LUCIDMEDIA

Five Comic Artists in One Afternoon

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Monday, 14 April 2008 08:26

Cameron Stewart started out just like any other fan--taking his portfolio to conventions and trying to drum up some work for himself. Then, one day, while at the San Diego comic con, he found himself face-to-face with the modern legend that is Grant Morrison: writer extraordinaire of JLA, New X-Men, and The Invisibles. Stewart showed Morrison his sketches of Invisibles characters like King Mob and an impressed Morrison passed them on to his editor. The rest as they say is history; Stewart got the chance to do a few pages on the last Invisibles series before it expired and this led to one gig after another.

"When I broke into DC I was really young; I was a rookie, but the editors saw my potential, so they wanted me to cut my teeth doing inking first," says Stewart of his first days at DC comics. "The editors were very happy with what I was doing by bringing a lot to the pencils. At the time I was the inker on Catwoman, and it was a situation where they thought I was bringing so much to the pencils and the other penciller was leaving and they thought that I should succeed him. I paid my dues for about three years, and then they finally allowed to work in the pencils and now I do both."

Of course in the movie Chasing Amy, Jason Lee's character Banky Edwards, the inker of the fictional Bluntman and Chronic comic is consistently being called a "tracer". "There's a lot more to inking than "tracing"" assures Stewart, "You have to make a number of aesthetic choices. I'm pretty gutsy as an inker but it depends on the artist. I've done things compositionally like dropping a character completely from the foreground so that they look like a silhouette and I just go over a character in black after the penciller's put all this detail into them. I kind of feel bad about it sometimes, like I'm going to get an angry phone call, but I'm not doing it to show off or to be flashy, but because I think it looks stronger on the page doing that way."

	Stewart's latest work is the graphic novel The Other Side, a tale about the Vietnam War written by Jason Aaron. Published by DC imprint Vertigo, "The Other Side" marks one of the first times that a major comic company has tackled the war since Marvel's landmark ongoing series The "Nam", I think was the last time that one of the major companies printed a Vietnam comic," adds Stewart. "And DC hasn't published a war comic in like 30 years so it's an unusual topic for comics but it seems like the right time to do it."
	"At first I wasn't even interested in doing a war book because I thought that the war genre wasn't something that I could do well; I just had no experience in it," Stewart says as he begins to talk about how he came aboard the project "They sent me the script rather insistently and said, 'Just read it and see what you think.' So I did and it blew me away and I knew it was something really exceptional."
	"At first I wasn't even interested in doing a war book because I thought that the war genre wasn't something that I could do well; I just had no experience in it," Stewart says as he begins to talk about how he came aboard the project "They sent me the script rather insistently and said, 'Just read it and see what you think.' So I did and it blew me away and I knew it was something really exceptional."
	"At first I wasn't even interested in doing a war book because I thought that the war genre wasn't something that I could do well; I just had no experience in it," Stewart says as he begins to talk about how he came aboard the project "They sent me the script rather insistently and said, 'Just read it and see what you think.' So I did and it blew me away and I knew it was something really exceptional."

"At first I wasn't even interested in doing a war book because I thought that the war genre wasn't something that I could do well; I just had no experience in it," Stewart says as he begins to talk about how he came aboard the project "They sent me the script rather insistently and said, 'Just read it and see what you think.' So I did and it blew me away and I knew it was something really exceptional."

As part of an unprecedented campaign of in-depth research, Stewart felt compelled to take a journey to the real life setting of The Other Side. "I felt a personal responsibility that if I was going to work on a script that was that good, then my art work had to be up to the level of the script. So I thought to myself, I could go and look on Google and watch Apocalypse Now and go to the library and do a half-decent job researching, but I felt that if really wanted to add some kind of personal connection to the material then going over there would be the best way to do it."

There were also less altruistic reasons for the journey. "From a personal level I like travel and it was the perfect excuse to go to a part of the world I've never been to. And then being over there was one of the best experiences I've ever had; it's a staggeringly beautiful country and the people were really friendly and helpful. It was great."

