Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas Guest - Ian McQue!

1) What was your first published work?
The first piece I had printed was an ImagineFX tutorial showing how I go about doing one of my flying ship paintings. Not sure if it's available online anywhere but here's the finished image, 'Lightship'. (Top image)

2) Who or what inspires you?
Crikey. To list everything would take forever, but some artists' names off the top of my head, and in no particular order: Chris Foss, Peter Elson, Ralph McQuarrie, Moebius, Brian Froud, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, Koji Morimoto, Kim Jung-Gi, JW Waterhouse, Hayao Miyazaki, Kow Yokoyama, W Heath Robinson, Norman Rockwell, JC Leyendecker, John Blockley, Gustav Dore, Andrew Wyeth, Alphonse Mucha, Claire Wendling, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lebbeus Woods, Alan Lee, Katsuhiro Otomo…

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I'd love to do something with Philip Reeve's 'World of Mortal Engines' series of novels. To be part of a concept team bringing that world to life for a movie would be a dream job, absolutely.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration(s) you've sent?
They're all part of an ongoing world-building process - I don't get to do much 'genre' stuff in my day job so these paintings are an opportunity to engage with fantasy/sci-fi imagery. Not sure where this is all leading to yet, but I'm having fun trying to find out. The painting 'Damnation For Beginners' (third image shown) was created for the book of the same name by Alan Campbell, published by Subterranean Press.


5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I'm looking at having a series of prints produced and also a book made up of my sketches - hoping to make these available in the new year. I'm also busy working on an artbook pulling together all of the 'floating ship' paintings. Aside from that there's an ongoing collaboration with Industria Mechanika who are bringing a bunch of my designs to market as garage kits.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
Well, before I went off to art college I had a job delivering toilet rolls around some of the less salubrious parts of northern England, so if this all falls through I guess I could always go back to that?

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
http://mcqueconcept.blogspot.co.uk/
http://ian_mcque.cghub.com/
https://twitter.com/ianmcque
http://instagram.com/ianmcque/

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas Guest - Gerry Alanguilan!

1) What was your first published work?
It was the drawing of an eagle. More specifically a Philippine Eagle, more known in the old days as the "Monkey Eating Eagle". One such eagle was born in captivity and it was a time of great celebration as it's a bird that's very rare and endangered. I drew the eagle in front of its proud mother and sent it off to our local national newspaper "The Daily Globe" towards the end of 1991. Much to my surprise, they published it.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Oh my God, a lot of things and a lot of people. I get inspired by the terrific work of other artists, not only in comics but in other fields. These are people like Peter Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Barry Windsor Smith, David Mazzucchelli, Francisco V. Coching, Alex Niño, Nestor Redondo, Russell T. Davies, Murray Gold, Moebius etc.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
Generally, I really would love it if I can just write and draw my own stories and make money out of that, and live off of that. I think that's the dream of a lot of people in comics. But the fanboy in me really wishes that I could draw the Hulk. In a way, that's already half come true, because my current project right now is inking Indestructible Hulk, pencilled by Leinil Yu and written by Mark Waid, no less. But it's a dream of mine to be able to draw him myself.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration(s) you've sent?
One illustration is a tribute to Moebius. It's a take on a classic cover of his which appeared as the cover to an issue of Metal Hurlant, depicting the image of an ape in a space suit. To me it's the definitive Moebius illustration that's been seared into my brain ever since I was a child. So when time came to draw a tribute, I wanted to pay homage to that.

The second is a page from an unreleased comic book I had pencilled, inked and colored. It's kind of a post apocalyptic thing. It kind of broke my heart that this project fell through because I was really happy with what I had done at the time.

The third is a cover study of "The Marvelous Adventures of the Amazing Doctor Rizal" project. I plan on making this a large format, full color, all ages graphic novel, and the design of the cover attempts to convey a sense of adventure that would hopefully appeal to older readers as well as younger children. I'm leaning towards not using this cover, but it gives a general idea of what I wanted to convey.

The last is a sample of my inking over Leinil Francis Yu. This is a page from Silent Dragon, published by Wildstorm/DC, written by Andy Diggle.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I think I'll be pretty much be doing inks for Leinil Yu for the foreseeable future. That means inking him for his duration on Hulk, and whatever projects he may have after that. But I will also be doing my own stories. I hope to launch a graphic novel that I will be serializing online very soon. I'm also working on something called "The Marvelous Adventures of the Amazing Doctor Rizal", a sci-fi take on our National Hero.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I was a late bloomer in comics. I only started doing it professionally when I was 24. Before that I was already a licensed and practicing Architect. That's probably what I'll be doing now. If not, I'll most likely be an actor.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
http://alanguilan.com/komikero/portfolio.html

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Christmas Guest - Garry Brown!

