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No. 3 Winter 2007

$6.95

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

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RAIG RUS S

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EE WEEKS

P. C

HN BUSCEM

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YAN

MIKE ALLR

Featuring

64 1

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Volume 1, Number 3 January 2007

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics! EDITOR

Bob McLeod PUBLISHER

John Morrow DESIGNER

Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Christopher Irving COVER ARTIST

John Romita Jr. & Bob McLeod

FEATURED ARTISTS 3

Mike Allred

John Buscema

Yanick Paquette

P. Craig Russell

Lee Weeks

COVER COLORIST

Tom Ziuko CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Seastone Marketing Group

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEW 38

John Romita Jr.

SPECIAL THANKS Mike Allred Brad Burch Philippe Cordier Michael Eury Drew Geraci David Hamilton Klaus Janson Joe Jusko Michel Maillot Yanick Paquette Walt Parrish John Romita Jr. P. Craig Russell Bill Sienkiewicz Ken Steacy Lynn Walker Eric Nolen-Weathington Lee Weeks

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: $24 Standard US, $36 First Class US, $44 Canada, $48 Surface International, $64 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Central cover art by John Romita Jr. and Bob McLeod. Spider-Man TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2007 Bob McLeod and TwoMorrows Publishing. ROUGH STUFF is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 1931-9231

ROUGH STUFF FEATURE 24

What Did You Say, You’re Having a Breakdown?!? Bob McLeod

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS 2

Scribblings From The Editor Bob McLeod

Cover Stories Bill Sienkiewicz and John Romita Jr. reveal the process of creating a cover.

PrePro Art by featured artist Lee Weeks, done before he turned pro.

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

Rough Talk Comments and opinions from our readers.

FREE Preview of DRAW! #13

In Memoriam: Dave Cockrum 1943-2006 JANUARY 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:

ough Stuff #3 is here at last! That three-month wait between issues is brutal, isn’t it? I’m excited about this issue for several reasons, but at the top of the list has to be that I get to showcase one of the best artists ever to draw a comic book (and also one of my comic art idols), Big John Buscema! His comics were my textbooks when I was

struggling to learn how to draw comics. If you’re like me, you flipped right to it before reading this, right? Wasn’t he awesome? If you haven’t seen it yet, go ahead and skip ahead to his beautiful artwork and I’ll wait here until you’re finished drooling! Go ahead, I’ll still be here when you get back. Amazing, isn’t it? He was always my favorite artist to ink, but we have even more great stuff in this issue. First up, “Madman” Mike Allred gives us an advance peek at his new series, among other things, and you’re going to like it! Then, after you enjoy John Buscema’s section all over again (I wouldn’t ask any artist to follow Big John), there’s a brief article by yours truly, explaining the terms that describe the various forms of preliminary art we focus on here, so you know what you’re talking about when you tell your friends about all the great art you saw in Rough Stuff! After that, there’s some drop-dead gorgeous art by Canadian penciler Yanick Paquette, who I was lucky enough to ink on Wonder Woman a few years ago. He’s even better now than he was then. As unlikely as it may be, I’m hoping you’ve never seen his work before so I can be the one to introduce him to you! Our interview subject this issue is none other than John Romita Jr., who’s every bit as jazzy as his dad, if not more so (if you were born yesterday and don’t know his dad’s work, run, don’t walk, to your local comic shop)! That cool Spidey art gracing our cover was just a quick sketch he tossed off without even trying (later inked by me for art collector Walt Parrish-thanks, Walt!). As impressive as JRJR’s art is after it’s inked, though, just wait till you see his stunning pencils! And he’s got plenty to say about it, too. What a fun interview. Klaus Janson also chimes in with some comments as well (dang, I owe him another nickel...!). But we don’t stop there. Once again, we have two covers shown before and after inking in our Cover Stories feature. And then, you asked for him and here he is: P. Craig Russell! I think the ‘P’ must stand for perfect, because he shares some really beautiful pencils with us. And last, but very far from least, is master artist Lee Weeks! We run our featured artists in alphabetical order, because otherwise we’d never be able to decide who to put first. Lee’s feature is sure to leave you wanting more and hungry for our next issue, so it all works out! But there’s even more after Lee, because I’m critiquing yet another new artist’s sample page. This month I thought it would be interesting to critique an inking sample. Check it out, because I predict you’re going to be seeing this guy in a major comic book soon! If you think you have what it takes to draw or ink comics, just send me a sample page, and if we publish it along with my critique, we’ll send you a free copy of Rough Stuff with your art in it. Is this a fantastic issue or what? How can we possibly top it next time? Well, just wait and see, because I still have a lot more art up my sleeve! Meanwhile, be sure to visit the Rough Stuff page of my website (www.bobmcleod.com/roughstuff.htm) to see even more art and comments by our featured artists that we couldn’t fit into the magazine! And be sure to write and tell me what you think about Rough Stuff. I want to hear from you. Also, check out the websites of our featured artists from this and previous issues, many of whom accept commissions: Art Adams:www.tslendinga.com/adams/aacomics.htm Brian Apthorp: www.westworld.com/~lapthorp/briantex.html John Byrne: www.byrnerobotics.com Paul Gulacy: www.gulacy.com Jerry Ordway: www.jerryordway.com P. Craig Russell: pcraigrussell.net Lee Weeks: members.aol.com/inkdropinc/leeweeks.htm