So how can you the home reader grow-up and be a big success in the comic book industry like Cameron Stewart. "Some success," he says with a laugh. "The main thing is practice drawing all the time. Don't copy the comic books to learn how to draw; draw from life, draw from photographs, draw from experience and then take what you've learned and then apply that to comics. And that's probably the best advice I can give."

Chip Zdarsky is an emerging Toronto-based artist known for his gregarious and outgoing nature, not exactly the normal profile of your average, work-a-day cartoonist. "It's usually the opposite," he says, "because if you're a cartoonist you spend a lot of time indoors not talking to people and going kind of crazy."

He's probably not referring to the type of crazy that leads one to go to a party dressed up as the female ninja assassin Elektra and getting the photographic evidence of it posted online. "Usually it starts as a stupid idea in my head where I say that I'm going to go to a party dressed like this and the next thing I know a huge production's been made out of it," Zdarsky laments.

Zdarsky has an enthusiastic fan base thanks to the comic strip he started while at the University of Toronto called Prison Funnies. "Originally I did it because I was production manager of the paper and I left because my term was up. The incoming staff asked me to do a strip and I hate strips," he says, explaining the origin of the Funnies. "I think [strips] are boring and terrible, and so I came up with the idea of Prison Funnies because I figured they wouldn't want to run it and I wouldn't have to come up with anymore. So I give it to them thinking that's it and they printed it and they liked it so I thought, I guess I'll do a second one."

Other people liked it too, and Zdarsky found that he started liking it also. But much like Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder, Zdarsky found his college creation following him into post-college life. "I don't have that kind of focus," he says when I make the McGruder connection. "It's kind of a strange process because at the end I said, 'maybe I'll collect it as a comic'. So I turned out a few, did the conventions and sold out but I had a couple of them left so I said, 'maybe I'll send them to a distributor' and they accepted it and did a big run and kept that relationship going. It gives me a good feeling inside; it gives a nice feeling outside; it gives me nice feelings across rooms and across the street."

His latest creation is a comic called Monster Cops, which is more or less how it sounds; Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman on the thin blue line. "I think that I was just making fun of the fact that people kind of cross genres and think they're doing something quite inventive like zombies in a western or vampires plus sci-fi. So I was sitting around joking, saying how about monsters but they're cops and everyone was laughing and I thought, 'You know…'"

Zdarsky says his primary source of inspiration, both as a kid and as an adult, is Charles Schultz's Peanuts. Although he went through the motions and as he grew up adding Marvel Comics and soap operas to his list of influences, he always came home to Charlie Brown and the gang. "It was so sad," he says describing the Peanuts love. "The humour was in the sadness and pretty much everything I do is rooted in that. Schultz is one of the first guys to play off the idea of having children with these kinds of adult problems and thought process, and he did with such a clean, basic style."

But if the way he describes it is any indication, Zdarsky's own process is anything but clean and basic. "I carry a little book where I jot down ideas or little sketches and then I'll just work on a giant sheet of paper just kind of thumbnailing and writing weird notes with arrows and obscene drawings; usually a lot of obscene drawings," he says making a point that there is some method in all the madness. "You just keep refining it; I type a script up for myself, so by the time I actually sit down to draw it I've already worked everything out. A lot of people forget about those steps and just sit down in front of the blank page and say, 'What am I going to do?'"

Bottom line though, Zdarsky is in a happy place, with no designs of hitting the big time or the big two (comic book companies) for that matter. "I don't know how I'd be able to do it. I can't really work with a writer; I worked in a studio with a bunch of artists that work with writers, and I don't know how they do it. I would lose my mind if I had to constantly write from someone else's script. One-offs occasionally, but comics are too fun for that."