1) What was your first published work?
First published work was in late 2006, I think. It was a 10 page story for a horror anthology in the UK. I don't remember the name. I was doing a lot of shorts back then to get experience before heading over the the Kubert school in '07. I wanted to get as many pages under my belt as possible.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Recently it's been Bob Peak and Illustrators from that era. I've been looking at a lot of their work.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
It's a toss up between Batman and Hellboy. Those are my top two characters that I'd love to draw. Illustration wise, I'd love to get more poster work.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration(s) you've sent?
The first one is a poster for Die Hard that I finished a month or so ago. I love the movie so it was a great project to be part of. The other is a page from my current series The Massive from Dark Horse. I'll be working on that series for another year or so.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
I'm doing another Mass Effect short and cover for Free Comic Day plus my monthly work on The Massive. Also a bunch of covers for Marvel, Boom etc. Getting to do more Planet of the Apes covers.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
Probably something science related. Theoretical Physics would be my choice.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
This is a link to my website: www.garrybrownart.com my deviant art: thisismyboomstick.deviantart.com

Friday, December 28, 2012

Christmas Guest - Laurence Campbell!

1) What was your first published work?
My first published work was in a fanzine called Discordia. The writer, Paul Carstairs, had previously worked on a few 2000ad Future Shocks. We then decided to work on a one shot story very much in the Vertigo vein. Being naive I penciled, inked, lettered and did the cover before sending it off.

Sadly it was rejected by both Vertigo and Crisis (which was a spin off of 2000ad). At the time it was too expensive to self publish so we sent the whole package off to a comic company called Cailber Comics in the US.

Luckily for us they picked it up and published it. The story was called “Something Inside”. Its your typical boy meets girl, boy kills girl while looking for her soul story. 

It was around 28 pages long and being my first comic I had no idea how much work would be involved. But, I'm a stubborn sod and I worked my way through it. I was drawing this while on my foundation course so I'm guessing that would be around 1992-1993. 

Looking back, I'm not sure this is a good way of trying to break into comics. I should have really just done a few try out pages of Judge Dredd etc. that may have been a quicker route.
 I found one glowing review in an indie magazine, which I remember made my day. Looking back although some of the drawing is now a bit off, the storytelling still seems to hold up and the story itself is good.
 I still have fond memories of this comic, in someways it reminds me of old Hellblazers/Deadline and Crisis. It's all very English and has a good dose of teen angst.

The work at Caliber Comics snowballed and I worked on two Negative Burn strips for them before drawing  a few one shots and a mini series.
Whilst at Caliber I penciled The Disciples written by Colin Clayton and Chris Dows from an idea by Gary Reed. This was a mix of X-Men and The Invisibles and was published through Image. It lasted 3 issues but those issues got me noticed by 2000ad, which was a dream job for me. Funny enough this was in the year 2000.
I was teaching part time as a tutor at an art college while drawing for 2000ad. I worked on a strip called Breathing Space with the writer Rob Williams. We both got noticed by Marvel over this strip.
It was working for Marvel when I decided to go totally freelance, a scary prospect but it’s paid off so far.

2) Who or what inspires you?
To be honest I get less inspired by comics theses days and more inspired by films, looking at lighting and mood etc.

Comic artists that have inspired… Steve Yeowell’s Zenith was a huge influence on me. Love his use of black in that strip and it was the first time I started to understand storytelling.

As I got older – Alex Toth, David Mazzucchelli, Frank Miller, Sean Phillips, Jorge Zaffino, Mike Mignola, Dave McKean, Micheal Lark, Jorge Zaffino and Dawryn Cooke to name a few. I could go on and on. I’m a huge fan of black and white art.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I’ve been very lucky with the characters I’ve drawn. Dredd, Wolverine, Punisher etc. All pretty gritty characters.

I’ve also enjoyed working on  different genres like Deadpool Pulp which was set in the Cold War era, 5 Ronin Punisher which was set in seventeenth-century Japan and Stephen King’s Dark Tower which has a fantasy cowboy feel to them. I love doing the research for these projects and trying to get a real feel for them into the story.

