The Professional “How-To” Magazine on Comics, Cartooning and Animation

#32 Summer 2016 $8.95 IN THE US

HOWARDHOWARD PORTER INPORTER A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN JAMAL

Characters TM & © DC Comics. Characters IGLE INIGLE THE MOLLY DANGER ZONE

PLUS! REGULAR COLUMNIST JERRY ORDWAY AND MIKE MANLEY AND BRET BLEVINS’

1 82658 00048 6 THE PROFESSIONAL “HOW-TO” MAGAZINE ON COMICS & CARTOONING WWW.DRAW-MAGAZINE.BLOGSPOT.COM SUMMER 2016, VOL. 1, #32 TABLE OF CONTENTS Editor-in-Chief • Michael Manley Managing Editor and Designer • Eric Nolen-Weathington HOWARD PORTER Publisher • John Morrow Mike Manley talks with the 3000 artist Logo Design • John Costanza 3 about his digital process and the future of comics Front Cover • Howard Porter DRAW! Summer 2016, Vol. 1, No. 32 was produced by Action Planet, Inc. and published by TwoMorrows Publishing. Michael Manley, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial address: DRAW! Magazine, c/o Michael Manley, 430 Spruce Ave., Upper Darby, PA 19082. Subscription Address: TwoMorrows Publishing, RIGHT WAY, WRONG 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614. WAY—ORDWAY! DRAW! and its logo are trademarks of Action 30 Jerry discusses the art of the sketch cover Planet, Inc. All contributions herein are copy- right 2015 by their respective contributors. Views expressed here by contributors and interviewees are not necessarily those of Action Planet, Inc., TwoMorrows Publishing, or its editors. Action Planet, Inc. and TwoMorrows Publishing accept no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. All artwork herein is copyright the year of produc- tion, its creator (if work-for-hire, the entity which Mike Manley enters the Molly Danger zone contracted said artwork); the characters featured in said artwork are trademarks or registered trade- 35 for a chat on guiding your own destiny marks of their respective owners; and said artwork or other trademarked material is printed in these pages with the consent of the copyright holder and/or for journalistic, educational, or historical purposes with no infringement intended or implied. This entire issue is ©2016 Action Planet, Inc. and TwoMorrows Publishing and may not be reprinted or retransmitted without written permission of comic art bootcamp the copyright holders. ISSN 1932-6882. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. This issue's installment: 64 Plusing your ideas If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication, PLEASE READ THIS:

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DRAW! SUMMER 2016 1 HOWARD PORTER

in a LEAGUE of his own

Interview conducted by Mike Manley DRAW!: Exactly. I’ll still have to dig up somebody to do my and transcribed by Sean Dulaney backgrounds. [laughter] So what are you working on right now? I guess DC has sort of relaunched everything? DRAW!: Are you working this weekend? HOWARD PORTER: Every weekend. Unless, of course, HP: Yes. I was doing , and then Rebirth happened, things aren’t going badly. How about you? so everything got switched around. They asked me to do a couple of different things, but I chose to do Scooby Apoca- DRAW!: Yeah. The weekends are pretty rough right now lypse with Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis. because I just picked up The Phantom. HP: I saw that. Congratulations. DRAW!: That’s part of the Hanna-Barbera relaunch? HP: Yeah, I’m not sure what they are calling it. You’re right, DRAW!: Thank you. On top of that, I’m also doing the Judge it’s Hanna-Barbera. There’s a name for the line I think but it Parker strip, so I’m a busy boy. but I don’t remember what it’s called. HP: That’s a good thing for sure. DRAW!: Is this just a limited thing? DRAW!: Yeah, it’s good. Good for the bank. HP: Isn’t everything limited? [chuckles] Everything’s tempo- HP: Absolutely. And someday you won’t have to be such a rary in this business. It’s an ongoing title, but there’s no telling busy boy. how long it will go, so you have to enjoy it while you can.

DRAW!: [chuckles] Because I’ll be dead! DRAW!: This is a re-imagining of the characters. They’re HP: [laughter] And then you’ll cut your hours in half. doing Johnny Quest and bringing back the Herculoids….

DRAW! SUMMER 2016 3 This two-page spread from Justice League 3001 #1 started with a loose thumbnail (not shown), which Howard then tightened in a rough (above). Howard printed the rough out and, using a light box, penciled the drawing on paper (top right). After scanning the finished pencils, Howard added gray tones as a sort of color guide (see previous page), over which Hi-Fi then put the final touches (right). Justice League 3001 © DC Comics.

They’re bringing back Dick Dastardly and Mutt- ley and Penelope Pitstop.

