Rough Stuff #9 Preview

No. 9 SUMMER 2008

$6.95

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

Featuring

JOE JUSKO MEL RUBI SCOTT WILLIAMS ROB HAYNES FOUR Interviews!

FOUR Galleries!

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

INKERS: WHO NEEDS ’EM?!

by Bob McLeod

ROUGH CRITIQUE

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Volume 1, Number 9 Summer 2008

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

EDITOR

Bob McLeod PUBLISHER

John Morrow DESIGNER

Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington COVER ARTIST

Joe Jusko CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Productions

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEW 3 18

Joe Jusko

48

Mel Rubi

66

Scott Williams

SPECIAL THANKS Rob Haynes Joe Jusko Mel Rubi

Rob Haynes

ROUGH STUFF FEATURE 56

Inkers, Who Needs ’Em?!

Bob McLeod

Scott Williams Tim Townsend Rudy Vasquez Ruben Azcona

ROUGH STUFF™ is published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Bob McLeod, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: ROUGH STUFF, c/o Bob McLeod, Editor, P.O. Box 63, Emmaus, PA 10849-2203. E-mail: mcleod.bob@gmail.com. Fourissue subscriptions: $26 Standard US, $36 First Class US, $44 Canada, $60 Surface International, $72 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Central cover art by Joe Jusko. All characters are copyright Marvel Comics. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2008 Bob McLeod and TwoMorrows Publishing. ROUGH STUFF is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

ISSN 1931-9231

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS 2

Scribblings From The Editor Bob McLeod

16

Cover Stories Joe Jusko reveals the process of creating a cover.

44

PrePro Art by Rob Haynes, Joe Jusko, Scott Williams, and Mel Rubi, done before they turned pro.

84

Rough Critique Editor Bob McLeod critiques an aspiring penciler’s sample page.

86

Rough Talk Comments and opinions from our readers.

SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

1

INTERVIEW

ROB HAYNES I think I had just fin-

ROB HAYNES

By Tim Townsend

I

n an industry driven by trends and big name-artists there exists a subculture, one that flies under the radar of the average fan but is well known amongst its peers. This group consists of artists who, for one reason or another, have avoided the limelight or do not have countless volumes of high profile work on the shelves. This group also happens to contain some of the best talent our art form has to offer. Many brandname profes-

ished about five or six characters from Tim Townsend’s commission list, that I wanted to hand to you all at once. And I remember thinking that they might not seem like the most exciting characters of the bunch, so I added in this Hellboy to spice it up.

sionals have been intensely influenced by these individuals and regularly refer to them and their work for inspiration and knowledge.

One of these quiet geniuses goes by the name of Rob Haynes. Rob has not only influenced an entire generation of artists but has also pioneered a particular style and approach to comic book illustration that has caught on like wildfire. There are those who have been influenced by his work without even realizing it, having been influenced by someone who was influenced by Rob. We [comic artists] are an incestuous lot.

In 1998 I had the distinct pleasure of having Rob and his partner in crime, colorist David Self, move into my home as roommates, having been introduced by mutual friend and artist, Casey Jones. For the next four years I witnessed, first hand, Rob’s coming-of-age. I watched him find his voice right before my eyes. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, it changed and influenced me as an artist forever. Rob is not a shy person, but is a man of relatively few words unless he has something to say. He is motivated by neither fame nor money. He is, quite simply, driven to draw “cool pictures.”

I realize that a good interviewer does not interject themselves into the subject matter.

The focus should be solely on the interviewee. The nature of this conversation with Rob as well as the rich past we share lent itself to personal anecdotes and familiar insights on my part. I wanted to let you, the reader, eavesdrop on one of our classic late-night four-hour blab sessions.

SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

3

ROB HAYNES This is a piece I did for Randy and Laura Martin because I heard I might be able to trade them for a copy of the hardcover Authority book she colored. I’ve probably dragged my feet too long to get a copy of that book, but I haven’t finished the Edward Scissorhands picture I did for Randy yet, and I have this stupid idea that I need to send them together.