Batman would be fun on characters I’ve not drawn, also there’s a 5 part Judge Dredd Rob Williams have been talking about. Although to be honest for me it’s working with good writers that really gives me a buzz.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration(s) you've sent?
In order of appearance in this post:
1 - Lobster Johnson Pin Up
2 - Cover to Something Inside, done before computers with an old x-ray and acetate.
3 & 4 - Punisher Max one-shot-Hunted. First time I’d inked my self for around 10 years. I thank Axel Alonso for encouraging me to do so. Hopefully my influence of film and black and white can be seen in these pages.
5, 6 & 7 - Marvel Universe Vs Wolverine ticked a lot of fanboy moments for me. Had a lot of fun working on this, getting away with things you wouldn’t be able to do in the normal universe.
8 & 9 - Examples of some Batman commissions I’ve drawn.
10 & 11 - Two pages from 5 Ronin. Loved working on this. Sebastian Girner my editor has a great knowledge of Japan and helped a lot with the reference. Again I think you can see the cinematic feel I was going for.
12 & 13 - 2 pages from Deadpool Pulp. I kept the long panel design I used in Punisher Max to add to the cinematic feel. I used to be a graphic designer before going into comics so layouts and design play an important part to me when starting to work on a comic.
14 & 15 - Working on the Dark Tower -The Way Station. Gave me the opportunity to draw a few double page spreads, something I’d not done before but was itching to try.
16 & 17 - Enjoyed working on Punisher Max. Like the idea of working with a character over a period of time, that way you can really get under there skin. Unsure if that’s a good thing with the Punisher to be honest.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
At the moment I’m working on an arc of BPRD called Wasteland for Dark Horse. Very excited to be working in the Mignolaverse, which is actually a bit of dream job for me. Working with John Acudi is great. He really is one of the best writers out there. His character work is amazing.
Sending my pages in and knowing Mike Mignola is looking at them, well it took me a little while to get over that. Dark Horse really care about the whole package and I like that.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I loved teaching at an Art College and would have been very happy continuing doing that. Drawing comics was a dream and I had to go for it. Other then that I’ve always liked the idea of being a postman.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
Twitter is probably the best place – user name Getcampabell
Or facebook – Laurence Campbell.
I’ve a website but I’ve been so busy I’ve not updated it for years- www.getcampbell.com

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas Guest - Will Morris

1) What was your first published work?
I was lucky enough to contribute a chapter to Nelson. My year was 1999 and whilst Prince and Millennium revelry danced about my head I plumped instead for a short story set in the heat of a live action role play.

2) Who or what inspires you?
I tend to take a little pinch of everything I see. I think I’ve been most accutely influenced by a couple of European creators, Gipi and Chris Blain. There’s a seemingly effortless rhythm and spontaneity to their work, which I hope belies a mountain of preparatory work.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I really enjoyed having the opportunity to create every element of my own story. Getting the better of narrative obstacles is incredibly rewarding. That said I’d look forward to having the chance to work with a writer. I’m sure I’ve unconsciously created a comfort blanket of reliable approaches to drawing, which would be good to challenge.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration(s) you've sent?
There’s a couple of pages from my graphic novel The Silver Darlings. It’s a short story that centres on a young man, Danny, who’s perceptions are left a little shaken by a week on his dad’s herring fishing boat. I was experimenting with ink washes as I started the book, which enabled me to create the density and atmosphere I was looking for in my panels.

Then an image of Batman, Hellboy and Christopher Lee. I drew this for a drawing challenge posted by James Howard on Twitter (https://twitter.com/themooks) ...any excuse

I’ve also dropped in an image of Geppetto that I created for a story-telling project in Cumbria. It always strikes me how different the demands of creating an individual illustration are to making comics. It’s no mean feat attempting to squeeze the whole story into a single image.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Well The Silver Darlings is officially released in February. In the meantime I’m starting to mull over a new story and look forward to the opportunity to work on a Tharg’s Furture Shock for the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic.

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I’d dreamt of being a stone mason in my early twenties. Although I’m sure my mental picture is as close to the reality as Flash Dance was to steel working.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
My website www.whmorris.com and blog www.whmorris.blogspot.com

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Guest - Cory Smith!

1) What was your first published work?
It was in an issue of Fathom, from Aspen comics. I drew 8 pages in the latter half of issue 4, which came out late last year. And then I went and bought tons of copies when it came out, like I suspect a lot of people do with their first published stuff. Seeing my stuff in print is still petty surreal, but nothing compares to that first time.