HP: That’d be a tough one to re-imagine and have it not be... silly. [laughter]

DRAW!: Really? You can’t have, like, Fast and Furious/ DRAW!: You just draw Bob Denver for Shaggy, right? Wacky Races? Get Jock to do it or something? HP: [laughs] Well, actually I didn’t design them. Jim Lee HP: [laughter] Right, right. Well, the Scooby-Doo thing is did, and I think he did a fantastic job. Shaggy looks more like basically the same, but they have me drawing it more real- a modern hipster—almost a handlebar mustache-and-beard istically, which messes with my mind. I was trying to draw type of thing. Scooby as a realistic, anatomically correct Great Dane, but it doesn’t work so well. You can’t really have him emote prop- DRAW!: I forget the comedian’s name who’s on Silicon Valley. erly, and he loses the charm that way. HP: Yeah! He would be a good one. I like him, he was in Deadpool also. DRAW!: No. Their eyes are too far apart, whereas Scooby- Doo’s eyes are together like a cartoon character. DRAW!: So you’re not basing them on the original inspira- HP: Yeah, kind of like my eyes. tion, which is the old Dobie Gillis characters? HP: They have similar elements to those original designs but DRAW!: So, what did you do? How did you go about doing with more modern day fashions, sort of. that? I mean, I’m sure the people are the easiest. HP: They are. They’re just realistic versions of the characters. DRAW!: Does Fred still have his ascot?

4 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 HP: [laughter] Yep. Keith sort of updated the characters DRAW!: Is that what you were saying? It’s a bit more of themselves. Fred and Daphne have a ghost-hunter type show a difficulty because you think, “Oh, wait a minute. I’m not that’s failing, and they are wearing their TV show uniforms doing that....” which have the ascots. They’re all separated, and the first HP: Yeah. My instinct is to do that, and I’m afraid people issue is how they all get together, an origin story. initially might be put off that it’s not the cartoony, fun feel- ing thing, but it’s more like The Walking Dead or something. DRAW!: Is Daphne all hot now? Is she the “Ginger” to the [laughter] I mean, it’s fun and goofy too. “Mary Ann”? HP: Yes, she is attractive, but not in a pin-up girl kind of DRAW!: Well, even when they did those movies with the way. Velma is, like, five feet tall and kind of looks like Nata- CGI, it was kind of creepy in a way. lie Portman in The Professional. She’s a petite lady but with HP: CGI is creepy. They still haven’t gotten it down perfectly. large funky glasses and a turtle neck. No matter how realistic it looks, it just looks like an animated corpse to me. I think that phenomena is called “uncanny val- DRAW!: So Jim did the initial designs and you’re trying to ley.” However in the Scooby-Doo movies, yeah, he was was work from his designs? Did you make yourself a model sheet? the one animated character, a mix between cartoony and real, HP: Exactly, Jim did the initial cover, and then I did turn- and it’s a bit unnerving. arounds for them from that. It was a great way to go, as I was almost immediately comfortable drawing them on the actual DRAW!: Right, right. Because if he’s supposed to be kind pages. Otherwise, it usually takes me a few issues to get to of realistic, but then they design him kind of like the cartoon, the point where I don’t have to keep referring to design refer- then he really doesn’t look like a real Great Dane. ences. HP: Exactly. Which is the way I have settled on depicting him, sort of. He’s a bit more realistic, or less cartoony anyway. DRAW!: Is the Mystery Machine still the Mystery Machine? HP: [chuckles] No. Well, it is, but no, it’s not. It’s a liberated DRAW!: When you were doing Justice League 3000, were military vehicle instead of the VW van. The van wouldn’t you still doing traditional pencils or were you doing digital have gotten them out of the situation they have landed in. pencils? HP: On that—and I still almost do it this way—I would do DRAW!: When you get the script and you’re drawing it, I thumbnails on the computer in a page template, and then go imagine that the initial thing to pop into your mind is the car- over them and do a tight rough still in the computer—just toon, because that’s what you’re used to. flesh it all out. And then I would print it out on a full-size HP: Yes, exactly right. Which is why I think people don’t board, and then light box that, tightly pencil it, and ink parts really know what to expect from the book right now. It’s hard of it. Finally, scan it in and finish it in the computer. Now I’m not to think of them as the kids who pulled masks off of old skipping the part where I print it out and do it on paper. I just evil dudes. do it all in the computer.

One of Howard’s turnaround boards (right) based on Jim Lee’s initial cover image for Scooby Apocalypse #1 (above). Scooby-Doo and all related characters © Hanna-Barbera.

DRAW! SUMMER 2016 5 Layout (above) and pencils (right) for page 9 of Justice League 3001 #9. Justice League 3001 and all related characters © DC Comics. days, people would get on a book and you wouldn’t want to give that thing up, but it seems like now, if you’re on a book, they don’t want you to do more than six issues. HP: I have no plans on leaving the book, other than missing issues to keep the schedule on track. I absolutely love is much smaller now than it was in the ’90s for one. And I working with this team. They have made the last few years don’t know of any artists at all that have the same drawing the most enjoyable of my career. I have heard some conspir- power in the way that artists used to have. acy theorist type of guy say that the companies don’t want it HP: Right, that does seem to be the way these days. Writers to get to where the artists had so much power like back when get most of the accolades. I figure that is because they are the Image guys started their company, so they don’t keep the ones most able to talk about and push their own work. them around long enough to build that up. But to counter that That’s their skill, the use of the written or spoken word and theory, there are still people who have or have had long runs that can be created much quicker than our scribbles. The big on books since then. Also there are people who say we didn’t hype machines and Top Ten lists that could make or break us land on the moon and that Elvis is still alive. back then don’t exist anymore. Other than internet and social media, and that stuff turns over so fast now—news and how DRAW!: Well, there’re very few guys left like John Romita, information spreads. A thing that’s hot one month is gone in Jr., who’s a machine, who can do one or two books a month. the blink of an eye. Guys now don’t do that many pages and don’t do that long of a run. I think one of the positives of Image was that it focused DRAW!: Well, you know, the bulk of my career as a car- on the artists and it gave the artists their due as creators in a toonist did not have the internet. That can have a really posi- way that was sort of denied by the publishers. But then I’ve tive effect, but it can also have a very negative effect on you. heard because of that, the editorial slant is to put the writers Maybe you don’t want to read that stuff. ahead of artists to avoid that ever happening again. It’s just HP: Some of it’s not good. But they seem to be much kinder sort of the overall philosophy. But I don’t know. The business than they were at the start, I think.