		"Oddly enough I find them pretty much the same," says Kim on the distinctions between storyboarding and comic book drawing. "The only difference is that you have to leave word balloons for comics. You're still trying to tell a story, you're still trying to tell it visually, and you're still trying to find the most pleasing compositions. With the comic book you're still trying to deal with a narrative structure and really trying to maximize that while being considerate of the writer and what they're trying to accomplish."
		The work atmosphere is another reason to recommend working in comics, says Kim. "The degree of trust is a lot greater in comics." Like a lot of artists, Kim found film work more micromanaged, but he notes that there are differences, the storyboard artists at Pixar who are given enormous artistic freedom as being one example.
		Considering his lengthy academic prep, I wondered if Kim thought his school experience gave him something self-taught artists didn't have. "I'm generally more appreciative of a broader range of work and I think that's reflected in my art," he says, otherwise he imagines the learning curve pretty much the same.
		"When I went to Sheridan it was very much the same experience as a learn-by-doing as opposed to learn-by-intellectual. It's a very similar sort of atmosphere. The difference though I think is the diversity of material and information you're presented with and the value found within. So I really think it made me a more understanding artist, but then again I can't really compare; both have merits."
		Kim also notes that with the art school experience, you get to meet all types; he even references the movie Art School Confidential. "Is it really like that?" I ask. "I can't comment on that," is all Kim says with a laugh.

On his website, Kim recently mentioned how he now finds himself in the enviable position of being able to turn away work and be choosy, which is a whole new kind of experience for a working artist. "It's kind of funny on the one hand because I feel really good about it because I can select my projects, but in the other hand I feel really bad about too because I don't like turning down anything really."

So from the sound of things, Kim is on track to achieve his ultimate goal. "This may sound a bit silly, but I want to do whatever I want to do. I'm having fun now but I want to do whatever it is I want to do and just do it."

There are two things that J, Torres has seen a lot of at this signing; one is the 36th issue of Teen Titans Go! and the other is his graphic novel adaptation of Degrassi: The Next Generation. The two books, although each based on TV shows, are as different as night from day, but Torres never treats them as such. "Both of these things are fully fleshed out universes with very well-written characterizations which are all established," he says. "It's just a question of coming up with plotting that is in keeping with the spirit of each book. Obviously it's a different genre with different types of action and drama, but my approach is always the same and keeping everything in what the creators have already established and make sure you give the fans what they expect."
Torres has made a name for himself in recent years through the Titans, Degrassi, and The Batman Strikes, all series based on TV series, two of them already animated. To some that may sound limiting, but Torres says that he gets the artistic freedom he needs to put his own spin on the characters. "I do work off of what they call a series Bible, but the rules are very general in terms of the amount of violence and sexuality you can show. There's no other formula really aside from keeping with in the style of the show and whatever else they've established, so mostly it's about legal issues: characters we can or cannot bring in.
"It's an all-ages book so there's certainly things we can and cannot do," Torres continues, "but I've worked on all-ages books before, so it comes kind of naturally to me. As long as you keep it fun and action-packed, it's not hard."
As for Degrassi, his involvement there was pure serendipity. "The art director was a fan of my work and she found out that I was Canadian and based in Toronto and she dropped me an e-mail and asked if I was interested. Since I was already a fan of the show it was a no-brainer."

		But Torres doesn't spend all of his time working on well-known licensed properties; he also dabbles in independent graphic novels like Love as a Foreign Language. "I'm actually glad that I can do both, I don't know that if at some point you lose interest in one or the other. Sometimes it's a challenge because you have to get into a different frame of mind like when you're talking about teen angst versus teen superheroes running around. It's a different approach it terms of the style and the structure of the story, but I love the fact that I can work on these different kinds of books and these different genres just to keep it interesting."
		Of course doing books based on television series does have its fringe benefits, like the research involved. "That's the fun thing," says Torres enthusiastically. "My sister will call me in the middle of the day and ask me what I'm dong and I'll say working and she'll say but I can hear a TV on in the background and my response is 'Yeah, I'm doing my research.' But even more fun than that is the fact that I get stuff in advance and I can lord it over friends and fans that I stay in touch with online."
		Another positive is that through this connection to a pre-existing product on Saturday Morning TV, Torres is in fact helping to create a new generation of comic book readers. "That is in fact the biggest payoff to doing this kind of work, and I don't want to sound too cheesy or corny about it but it is very fulfilling to inspire kids to comics or to keep them reading comics or to get them to read period. I've had parents, educators and librarians who say we have reluctant readers but if we put Teen Titans Go in front of them, they'll read it and keep reading as it sparks their imagination; they write, they draw, and that's the best kind of reaction you can ask for."
		As Torres points out, this is how he, and undoubtedly many other artists, started out. "If I can turn one person into a comic book fan for life, or even a comic creator, than that's a very fulfilling thing."

