Comics Reporter updates local scene list

Tom Spurgeon has posted a call for updates and corrections to his “Comics by Local Scene” feature. This mind-bogglingly long list groups creators, retailers, publishers, and other comics organizations according to their metropolitan area.

It’s an interesting feature, and can be a big help to younger creators who are looking to make connections with more professionals who live in their area. If you’re networking with the creators, though, remember one simple rule: be polite and professional, not pushy, insulting, or creepy.

I’ve submitted an update on some of the Kansas City crew that Spurgeon was missing, and I’m looking forward to the updates when they’re released.

You can follow The Comics Reporter on Twitter.

10 Questions for Hector Casanova

Hector Casanova
Hector Casanova

Hector Casanova is an illustrator and comics artist based in the Kansas City area. He is an illustrator and cartoonist for the Kansas City Star, artist of Image Comics’ Screamland, and produces a wide variety of illustration and fine art for various outlets.

You can find out more about him and his work at www.hectorcasanova.net.

Question 1: When did you first decide that you wanted to create your own comics for a living?

I have wanted to draw comics ever since I was a little kid. I didn’t have a TV for most of my childhood, so I had other ways to keep myself entertained. One was to make my own comics. I would fold a bunch of blank sheets of paper in half, staple them together and make a little booklet first. Then I would just go to town and fill them with a comic that I apparently was making up as I went along. I only have vague memories of these, and the plotlines are what you’d expect from a seven-year-old. In one, a mugger would try to mug a guy who turned out to be the Hulk. Bad call. There would be fighting and rampaging, the mugger would get dead and the Hulk out of control, and Spider-Man would end up teaming up with the Dinobots in order to go stop the Hulk, who in the end was only mad at the mugger. That kind of thing. What I would give to have all these original booklets still. I have a few drawings from my childhood in a box, but not many.

Question 2: Who has had the biggest influence on you outside the comics industry, and how did they affect your life?

My mother. It was her idea to get rid of the TV, and she always was very supportive of my “artistic pursuits.” She would let me draw on my bedroom walls, that kind of thing. And she would take me to art museums and ask me to explain t0 her what I liked or disliked about paintings and sculptures. So she had me thinking about art critically before I even understood what an art career really was or could be.

Question 3: Who has had the biggest influence on your comics career, and how has that person changed your work?

Two answers. From an aesthetic and formal point of view, Bill Sienkiewicz. He was the first artist I saw who approached comics from a wholly different angle. He broke my preconceptions of the medium, and through his work I was able to see how much unexplored ground there still is. I’ll always owe him for that.

And from a practical standpoint, it was Tom Dolphens, the Art Director at the Kansas City Star, which is the major daily newspaper in the area. While going to art school, I took one of the classes he taught. Illustration Processes I think it was called, basically a mixed media painting class. After being his student, he gave me my first freelance job doing illustration. Then an internship. Then a full time job as a staff illustrator after school. And the chance to make my own comic strip for the Star. That guy has given me more breaks than… a very breaky thing.

Hector Casanova illustrated the covers for the Screamland mini-series from Image Comics. (Click to enlarge.)

Question 4: What do you do to recharge your creative batteries?

Travel. Friends. Hedonism. Basically I seek out experiences intense enough to make me feel I have something to make art about. My love for making art is only rivaled by love of living life and getting into crazy shenanigans. I’ll go for months without making much art, just goofing off and recharging. And then I’ll go for months barely leaving the studio to go buy food.

Question 5: Describe your typical work routine.

It really depends on what I am doing. The truth is I hardly have any set methodology. For a while it was that I would draw everything pen and ink on paper, then scan that, and finish the colors in Painter and Photoshop. That held true for many years. But even that has come to change now. I keep my process fluid and intuitive. I look at stuff I have made and I only vaguely know how I did it. Sometimes I do most of it traditional — watercolors, ink, etc., and sometimes I will do it all digital. Most of the time it’s somewhere in between. I get bored pretty easily, so I can never stick to a formula for too long. It makes my work look eclectic as hell, like it was done by ten different artists. But for me the pleasure is in the fluid process of making images itself. If I know exactly what I am going to do, then I have already lost interest before I even got started.

Question 6: What writing, drawing, or other tools do you use?

In the last couple years I started using color pencils to sketch. First rough sketch, just trying to get the composition, with a yellow pencil. Then tighten it up with blue or red pencil. And then ink over that with speedball nibs and sumi ink. I like not having to erase the graphite pencil marks — which typically leads to smudging the ink, because I am impatient and need to scan the inked drawing to color it in the computer. The color pencil lines are easy enough to drop out in Photoshop. And then I just mess with it on Photoshop or Painter until it’s done or it is due, whichever comes first.

