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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

ProFile: Ed Brisson

by Palle Schmidt 2 Comments

ProFile-Ed-Brisson

Ed Brisson is a comic book writer who’s has been published by Image, Marvel, BOOM! and IDW. Before getting being published by others, Ed spent nearly two decades creating and self-publishing his own comics.

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

I don’t remember a time where I didn’t want to work in comics. I’ve been reading comics since I could read and probably started drawing my own not long after. It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.

Initially I wanted to be a comic artist and only started writing them because I didn’t know anyone else who could. This was before the internet was around, so I didn’t have access to scripts either. Slowly, and over a long period of time, I realized that I enjoyed the writing more than I did the illustrating and gave up the latter to focus in solely on writing.

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

I’m not sure. I tend to be pretty scatter brained and have a lot of trouble focusing in when the time comes. I takes a lot of effort and is thoroughly exhausting. I need a nap after I’ve written four or five pages.

Another thing I have trouble with, something that I rarely hear people talking about to aspiring creators, is making sure that I have downtime. I mean, you work hard for a long time to “break into” comics, to have people notice you and when they finally do, the offers will come flooding in and you have to be aware of how much you can handle and making sure that you leave some time for you. Otherwise you’re going to burn out.

I *try* to leave my weekends free for me time (which means mostly spending time with my wife and daughter), but still generally end up working through them. I’m working on it though.

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

My advice would be to jump in, head first, and just start creating comics. Stop talking and start doing. I know too many people who have a “great” story they want to do, but never put rubber to road. Just start. Now. Start with 5-10 page stories. Build to single issues and then focus on doing longer stories once you have that down – once you’ve discovered your voice. Scrap your idea for a 200 issue epic. Start small and grow.

Follow Ed’s work at http://edbrisson.com/

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: career, creativity, drawing, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, lettering, making comics, Marvel Comics, Murder Book, pro tips, productivity, self-publishing, storytelling, workflow, Writing, writing for comics

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