Mike Allred: www.aaapop.com Frank Brunner: www.frankbrunner.net Alan Davis: www.alandavis-comicart.com Kevin Nowlan: members.cox.net/nowlanink/63.html George Perez: www.george-perez.com Matt Wagner: www.mattwagnercomics.com/home.html

Bob McLeod Editor mcleod.bob@gmail.com www.bobmcleod.com PO Box 63 • Emmaus, PA 18049 2

ROUGH STUFF • JANUARY 2007

MIKE ALLRED

I S T A R T

e Allred, e heard of Mik I had of cours art up to en much of his but I’d never se ther all pleasure to ga a as w it So . now eow you, and hop sh to k or w t ea ce. His this gr a wider audien to t ar an m ad M the best fully expose his e fetched one of er h n ow sh ch sket ction! Wonder Woman Day charity au an om W r de on cent W prices at the re

MIKE ALLRED: A page in progress from the upcoming Madman Atomic Comics series.

BOB MCLEOD: For the students among you, since Mike left me some room, I’m taking this opportunity to do some teaching. I really like the way Mike’s drawing different types of autos here, instead of just generic cars. He’s also composing with a lot of diagonals and placing his focal points well, i.e. the face, hands, and feet are all carefully placed and unobstructed. Madman TM & ©2007 Mike Allred

MIKE ALLRED

D U R E F E A T

JANUARY 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

JOHN BUSCEMA

hear that rtened lately to ea sh di en be I’ve much s haven’t seen n fa ic m co t en curr 0s a! During the ’7 em sc u B n h Jo work by l rsonified Marve pe lly ca si ba e h to ink. and ’80s, vorite penciler fa y m ay aw d far an you here Comics. He was cil art to show n pe t ea gr is h o much of OUGH STUFF There’s way to re to visit the R su be so e, ac in our limited sp e more! site to see som page of my web

BOB MCLEOD I’ve unfortunately never seen Buscema pencil anything like this before. John was a Frazetta fan, and this may have been inspired by the many tonal pencil renderings that Frank did. Conan TM & ©2007 Conan

JOHN BUSCEMA

Properties Intl. LLC

BOB MCLEOD Buscema often filled up the backs of his pages with little sketches, in pencil or ink, and we’re presenting as many of them as we can squeeze in on these pages, and in the margins of the other pages. These are just a few of the hundreds.

ROUGH STUFF • JANUARY 2007

BOB MCLEOD I like this because of the graceful, balletic composition of such a violent scene. Notice all of the foreshortening as the various forms come forward and recede in space. Conan is twisting and writhing as much as the snake! Conan TM & ©2007 Conan Properties Intl.

JOHN BUSCEMA

LLC

JANUARY 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

What Did You Say,

BREAKD

By Bob McLeod

enciling in comic books takes many forms. In the first issue of Rough Stuff, I talked a bit about how pencils have gotten increasingly “tight” and exact in recent years. If you missed that article, you can still get a copy of our first issue at the TwoMorrows website. There’s also a small excerpt from it on my website. In that article, I also mentioned breakdowns, which played a large part in my career, both as a penciler and as an inker. Some readers

asked me to explain what breakdowns are (no, I don’t mean a nervous breakdown, though breakdowns can sure make one nerv-

ous), and explain in detail about roughs and thumbnails, etc. Since this magazine is all about the various forms of preliminary art, I think it would be useful to get our terms defined and make sure we all understand exactly what we’re looking at in these pages.

GIL KANE See the finished art based on this Gil Kane Star Hawks thumbnail at www.bobmcleod.com/roughstuff.htm.

