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Transformers

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

Shia Labeouf rips off comics creator Daniel Clowes – then continues to rip off everyone else

by Palle Schmidt 4 Comments

"It's all good, man. It's art"
“It’s all good, man. It’s art”

I’m sure you’ve heard of Lawless and Transformers star Shia Labeouf digging a hole for himself by now – the hole just keeps getting bigger!

27-year old Labeouf’s short film Howard Cantour.com which premiered at Cannes last year, was later revealed to include uncredited dialogue from Daniel Clowes’ comic Justin M Damiano. Labeouf apologized on Twitter in a seemingly heartfelt and eloquent fashion, which appears to have been lifted from Yahoo! Answers. When he apologized online to Alec Baldwin over a dispute on Broadway, he blatantly copy/pasted bits from an Esquire article, and in a recent e-mail exchange with Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston, Labeouf continues his rant against copyright and continues to plagiarize, quoting Picasso, Lawrence Lessig and Kenneth Goldsmith – all without mentioning the source.

His bizarro defense for stealing from Clowes include nuggets of wisdom such as:

Authorship is censorship
Should God sue me if I paint a river?
Should we give people the death sentence for parking violations-
You’ll not only have less parking violations but less DRIVERS.

Er…

As an artist and a writer, I find the discussion of inspiration versus stealing interesting. But honestly, the man who was the son of Dr. Jones in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls seems to have finally lost it. Or maybe he never had it in the first place.

Or as @FadedYouthBlog wrote in reply to Labeouf’s tweeted apology in the sky (see below): How do you manage to out-douche yourself each and every time?  It’s like a talent!

PS: I hope I have quoted and credited everyone correctly in this article. If not, let me know and I’ll fire up my skywriting plane.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Alec Baldwin, apology, Bleeding Cool, copyright, creativity, Daniel Clowes, Howard Cantour.com, Indiana Jones, Justin M Damiano, Picasso, plagiarism, Shia Labeouf, skywriting, Transformers

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