16 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 Inks for page 9 of Justice League 3001 #9. The first pass (left) focuses on outlines and solid blacks, the second (right) on details and shading. Justice League 3001 and all related characters © DC Comics.

DRAW!: Well, I’ve always thought of cartoonists as being draw it; it’s faster than trying to get the angle correct in the the lowest rung on the ladder of celebrity. software and make it fit into a panel or page. HP: Yes. Most certainly, a few steps below viral video kids snorting hot pepper sauce. [laughter] DRAW!: Really? Like you can’t get the feeling you want, or can’t get the angle? DRAW!: People can’t go to Tom Cruise directly, “You know HP: Well, the difference between a photograph and a draw- what? You suck! All your films suck and blah, blah, blah,” but ing is a photograph never looks right when you just trace it. It they can go to some forum or on Facebook, and they can go can be great as a jumping off point but can stick out like a sore to your page or your fan page and go, “You suck!” That’s very thumb if you are too literal. different. I think it makes you develop a thicker skin. HP: For sure, there’s not much you can say that would hurt DRAW!: I think that’s a really interesting point. The other me now. [laughter] I’ve got no ego left, the internet crushed it day someone posted a link to some anime/manga website in the early 2000s, late ’90s. I’m not saying I don’t get down, where there were jillions and jillions of backgrounds. “Oh, but usually that’s from my own criticism, and honestly the here’s a street scene! Here’s a car! Here’s a bunch of trees!” over the top hate I read online makes me laugh now. and you could just cut and paste. You would never have to draw a background. I think for the greatest cartoonists, the DRAW!: Do you use other things like SketchUp or other top-tier guys, perspective is something that is very personal. drafting programs for perspectives or buildings or cars? You can tell a Gene Colan drawing just from part of the draw- HP: I have tried SketchUp and a couple different 3-D pro- ing because of the way he used distortion and perspective. grams for perspective on certain things. It can really be an It became a personal statement. It wasn’t just, “I’m drawing asset if have to draw something specific in a unique position, one-point perspective and mapping everything out.” They like the Chrysler Building or something. But I’d rather just knew it so well, it was actually an expressive tool in their

DRAW! SUMMER 2016 17 shop, and skewed and transformed them to fit into the planes of the structure. Then I drew over that to loosen it up, but even then, in the end it felt a bit dead and sterile to me when it was done. It was an experiment. Maybe if I hand-drew the window textures that would work better. I will have to give that a try someday.

DRAW!: One of the most inter- esting things to me is how people use something that’s one of the pri- mary factors of drawing. Objects in space is the use of perspective. You can look at a guy like Kirby, who never put down a vanishing point in his entire life. [laughter] HP: Right, right. For him it’s all part of the composition and making everything fit in there. If you ever tried to draw anatomically correct or use proper perspective, it just wouldn’t work at all. But it all works perfectly in his magical world.

DRAW!: Right. I was looking at a Kirby Collector the other day, and there was a bunch of the war stuff he did, The Losers. And there was a scene of soldiers marching across a field. It’s definitely perspective, and it sort of reminded me of a famous battle painting by Howard Pyle of the Confederate Army marching across a field, so maybe he subcon- sciously was thinking of something like that. But all of his drawing had such an amazing amount of distor- tion, yet was convincing within his way of constructing and drawing everything. So, you sort of feel like if you Final inks and tones for page 9 of Justice League 3001 #9. started with a street scene with a Justice League 3001 and all related characters © DC Comics. car, and you set up the perspective, and then you had to fit your... arsenal. There’s a lot of feeling in a Gene Colan drawing, and HP: It’s always going to be a little off. Starting with that ele- he used to take a lot of photos. And did too. He ment and working backwards, you will end up stuck trying to literally had stacks of photos, and he used to use the old Pola- fit things in. But hey, he made it work perfectly for him. roid camera. Do you feel when you’re using something like SketchUp you can’t get the feeling you want, sort of? DRAW!: You couldn’t take the distortion tool and sphere-ize HP: I can never make it fit into my composition, not that I or whatever...? haven’t tried. I have tried to use it for getting the shapes into HP: I haven’t thought to try that yet. I will do that to fit a perspective. Recently I drew over the shapes of a building in specific sign or texture that needs to be in there—draw the perspective, then I created all these window textures in Photo- majority of it and transform elements to fit into that. I don’t

18 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 The Right W ay, The Wrong W ay, and The OrdWay!