ROUGH STUFF • JANUARY 2007

You’re Having a

DOWN?!? L

et’s start with a “thumbnail”. In comics,

tion to create the “composition”. The terms “composition”

JOHN BUSCEMA

thumbnails are usually bigger than the very

and “design” are often used interchangeably, but in

This is a rough by John Buscema for the cover of Galactus the Devourer #2.

small images you see on the web which are

comic art you can usually think of objects as being

called thumbnails. A comic thumbnail is usu-

designed, and scenes as being composed. So generally,

ally about 4" tall. It’s used by the artist to compose a page quickly, rather than spending the time drawing it full-size. That way, it can be discarded without having wasted too much time, and the small size keeps the artist from getting caught up in details and forces him to focus on layout. An artist might draw three or four thumbnail cover sketches to show to an editor, or just to get his ideas down on paper for his own use. Neal Adams used to draw 4 amazingly detailed thumbnail pages, each on a quarter section of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper, and then enlarge and trace them using a projector called an art-o-graph. I think he did it just to intimidate the rest of us, which it definitely did! Gil Kane also often used thumbnails for his covers and pages, but his were more like what you’d expect. Then there’s what’s known as a “rough”. Roughs are usually full-size, but very loose, sketchy drawings typically used just to establish the size and position of forms from a certain viewpoint. There are very few details, if any. As with a thumbnail, the purpose of the rough is to establish the “layout”, which simply means placing the various elements (figures and backgrounds) of the page into posi-

Neal Adams used to draw 4 amazingly detailed thumbnail pages, each on a quarter section of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper, and then enlarge and trace them using a projector called an art-o-graph. I think he did it just to intimidate the rest of us, which it definitely did! JANUARY 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

INTERVIEW

JOHN ROMITA JR. By Bob McLeod

or my money, there’s nobody working today who exemplifies Marvel Comics more or better than John Romita Jr. He’s been penciling for Marvel for over 30 years and I’ve watched in admiration as he continues to improve every year. His pencils are fun to ink, too. But his debut back in the 1970s was not given the warm welcome you might expect

for the son of Marvel’s own art director and longtime renowned Spider-Man artist. There were many who bristled at him daring to follow in his revered father’s footsteps, and he faced quite an uphill battle proving his mettle, but prove it he has. Like his father, he’s well known for his exciting visual storytelling on his Spider-Man work, but he’s equally well known for his hard-hitting Punisher work, and his powerful recent work on the Hulk, along with many other titles. It was an honor to interview him for this issue and I was blown away by his pencils shown here. When I called, he had to turn down his TV to talk. I asked what he was listening to while he worked: JOHN ROMITA JR.: I listen to British comedy on Fridays… BOB MCLEOD: No kidding! ROMITA JR.: Yeah, it cracks me up. MCLEOD: Do you have a different thing you listen to every day? ROMITA JR.: No no, it’s just on Fridays. I TiVo all the British comedies from the previous Fridays and during the day on Friday I get sick of talk radio, so I listen to comedy. This is true! I get one day a week where I just listen to comedy. MCLEOD: I like British comedies, too. ROMITA JR.: I love British comedies. Because during the week it’s depressing enough to listen to talk radio and politics, and instead of throwing things at the television I just put on comedy on Fridays. MCLEOD: I can’t listen to talk when I’m penciling. Music is all right, but I just can’t concentrate with people talking. ROMITA JR.: I tried listening to music and then I found myself bobbing my head (laughs) and I was losing concentration…and some songs I hate... even on my favorite blues channels, I get annoyed ‘cause some songs I don’t like. I listen to talk radio even with the commercials, it frustrates me sometimes because I hate the guys I listen to, but still it gets my system going, it’s almost like exercise, whereas music almost puts me to sleep sometimes. I tried listening to classical. 38

ROUGH STUFF • JANUARY 2007

JOHN ROMITA JR. The Hulk cover pictured here is an example of my attempt at channeling Jack Kirby’s power. Most notable of Jack’s work, in my opinion, was the feeling of mass and weight, coupled with that power. As a young artist, I had John Romita, John Buscema and Jack Kirby, in the back of my mind as I worked. I imagined John Romita’s SpiderMan, his storytelling and the depiction of women. I imagined John Buscema’s grace and illustrative beauty. Then, when there was no need for Spidey, women or grace, and there was a need for “balls to wall” comic choreography, I attempted to channel Jack Kirby. I repeat, I attempted! It looked great in my mind... but by the time it got to the end of my fingers and on the paper, it, sadly, was mine. The Hulk TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Courtesy of Philippe Cordier

