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Interview Part 2
Researching
this, I did ask people who really know their comics to give me suggestions as
to where your art is coming from. Some said Italian underground, some said American
underground and to my untrained eye it looks like a graffiti-esque style…
where do you see yourself coming from?
The Planet…
Zanussi! I think all things you mentioned are there. It’s like my musical
taste, I like anything that’s got a good sort of emotive resonance to it.
I really like Manara’s work on the Italian area, Bill Sienkiewicz in America,
Mobius, McCarthy, it’s all different influences from around the world. If
you try to rip off everyone… then you don’t end up looking like…
Mignola…
Along the same
lines, your fellow art droid Fraser Irving suggested a couple of questions –
Oh dear.
Do you dig
Richard Corben?
Do I dig him?
I sort of do. I’ve got a few of his books somewhere. But I’m not a
total fan because… some of his figures are… a bit clunky! Which may
be why people think I’m like Richard Corben…
Has Richard Corben
threatened to sue yet?
He hasn’t.
Are you, in
fact, Richard Corben?
Yes. Yes I am.
Can I, posthumously
as it were, get to ask Fraser some questions?
Would be happy
to pass them on.
(Grimly) There’ll
be some about Bernie Wrightson, that’s for sure…
Back to the
art. Do you use a computer?
I use Photoshop
5 to do all my stuff. 5 or 5.5, can’t remember, but some archaic abacus-style
version of it anyway. It’s a great program. I’ve thought about upgrading
to the latest version, I don’t even know what they’re up to now. But
I think if you can work with something, then it’s not the model that counts,
it’s how you’re using it. I’ve had it for about 4 years, and
it’s amazing, I don’t understand how anyone could actually make something
that good. It saved my life.
When I was first
getting into the comics scene, I just got it because everyone else was using it
and I felt that to validate my work, I kind of had to get with the computer colouring
scene. Maybe if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have had the confidence
to carry it through.
What is your
process for creating the look of a strip? What references do you use, and how
do you go about planning a page?
Having read the
synopsis over a few times, I like to “watch the film version” of it
in my head a few times, by the end of which a general style for the strip naturally
emerges. I do A4 pencil breakdowns of each page in my sketch book next - these
are incredibly rough (I’ll provide evidence), but are essential for creating
an attempt at a successful page. It's this stage that resolves all the “who
's speaking first in the panel” questions – do they go left or right?
- also the general dynamism and the “Kirby eyeflow” techniques are
all crafted at this stage. Then I can hit the drawing board, using my breakdowns
as a guide - sometimes you find a better way of addressing a panel, but it's worth
saying that re-reading the script thoroughly during every stage is a must - I've
missed out panels before, thinking that I “know” the script - time
for a floating head panel!
Do you do your
colouring as is, or do you do everything greyscale and colour over the top?
Traditionally,
I suppose. Would be a lot quicker to do it in greyscale and then tint it. But,
I dunno, I approached it to do everything exactly the same way I’d work
with acrylics, just see how I could adapt it to working with Photoshop. The only
good thing is that you can cheat with Photoshop.
When you started
at 2000AD, was it a shock to go almost straight to the iconic ABC Warriors?
Yeahhhh –
in a word. It was a total crazy shock. Obviously, totally glad that I did it.
But I think I would enjoy it much more now. And at the time, as well, I used to
ink with biros, up until just before ABC Warriors. But there was a moment when
Andy Diggle phoned me up and said “How about it? Three episodes of the ABC
Warriors?” And I said, “Well, I’d better stock up on biros,
then, eh?” To which he replied “You’d better be fucking joking
with me!” “No”, I said, “I ink with biros” “Well,
if you want to be in this game seriously, go and get yourself some rotoring pens,
or just don’t bother.” So I did!
So I was kind
of getting to grips with the new inking style on the ABC’s, and I didn’t
draw them enough before I started. Obviously, I realise now that you’ve
got to really get the shorthand of the characters that you’re doing before
you commit to the actual project. My ABC’s sorted of started off being really
crap, and ended up being just crap.
I’ve been
a bit gutted since then, because I thought at the time, OK, now I’ve had
the ABC Warriors, the established characters are just gonna be flying in. And
I haven’t done any established characters since then at all! But there are
hints, maybe, possibly, of a Dredd on the horizon…
Well, I was
going to ask you about your Dredd fan strip, Doppleganger – was that something
you did as a showpiece? Did it work?
Yeah, really.
My mate Ben Dickson wrote it and it’s actually a rather fine little script.
Although he hasn’t had any bites from Tharg, which is a bit of a shame because
I think he’s a tasty writer. With Doppleganger, well, who could pass up
an opportunity to do the real Dredd beating the crap out of Sylvester Stallone?
And I think it was that that Andy Diggle saw and realised that I can do the storytelling
and everything. So that was kind of the job that got me the job.
So it was actually
your Dredd that convinced them?
Yeah, and now
they won’t let me touch him with a bargepole! How strange it all is…
Speaking of
which, your two major series, Asylum I and Dead Man Walking, have received what
you might call a mixed fan reaction. A lot of people have said “This is
great art, this is fantastic art – but what a shame about the story.”
Do you think you’re still waiting for your defining series, and have you
been unlucky with your scripts so far?
Got to be careful
how I answer that one, eh? The Asylum script, I did really like that. It had all
the elements of the stuff that I want to do, highly irreverent, bit nasty, bit
shocking, a bit sick. But in hindsight, to be honest, some of my art was a bit
cack. Also, er, I know that Rob’s not too much of a fan of Asylum I, but
I actually thought it was solid enough.
Dead Men Walking had,
erm, slightly less of the elements that I’m keen on in it. But, you know,
drawing zombies and spicy chicks, great fun… chainsaws… all that.
But, er, can I just say two words? Vuck… and… erm… Shiv…
(Laughter)
It was all right,
you know… but I do prefer something a bit more… cerebral. It’s
nice to work on a very serious script, which is Asylum II. That’s easily
the best script that I’ve had to work on so far. It takes a while to warm
up because it’s – shockingly – Actually. Got. A. Plot. So it’s
four or five episodes before things start to really kick off. But because you’ve
had such a build-up, in my opinion, when the shit really does hit the fan it has
loads more impact.
It’s a great
script. Politically very topical, and it’s grown-up enough that there’s
no goodies or baddies.
Not even Holt?
No. No, he’s
a moral grey area throughout. Most of the characters are. Just like life, really.
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