imagery. But is a double-edged sword,
as in some areas it has lowered the general "creative" standard of images we can get
in some publications, mainly through cost consideration and thinking, "Fred the copyboy
can use a computer - let him do the cover this week"!
Comics, I feel, are the last bastion of quality illustration; you still
have to be able to initiate and draw your own ideas. For me as an artist
computers gives me multiple choices of finish, particularly in colour and
effects after the drawing and inking stage.
Q. Do you have any preferences for particular pens, brushes, ink, paper,
etc? (I'm sure that a lot of aspiring artists will want to know this kind of
thing!)
A. I use non repro blue for the pencil work, and then Unipen felt tip pens from
0.1 to 0.8 and then very broad felts for filling in larger areas. The
board I use for line art is Goldline Bristol board.
Q. Out of the whole history of comic books, who would be your favourite
artists and writers, living or dead?
A. The un-dead artist society! Sounds like a movie to me! I think some of the
best comic art work ever has been done in the last twenty years, but the
great comic artists of the past will always be as good as the best of today.
And the same with writers, but I think there is a broader spread and depth
of writing now than there has ever been. If I gave you a list of artisst who
I admire we would run out of space but if there was one artist who more than
any other was a source of inspiration, it would be Richard Corben.
Q. Favourite comics ever?
A. The original Eagle of course (I discovered a Vintage books shop
that sold original 1950s Eagle in Liverpool when I was a student; at its height the
art of Frank Hampson on "Dan Dare" has never been equalled), Grim Wit,
Fantagore, Rowlf, Watchmen, Conan magazine, Creepy,
Eerie, The Spirit from Warren publishing, and Preacher of course.
They are what I can think of today, ask again tomorrow for another ten.
Q. Have you always wanted to draw? Any comics or artists from your youth
that might have inspired you?
A. Ever since I can remember I was drawing, but the very first comics I
remember going out of my way to buy (skiving off Sunday school, ouch! double
damnation!) was The Flash by Carmine Infantino and Challengers of the
Unknown by Russ Heath. The first comics that did inspire me to draw were
Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man and The Fantastic Four in
the sixties; even then they had a "how to draw the Marvel way" column in the back
of their regular comics. It took me a long time to stop drawing those "bendy" Ditko legs!
Q. What training have you had?
A. The "UNIVERSITY OF LIFE!" Sorry, an Alan Partridge "chat show host from hell"
sketch just sprang to mind there for some reason. I went to art school to do
Illustration and design which didn't really help with producing comics for a
living but it was great fun, I still feel I have so much more to learn in
comics and still think the best is yet to come given the right opportunity.
Q. How did you get your break in the comics industry? (I.e., did you submit
stuff cold to 2000 AD, or did you know someone, that kind of thing).
A. Just cold contact initially. I was working full-time in a medical art studio
and doing other freelance work for the SF book publishers NEL and at IPC the
publishing company that produced 2000 AD at that time, so I could drop in
when I went in to see other magazine editors. I only ever really wanted to
work for 2000 AD in those days, so just kept on at the editors until they
finally gave me a job where I could prove I could do it. It took a very long
time. I think it is a lot harder to get into comics now because it is such a
smaller field.
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