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ProFile

ProFile: Lukas Ketner

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

Lukas-Ketner-ProFile

Lukas Ketner is the artist and co-creator of Witch Doctor, the hit launch title for Robert Kirkman’s Skybound imprint at Image Comics. He was a 2009 nominee for the Russ Manning Award for his Witch Doctor work, which has earned praise from fans and creators alike. Other work includes stories for Dark Horse Comics’ Creepy Comics and Supersized: Strange Tales From a Fast-Food Culture, along with covers for BOOM! Studios’ Hellraiser title. He has twice won entry into the Communication Arts Illustration Annual for his album artwork. He survived a successful full-body transplant from his hometown in Anchorage, AK to Portland, OR in 2000 where he currently resides. You can check out his work and drop him a line on Facebook.

What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?

For me, it was the realization that I could tell stories as well, if not better than prose and film — both of which I tried my hand at, and NO you may not see the results, they’re awful 😉 For me, comics can tell a story as well (if not better) than any other medium, and all it requires is ink, paper, and time. Sure, money helps, but that’s an obstacle that’s easier to overcome in the digital age to reach an audience.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?

Well, challenging and frustrating aren’t always the same thing, although they do overlap quite a bit 😉 For me story flow and lining up shots is very challenging and non-intuitive for me, but very fun and rewarding, much like solving a puzzle. It’s frustrating when I’m inking that same page and I can’t do it fast enough because I’ve added detail to areas that don’t need as much attention as I’ve given them. Then, that elegant puzzle I solved previously turns into a 2-3 day grind that’s totally unnecessary— comics pages shouldn’t take that long for a monthly horror book. It’s a mistake that I’m slowly making less and less, but it still happens. I really admire artists whose styles are more economical, but still great to look at. My studio-mates Jonathan Case and Steve Leiber come to mind, along with Sean Murphy. Murphy does have a very detailed style, but you’ll notice it’s rarely more detail than necessary to make the image really sing.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?

A rule I learned in design school, “Very Little, Very Well Done.” If you’re trying to get noticed, do a “done-in-one”, the comics equivalent of a short film. Make it one issue tops to start with, and NO cliffhangers. It’s got to be a full story, start to finish, no “prologues” or “to be continued”. That doesn’t mean it can’t take place in a world that you’d like to explore further in the future, but it needs a satisfying conclusion, and maybe a hint that there’s more story to tell (if that’s relevant). Print it up! Put it online for free. Put it everywhere that people can see it. You can sell it at shows to try to recoup some expenses, but don’t expect to make a profit. It’s proof that you can do the work and do it well; that’s what’s important. Get some interest behind you, and as much feedback as you can possibly get from editors and other successful creators. Maybe do another, again, done-in-one applying what you’ve learned. Why such small bites? Because you don’t want your first work to be a 12-issue epic, and then find out via feedback that you’re doing it wrong story-wise after you’ve put out two issues of hard work, and editors need to see that you can complete a story in a satisfying manner. I guess that’s a bit long for ‘one piece of advice’, but there it is 🙂

 

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: art, career, comics industry, Communication Arts Illustration Annual, creativity, Creepy Comics, Dark Horse Comics’ Creepy Comics, drawing, Image Comics, improving as an artist, Jonathan Case, learning, Lukas Ketner, making comics, Periscope Studio, Portland, pro tips, Russ Manning Award, Sean Murphy, Skybound, Steve Lieber, storytelling, studio, Witch Doctor, workflow

ProFile: Ron Randall

by Palle Schmidt 1 Comment

ProFile-Ron-Randall

Ron Randall has been drawing comic books and graphic novels and storyboards for over thirty years. He has worked for all the major comics publishers in the United States, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Image, Dark Horse and IDW on properties as varied as Spider-man, Supergirl, Predator and Star Wars. His own science fiction adventure series Trekker is his signature project. Ron is busier than ever these days, producing new Trekker stories, serialized at www.trekkercomic.com and in print through Dark Horse Comics as well as serving as artist on several other comics projects and various commercial clients.