2) Who or what inspires you?
I think stories really inspire me more than anything. Nothing gets me excited like drawing from a good script, no matter the subject. I don't know if that's informed by my bent towards comics or if it influences my bent towards comics, but I've always been more into storytelling than creating art. Luckily, they go hand in hand in comics, so it's where I'm most at home. Storytelling is something that works it's way into whatever I'm doing whether I realize it or not. I'm always trying to slip subconscious clues about character, history, environment, etc into my art, and that's kind of the nature of comics. Showing, not telling, and figuring out new and interesting ways to do that.
I'm also really inspired by SO MANY other artists' work. There's a weird mix of intimidation and pride that bubbles up when I see a piece that stops me dead in my tracks. Part "I can't do that, I'll never be that good..." and part "I'm going to blow the doors off of this!" I think ultimately I'm just striving to recreate the feelings I get when I see something awesome. To pass along the inspiration if I can.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I have so many. I want to draw EVERYTHING. I'd love to have a career like John Romita Jr or Stuart Immonen. Those guys are great at everything because they've pretty much drawn everything there is. I want to dip my toe into every genre, character, and universe comics has to offer because I want to be good at drawing it all. Furthermore, I have a few stories of my own that I'd kill to be able to work on someday when time and money allows me. And if I don't get to draw a TMNT book before I die then I've truly failed.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration(s) you've sent?
1-The first is a piece I made as kind of a test for one of the stories I'm writing for myself. It's called The Package, and it's about a thief named Ember and her adventure as she delivers a stolen item to its buyer. It'll be a 12 page short, and I'm batting around ideas for format right now. I love print comics, but the advent of digital has opened up so many possibilities from a creative and distribution standpoint, so I'm really looking to take advantage of that with any stuff I self publish.
2-Next is a TMNT piece I did to make a print of for this year's NYCC.
3-Next up is a page from The Independents, a creator owned book I work on with my pal, writer Ben Christian. This page is from a story called Eviction Notice, and it's currently being colored by an incredible talent named Fabian Cobos. This story will be published in 2013 by the fine folks at 4 Star Studios through Double Feature Comics.
4-The next one is some Breaking Bad fanart. God I love that show.
5-This is a Black Panther piece I did for fun to experiment with inking and inkwashes.  I'd love to work inkwashes into my comic pages in a way that isn't so time consuming.
6-A double page spread from Broken Pieces, an Aspen series I just finished illustrating. I drew the last 3 issues of the miniseries, 3-5, and issue 5 should be out soon.
7-The Celestials card set. A while back I was doing sketch cards as a daily exercise, using brushes and pens and Copic markers, and I chose to do characters created by Jack Kirby. Kirby's design sense and overall aesthetic are so strong that much of the foundations he laid in the Marvel and DC universes are still around. He developed so many beloved characters' iconic looks, and in many case more than just their looks... I drew over 180 of Jack's characters for these cards, and they were a blast. There's a link to the gallery of all of them on my blog.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Right now I'm drawing a new series for Aspen called The Legend Of The Shadow Clan. The first issue will be out in February. Working with the guys at Aspen has been such a great experience and this book is right up my alley with ninjas and mysteries and whatnot, so I'm loving it. I've also got that Independents story coming out soon, and a few more things I can't really talk about just yet. The bottom line is that I'm busier than I've ever been!

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
This answer feels like kind of a copout, but probably an architect or engineer or something like that. Something creative where I would work with my hands. I really can't imagine myself doing something that didn't involve some kind of building or creating at a base level. I'd be completely lost without the outlet.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
My blog is pretty much home base for me: csmithart.blogspot.com. I post most all my work up there, and you can also find links to Tumblr (http://csmithart.tumblr.com/), DeviantArt (http://csmithart.deviantart.com/), and Twitter (http://twitter.com/_corysmith_)

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Guest - Duncan Fegredo!

1) What was your first published work?
I believe that would be a number of illustrations for sci-fi anthology magazine Interzone. I'd been showing samples of my degree show project, an adaptation of Milton's Paradise Lost at the Watchmen signing in Odyssey 7 in Leeds, and one of the editors of the magazine also happened to be attending. Oddly enough he turned out to live around the corner from me. First comics work printed was Repossession Blues, written by Dave Thorpe it was a tabloid sized 8 pager folded into style magazine Heartbreak Hotel. It was as big as it was bloody awful! My first brush with the mainstream was a pinup of Judge Dredd that appeared on the back cover of one of those Best of 2000AD / Judge Dredd magazines, it was actually a sample I'd shown to Fleetway and the first I knew about it being used was seeing it on the news stands, a nice surprise.