The Joker as imagined by Hector Casanova. (Click to enlarge.)

Question 7: What element of your work gives you the most personal satisfaction?

I am hardly ever satisfied with my work, at least not for long. I am very critical of it, always aware of my mistakes. When I finish an illustration, the honeymoon period of being proud of what did rarely lasts more than a few days before I start fixating on the things I should’ve done differently. I don’t dwell on it, and I move on to the next thing. I have been known to fall into a spiral and not being able to leave something alone. It’s not a good thing to do. Deadlines are good, they force me to walk away.

So, in terms of satisfaction, I do enjoy seeing my work around town, and on different places. I enjoy doing logos and posters for bands, and then seeing my stuff all over, on t-shirts and belt buckles. And I like that by the time it gets to that stage, it’s not about me or my ego, it’s just a — hopefully — arresting image floating around. Just a couple weeks ago, a fan in Engalnd sent me a picture of his tattooo: It was an image from The Lurkers, a comic that I did with Steve Niles. That made my day.

Question 8: What has been the most rewarding project in your professional career – in or out of comics – and why?

Oh man. Nope. I am hoping the most rewarding project is still ahead. Like I said, I am a bad father and I find faults in all my children.

Though I am still proud of the work I did for Screamland. Especially the second half, after I had found my groove and the work was flowing. Some of that is still very pretty to my eyes.

Question 9: We’ve all met very talented newcomers who are trying to get their first professional projects. What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard given to a promising new creator?

Do it for yourself. Set your standards super high, and then try to meet them. Make the kinds of comics that you think the world needs more of. Which typically means not the kind of stuff you grew up on, but instead strive for new ground. People may or may not get it, but if you stick with it, eventually you’ll get somewhere new. I think that applies to any art medium, not just comics.

Question 10: Time to get philosophical: What’s the most important “big idea” that you’ve learned in life – in or out of comics – and why is it important?

Sniff before you nibble. It could save your life.

Also, don’t cross the streams. Or pee on the electric fence, spit into the wind, or poke a bear with a stick.

I think having a balanced life, taking the time to take your mind and heart and body on adventures is essential to making art — and to being happy. You can’t make good art if you don’t have anything to make art about.

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10 Questions for Kevin Mellon

Kevin Mellon has quickly developed a reputation as a top-notch artist, and is now making his move into writing some of his own material. You may have seen his work on GearHead (Arcana), Thirteen Steps (Desperado), Teddy Scares (APE), Ghosting (Platinum), GunPlay (Platinum), Comic Book Tattoo (Image) Antoine Sharpe, The Atheist Vol. 2 (Desperado), Hack/Slash (Devil’s Due), and This Is A Souvenir: The Songs of Spearmint and Shirley Lee (Image, 2009).

You’ll be able to see more of his work in Hack/Slash #20 (Devil’s Due). He’s also currently working on a graphic novel for AiT/PlanetLar with his Gearhead co-creator Dennis Hopeless. Plus, he’s writing and drawing a series called Suicide Sisters planned for 2010.

Kevin lives in the Kansas City suburb of Blue Springs, Missouri, which also happens to be the home base of ComicsCareer.Com. In fact, he lives just a few short blocks from where this is typed. If you can’t invite him over to house like we have, you’ll have to settle for learning more about him from his website, www.kevinmellon.com.

Question 1: When did you first decide that you wanted to create your own comics for a living?

Hmm. Either when I was 12, or when I was 26. Depends on how you look at it. I started making up my own stories and drawing them out at the age of 12 and made several hundred pages of comics throughout middle and high school. I went to the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art for college and graduated in 2002. After screwing around for a few years after college, I was 26 and I decided I needed to actually give making comics a formal go and got to work on making comics and finding publishers.

Question 2: Who has had the biggest influence on you outside the comics industry, and how did they affect your life?

Outside? Good question. One of my good friends who has nothing to do with comics, but has always supported me in everything I’ve ever done; she’s been a constant and heavy influence and support system. Other than that, my grandmother on my mom’s side was a huge influence on my going to college and doing something with my art.

Question 3: Who has had the biggest influence on your comics career, and how has that person changed your work?

Someone I don’t know: Dave Sim. His “Letters from the President” in the front of Cerebus during the 90’s that later became the “Cerebus Guide To Self-Publishing” was so life-changing and scope-broadening I don’t know how anyone gets along without knowing at least some of the things he talks about in there.

