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No. 5 Summer 2007

$6.95

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

Featuring

STEVE RUDE Interview & Art Gallery

82658 27766

Volume 1, Number 5 Summer 2007

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics! EDITOR

Bob McLeod PUBLISHER

John Morrow DESIGNER

Michael Kronenberg

FEATURED ARTISTS PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Christopher Irving COVER ARTIST

Cully Hamner

Gil Kane

Dale Keown

Paul Smith

Ashley Wood

Steve Rude

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Periodical Distribution, LLC

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEW SPECIAL THANKS John Albano Chris Bailey Michael Browning Jim Cardillo Michael Eury Tom Fleming Cully Hamner Matt Huesman Gil Kane Dale Keown Daryl Kuxhouse Michel Maillot David Mandel Stephen Molnar J. Hiroshi Morisaki Gene Poonyo Jaynelle Rude Steve Rude Paul Smith Gerry Turnbull Ashley Wood 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 Steve Rude. 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.

Steve Rude

ROUGH STUFF FEATURE 3

The Legend of Jonah Hex Michael Browning

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS 2

Scribblings From The Editor Bob McLeod

Cover Stories Steve Rude and Cully Hamner reveal the process of creating a cover.

PrePro Art by Steve Rude, done before he turned pro.

Editor’s Corner Bob McLeod

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

Rough Talk Comments and opinions from our readers.

FREE! Preview of BACK ISSUE #23

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SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:

his issue begins the second exciting year of Rough Stuff! Thanks so much for joining us. I hope you enjoyed our first year as much as I did. I’d like to also welcome those of you who downloaded the new digital version of Rough Stuff (now available in high-res PDF format for just $2.95 at www.twomorrows.com!) If you just

discovered Rough Stuff, be sure to order the print version of the first four issues from our publisher to check out all the great artists and features you missed. In our first four issues, we’ve shown you a whole lot of great art and insightful comments from the artists, but we’ve still just barely scratched the surface of all the fantastic comic art out there. There’s a terrific totally new line-up still awaiting you in this year’s issues! We open this issue with relative newcomer Cully Hamner, who has a very engaging style that’s sure to please, and then..... How could we have done four issues and just now be getting around to the legendary Gil Kane?! Gil had one of the longest careers in comics, and was incredibly prolific, so my boy (as he always called everyone), all we can do is a small sampling of his art, but we found some goodies. And good doesn’t begin to describe the art of Dale Keown, who I had the pleasure to ink on his first issues of The Incredible Hulk. He was one of my favorite artists to ink because his pencils were just gorgeous. He’s followed by the lovely art of fan-favorite former X-Men artist Paul Smith. And then, dude, things really get going as I interview The Dude, Steve Rude, who graced us with that fantastic new painting of his character Nexus for our cover! And bringing up the rear is the unique art of Ashley Wood. Mixed into all that magic is our Cover Story feature, showing the pencils and inks of covers by Steve Rude and Cully Hamner. Michael Browning tells us all about the late John Albano’s creation of that most unusual of western gunfighters, Jonah Hex. This issue, for the first time in these pages, I also offer a small sampling of my own pencil art in a new occasional feature called The Editor’s Corner. Then once more I give a constructive Rough Critique of a new young penciler, Stephen Molnar. You’re bound to be seeing his work soon in a comic shop near you. And of course, we have your own always welcome and appreciated letters of comment. As usual, be sure to visit the Rough Stuff page of my web site to see even more great art and comments that didn’t fit into the magazine, at www.bobmcleod.com/roughstuff.htm. And don’t forget to check out the web sites of our featured artists, some of whom accept commissions: Cully Hamner: www.gaijinstudios.com/index.php?pg=about&sub=cully Dale Keown: www.fullbleed.com Steve Rude: www.steverude.com Stephen Molnar: www.stephenmolnar.com Bob McLeod Editor mcleod.bob@gmail.com www.bobmcleod.com PO Box 63 Emmaus, PA 18049

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2007

the legend of

By MICHAEL BROWNING

ong-time comic book writer John Albano was working for DC Comics in the early 1970s when editor Joe Orlando came to him with a

request: Create a new western hero for DC Comics’ All-Star Western, which was soon changing to Weird Western Tales. Albano created Jonah Hex, a ruthless bounty hunter who had been scarred during the Civil War, to fill a spot in All-Star

SUMMER 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

CULLY HAMNER

CULLY HAMNER Batman: Tenses Here, we have a couple of rejected cover sketches for Batman: Tenses. I’d say more, but my original notes to editor Bob Schreck are reproduced below…

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2007

CULLY HAMNER The covers on Red were an interesting proposition for me. Since it was a creator-owned book, I had no art director or editor to have to get past; I was on my own, design-wise. The theme of the number 3 had occurred to me: Three letters in the title and three issues. So I had the idea to have every cover use three consecutive images— like a strip of film, almost (which also nicely dovetailed the kineticism of Warren’s story and my approach to it). On top of everything, I used the three colors of a traffic light: The first one was monochromatic red; the second, yellow; the third, green. I had a lot of fun on these covers.

CULLY HAMNER Spider-Man Another one of those times that the idea was fully-realized from the start, this time for an insert with a Spider-Man 2 DVD box set. Notice how Spidey, in the foreground, frames his own reflection on the building in the background? Another thing to notice is that I put the reflected Spidey smack-dab on top of the awake vanishing point, in order to Spider-Man TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

draw the eye. Yes, it’s a cheap trick.