The art of theby Sketch Cover Jerry Ordway Caricature by Rachel Ordway

somewhat new niche has developed in the past few years, where publishers offer a blank “sketch cover,” a special variant Afor certain titles. The first few sketch covers published did not have a great drawing sur- face, even though they were intended to be drawn on. The best tool you could use on them was a Sharpie brand marker. Lately though, publishers have seemed to standardize them with a heavier- weight drawing paper that wraps the regular pub- lished version of the comic book. These are pretty decent to work on with a pencil, quill pen, marker, or even a brush and India ink. If you want to draw only on the front cover side, it’s not too difficult to fold the comic inte- I used this older Jerry Robinson rior out of the way so you could use a light box Joker cover from Detective Comics to trace a preliminary drawing onto the surface. (left) as my inspiration for the new If you wish to draw on both the front and back piece. I am a huge fan of Robin- cover, as I will show in my sample here, then it is son’s Batman work, and many of much easier to carefully open and remove the sta- his covers were iconic images. ples on the comic, in order to separate the sketch cover paper. Save the staples and the rest of the (above and top of next page) On comic for reassembly later. my layout paper, I sketched a I approach a sketch cover blank differently in horizontal composition, which my studio than I would at a comic book conven- would fill both the front and back tion. At a comic con, I will lightly sketch directly cover on the comic. I took pains on the cover with pencil, and finish with Pitt brand to balance where the Joker’s head would fall, as I didn’t want marker pen and brush. In the comfort of my stu- the face bisected by the crease dio, I like to do a separate layout, or prelim, first. I on the cover. I roughed in the drawing in will start by composing the scene on layout paper to lock down an image, pencil, and then refined the drawing with which I then transfer to the actual comic cover paper via tracing through a fine point marker. Marker is easier to see my light box. This eliminates a lot of sketch lines and erasing that can through the lightbox than a pencil line, degrade the final drawing surface, which is especially important when and makes for easier tracing. using color and markers later on.

30 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 It’s easy to forget which marker you just used if you put them back in the stand each time, so I leave the ones I am using out within easy reach. I had three values of purple I was work- ing with, and as I started coloring the fore- ground, I kept going back to the purple areas to adjust the contrasts.

After the basic colors are laid in, I am ready to fill in the black areas, which will give the drawing some “punch.” The background is mostly black, so I leave the Joker’s hair till the end, after the black background is drawn in. Use the thick wedge tip to apply the black boldly, and the brush or fine point tip only to get a clean edge around the figures. That’s what is great about these markers­—they have either a brush tip or a fine point on one end, and a thicker chisel tip on the opposite end. The chisel tip makes filling in large areas go pretty fast. Batman, Robin, Joker © DC Comics. Robin, Batman, Joker

DRAW! SUMMER 2016 33 jAMAL IGLE

into the MOLLY DANGER ZONE

Interview conducted by Mike Manley the movies, or they were heavy into manga and anime. And and transcribed by Sean Dulaney I could definitely see that anime was… not really waning….

DRAW!: You bumped into my buddy Jamar recently at a DRAW!: It’s “normal” now. show. Was it in Brooklyn or something? JI: Yeah. More mainstream. Jamal Igle: It was in Harlem at the Black Comic Book Festival. DRAW!: I was having a talk with my students, giving them a little history of manga and anime, and saying, “Japanese art- DRAW!: How was that as an event? ists were influenced by the Americans like Disney and the old JI: It was insane. I went last year, and it was nowhere near comic strip artists. So you’re being influenced by [American as crowded as it was this year, and they actually had twice the artists], but as seen through their cultural lens.” amount of space. They are quickly outgrowing the Schom- JI: Right, exactly. When I was in high school, the big thing burg Library, so they are going to have to figure out some- was stuff like Appleseed and Macross—Akira especially. Kat- thing for next year. suhiro Otomo was huge with the guys I went to art school with. That started to seep its way into what a lot of the guys DRAW!: This is happening at every convention: they’re were doing back in the ’90s. growing and growing and outgrowing their spaces. I went to the High School of Art and Design. You’ve met JI: Absolutely. The idea of comic books in the public sphere [comic book artist] Buzz, right? has sort of been re-energized. I think it’s not really so much we’re bringing new people in. We’re bringing back the lapsed DRAW!: Yes. Catholics of the comic book world. [laughter] But I also think JI: Buzz was the guy running our [school] comic book club, you have to give Marvel a lot of credit for this. The Marvel and he had a hook-up. It was a place in Manhattan that used to movies have really done a lot to put the idea of superheroes import videotapes from Japan and rent them out to people. So back into kids’ heads. My daughter is almost eight, and the we got to see Akira, Macross, Project A-Ko. We got to see Bub- boys in her class are all about the Marvel superheroes. blegum Crisis before most people had even heard of this stuff.

