First off, what projects are you working on now?
I was self-employed for 20 years – I was a freelance illustrator until last Fall when Gary Vaynerchuk hired me to make comics for him. Now I’m working for him at VeeFriends. He has 250 characters he’s developing in cards and stickers and now we’re working on building stories around them in comic books.
I’m also working with Steven Bissette on Tyrant – a comic book he wrote years ago about the life of a T-Rex that we’re turning into a collection. It was one of the most beautifully done comics I had ever seen. I’d bring comics to my art teacher at college who would dismiss them until they say Tyrant – they said it was beautiful. So I’m excited to help put that together.
I also joined Power Pulp Comics. A bunch of us have banded together to act as a distributor for our own comics. There are 40 of us so people can but from all of us. It’s been fun – I get to work full-time with Gary but also get to do my own work as well.
Were there any mentors who helped you get started? How so?
I grew up in Connellsville and we didn’t have a comic book store there. I’d go to local comics shows and I met Ernie Steiner at one. I showed him my sketchbook and he said I had potential. He sent me a Batman script and had me illustrate it and gave me notes on it afterwards. He was generous with his time and help.
I also read a lot of interviews. This was before the internet – I was thirsty for knowledge on how to do it. So my mentors in a way were those in the industry that were interviewed – those good enough to get interviewed. Frank Miller was one – he was doing graphic novels before most were thinking about them -he was forward-thinking.
And Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird – they created Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were significant because they owned the characters – so they got paid for their usage in movies, TV, merchandise… Before that Marvel and DC had owned everything. When I saw that the dream changed from doing Spiderman type to owning my own work.
How did Pittsburgh influence you as an artist?
Marvel and DC – they have a process. One person writes, one pencils, one inks, on letters….it’s an assembly line process – the books get done quickly that way. But we didn’t have access to all of those people in Pittsburgh. We taught ourselves and did it all on our own. We wrote and got it published and that seemed natural. I think that separated us from others – and we all fed off each other as well. We had our own styles but we did it on our own and we were proud of that.
I also think texture-wise we were different. Aesthetically – we grew up in the rust belt. With digital creation the texture can be “shiny”. But we often have added our own texture in our work. Color that looks older – using dots and pulpy paper. I think regionally that makes us different maybe?
You approach is much different from the typical hero comics you see – what made you go that route with stories like Street Angel and Afrodisiciac?
It’s very intentional. Street Angel is the first character I created – I did that with Brian Maruca. He and I hit it off. It’s about a 13 year-old homeless ninja girl on a skateboard – the opposite of the super heroes you’d see at the time. I wanted to create something different. There were lots of Spiderman and Batman types of comics- I wanted something different to put next to them on the shelves. A character no one wants to switch places with. No one wants to do that with a homeless 13 year-old. I can read Spiderman and Batman – they make 20 of those a month.
After Street Angel I followed that with Afrodisiac. I started watching Blaxploitation movies and was fascinated by them. That is what inspired me to write Afrodisiac.
You’ve won a number of awards for your work – Eisner and Ignatz Awards, AIGA 50/50, Society of Illustrators Annual, and Investing in Professional Artists – what does that mean to you to win awards doing it your own unique way?
It’s a big deal. In some cases awards are popularity contests, but when you work hard in a room by yourself with no feedback, it’s validating to win those awards. It feels good.
It’s hard to judge how your art has worked or not. You hope what’s in your head makes sense to others and they see it as I see it. It’s difficult with any art – you’re so close to it you don’t see it like your audience does. It’s hard to evaluate it. The awards say the audience connected with it in a positive way. Art has its ups and downs – it helps you whenever you have doubts. You lean on peers and get support – you need that. The awards help to and help to validate what you do.
Where do your story ideas come from – is there a particular message(s) you look to deliver – a theme you care most about?
I don’t know that I have a message. Ideas come from all over the place. You can go to the grocery store and see a logo that makes you think of something. I had one idea to print a graphic novel in florescent ink – to have the first blacklight comic. I thought you could do that with a specific process. I talked to a friend who said that it would work. But, I didn’t have an actual story idea yet. So, I carried the blacklight printing idea around until an idea came up around a year later for a story.
Rick Rubin wrote a book on creativity and discussed how artists open up to the world in an abnormal way. They open up their field of vision more. More things capture your attention and as an artist you trust what you see that captures your attention most.
I had a design teacher in college around the time that desktop publishing was happening. He was old school. He talked about creativity and had us read a book that talked about ways to spark that. Changing the way you commute to work, for example. That opens you up to seeing new things and gives you new ideas.
We all have notebooks full of ideas we just don’t have the time to do them all.
You also did the Cartoonist Kayfabe’s profile podcast with Ed Piskor – how fun was that for you to use that platform to look back on the history of the industry like that -what did you learn?
Change is a constant in every industry. You have to change with the times.
The first thing I think about is community. When we started the podcast it was more promotional. A graphic novel can take years – we wanted to stay in front of people and this was a way to do that.
What I didn’t anticipate was the community we developed. That was the biggest surprise. When we didn’t know something there was always someone who had the answer. When we went to shows we’d interact with people there. I think about that now – it’s like the fans of a sports team – they are part of the culture.
What are you excited about – and what worries you – about the future of the industry?
I think the audience is more excited and engaged with comics than ever. More people are making them now and more are engaging with them in a number of ways. You can get them in libraries, bookstores, schools, comic book stores….they are ubiquitous. Seeing more people interact with them is a great sign.
When I was a kid I switched from superhero comics to other types of comics – and to Japanese comics. They served every genre – every age group. That’s my idea for the future of comics – comics for everyone. When I was a kid I bought comics as gifts for people and tried to match up comics to the interests of the people. In the 90s finding one for my uncle was impossible. Now you can find one for everyone.
Distribution has also gotten better and easier. You can read them on your phone and technology has helped us to reach more readers. 35 years ago you had to work with Marvel or DC Comics and they owned the work. Now we have the internet and can compete on our own and own our work. I can’t imagine what the pioneers of comics then would have bene able to do with today’s tools.
What about AI?
There’s more to comics than the product. When I went to Comic-Con AI came up of course and we discussed that you don’t make comics for the end product. You want to tell and read stories about the human experience. You can use AI to make comics – but I don’t think AI can duplicate that human experience. So I’m optimistic that comics as a whole will get better as more and more people get involved.