Torres' plans for the future extend beyond the Teen Titans and the graphic halls of Degrassi, he'd also like to do something a little more mainstream at some point, but with a twist. "Let me put it this way: I like the way that Grant Morrison took a character like Animal Man, who was somewhat obscure, and created this new world for him in a series that really put an interesting twist on the character and made it very challenging. I'd love to look back after three or four years of a series and say here's the work and this is where the character's been and to be able to have something like that on your bookshelf and on your resume."

In the meantime though, Torres encourages everyone to go out to their local bookstore and ask for the Degrassi graphic novel; he assures you that they are hiding somewhere in the back room.

Stuart Immonen is about to get bigger than he's even been before as it was recently announced that he'd be taking over for Mark Bagley as regular penciller for Ultimate Spider-Man starting with issue #111 next spring. With typical Canadian modesty, Immonen accepts the responsibility by saying he's not out to rock any boats. "I'm not dedicated to putting my personal stamp on the book or on the character, I want the transition to be seamless on the readers and I know personally how jarring or upsetting it can be to have a creative team switch over. I feel confident enough in my abilities to switch gears and ease people in to what I intend to do."

It started with an e-mail from Marvel brass before Wizard World Chicago this past summer; all Immonen knew was that they really wanted to really talk to him at the show, just not about what. "They wanted someone who was fairly consistent, able to meet deadlines and I was well liked, and they had a list of three people they were interested in and I was one of them."
When work commences on Ultimate Spider-Man, it will mean that Immonen will have drawn three out of four of the main Ultimate titles. What about the big one: The Ultimates? "I couldn't imagine coming on Ultimate Spider-Man frankly, but doing The Ultimates which is sort of the flagship title is at this point unthinkable for me, although I don't know what plans they have for me."
Immonen studied art at York University and began self-publishing a series called Playground in 1988. He worked his way up through the smaller companies to the halls of DC Comics where he got a monthly gig penciling Action Comics and the monthly adventures of Superman. Although he hasn't done a long-term project like that since, Immonen has worked consistently for both DC, Marvel, and Image Comics.
"I think Kurt Busiek, who I've worked with in the past, would say that that's not a career building move," says Immonen of his shifting focus. "My take is that I know from a fan perspective that there are fans that only read Captain America who wouldn't know my work from anyone else's unless I had worked on Captain America. So in order to reach a lot of different audiences then it's beneficial for me to work on a number of different projects--also creatively to show that I can switch gears and approach something new."

		Immonen likes to keep things interesting and notes how people inevitably say that they like his work on one book but wish he'd stick to one style. The artist himself believes that he needs to make the tone to suit the book and not some kind of 'Immonen-style'. "As far as career building goes, for better or for worse, the editor's invested in having people be consistent rather than someone who's going to ruffle too many feathers."
		Speaking of ruffling feathers, Immonen released a book last year that spoofed some of his convention experiences called 50 Reasons to Stop Sketching at Conventions. It started just as a way of venting his frustrations. "It seemed to happen so consistently that I started to take notes and I was building up all this frustration so I thought, 'if I can get this out of my system I can have a cathartic event and get back to it.'"
		Speaking of ruffling feathers, Immonen released a book last year that spoofed some of his convention experiences called 50 Reasons to Stop Sketching at Conventions. It started just as a way of venting his frustrations. "It seemed to happen so consistently that I started to take notes and I was building up all this frustration so I thought, 'if I can get this out of my system I can have a cathartic event and get back to it.'"
		He got about ten of them out of his system and realized that he could get keep going. He then began to post them to his website and found that a lot of artists had similar experiences "The vast majority of people you meet are wonderful; they're enthusiastic, generous, and pleasant, and you get along with them, but always inevitably there's someone that's a little bit off or a little bit rude; there's just something going on where there's a kind of disconnect." Immonen jokingly refers to 50 Reasons as a "user's handbook that should be given away at the door of every convention."