Someone I know, met, or studied under: I don’t know that I can narrow it to one person. Phil Hester, Ande Parks, Steve Lightle, Richard Corben, Dennis Hopeless, Tony Moore, Steven Sanders, Joe Kubert, Frank Teran, Charles Perkalis, Fernando Ruiz, The Joe Kubert School graduating class of 2002, and the list goes on. There are so many people and things that have been too influential in me being where I’m at now to just short-shrift it to one person. The last two years have seen the amount of people I know in this industry grow so fast that they all have had some kind of influence.

Question 4: What do you do to recharge your creative batteries?

Walk away from the work. Sometimes the best thing can be just doing something else for a bit. Letting my mind focus on something else so I can come back with a fresh perspective.

Question 5: Describe your typical work routine.

Heh. The only really typical thing is sitting at the desk. But to generalize, I get up and make coffee and answer emails and mess around on the Internet for a few hours. I find it next to impossible to start work within two hours of getting up, so I don’t. I might watch some TV, or run errands.

After being up for about four or five hours I can usually get to work. Then — depending on what needs to be done — I will vary how I work throughout the rest of the day. If I’m doing thumbnails and layouts then I try to keep as focused and concentrated as I can, no music, TV, or other distractions. If I’m penciling or inking then I’m listening to podcasts or albums. Usually I try to find things to listen to that are really long so I don’t break my concentration by finding something new to listen to all the time. I try to take a short break every hour or so and walk around the house to get away from what I’m doing for a second. I usually pencil and ink in batches, so I’ll pencil a couple of pages a day for a week, then ink them the next week.

I try to stop every workday at a good point in my mood, regardless of how much or little I’ve gotten done. If I’m getting frustrated I’m more apt to quit sooner rather than later. Working through stuff like that only happens sometimes. Other times it’s best for me to just come back to it another day or to switch to working on another page.

Question 6: What writing, drawing, or other tools do you use?

For writing I use a G4 Mac tower and Google Docs, Mac Stickies, and Text Edit. I write for myself to draw or to convey broad notions to other people, so I don’t have any word processing software on my computer. Plus, Google Docs does everything I need at this point and keeps things way more organized than I would ever think to. Plus they add new templates for formatting all the time so there’s that.

For penciling I use blue mechanical lead and whatever .05 holder isn’t pissing me off that week. I hate mechanical pencils but no one makes good blue lead for drafting lead holders yet. For regular lead I use Turquoise HB and 2H in a lead holder since I also can’t stand wood-cased pencils. Since I ink myself most of the time now, I pretty much don’t use regular lead anymore and just pencil in blue all the time. I have some wrist problems and erasing is utter hell on them so being able to drop the blue pencil out in Photoshop is a lifesaver.

For inking I’m kind of a whore, I’ll use whatever will get the job done, but I do have a few standby tools. I’m in love with Winsor-Newton Series 7 No. 2 brushes. I had one that lasted me eight years then I accidentally snapped the handle. I’m on my third one in the course of a year because I keep losing them. I’m sure W&N appreciates the business though. I use Hunt 108’s every now and then, and have been using Hunt 107’s a lot lately. I used to use Micron 02, 03 and 05’s a lot, but the 107 is replacing all of those and with less hassle. Plus, bottle ink is pretty much always superior to marker ink. Speaking of which, I was using Higgins Super-Black and Dr. Ph. Martins Black for inking up until a few months ago. I now use Yasutomo Sumi Ink that I buy in the big bottles and then poor into a smaller container as needed.

Paper: Strathmore Bristol 300 ply Smooth. I buy the pads of 20 sheets at 14″x17″ and then cut off the 3 inches on the side to make them 11×17. I scan in my thumbnails and turn them blue and then re-size them to 10×15 and print them out myself so it’s way more cost effective to buy the pads of paper than to buy pre-lined board.

Question 7: What element of your work gives you the most personal satisfaction?

Conveying mood and emotion on the page in an effective way. Also, drawing people who look like they are alive on the page.

Question 8: What has been the most rewarding project in your professional career – in or out of comics – and why?

Each of my creator-owned things I’m working on has had it’s own new set of rewards. Gearhead was my first book, and it was also my first published work, so I guess that will always have a special place.

Question 9: We’ve all met very talented newcomers who are trying to get their first professional projects. What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard given to a promising new creator?

Do the work. Nothing in this world, let alone this job, comes without working extremely hard for it.

Question 10: Time to get philosophical: What’s the most important “big idea” that you’ve learned in life – in or out of comics – and why is it important?

We’re all connected. We are all human and experience the same emotions, and we all go through a lot of the same things in life. It’s our nature to feel utterly alone and completely connected all at the same time. Telling stories to each other through creative means allows us to bridge both of those gaps.

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