Anyway, this is typi-

TIM TOWNSEND: Tell us a little about yourself,

cally how I work. I

Rob. When and where were you born? Who

started with a doodle

were you as a child that put you on the road to

of these two lovers

creativity and, more in particular, comic books?

fighting back-to-back,

ROB HAYNES: Hey bud! I’m a ’70s kid from

and just kept adding

Charlotte, North Carolina. My mother and father

chaos from there.

were both writing and voicing in radio, and my father created and played a character on TV

BOB McLEOD

called, “Dead Ernest.” He put on face-paint

Laying out this type

with fangs and hopped out of a coffin every

of complex scene

week to host horror movies on local stations in

really baffled me

Charlotte and Atlanta, I think. So, I was around

when I was starting

colorful, creative folks from the beginning. So

out. Where does one

every day I can remember as a child, I was fas-

begin? Neal Adams

cinated with larger-than-life characters with

explained it to me:

superhero costumes and superpowers. Still am.

Decide on the viewpoint and place the center of interest.

Then, as I studied John Buscema, I learned to design everything using

TOWNSEND: Under those circumstances, how could you be anything other than a comic book artist? That’s fantastic! Which came first, the drawing or the comic books? Usually one seems to lead to the other but not always in the same order.

HAYNES: My love for comics definitely came first. I drew about as often as any other kid growing up,

who would choreograph ninja fights with me on the roof

diagonals, with large

but a handful of my childhood friends were more artistic

of my garage which always ended with one of us getting

shapes balancing

and polished than I was. I desperately wanted to have the

pinned and suchlike. Also, when you get silly ideas in

small shapes. Finally,

skill, but didn’t have the patience for it. I was more into

your head that everyone around you is better than you at

as I studied Tom

playing outside any chance I got back then. I played

drawing, then you might not put as much time into it.

Palmer, I learned to

some sports, but I also like playing “war” with all the

Know what I mean?

balance blacks

neighborhood kids and their toy guns (my step-dad didn’t

throughout the scene.

allow toy guns for some reason), and I had a girlfriend

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ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

So, I was sure that I would either become a lawyer or an actor. I took some law classes in high school and loved

it, and acted in stage plays for about six or seven years. But I was also at the comic store every week. A friend of the family who collected

Bound School in the

These were some of

Carolina Mountains. I

Marvel Comics in New York when I was about

was put with a group of

15 years old. I did the tour and got the spinning

ROB HAYNES

****ing steep North

comics, Ruth Castleberry, set up a trip for me to

some free comics out of

went to the Outward

kids who really wanted to be there. Some of them applied for scholarships. Me, I was miserable for most of it. I think I was cured of my love for the outdoors. No tents; no cabins; just hike every day with close to sixty pounds on your back, and wherever we stopped at night, hang up a blue plastic tarp over ten of us plus the ten million bugs for about a month. Actually we all did a lot of great things there, but I just had a typical teenager

rack in the lobby — I have that comic rack now, thanks to you Tim — and got

attitude about the whole thing.

the first few images from the animated sequence I did to see if Flash and Adobe Streamline could handle the style I was finishing my drawings, without degrading the line quality. Even though I was inking most of my work with a simple dead line, that Daredevil pose was one of the first

Long story short, I got my attitude adjusted. And, I

times I felt that I didn’t

a quick education about how comics were made at

learned maybe my best personal lesson about drawing.

Marvel. I never thought of it as a real job until then; a cool

We were all spending a 48-hour period solo — no con-

leave too many extra

job. But I didn’t have the skill or the practice, or the drive.

tact with each other at all — in some very dense forest. I

I got the drive very soon after in an unlikely place. I

was almost always able to keep myself entertained with

think it was the next summer after visiting Marvel when I

my own thoughts as a kid, but not for 48 hours in a row.

We were allowed pencil and paper, but no music or books. And, all I could think was that I wish I could draw well enough to keep myself entertained. Writing alone

shapes and lines out of fear that there wasn’t enough there.

Daredevil and Bullseye TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

just wasn’t cutting it. It was frustrating.

So after that experience at age 15, I really put all my thought and effort into learning how to draw. I sort of thought I would have to explain that lawyers and actors lie for money, and that drawing stories might be a little less dishonest. My parents were mostly hands-off because they both had careers, but on this I received encouragement from them. They even paid for my first trip to San Diego Con a few years later after I graduated high school so I could get advice from editors and artists.