JANUARY 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

COVER STORIES

hat happens between the initial layout of a cover, and the finished, printed piece? Usually a lot of changes—some brought about by the pencil artist, some by the inker (assuming they’re not the same person as the penciler), and some at the request of an editor or publisher. BILL SIENKIEWICZ: The differences between Big John’s cover rough and the final breakdowns that I finished in ink were changes that I’m willing to bet were all, or in major part, subconscious on his part; changes he made because they “felt right” to him, and also improved the storytelling and dynamics. This artistic instinct on his part comes quite simply from years and years of drawing. For instance, note how he changed the position of Galactus’ outstretched thumb. Personally, I believe he did this because the thumb in the rough covered what would have been Galactus’ “metallic eyebrow”, also quite possibly obscuring or confusing (even if only a bit) the intended focus of Galactus’ attention, while also diverting the

ROUGH STUFF • JANUARY 2007

Surfer’s as well. So moving Galactus’ thumb forward and downward helped intensify the thrust, the force, of who really wields the true power on this cover here. Note also the shift in the angle of the Surfer’s body compared to the sketch. It’s a minor shift of ten degrees or less, but it’s enough to strengthen the dynamism of the piece. It’s now decidedly off-kilter (I mean that in the best of ways). It’s become a bit more unsettling than the sketch, which is much more straightforward. The breakdown I inked, emphasized by John’s indication of up-lighting, shows how even the smallest of adjustments by someone possessing the right degree of knowledge, ability, and instinct can take a good idea and make it even better. All that was left for me to do as finisher was to not screw it up. I used more pen than my usual brush, because I wanted to render Galactus’ face to a greater, smoother, more realistic degree, almost like a true pen and ink portrait that I felt he needed to have for this cover. Characters TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

JANUARY 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

PRE-PRO

ave you ever wondered how your favorite pro’s art looked back before he turned pro, back when he was just sitting at home dreaming about becoming a comic book artist? How would his early efforts compare with yours? Well, each issue we’re going to show you some examples of just that! This issue, Lee Weeks shows us several examples of his early efforts, from age 12 right up to shortly before he broke in at Marvel! As good as these are, wait until you see what he can do now, in his feature on page 72!

LEE WEEKS This page is out of a hardcover blank sketchbook my older brother gave to me for Christmas in 1974. I was 12 years old and began filling the book with my own comic book stories. Often I’d get my younger brother, Dean, to do the coloring. He was much better and neater with the colors than I was. All four of my brothers could draw. I just happened to be the one who couldn’t put it down, but all of them had chops. Iron Man, Electro TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ROUGH STUFF • JANUARY 2007

LEE WEEKS This is a pencil portrait I drew at the age of 20 (1983). It’s of my Dad. I used to do a lot of photographic portraits back then. When I started gravitating more to comics in my late teens, some people had a hard time understanding why I would choose the “funnybook” art over the more “serious” art of portraiture. My comics work looked so crude compared to the portraits. I’m sure they believed the portraits required much more skill, which in fact is totally opposite from the truth … at least as far as the portraits I did, which were for the most part from photographs. The truth is, drawing comics is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done artistically. The number of problems that need to be solved in a single page can be daunting. The comic book artist must execute the layout and design, storytelling, figure drawing, perspective, the acting of the characters, lighting, staging, not to mention leave room for the dialogue/narration, consider the color…and more …. All in a single page. Not only that, but all these individual problems must be solved in a way that their individual solutions work in harmony with one another. The page must work both as individual parts (panels) and as one whole thing (page)…or else it will fall apart.

LEE WEEKS (0pposite page)

LEE WEEKS (Above)

I was 19 and had just finished a

My year at Kubert’s just finished, I wrote

single year at a fine art school. I

and drew a couple pages of a story about

took a year off before going for one

a street person with an intimate relation-

year to the Joe Kubert School in

ship with the bottle who finds himself in the

New Jersey. In that off year, while

middle of an intergalactic conflict that

making pizzas in Augusta, Maine, I

threatens Earth’s existence. I drew this

drew several pages based on

shortly before the Double Vision assign-

some characters one of my oldest

ment for Marvel. I also lettered this and my

chums in the world, Howard

first two or three pro jobs.

Downs, had come up with. This is one of those pages. JANUARY 2007 • ROUGH STUFF