DRAW!: I teach a high school illustration class, and now you DRAW!: Would you say that was a big influence on you at get kids who just know the characters from the movies. It’s a the time? different fan. JI: I don’t know that it was. I think from everything I was JI: I would agree with that. I used to teach at the Art Students exposed to at the time, the two Japanese artists that had the League, and a lot of the students I had in my class were people biggest influence on me were [Katsuhiro] Otomo with Akira who were either just getting into the Marvel stuff because of and Masamune Shrirow with Appleseed, because there was

DRAW! SUMMER 2016 35 Layouts for pages 7 and 8 of Molly Danger Book 1. After sketching and scanning, Jamal digitally places his photo reference directly into the panels of the layout. Molly Danger © Jamal Igle such an illustrative quality to their work that I was immedi- DRAW!: So you were more influenced by the manga artists ately attracted to. I was already a huge fan of guys like Steve than the cartoons, per se? Rude, Jerry Ordway, José Luis García-López, and Dave Ste- JI: Yeah. And even now there’s sort of a disconnect for me vens. I was always more drawn to the illustrative side of com- with the cartoons as opposed to the actual manga. I think that ics, so those two artists in particular just sort of fell into my that’s just my prejudice when it comes to illustration in gen- wheelhouse, because of the level of detail, and how lush their eral. I learned to respect more cartoony styles as I got older, but work was. when I was in my formative years, I sort of eschewed the Dis- ney, super-cartoony looking styles in almost a snobbish way. DRAW!: I like all different kinds of cartooning styles, but Otomo is probably the guy that, his work—except for the DRAW!: Like it wasn’t serious enough? faces—is the most naturalistic in a way. JI: Yeah. I definitely thought it wasn’t serious. I had a very JI: I would agree. There’s much more of a cartoony quality purist point of view when it came to illustration and figure to his faces, but the amount of actual raw emotion that he’s work. I’ll give you the perfect example. I hated Jack Kirby’s able to pull out of that cartooniness just works so well with work for decades. the rest of his style. DRAW!: There was no access point for you? DRAW!: I’ve always thought he was akin to Moebius from JI: No. My access point actually wasn’t any of the Marvel that standpoint. Because Moebius did stuff that was a lot more work. It was Fighting American. I got a copy of the Fight- cartoony, and then he could do stuff that was more straight. ing American hardcover collection, and I was just like, “This But his straightest stuff had a bit of cartooniness to it. can’t possibly be the same guy.” But then it forced me to look JI: That’s true. There are parts of Blueberry that definitely at Kirby’s later Marvel work, and it was like a light bulb went have a comedic bent to it. I don’t know if that was intentional, off in my head. Because I realized the Kirby that everybody or if it was just something that came out, but it was definitely loved was the guy who was already 20 years into his career there. and had figured out the formula.

36 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 Pencils for page 7 of Molly Danger. Molly’s facial expressiong in panel 1 has been changed to be more dramatic. And the rotation of the helicopter blades has been been changed to make for a better composition. Molly Danger © Jamal Igle

DRAW! SUMMER 2016 37 Page 7 inks by Juan Castro, and colors by Romulo Fajardo. Molly Danger © Jamal Igle

DRAW!: Kirby was what, 40 or 41 when he started Fantastic DRAW!: It was probably hard for guys like him and Curt Four? He was approaching middle age already. Swan and . Mike Carlin was one of the few guys who JI: He had figured it out. I look at Kirby’s later work—the would give Gil Kane work towards the end, because things stuff, the Fourth World stuff—and now I had really changed, and they would say, “Put appreciate everything he did. Because this was a guy who fig- on Gil Kane, and we’ll make it look more like Kevin Nowlan ured out how to get the most power out of minimalism. And and less like Gil Kane.” And it’s like, “You can’t make Gil he was able to convey lines and convey ideas and blow people Kane look like anyone but Gil Kane.” [laughter] away. It took me years [to realize it]. I would get into argu- If you’re coming into Kirby now, and you’re a fan of anime ments with people, because the first thing I had ever seen of or of Jim Lee or some artist like that, for some people it’s very Kirby was the Super Powers mini-series. hard to find an access point. I always loved Frank Robbins from the very beginning, but I know people who absolutely DRAW!: Where you can see his decline in health, or maybe hated Frank Robbins’ stuff. But now, being older, they love his eyesight, actually affect the drawings, and sometimes they Frank Robbins’ stuff. looked like they were skewed, like there was optical distor- JI: I think for certain things you grow to appreciate them. I’ll tion. Gene Colan’s work was like that towards the end, and I give you a perfect example. I had to grow to appreciate Alex think that was because he was having issues with his eyesight. Toth. I didn’t get what he was doing. For a very long time I JI: It was kind of the same thing with Jim Aparo. And if the sort of dismissed him as, “Oh, he’s the guy who designed the later stuff is your entry point, after they’re older and they’re Super Friends. I don’t want to have anything to do with that.” in failing health, or whatever their personal circumstances…. Towards the end of Aparo’s life, he did this Flash story for DC DRAW!: Were you seeing his character designs? Were you [a 14-page story in Flash: Born to Run, 1997]. I was working aware of the Zorro material or any of that other stuff? there at the time, and I was hearing rumors around the office JI: I saw reprints of that stuff later, and that was the stuff where they were saying, “We’re trying to get him something that really turned me around. Part of what really did it was but nobody wants to work with him.” when was doing that Space Ghost special back in