2) Who or what inspires you?
Great art and storytelling of any kind excites me. I really try to keep hold of the memory of reading/watching/playing great work like Halo Jones, Star Wars, Batman Year One, Pulp Fiction, Ico and pretty much all of Hellboy for the first time, that rush of euphoria/holy crap/omigawd that tells you your mind is blown and your world is the better for it, I want to invoke those same reactions/emotions in others. Aim high. I also see a lot of fantastic work via Twitter, its a terrific way to see new work by artists you admire and even better to be able to tell them how great it is, to spread the word.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
I'm pretty lucky in that I've already illustrated my dream job! I mean Hellboy of course, I'm not convinced how successful I was but I at least gave it my all. Mike Mignola was happy so I can't have screwed up too badly, it's as much as I could hope for. What else? I had a good experience storyboarding a big movie recently, I'd like to do more of that for sure. I'd like to draw my own book, as soon as I get off of my ass and write it, obviously… I think I would draw a kick ass version of Harry Potter but that also sounds like a huge undertaking, the kind of thing that would pull you under. Be careful what you wish for I think…

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration(s) you've sent?
The two images together were drawn for the fifth Hellboy Library edition, it collects the first two volumes of my work on Hellboy and has a huge sketchbook section. These two images in particular accompany Scott Allie's introduction and Mike Mignola's afterword respectively. I decided they'd make a nice set of prints which are available to purchase at my online store http://www.duncanfegredo.co.uk/. The other two pieces are drawn in a similar style, inked line and watercolour tone, they are the sort of thing I do when I grind to a halt on the sequential pages, a bit of fun really. I'll be collecting up a stack of these images for a sketchbook in the near future, I'll announce availability via Twitter.

5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Hellboy: The Midnight Circus, a 49 page one shot hardcover set in 1948, Hellboy Jr runs away to the circus and stuff occurs along the way. There, no spoilers. Beyond that, the movie I story boarded will be out 2014 so don't hold your breath!

6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
I really can't imagine, I figure I'd still be making shit up one way or another, is pathological liar a job? Maybe not… I wanted to be a spaceman when I was a kid but colour blind asthmatic spacemen are rare so still no really. Besides, I'm a crap traveller.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
www.duncanfegredo.co.uk where you can buy prints and original art and you can find me on Twitter as @duncanfegredo, I talk a lot of crap and from time to time tweet doodles and my rough layouts for Hellboy. The layouts are all collected at http://storify.com/DuncanFegredo

Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Guest - Tula Lotay!

1) What was your first published work?
Well my first paid work as an illustrator was for the Science Museum London doing technical drawings. I got that through an agent I was working with at the time. My first published work in books was RPG stuff for Green Ronin mainly. I think the first book I appearing in was the Advanced Player's Manual HC.

2) Who or what inspires you?
So much stuff, I get excited about everything! I love a lot of old 50s illustrations, the Saturday Evening Post stuff. Love all the Robert's -  Fawcett, Maguire and Mcginnis, haha. Bernie Fuchs, Howard Terpning, Joe DeMers, Bob Peak.
Love lots of movie poster art, especially the old B movie and Hammer Horror painted art like the Arnaldo Putzu.....I LOVE Mitchell Hooks work so much.
Lots of European artists like Francois Boucq, Georges Bess, Jordi Bernet, Claire Wendling, Sergio Toppi, Massimo Carnevale.
Saul Bass is a massive inspiration, I love watching his title sequences.
Also Mazzuchelli, Alex Maleev, Paolo Rivera, Greg Tocchini, George Pratt, Kent Williams, Becky Cloonan, Eleanor Davis, Jillian Tamaki .........so much stuff, I could be really tedious and list forever. It's all pretty varied, I just love great art.

3) What would be your dream job to illustrate?
Daredevil. But I kind of wouldn't want to do it either, it's too special for me. It's been the only comic I've read constantly since childhood. The Elektra stuff had me hooked at about the age of 10 I think. I'd also love to illustrate a volume of Stephen Kings The Dark Tower. I remember the Phil Hale volume, I'd look at those paintings for hours.

4) Tell us a bit about the illustration(s) you've sent?
Most are from movies I love. I draw a lot from films. I'm a big film buff. Use to work as a 35mm projectionist at an art house cinema. I'd spend hours in the projection booth watching the movies and just doodling. I loved that job. I later worked for the European Federation of Fantastic Film which focuses mainly on genre film, horror and fantasy. These are definitely the films I love the most, along with lots of classic and Neo Noir.
The illustrations/doodles on here are from Manhunter, A Touch of Evil, To Have and Have Not. There are a few commissions in there too, Domino from Thunderball and Cabin in the Woods.


5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
Right now I'm working on the Image comic Elephantmen by Richard Starkings. I'm in talks with one of my favourite writers about another project for Image and I'm working on a creator owned mini series called Elsaet's Sound which is a crime noir set in Alaska with a touch of magic realism. The protagonist is a Sheriff called Elsaet.


6) If you hadn't become an artist what do you think you'd have ended up doing?
A rubbish rock star. I'd probably set up an art festival so I can hang out with all my favourite artists.......oh wait.

7) Where can we see more of your work (web links)?
www.tulalotay.com