What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?

I read comics as a little kid, like everyone did back then. But when I met a buddy back in second grade who was already an active “fan”, who follows certain artists and books, I suddenly realized that people actually did this for a living. From then on it was on my short list of careers. It was comics artist or jet pilot. I started drawing my own characters and stories then and never stopped.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?

Hm. Right now, it’s the coloring on Trekker. Color is a whole new world for me. I have a pretty good sense, usually, of the feel I want the colors to have and the color choices. But I know there is so much I don’t know about color and digital techniques that I feel I could always to better and more with that step of the process.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?

Keep drawing. There is no set way to get into the business, no formula or process that works for everyone. You find your own way. And the one thing that works is to keep at it.

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: Dark Horse, DC comics, IDW, Image, Marvel Comics, Predator, Ron Randall, Spider-Man, Supergirl, Trekker

ProFile: Jason Brubaker

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

ProFile-Jason-BrubakerJason Brubaker began his career in graphic novels in 2011 with the Xeric Award winning reMIND which also got on the Great Graphic Novels for Teens list 2012. In 2014 he quit his full-time job as a Visual Development artist at Dreamworks Animation to pursue publishing his own comics. You can support Jason’s work here: patreon.com/jasonbrubaker

What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?

I grew up loving comics and always wanted to draw sequential art. But when I started working as a professional artist I put aside comics because I thought they were for kids. 10 years later I was convinced to give comics a try again and I’m glad I did because now I realize how powerful and effective they are at telling stories and getting a message across. I love comics because they are the perfect medium for solo artist/writers to tell their stories.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?

I think the most challenging part is the marketing part, or social media part. These are just so unnatural for me as an artist and sometimes I just want to ignore it all and just work on the books but at the end of the day I need to put my stuff out there in a social way to that others can see it and respond to it.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?

Make sure you really believe in what you are trying to say in your story. It takes a lot of commitment to get a full comic story finished and if you don’t believe your own message then it’s going to be near impossible to put in all the work to finish it and it will also be hard to put your best work into it too.

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: drawing, Dreamworks Animation, making comics, pro tips, reMIND, sequential art, social media, storytelling, writing for comics, Xeric Award

ProFile: Jeremy Haun

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

ProFile-Scott-Jeremy-HaunJeremy Haun is the current artist on Constantine. Wolf Moon, by Jeremy and Cullen Bunn, debuted in December from DC. He recently completed a run on Batwoman. Over the past decade plus, along
with wearing calluses on his fingers doing work for DC, Marvel, Image, and others, he has created and written several projects. Some you might know are graphic novel Narcoleptic Sunday, Leading Man, and The Beauty, soon to be out from Image. He is a part of the Bad Karma Creative group, whose Bad Karma Volume One debuted at NYCC 2013, thanks to Kickstarter funding. Jeremy resides in a crumbling mansion in Joplin, Missouri with his wife and two superheroes-in-training.

What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?

I’ve always been a huge comics fan.   I spent my childhood drawing and redrawing what I saw in comics and telling my versions of those stories.  It’s what I always wanted to do.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?

Doing the comics themselves is challenging, but probably the most consistently frustrating part is managing the time required to make comics.  While comics are perceived as a fun child-like medium, the time you are allotted to create a comic is about a month.  With the amount of time needed to put out the kind of finished product I’m happy with, makes for some long, long hours at the drawing table.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?

Keep working at it.  Do your craft for the love of it.  You will continuously improve.  The industry is set up in such a way that it is difficult to get hired without having prior experience.  But keep at it and do your own thing if necessary.

You can support Jeremy’s Kickstarter for his new Dino-Day Art Book here.