TOWNSEND: I love the fact that, of all the various sources of inspiration and stimuli, the one that affected you the most, Outward Bound, had the least to do with art or comics. I can relate in a roundabout way having gone through a very structured and militant

training in art school.

When you’re pushed to your limits, things have a way of falling

SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

5

COVER STORIES

W

hether a cover is inked or painted, it still needs to be approved in sketch form, then a finished drawing is done. But even after the sketch is approved, the artist may come up with a better idea and make some unexpected changes.

JOE JUSKO In the Clutches of the Blood Red Queen Sketch In the initial cover sketch my original intention was to have flames shooting up from the bottom of the painting, since the Queen is a demonic presence. I also included her ornate collar into the design in the shape of a heart, as a play on her name. The intention was already at this point to design it as a montage, as the first cover I did of the two of them was a literal scene and I wanted to do something different.

Pencil In the final working pencil I did away with the collar as I felt it was to distracting and confused the composition.

You really need to become an objective editor where your own art is concerned. I’m undecided at this point about the flames at the bottom, also. I want something a little more “design-y.”

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ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

Final Painting The dripping blood was just what I needed to give the piece the graphic design element I was looking for, and painting the Queen in hot color gave her the demonic indication she needed. Painting Vampi in darker, cooler values separated her from the background and emphasized the montage effect.

BOB McLEOD It’s very difficult to draw a smile from this angle, as Joe’s rough sketch shows. In fact, the whole head is difficult, so study this well. The final painting (see it in glorious color in our $2.95 downloadable PDF version) is a great study piece for anatomy. Notice where the ears are on the large head, and the wonderfully foreshortened arm.

Would you have drawn the breast that low? Well, that’s where it goes! And here’s your chance to learn how to draw high-heeled shoes!

SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

17

INTERVIEW

JOE JUSKO W

By Bob McLeod

orking as a NYC police officer wasn’t tough enough for Joe Jusko, so he decided to become one of the best fantasy artists in the world. He set the standard for painted trading cards with his 1992 Marvel Masterpieces cards, and his awesome 1995 Burroughs cards. He’s won two “Favorite

Painter” Wizard Fan Awards, several trading card awards, a Burroughs Bibliophiles Golden Lion Award and a Chesley Award nomination for best cover in 2001. He also recently painted a graphic novel based on Lara Croft and won a Certificate of Merit from the Society of Illustrators. And to really rub it in, he’s a very nice guy.

JOE JUSKO Vampirella Tree Sketch

BOB McLEOD: Hi, Joe.

JUSKO: Every graduating

Welcome to Rough Stuff,

class had awards granted

and thanks for that beau-

from different companies

tiful cover! We all have to

to the top student in each

start somewhere. What

of the art majors that the

was the first pro painting

school taught. I was an

you ever did? Do you

Illustration major, but

remember?

somehow received the

JOE JUSKO: I got really

Cartooning award from

lucky in that regard! I had

DC. It was a congratula-

just graduated from

tory letter from Sol

NYC’s High School of Art

Harrison on DC letter-

& Design, and despite

head and a $25 gift cer-

winning DC Comics’

tificate to an art supply

“Award of Excellence” in

store. I still have the letter

image that evoked

cartooning I had decided

framed in my studio, and I

memories of the orig-

that I wanted to paint,

used the gift certificate to

inal Enric covers

instead.

buy my first brushes and

I was looking for an

tubes of paint! $25 went

from the Warren magazines. It’s

McLEOD: Whoa! Tell me

a long way in 1977!

become the most

about this Award of

(laughs) The award was

Excellence. What was it,

incredibly reassuring and

and what did it mean?

obviously much appreciated,

popular Vampi image I’ve painted.

18

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

of the sample pieces I painted for a cover! I was 17

JOE JUSKO

years old at the time. I don’t remember what they paid

Heavy Metal

me (I think it was $250) but I would have given them the

June ’78

painting for free had they asked, as Heavy Metal was the

My very first pub-

“It” magazine of the time and getting a cover was a very big deal! By the way, Chaykin hates the name “Howie”!