38 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 Layouts for Molly Danger book 1, pages 27 and 28. Molly Danger © Jamal Igle

JI: It depends on the project. I just finished a project that I it’s a more modest style book, I just feel like that’s more the did layouts by hand on paper, brought them into and tight- approach I should take with it—just to do it by hand and have ened them up in Manga Studio. Molly Danger I’m going to be that tactile feeling. Because you never know what’s going to drawing by hand and scanning them to send to Juan [Castro] come out as you’re working on pages. I’m just getting the so he can print them out on blueline and ink them. handle on working in Manga Studio. I think there’s a slick- ness to Manga Studio that’s good, but it’s not the same. DRAW!: Do you like to have a physical original? I can work digitally, I do work digitally, but I still prefer to have an origi- DRAW!: They probably need a setting. nal I can sell later on. JI: No, not at all. [laughs] It ends up being much... cleaner. JI: I’m still very much an analog in that regard. I’ve got the I like working on a paper with a tooth to it. I work on 500 equipment. I color digitally now. I ink digitally occasionally. Series vellum Strathmore Bristol. I like drawing on that stuff. I’ll do some things digitally, but I’m like you in that I like I like feeling the drag of the pencil across the paper. I like having that artwork, that page at the end of the day. Even if tring to figure out how to not let my sable hair brush split on I’m just penciling something that has to be scanned and sent. me. [laughter] The I’ve been working with the last couple of years actually lives in Tijuana. But he’s such a good inker, I don’t DRAW!: I did a series of Star Wars books last year, and they really mind. And it’s good for him because he’s been able to wanted everything inked digitally. And when you’re dealing sell his inked pages. I have all the Molly Danger pencils, and with a book like that, it has gazillions of notes, “Move this I’m not planning on selling them. eye. Move this foot. Tilt this stormtrooper.” If you were doing that traditionally, you would go insane with paste-overs. DRAW!: So you alter your process depending on the job. JI: Absolutely. And in that regard, that’s definitely the advan- The stuff you’re going to be doing for Black, are you going to tage of working digitally. But again, at least with this stuff, do like Molly Danger? I’m the final arbiter of whether it looks good or not. I don’t JI: That’s going to be by hand. Definitely by hand. Because have to worry about anyone else’s nitpicks.

56 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 DRAW!: One of the things I see on social media is some black artists feel that they don’t get as much love as they would like from the black community. Do you feel that people are coming up to you because you’re a black artist and they’re looking up to you because they’re black and thinking, “Wow. You made it. Can I get some advice from you?” or are people coming up because they just like your work? JI: There’re definitely people who are coming to me because I’m a black art- ist and I’m a visible presence. Which I thank them for, because I wouldn’t have that presence if they weren’t picking up my work. And then there are those peo- ple, again, like you were saying, who are just fans of my work. I’ve run into more than a few people who didn’t know I was black even though my name is Jamal. [laughs] But I’ve also had the opposite, too. I’ve had other black artists dismiss me because they see me as “selling out” for whatever reason.

DRAW!: Is this like the band they knew from the local bar who got their record contract and now, “You suck!”? JI: Well, no. It’s not even that. It’s a more personal thing. Because you’ve got like, the “Hotep brothers” where everything is “super-black”—like, “If it’s not from the motherland, it’s not worth anything.”

DRAW!: It’s not political enough for them, and that way it’s not about life? JI: Yeah. Or I’m not. Because I don’t carry that line, you know? That’s not how I was raised. You look at me, and my Juan Castro’s inks over Jamal’s pencils for Molly Danger book 1, page 27. wife is white and French—from Paris. Molly Danger © Jamal Igle My daughter is mixed race. I don’t have a discernible accent of any kind. I rarely ever use slang. If I do, it’s nerd slang more than anything else. I JI: I absolutely agree with you. And I agree with that idea. don’t fit the stereotype that they want me to fit into. I think that’s part of a bigger thing. Right now we’re in the I was trying to have a conversation on Facebook, and this throes culturally of growing pains, where everybody is look- guy goes, “Oh, you need to get outta here and go back to talk ing for their own validation and representation, and they feel to your white friends. We know how you do.” And it’s like, like they have more of a voice. They want to get their position “Okay….” and their ideas out there where the world should see, where they should be acceptable. And I’m like that too. I am cer- DRAW!: At least in the current internet culture, that seems tainly very vocal in my opinions, much to my mother’s occa- to be a running dialogue I see fairly often. Maybe I’m wrong, sional chagrin. [laughter] Although she does find me very but I always felt with cartooning, it’s sort of colorless. As a entertaining from what I’ve been told. kid, I had no idea Jack Kirby was a Jew, or was black, or . Either you liked the art, or you liked the DRAW!: There seems to be these different arguments out story, or you didn’t. there. You’ve got “Black Cartoonists Matter,” and you’ve