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: Bad Karma, Batwoman, career, collaboration, Comics conventions, comics industry, Constantine, creativity, Cullen Bunn, DC, Image Comics, improving as an artist, Jeremy Haun, Leading Man, learning, making comics, Marvel, Narcoleptic Sunday, The Beauty, Wolf Moon

ProFile: Natalie Nourigat

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

ProFile-Natalie-Nourigat

Natalie “Tally” Nourigat lives in Portland, Oregon, where she writes and illustrates graphic novels, webcomics, storyboards, concept art, character designs, superhero comics, children’s books, animated PSAs, and movie reviews.  Natalie is a member of Periscope Studio, and has worked with great companies like Dark Horse, Image, BOOM!, and Oni Press. Her graphic novels include “Between Gears” and “A Boy & A Girl”.  Natalie loves traveling and learning languages.  She majored in Japanese in university and spent 2013-2014 in France (Annecy and Paris).  You can find her drawing around Portland with a sketchbook in one hand and coffee in the other.

What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?

I think I was trying to find the comics medium for a long time, that combination of text and images that’s so good for telling a story.  I remember when I was 6 I did my best to retell a scene from my favorite movie with a series of images.  When I was 12, I was writing a lot of prose and interspersing drawings to help tell the story.  When I finally read my first graphic novel at 13, it was like, “Oh!  This is what I was trying to do.”  Once I started reading comics and had that model to study, I switched pretty much immediately to telling my stories in that medium.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?

I agonize over my scripts before I start drawing.  Writing doesn’t come easy to me, especially dialogue, and I can spend weeks writing and rewriting even a short comic.  Having an editor helps a lot (including the times they say “hurry up!”).

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?

Don’t compare yourself to others too much.  A little competitive drive is good, but you wouldn’t want to draw like anyone else, even if you could.  It’s better to develop your own, unique thing.  As you create more and more pages, your personal voice will emerge and a lot of people will love it because it’s different than other creators’.

More at http://NatalieNourigat.com/

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: A Boy & A Girl, animated PSAs, Between Gears, BOOM!, character designs, children’s books, concept art, Dark Horse, graphic novels, Image, Oni Press, Periscope Studio, storyboards, superhero comics, webcomics

ProFile: Richard Starkings

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

ProFile-Richard-StarkingsRichard Starkings is the creator and writer of HIP FLASK and ELEPHANTMEN. Born and raised in England, Starkings worked for five years at Marvel UK’s London offices as editor, designer and occasional writer of ZOIDS, GHOSTBUSTERS, TRANSFORMERS and the DOCTOR WHO comic strip. He is perhaps best known for his work with the award-winning Comicraft design and lettering studio, which he founded in 1992 with John ‘JG’ Roshell. Starkings & Roshell also co-authored the best-selling books COMIC BOOK LETTERING THE COMICRAFT WAY and TIM SALE: BLACK AND WHITE.

What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?

I always loved comics — at the age of 9 I started reading a comic called COUNTDOWN featuring strips based on TV shows like DOCTOR WHO, UFO and THE PERSUADERS. In some ways I preferred them to the TV shows they were based on. That comic inspired me to draw comics and cartoon strips myself and from that young age I started identifying the artists and styles I liked.

Years later, I remember reading an article in Dez Skinn’s WARRIOR magazine in the 80’s about breaking into comics. I was on a train from Weymouth to London and I kind of realized at that moment that it was possible to get a job in comics and committed myself to that goal. I never seriously considered anything else.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?

As a writer, you’re dependent on your artist to make real your imaginings. So it’s important to find artists with whom you are sympatico. Finding those creators can be very rewarding and challenging all at the same time.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?

Write! Draw! ALL the time. Write about life, draw from life.

More about Richard Starkings and Elephantmen on hipflask.com

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: career, collaboration, comics, comics industry, COUNTDOWN, creativity, DOCTOR WHO, Elephantmen, GHOSTBUSTERS, HIP FLASK, lettering, pro tips, Richard Starkings, TIM SALE: BLACK AND WHITE, Transformers, writing for comics, ZOIDS

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