I’m sure wherever he is, his ears are perking like a Dachshund hearing a dog whistle! (laughs)

lished cover. Were I to paint this today the only change I would make would be to

McLEOD: Yeah, I know. I think of him more as a

shoot a model for the

Doberman, though. Hi, Howard! Wow, 17 years old! I’m

figure. The composi-

impressed. Do you remember what issue of Heavy Metal

tion still works fine.

that first painting was used for?

It’s actually been

JUSKO: As I remember, it was the June 1978 cover. I

cropped by about 4"

know who owns it, and I’ve been trying to track him

on the top and bottom

down to get it back. It would be nice to have for senti-

to fit the magazine.

mental reasons if nothing else.

evidenced by the fact that I still have it all these years later! The irony for me has always been that DC has given me almost no work in the past 30 years. One of those things that make you go “Hmmm?.”

McLEOD: Don’t get me started on irony in the comic book business. So what did you do next?

JUSKO: I spent the gift certificate money I received on a sampling of paints; everything from watercolors to oils. I played with them all over that summer and ended up with a couple of decent mixed media pieces, since I was teaching myself and didn’t really have a handle on any particular medium.

McLEOD: How did you transition from talented amateur to published pro?

JUSKO: That fall I met Howard Chaykin in a Greenwich Village comic shop, and was hired as his assistant based on those few painting samples.

McLEOD: Meeting the right people can really be key. If I hadn’t met Neal Adams, I’d probably have had an entirely different career. So Howie helped you?

JUSKO: During that period I was doing backgrounds and painted effects on Empire, Cody Starbuck and various comic stories, including all of the backgrounds on a Red Sonja backup story for Savage Sword of Conan.

Eventually, he sent me up to Heavy Metal magazine to meet with editor Julie Simmons and she purchased one SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

19

JOE JUSKO Sheena croc sketch Just a really cool slam bang jungle action piece! The monkey was shifted to just out of reach of the croc’s jaws in the final painting.

BOB McLEOD Notice the arc created by the tree limb in the upper right going down to her left arm and flowing down to her thigh and then into the panther’s front leg. An opposing arc is created by the croc’s mouth moving down through his leg, creating an ‘X’ design.

But there’s also a circular design created by the placement of darks, framing Sheena in the center.

20

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

JOE JUSKO Vampirella: Bloodlust #1 Pages #’s 2 & 3 This was the big reveal in the story, and needed an epic presentation. It’s always fun composing rolling landscapes like this.

The inset panel balances out the dark areas of the page, keeping it from looking bottom-heavy.

Something no one has ever caught is the reflection of only one sun in her eyes although there are two in the sky. Oops!

SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

35

PRE-PRO

I

love seeing what really good artists drew when they were just kids, or when they were close to breaking in, but not quite there. This issue all of our featured artists shared some of their early work.

ROB HAYNES I just found this. I’ve thought it was lost for several years. It’s the first comic book I ever drew. I loved ninja movies, and I loved Frank Miller’s Ronin story. I wanted to do a sequel, with a ninja. Most of the ideas were stolen from American Ninja, GI: Joe #21, a two-issue story where Spider-Man fought the Galactus herald Firelord, and Ronin. I made it a little over 30 pages in, before I got frustrated with my lack of practice. I was at the end of sixth grade when I started imagining the first page, and kept drawing more until I was 15 years old. Four years later I inked the first few pages and drew a cover. Even then, I felt like I learned something from inking old art, but I only had to ink those four pages before I just started on a new comic with new drawings. The Daredevil: Ninja books gave me a chance to recapture whatever craziness I was trying to capture so long ago. There are definitely influences in that series from my memory of this.

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ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

JOE JUSKO

JOE JUSKO

Centurius and the Giant

Centurius Bar Brawl

Centurius was my high

My penchant for over-rendering my high school

school answer to

work is evident in this piece. I was playing with

Conan. I’ve been a John

both pens and brushes, trying for a more

Buscema geek since I

detailed Neal Adams style line. Obviously, I

was a kid, and his influ-

failed miserably!

ence is all over this page. I was about 16 when I did this.

JOE JUSKO Centurius and the Witch A pretty nice page from my initial Centurius story. Ambitious amount of detail and a decently drawn girl, but what stands out for me now is that none of the background settings match from panel to panel. Continuity is completely nonexistent! Again, done in junior year.

SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

45

INTERVIEW

MEL RUBI

By Bob McLeod

M

el Rubi is yet another in the long line of great Filipino comic artists. There must be something in the water over there. He’s worked for Valiant, Marvel, and Dark Horse and just keeps getting better with every job. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, as I was, you’re going to be glad you picked up this issue of Rough Stuff.

BOB McLEOD: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Mel. I just recently discovered your work when Ruben Azcona mentioned you to me, but I know you’ve been working in comics for a

McLEOD: 1993! I didn’t realize you’d been around that long. What was your first assignment?

RUBI: Dr. Strange was my very first series to have drawn as a rookie. At that time, I wasn’t

few years now. How did you first break

that thrilled to work on this title. I

into comics? Was Marvel the first publisher

would’ve preferred something along the

to give you work?

X-Men line. Who wouldn’t, right? But after

MEL RUBI: It took almost three years to finally

awhile I started to feel the character and

break in. I remember standing in line for

began to have fun with it.

many hours for a portfolio review and just when it was

McLEOD: Did you have a favorite prior Dr.

my turn to show my work the

Strange artist?

editors would say that they will no

RUBI: I would have to say Michael Golden

longer review for the day.

was inspiring when he took on Dr. Strange.

McLEOD: Yes, I’ve seen that

McLEOD: Yes, he’s always inspiring on whatev-

happen before at conven-

er he does, but my favorite Dr. Strange artist was

tions! How frustrat-

probably Gene Colan, inked by Tom Palmer. So

ing for you!

RUBI: It was awful!

But with patience and endurance, I succeeded with not only one publisher but two at Wonder Con back in 1993.

what happened to cause you to leave Dr. Strange?

RUBI: Just when I got comfortable with the book they pulled me away to work on a cooler character called the Punisher. Well, hopefully, there’ll come a time for Dr. Strange and me to reunite.

Marvel and Valiant loved my art!

And the rest is history.

McLEOD: Well, I think Dr. Strange is way cooler than the Punisher, so I hope

48

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

MEL RUBI This is how I usually begin on my pages and I would go straight to finishes.

Wolverine TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

50

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

Courtesy Ruben Azcona

that happens. What factors were involved in the decision

afraid to lose some of the art after printing.

to print from your pencils, with no inking? That means tighter penciling for you, right?

McLEOD: I do think it’s always a challenge in inking not

RUBI: My pencils had always been tight. I’ve never really

to lose any of the quality of the pencils. Are you self-

had complaints with inkers and this played a big role.

taught, or did you go to art school or college?

RUBI: My original goal was to be an architect, but I

McLEOD: Whose idea was it? I’ve been told it’s usually

found my real passion was for art. I took various art

only done at the penciller’s request.

classes from a local college, but I’m mostly self-taught.

RUBI: After trying out for Dynamite’s Red Sonja, the editors didn’t see any reason why the art should be traced

McLEOD: It’s interesting that so many comic artists are

over with black inks.

self-taught. It’s just difficult to learn all this stuff in art schools. Nobody was teaching comic art when I was in

McLEOD: Do you always prefer printing from pencils, or

school, and it’s still difficult today unless you travel to the

do you usually like inked comics?

right area. Who were your main influences?

RUBI: It really depends who’s drawing the art. If you

RUBI: My influence at the time, believe it or not, was Todd

look at Mike Mignola’s latest work without inks, it just

McFarlane. He had some of the greatest energy in his artwork

wouldn’t have the kind of mood that you likely expect.

that you just couldn’t stop staring at his pages. But the greatest influence to me would still be Frank Frazetta.

McLEOD: That’s true. He uses so much black, he needs the weight inking provides.