DRAW! SUMMER 2016 57 Your +ing Iby Bretde Blevins &a Mike Manleys A PluBs C Darkhawk Inc. © Marvel Characters,

eeting and mentoring many artists between my This is a personality issue in my experience, not always teaching, guest speaking, lecturing, and conven- a technical one. An artist’s personality type has a lot to do tions, one of the questions that I am asked the most with their progress in so far as their ability to work hard and Mby younger artists—some just starting out or already gain- sacrifice, and to get over disappointments or frustrations and ing footholds and involved in all sections of the entertain- go at it again. ment business (comics, animation, illustration)—is, “How do That said, having done as much work as I have in my career I make my work better?” Quickly followed by: “How do I in such a wide variety of styles and subject matter, I have make my work cooler?” and, “Is there a shortcut of some kind come up with some strategies that seem to work for me, and to making my work stand out, or have a style? which I can employ across the board in any job that requires The truth is there are no short cuts in art, as much as we all composition as the key element. would like there to be, but nope—honest, consistent practice Composition affects drawing: the complexity, the shapes, is the only way. You will end up with a style no matter what as clarity, mood, and the perspective. Theses are the most impor- a natural part or growing and expressing yourself. tant factors to start with and are the most important to me. The There are no tricks like the click-bait ads that promise to composition must work beyond the prejudices of any personal burn away unwanted belly fat in ten days. In art there are no style or school of drawing. It’s more “thinking” about what quick patches, but knowledge gained can have a fast effect works pictorially for the whole image than about the anatomy on your process. Building skills takes practice and devotion, of an arm or style of crosshatching. The young artist often which should bring with it the growing skillset we all want. trumps these fundamentals with worrying about style first. Like the smith in his forge working his steel, where each It all starts right as you begin to put something down on plunge in the furnace and folding makes the metal stronger, paper—the “conversion stage” as I like to call it. This is where or the martial artist who builds up her skills and gains each you take an idea—a script page, a description of an event, a belt based on skills she mastered with the previous one. cover image, etc.—and turn it into a drawing and storytelling Developing your art is an organic process, thus one artist’s composition. A script or a description, no matter how well it is abilities and advantages (perceived or not) may be another written or expressed, is still a very abstract thing until it’s put artist’s weaknesses, and one artist’s natural way of solving down on paper, whether in a comic, a storyboard, or an illustra- problems doesn’t always work for another artist. We are not tion. It’s very open to interpretation, and that interpretation starts all equal or start equal distances from the goal. with the roughest of scribbles or thumbnails which give it flesh,

64 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 as it were, on paper. That interpretation is based on the mind, exactly. In short it is the stage in your design process where personality, skills, and imagination of each individual artist. you look at your design or sketch and ask yourself, “How can With a cover, you have to take several factors into account, I possibly make this idea better?” Here are some questions to like the logo and other cover dressing (any copy, banners, ask yourself: UPC codes, etc.), and eye flow or direction. In general, if there is action on the cover it should lead the eye from left to • Is the image too average looking? right, as this is the direction way we read. In essence, this also • Are the poses clear but boring? visually leads the reader to open the book. • Is the composition too even or equal? • Do the figures and other elements overlap well? • Is the image confusing? • Is it too obvious? • Will the image enter- tain and/or grab the reader? • Does the image “sell” the idea?

To answer any or all of these questions requires more sketching to prove whether the first sketch was sound or not. I will often take the camera for a spin through the draw- ing. I’ll try reversing the shot, lowering or raising Darkhawk Inc. © Marvel Characters, the POV, and pushing the perspective, which changes the shapes in the composi- tion. I’m always conscious of not simply accepting an idea, but exploring it to see My first three cover thumbs for if it works or if I can improve it—“plus Darkhawk #5 (see top of previous page) it”—in any way. had Darkhawk facing off against Evil- Sometimes you get stuck and just spin hawk, who we introduced in that issue your wheels, and sometimes you decide as a new main adversary. The fight took the newer sketch is better. Sometimes place in the Museum of Natural His- after many sketches, you may decide tory in New York City, and this allowed you like your first idea best. But the me to play with the idea of having the worst is when you like one version and T. rex skeleton on the cover. the editor likes another of the sketches I should mention, at the time I did submitted. That is always tough, but part these thumbnails, the way Marvel was of being a commercial artist is accepting structured, I would suggest a cover for that the client is always right. Luckily a book by doing three cover concepts that hasn’t happened to me more than I would draw up and fax to the editor once or twice. so we could talk them over. The covers Above are the two final cover ideas I were also run by John Romita, who was submitted to the editor, taking even one still the art director at the time, for final more pass here. approval as well. But before I submit- At left is the final cover to the issue. ted any designs to Marvel, I would go My core idea was as simple as two through a self-editing/design process arrows clashing together. I still like the on the covers, starting with a series of one with the T. rex and think it works, thumbnails, then doing up the final sketch. but the editor chose the other design, which shows off the This is what I call the “Plusing Stage” of a concept, idea, character more—which considering this was a new book I am drawing, or design. You might ask what this “plusing” means sure was his thinking.

