MODERN MASTERS VOLUME TWENTY-FIVE: JEFF SMITH Modern Masters Volume 25: MODERN MASTERS VOLUME TWENTY-FIVE: JEFF SMITH edited by Eric Nolen-Weathington front cover by Jeff Smith front cover color by Steve Hamaker all interviews in this book were conducted and transcribed by Eric Nolen-Weathington TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 www.twomorrows.com • e-mail: [email protected] First Printing • February 2011 • Printed in Canada Softcover ISBN: 978-1-60549-024-3 Trademarks & Copyrights All characters and artwork contained herein are ™ and ©2011 Jeff Smith unless otherwise noted. Big Johnson Bone, Bone, Little Mouse, RASL, and all related characters ™ and ©2011 Jeff Smith. Pan-Fried Girl ™ and ©2011 Paul Pope. Marv, Sin City ™ and ©2011 Frank Miller. Batman, Captain Marvel, Sandman, Superman and all related characters ™ and ©2011 DC Comics. Alfred E. Newman ™ and ©2011 EC Publications, Inc. Doonesbury ™ and ©2011 Garry Trudeau. Popeye ™ and © 2011 King Features, Inc. Pogo ™ and ©2011 Walt Kelly. Peanuts ™ and ©2011 United Features Syndicate, Inc. Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge ™ and ©2011 Disney. My Neighbor Totoro © Ghibli. Star Wars ™ and ©2011 Lucasfilm Ltd. Jaws © Universal Pictures. The Seven Samurai © Toho Co. Ltd. Return of the King © J.R.R. Tolkein. Editorial package ©2011 Eric Nolen-Weathington and TwoMorrows Publishing. Dedication To the Thorn in my side, Donna, and my little rat creatures, Iain and Caper. Acknowledgements Jeff Smith , for his time and thoughtfulness, and for creating a book everyone can enjoy. Kathleen Glosan , for coordinating things and keeping Jeff in line. Steve Hamaker , for digging into the archives and unburying so many treasures. Special Thanks Rick McGee and the crew of Foundation’s Edge and John and Pam Morrow Modern Masters Volume Twenty-Five: JEFF SMITH Table of Contents Introduction by Eric Nolen-Weathington . 4 Part One: An Artist in the Making . 6 Interlude: Under the Influence . 17 Part Two: A Dream of Syndication, a Life in Animation . 21 Part Three: Entering the Great Valley . 27 Part Four: And Now Back to Our Story . 58 Part Five: The Magic of Words and Scientific Theory . 64 Part Six: Storytelling and the Creative Process . 79 Art Gallery . 85 3 Introduction eff Smith is an anomaly. That is to say, he has beaten So what makes Bone so special? There aren’t any the odds. He became a success in the comic book super-heroes, and the main characters are weird looking. J field long before he drew a single page for DC or It’s got lots of funny jokes and talking animals. And the Marvel. That is a rarity in this day and age, though art is so cartoony. In other words, it has every ingredient it is becoming somewhat less so—in large part because of that typically kills the sales of a comic book in the his success. direct market. And yet Bone sold quite well in the direct market. Bone was on library shelves before libraries had separate Again, what makes Bone so special? Was it a matter of sections for graphic novels. Bone is prominently displayed luck or good timing? Perhaps a bit of each was involved, in major bookstore chains. Bone is even sold at school but at the crux of Jeff’s success lies his extraordinary talent book fairs. as a cartoonist and storyteller. Just over a year ago, I was giving a lecture on inter - viewing to the eighth grade Language Arts classes at my Jeff was 31 when Bone #1 hit the shelves. Early readers son’s school. At the end, while taking questions, one of of the series never saw the growing pains of a new artist the kids wanted to know if I had ever interviewed anyone finding and developing his style. Jeff had already worked famous. I said, “Well, you’ve probably never heard of through those issues. In fact, he had already spent most of the people I’ve interviewed, but I’m going to be decades analyzing the work of his predecessors—not just interviewing Jeff Smith soon. How many of you have their artwork, but their writing, as well. He had spent read any of the Bone books?” Out of about a hundred hour upon hour, day upon day honing his craft. But most 13-year-old kids, over a third of them raised their hands. importantly, he had come to realize that pretty pictures and clever words were not enough if he truly wanted to Let me repeat that: Over a third of them raised their hands . make an impact with his audience. Talk about reaching your audience! And so, when Bone #1 finally came