McLEOD: I love Frazetta. He’s just amazing. What’s your

RUBI: And with his art being so blocky it could not satis-

process, do you lightbox from a rough, do thumbnails,

fy a reader by just pencils. On the other hand, if you

blue pencil, or what?

were to see Adam Hughes before inks you might just be

RUBI: I start from thumbnails and stopped blue penciling SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

51

Inkers, Who

N

By Bob McLeod

o doubt the vast majority of comic book readers probably haven’t even noticed, but with the advent of computer coloring in recent years, more and more comic books have been printed directly from the pencils, with no bothersome inking involved. The colorist gets scans of the pencils and simply adjusts the gray pencil line to appear black. Some cleanup is required, but it’s much less trouble than inking

the page. A good example of this phenomenon is the recent work of artist Mel Rubi, who’s featured in this issue. His Spider-Man/Red Sonja miniseries was printed

directly from his pencils. It looks pretty similar to any other current comic, except

that the rendering is a bit lighter, but the coloring more than compensates for that.

This begs the question, is inking at all necessary anymore? Are comic book inkers doomed to extinction?

Will they soon be shown the door and asked to turn the lights off in the ink room as they leave? Well no, because there is no ink room. All comic artists either mail,

n’t the inker add anything to the pencils? Usually and

e-mail or upload their work these days. But publishers are

hopefully they do, yes, but not nearly so much as they

always looking for ways to cut costs, and using an

used to. I love this Rumsfeld trick of asking and answer-

inker adds anywhere from $2500 to $3000 to the cost of producing a comic. I’ve been told Marvel pays the colorists extra for the clean-

ing my own questions, don’t you? Well, no, er, maybe... but just what does the inker do, anyway? Sadly, to my

ing-pencils trick, and they also pay the pen-

eternal chagrin, few people real-

ciler extra to pencil so clean, so if that’s

ly know the answer to this mys-

the case there’s probably not much

terious question. More than once

monetary advantage to skipping the

I’ve told someone I inked a comic and

inks. Yet the number of uninked comics seems to be increasing, and

their reply was “You mean you colored it?”

Or even worse, “You mean you traced the drawing with

less rendering-intensive styles could

ink?” How did we ever get to this sorry pass, anyway?

be developed that are much easier to

Just what is an inker? Or maybe the question will soon

print uninked. Rendering styles are

be “what was an inker?”

constantly changing anyway and the

Traditionally, before computers and digitalization, the

market would adjust to whatever style

printer’s camera couldn’t discern a gray pencil line well

is adopted.

enough, so inking was necessary to make a clear black

“But waitaminit” you say; or if you don’t say it I will.

“Hey, waitaminit here!” Can the penciler really draw

56

cleanly enough to do without the inker? Well, many can, sure, if they want to take the time and trouble. But does-

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

line that would print well, and the inker made clean, hopefully attractive rendering lines in ink and added or

Needs ’Em?!

Gil Kane and Tom Palmer Man-Thing #10 (Marvel, 1974) In the ’70s, Gil Kane’s dynamic pencils became increasingly more open with sparse rendering. Tom Palmer’s lush thickthin ink style added layer upon layer of intricate detail that was not in the pencils.

It was this kind of detailed rendering that inspired me and others as inkers, and also inspired the next generation of pencilers.

Scan courtesy Heritage

Man-Thing TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

57

Frank Miller and Klaus Janson Daredevil #189 pg.18 (Marvel, 1982).

Klaus Janson took Miller’s sparse layouts and added complex Adams/ Palmer, Giordano inspired rendering and effects such as the duo-tone used in panel one and the zip-a-tone in the last two panels to strongly influence the next generation of pencilers and inkers.

Scan courtesy Heritage

Daredevil, Black Widow, Stone TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

INTERVIEW

SCOTT WILLIAMS D

By Bob McLeod

oes anyone who reads comics not know who Scott Williams is? He’s of course best known as Jim Lee’s long-time inker, but he’s of course inked several other top artists as well. Other inkers use him as a

study guide, as he’s generally considered the “inker’s inker.” He’s also a great guy, and I was excited

to get a chance to interview him for Rough Stuff.

BOB McLEOD: Scott, welcome to Rough Stuff! Many

although I also use Rotring Rapidoliners as well. They are

other inkers tell me that among the inkers working today,

rapidographs with disposable cartridges and tips, which

you’re the one they most admire. They’ll all be dying to

aren’t nearly the maintenance

know so I must ask: I assume you use the usual Hunt 102

nightmare that tradition-

nib and Raphael 8404 #2 brush, but if not, can you tell us

al rapidographs

what tools and ink you typically use and prefer?