DRAW! SUMMER 2016 65 At right are two cover roughs I did for Deathlok #14. They both work, but upon consideration I felt that the first one, while clear, was also a bit even, which made it look less like Deathlok was in danger. The second was good as well, but I think the chosen sketch was better, as we get a full shot of ’Lok, and the monster seems much more of a threat, thus “plusing” the idea (which many a good comic cover uses to sell a book) that the character might die or be criti- cally hurt or defeated.

Below is the final cover for the book, based on the chosen sketch. Now the monster looms over Deathlok, making him dominate compositionally.

There were a lot of possibilities for the cover of Darkhawk #4 with a storyline that had Darkhawk in a jail, which you can see in the first sketch (next page, bottom left). But after talking over the idea more, I did a series of cover sketches (next page, bottom right) which resulted in the finished cover shown below.

Darkhawk © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Deathlok © Marvel Characters, Inc.

66 DRAW! SUMMER 2016 UNDER REVIEW KARMA CHAMELEON (PENS)!

ello again to all and sundry! Welcome, once again to WHAT IS IT? the last rest stop on your way to the art shop, your The Chameleon range of markers (though they are marketed Hfriendly neighborhood Crusty Critic has swung back DVSHQVZKLFKWKH\LQGHHGDUHFRQVLGHULQJPDUNHUVE\GHÀQL- into town to save you supply shop shock and assuage your tion are a type of pen) are alcohol-based in the spirit of Copic fears with some good ol’ fashioned art tool advice. brand markers, which allow the artist to effectively use a One of the best things to happen in years has been the small number of colors to replicate a different range of results prevalence of social media. Yes, it’s not new, per se, but now by diluting the markers’ color and creating fades that build almost everyone has some form of it—how far we have come up to a strong tone. Imagine using the art technique of water to have the internet in our pockets! This is great for network- colors but with markers! It’s a bit complicated to explain, but LQJDQGÀQGLQJRXWDERXWSURGXFWWKDWQRUPDOO\\RX·GQHYHU that’s my crusty cross to bear here. Let’s continue. have the ability to know about! Technology has even spilled into the use of art supplies WHAT DOES IT DO? and the act of mark-making. This critic has spent past articles The very nice blokes over at Chameleon responded to my ruminating about art tech and tools, software and styli, butIF we YO U EcrustyNJOY EqueryD THI Sfor PR EsamplesVIEW, a while ago, after I saw a demo always come back to the old chestnuts, a tool in hand solvingCLICK TonlineHE LIN Kof T Othese ORD markersER THIS at work, and sent me their 22 Pen problems on paper. ISSUE IN PDeluxeRINT OR Set DI GtoIT AtryL out.FOR MAT! This issue, your crusty compatriot has received samples The markers feature a double-ended design which is now from a new British company, Chameleon Art Products, of a DQLQGXVWU\VWDQGDUG(DFKPDUNHUKRXVHVDÀQHDQGPHGLXP new marker that tries to solve the problem a lot of artists on a ÀEHUHGJHGWLSRQHLWKHUVLGHRIWKHWRRODQGLQVLGHWKHFDS budget want to solve: How can you get the biggest stretch out there is a white felt-tipped brush-pen styled device, which of a set of tools without going broke? LVÀOOHGZLWKDOFRKROWRP\FUXVW\JXHVV7KHPDJLFRIWKLV Their answer: Chameleon Color Tones pens (there’s a marker system happens when you take your marker and lock demo video you can check out on their website at http://www. the cap down, effectively making the alcohol and color marker chameleonpens.com/). The pens are available online and also tips “kiss,” which then begins to draw the color out of your through brick-and-mortar retailers, but the best price I found marker, leaving you with a temporary loss of pigment. After was through Amazon.com. this, you begin to color, and voila—your “watered down” pig- ment creates a fade on your surface. If you lay down your THE “CRUSTY CRITIQUE” markDR AwhileW! # 3the2 color builds back up as the original color ink Super-star DC penciler HOWARD PORTER demos his creative SYSTEM process, and JAMAÀJKWVLWVZD\EDFNLQWRWKHWLSWKHUHVXOWLVDFRORUZDVK³L IGLE discusses everything from storyboarding to penciling as he gives a breakdown of his working methods. Plus These product reviews will be judged under my trusty t‘beret’here’s Crusty Critilightc JAMAR colorNICHOLA toS re vdark.iewing art supplies, JERRY ORDWAY showing the Ord-Way of doing comics, and scale from a one-beret score (not worth the time/money/Comic Art Bootcamp lesSoundssons with BRE Tcool BLEVIN S right?and Draw! eItdito r is, really, and the set is gorgeous. HIIRUW WRÀYHEHUHWV DFUXVW\VXFFHVV%X\LWLPPHGLDWHO\RUMIKE MANLEY ! I’d give the Chameleon Color Tones a four-and-a-half-beret (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 buy as much as you can carry). Let’s get to it! score(Digit ajustl Editio nfor) $3. 9the5 packaging alone, but you don’t buy markers http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_59&products_id=1214 78 DRAW! SUMMER 2016