to be, readers dis - covered a rich, new world filled with amusing, horrible, And how many 13-year-olds do you suppose are wonderful characters and a beautifully drawn story with reading DC or Marvel comics? Surely not one out of depth and meaning that was well worth reading. every three. That’s not to say one-third of all 13-year-olds in America have read Bone , but given the wide economic Really, that’s what every reader, regardless of age, diversity of the school, I’d wager it’s not all that far from wants from any book, graphic or otherwise. And, boy, the truth. does Jeff deliver. Eric Nolen-Weathington 4 A Cartoonist Part 1: in the Making MODERN MASTERS: You were born in McKee’s Rock, JEFF: No, they were in New England. Both my parents Pennsylvania, on February 27, 1960. But you moved to originally came from Connecticut. But I would see them Columbus, Ohio, when you were pretty young. at least once a year on vacations while I was growing up. JEFF SMITH: Right. I was, like, two, so I have no MM: You said you have a brother. Was he interested in memory of Pennsylvania. art as well? MM: Was the move JEFF: A little. Not as much as because of a job? me. In fact, he’s an aeronauti - cal engineer now. He liked JEFF: Yeah, my dad got airplanes. My dad made ice transferred to a cream, I make comic books, Columbus plant. He and my brother makes air - worked for Borden’s Ice planes. We’re all quite Cream. happy. [ laughter ] MM: Did your mother MM: What captured your work as well? imagination first, was it the JEFF: Part-time. She was comic strips you saw in the mostly a stay-at-home newspaper, comic books, mom. She’d make a little cartoons on TV...? money doing paintings, JEFF: I think it all hap - though. She would paint pened simultaneously, little plaques with flowers. because it just seems like They were pretty nice. She there was more of it in the would sell them in local culture in the ’60s. The shops. She would pile me Sunday newspaper comics and my brother in the car section was such a bigger once a week and drive deal back then than it is around to all these shops now. Peanuts was coming that were selling them and into its heyday with pick up money for any that Snoopy flying in his sold and drop more off. Sopwith Camel fighting MM: So you were actively the Red Baron. Saturday exposed to art at an early age. morning cartoons were really still dominated by JEFF: Yeah. My mom had reruns of theatrical paints, and she encouraged shorts, like Bugs Bunny me to draw. She would bring and Heckle & Jeckyl . The me home markers and things, quality was much higher and I loved that. My grand - and they were a little more parents, especially my grandmothers, were really into sophisticated. Both the newspaper strips and the theatri - creativity—stories, reading, clay, all sorts of stuff like cal cartoons were aimed not just at kids, but at the that. adults who were also sitting there. Even before I could read, my dad would read Mad MM: Did you see them much? Were they in the area? magazine to me. He loved Mad magazine, and I was a 6 Previous Page: Cover art to “The Gem,” one of Jeff’s first Bone stories written and drawn when he was ten years old. This homemade comic measures about 3" x 5" and was drawn with a blue ballpoint pen. Left: The first two pages of “The Gem.” Each page of the 21-page story (!) consists of two half-page panels. Below: In this panel from page 11 of “The Gem,” Jeff is already experimenting with light and shadow. Bone ™ and © Jeff Smith. huge fan of Don Martin and “Spy vs. Spy.” JEFF: That probably wasn’t until I was in I just got into that stuff. the fourth grade, about nine years old. That was when I discovered Walt Kelly MM: When you first started drawing, were and Pogo . That really changed everything. you imitating what you were seeing in the That was when I began to see the real comic strips and cartoons, or were you cre - quality of artwork and look beyond just ating your own characters right away? the construction of the drawing. I really JEFF: That’s a good question. I think I was wanted to know the techniques that Walt trying to draw my own characters, but of course I was trying to draw Woody Woodpecker and Donald Duck and Huckleberry Hound and whatever I was looking at, trying to figure out things like, “How do you draw an eye?” and under - standing that there’s the white part and then there’s the black part—the pupil— and that points towards what he’s looking at.