SCOTT WILLIAMS: You are correct about which tools I use specifically,

SCOTT WILLIAMS Batman pencils Just a basic Batman shot that was an excuse to show some dramatic lighting.

Batman ©2008 DC Comics

66

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

usually

SCOTT WILLIAMS Wolverine trading card From an X-Men card set circa mid ’90s.

Looks okay, but now I think Wolvie should be beefier. I guess I was thinking that this is Wolverine using his tracking skills, but I have no idea what he’s looking for.

Wolverine TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

are. The problem is that they are no longer made, and

always hated rapidographs until I found them, because

I’ve been trying to buy what I can off of eBay, where the

they always clogged. I can leave the cap off my

supply is really dwindling. If anyone out there has a

Rapidoliners for weeks and pick them up, shake them a

stockpile of .17 or .25 cartridges, drop me a line and I’ll

little, wet the tip a bit and they’re up and running. I use

make it worth your while!

the .25 and .35. I’m really sorry to hear they’ve been discontinued. I used them for panel borders and straight

McLEOD: Well you can’t have mine! I thought I was the

lines. I could even get some line variation with them by

only one who had discovered those Rapidoliners! I

pressing down harder or easier. I love those pens.

SUMMER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

67

SCOTT WILLIAMS All-Star Batman and Robin #9, pg. 22 Jim Lee: pencils Scott Williams: inks This was all about creating mood. I wanted the sky to be just dumping rain, so I used an inked tissue to create a drybrush effect. I think it was effective, but I wish I had put more rain and splatter throughout the rest of the piece.

Batman and Robin ©2008 DC Comics

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ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008

ROUGH CRITIQUE

By Bob McLeod

T

his month we have a nice, action-packed Batman sample page from the very talented Rudy Vasquez. I’m sure you’ll be seeing him working in mainstream comics soon. He’s very close to being ready, and may in fact get work before this critique is published. Rudy, your rendering is very advanced, so perhaps you should consider ink-

ing while you work on improving your penciling, as I did at the start of my career. Your anatomy is coming along pretty well, and your figures have a lot of weight and form. They look alive and dynamic. You’re also moving the camera around well.

But you do have some problems that really need to be addressed.

Even something as basic as the panel layout is important and can cause problems if not thought out carefully. Deleting the gutter between panels can cause forms in adjacent panels to combine into distracting shapes, such as in panel 5, where Batman appears to be growing out of the creature’s thigh from panel 4. Moving Batman down a bit helps fix that. Next, it’s important to try to balance the page as a whole. Yours is a bit too heavily weighted on the left, with so many large forms placed there. By flopping panels 2 & 3, the large forms in those panels add some needed balance on the right.

As with most every artist I see, pro(!) and amateur alike, your perspective is off. Every horizontally slanted line in the backgrounds should be receding toward a common vanishing point on the horizon. Your lines in panel 1 appear to be receding to a point far below the horizon established by the woman lying on the floor. Now let’s look panel by panel.

Panel 1: When placing forms in your panels, you want to avoid stacking them vertically on top of each other as you did here. It’s better to stagger them, or at least line them up diagonally rather than vertically. All composition is usually better when based on diagonals rather than verticals and horizontals. Remember that when positioning arms and legs, etc. Watch out for tangents, too, such as the sword point touching Batman’s arm (it should overlap Batman to add depth), and the creature’s knee bumping the heads of the onlookers (raise it up). Your creature is moving to the left, leading our eye off the page.

He should ideally move toward the right, to lead us to the next panel.

We also need to see his hand holding the sword, so it doesn’t appear to be hanging in space. I think her hand needs to be moved up so she doesn’t appear to be grabbing the panel border. Her fingers are awkwardly spread, too. It’s better to turn the hand slightly.

Panel 2: Batman’s right hand appears to be growing out of his armpit, with no arm, and his skull is too tall. You’re having trouble with heads in general, so study up on the skull. Never point a sword or any other object directly into the corner of the panel like this. It’s bad design, and it causes us to look at the panel border, which takes us out of the story. The wall should be bigger on the right and smaller on the left as it recedes toward a vanishing point on the horizon. Simply slanting it like this isn’t enough.

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ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2008