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Leigh Gallagher has swiftly become one of 2000AD's fan-favourite artists, drawing the 17th century zombie mayhem that is Defoe (written by Pat Mills, and recently released in collected form). He took a break from illustrating his upcoming Dredd story (with Robbie Morrison) to answer some of our questions...
Max from the Thirteenth Floor
by Jose Ortiz
I think most people reading this will know by now that my biggest artistic inspiration is Jose Ortiz who drew Scream's The Thirteenth Floor, 2000AD's Rogue Trooper as well as stories for the likes of Creepy. Images like the computer Max, and his rendition of the freaky debt collectors from the Thirteenth Floor, still remain some of my earliest memories from reading comics.
Some years back, when I'd finished working for Vertigo, I was out of work for over a year and I realised I had no distinct style to help me stand out from the crowd. So I looked back to what excited me about comics, and dug out my old copies of Scream, Eagle and 2000AD from the 80's and studied them. I even went to the lengths of tracking down every old issue of Eagle that The Thirteenth Floor carried into when Scream was cancelled, spending a good £200 on Ebay.
It was when I was going through this stylistic change that I contacted Tharg again, who got back to me straight away saying that he'd look out for a horror strip for me. One week later, he offered me Defoe!
Hopefully people will see my influences. "Old school" is definitely the look I was going for. I should say it wasn't just Ortiz that inspired me--the black and white horror work of Berni Wrightson and Gene Colan were, and are still, gods to me as well.
Leigh's first Future Shock
with Dylan Teague
Well I think I recently told the guys of "Everything Comes Back to 2000AD" That it was 2000AD Prog 1342-- a Future Shock called "Bad Thoughts" (inked incredibly well by Dylan Teague) ....BUT I may have got that slightly wrong, as my first ever paid work was in fact as John Higgins' inker on a 3D promotional comic for LEVIS.
I have a LONG history with John--he's kind of like the cool, filthy minded uncle I never had, and he's helped me out loads over the years. He trusted me enough to look after his studio and home whilst he was staying in America, and when he was there, this LEVIS job came along that he needed help on. It was an incredible learning experience for me--the pressures of deadlines, working in a studio environment, coping with responsibility. I didn't see the finished product until I was on a family holiday in Spain, and passed a LEVIS store where all out work was blown up in the window display! Very cool...
What's even cooler is that years later Defoe ran in the same progs as Pat's and John's Greysuit--that was such a proud moment for me.
How long does it take you to complete a page of artwork?
If we're talking about my detailed "Defoe style", and I'm really pushing it for the deadline, then on average around 2 and a half-3 days per fully inked page. But that's not remotely an ideal situation for me. Thing is, I do get the scripts way in advance, always intending to get pages done ahead of deadline, but then smaller, unexpected sideline work comes along that you can't turn down. So pages usually get handed in at the final possible hour!
What was the single most difficult panel (or page) that you've drawn?
Probably the double spread of Defoe's bladed horse drawn chariot cutting down zombies from Book 1. First of all you have to design this complicated looking machine, then figure out how to draw these bloody horses, work out the right perspective, then try and work out a suitable composition for the decapitated zombies flying everywhere that doesn't obscure all the previous things you've spent ages designing!
It was worth it though. It's still one of my favourite panels.
Leigh's favourite panel (click to enlarge)
Which writers would you like to work with?
Obviously I'd love to work with John Wagner and Alan Grant--they created The Thirteenth Floor for God's sake! Also Al Ewing, just so some of his studlyness can rub off on me. I drew a short Phonogram back up story for Kieron Gillen, but I'd love to do something with him again one day. And one day I'm determined to do something with Leah Moore and John Reppion--we've been mates for YEARS (since University) and it's insane we've never worked together yet.
What are you reading at the moment?
In front of me right now is the fantastic Pitt/Darkness miniseries from Top Cow. I LOVED Pitt in the 90's so it's fantastic to see Dale Keown bring him back. Also, BRPD from Dark Horse, because I'm jealous of the fact that artist Guy Davis can get away with having such a loose style. There's also a great horror mini series from Wildstorm called North 40, that I really wish I'd come up with the idea first. And I've just picked up the latest issue of 28 Days Later that my mate Declan Shalvey draws and is on a well deserved meteoric rise to fame.
I've recently tracked down the hardcover of Diggle's and Flint's Judge Dredd vs Aliens, which is just bloody cool. Finally, I have The Marvel Art of Marco Djurdwurdythingy, which is one of the BEST art books I've ever seen.
What differences are there between working for a US company (e.g. Vertigo) vs 2000AD?
Working for 2000AD is definitely a lot more laid back and less stressful. With the big American companies you need to get every stage approved first (layouts, pencils, inks), plus you need to get 22 pages done in a month, so no matter how good an artist you are, it's very difficult to do your best work in that type of time period.
Matt (Tharg) just trusts you to let you do your thing, so when you're getting your work done, you're not thinking "Crap, I gotta get this done before this editor yells at me!", you're thinking, "Crap, I gotta this done because I don't want to let Matt down."
Ok, with 2000AD, international "fame" and big pay cheques may take a little longer than if I was back working with the likes of DC, but at least I'm doing work that I'm able to take the time to get right and be proud of. And hey, I'm still young-ish--I've still got time for that fame and fortune thing!
What has been your favourite story in 2000AD in the last year?
Argh, that's a tough one....Zombo was definitely a top read with a definite old school 2000AD vibe, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying the latest Dredd epic with him banished to the Cursed Earth mutant town!
Will you ever write or plot your own strip?
Definitely. I've got a note pad full of ideas, and 2 solid ideas for complete graphic novels. One's a horror comedy that would be drawn in my "Defoe style", the other is an all ages book that would be drawn in my "Bionicle style".
But I've absolutely no idea when I'll have the time to get these done at all. Defoe will hopefully go on for a long time, and I'm not leaving that, plus there's usually freelance work that crops up in between.
There's also a half finished children's picture book that I wrote and drew, and I really need to get done maybe next year and sent off to an agent.
And finally - what can we expect from you next?
Well I recently finished the cover to Michael Molcher's "The End is Nigh" magazine, which is out in November. And I did a werewolf pin up that's to be used as a print card for the nice guys at Renegade Arts Entertainment.
Right now I'm working on a two part Dredd for the Megazine, with a cool, fun script by Robbie Morrison. I'm so made up to finally get to draw Dredd. It was exactly the kind of thing I needed to recharge my batteries after drawing hundreds of zombies in Defoe.
Also, I may be starting work soon on designs and storyboards for a British film, which I'm looking forward to as it's a new thing for me.
But the main thing that'll be keeping me busy is Book 4 of Defoe: A Murder of Angels, which I'm starting in November. Pat's dreamed up loads of cool new scenarios and characters that I can't wait to draw!
I'm feeling incredibly lucky that my career's in a good place right now. It's made all the struggling and set backs in the past worth it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not naive enough to believe that I'm set for life now. I know full well that at the drop of a hat I could be out of work again for a year like I was when I stopped working for Vertigo.
So as ridiculously corny as it's sounds, I'm just going to live in the now and enjoy it whilst it lasts. Just please shoot me for saying that...
The first Defoe collection is available now, and don't forget to check out Leigh's regularly updated blog.
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