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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. When an artist is self-publishing, however, as in Steve Rude’s case on Nexus #5, everything is totally on his own shoulders. Here, the changes were made as Steve edited himself, improving on his original idea as he progressed from rough sketch to finished painting. You can see the color painting on the Rough Stuff pages of my web site.

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2007

BOB McLEOD He began with a basic symmetrical design idea of Nexus in the middle of the two secondary figures.

After some consideration, he decided a raised fist and twisted torso, with one foot forward and one back, would be more dynamic for the Nexus figure.

Before proceeding to color, he did a value study to establish and balance the lights and darks. Who needs editors, anyway? SUMMER 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

INTERVIEW

STEVE RUDE Interviewed by Bob McLeod

teve Rude first became known in the early ’80s for his collaboration with writer Mike Baron on their independent comic Nexus. Since then, he’s done work for several of the major publishers, but is now recommitting himself to self-publishing, with the creation of his new Rude Dude Productions. We started out

recording this interview in late May, and got into discussing morning people versus night people. Steve and I, like many artists I know, prefer to work late into the night, and are slow to get going in the morning. Steve’s wife, Jaynelle, told me he often works until 2 a.m. But just as the interview was picking up steam and really going well, I glanced down and saw that the tape had stopped! I couldn’t get my recorder working properly, so I reluctantly decided to continue the interview through e-mails. Steve is doing a lot of interviews lately, as his new Nexus comic is about to debut, and he was very pressed for time, but we e-mailed back and forth and with his wife Jaynelle’s help, we finally got this interview in under the wire. I’ve always liked Steve’s clean, open style, uncluttered by all the unnecessary rendering so many of today’s comic artists use. But I know many fans prefer all that rendering, so I asked Steve about that.

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2007

STEVE RUDE Moth #5, pg. 5 Here’s what my pencil work looks like on the Moth. Now that The Moth is part of Rude Dude Productions, I can’t wait to fly back into it. This is for the yet unseen issue #5.

STEVE RUDE Moth #5 rough And here’s what I do when my oversimplified brain can’t figure things out. I

BOB: Not to dive right into the deep well of controversy, but

STEVE: My style is the opposite of where mainstream

throw some tracing

your style is kind of the opposite of where mainstream comic

comic art is going, and has been since the mid-’90s. I

paper over the figures

art has been heading in the last few decades, I suppose

grew up with Kirby, Romita, and ultimately studied the

and work out the

maybe beginning with Barry Windsor-Smith, and accelerating

illustrators from the magazine era of the ’40s and ’50s. I

lighting from there.

wildly with the advent of Image Comics in the ’80s and

am a product of the time I grew up in, which was the

really to extremes in some cases today. Are you confident

’60s and ’70s. The traditional approach I use is my style

you can capture the interest of today’s fans with your more

and is here to stay.

traditional approach?

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D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

PAUL SMITH

imahis career in an d te ar st h it Sm D Paul Bakshi on LOR ph al R h it w g n tion worki P d AMERICAN PO an S G IN R E TH early OF Marvel in the to on g in ov m before E and then -MEN, g DR. STR ANG on UNCANNY X re u 1980s, drawin n te g n lo ’s Cockrum a lasting following Dave s. But he made th on m w fe a r te l was the which he left af te work by Pau ri vo fa y M s. n NCE, a his fa AVE IT TO CHA LE impression on g in n in w d ner Awar Harvey and Eis s. younger reader fun comic for

GERRY TURNBULL I contacted Paul Smith last September with the simple brief of Doc in the Sanctum. Three days later Smitty sent me the scan of his first prelims. On a single sheet of A4 paper were seven of the coolest designs. Each prelim was a winner in its own right, but my eye was drawn to the landscape format at the bottom, with Doc and the Orb of Agamotto. It looked suitably dramatic and magical. My eye also kept being drawn to the Black Knight cunningly drawn at the side of the page, so I asked Smitty if he could integrate the two images. Four days later he sent me the final design sketch, asking modestly “How’s about this?” and after I had picked myself up I immediately told him to go for it. Smitty kept in contact the whole way through and after I asked how he was progressing, replied with “I’d show you what I got but at the end of stage two, things aren’t pretty. Kinda like popping in on your girl before the big date and finding her in curlers and half make-up. You know she’s going to be gorgeous but at the moment ... eek.” Couple days after that Smitty sent me the scan of the final inked piece, with the accompanying words “Hope you enjoy the work as much as I did doing it, much fun and giggling and theme song singing and sound fx making was had.” And then about a week later I had the page in my hands. Included was the full size blue pencil version Smitty had done. It’s the prize of my collection. Paul Smith is a true master. His art more than anyone out there is open and honest; he doesn’t use flashy techniques to obscure bad drawing or composition. His line is beautiful and clean and deceptively simple looking. It’s only when you look closely you see just how detailed the work is with the different variety of textures and techniques he uses .The whole experience was just wonderful. Smitty is really down to earth with a wicked sense of humor, and allows you to feel fully involved in the process. The inked final of the Paul Smith commission of Dr. Strange will be featured in Back Issue #24, shipping in September from TwoMorrows.

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2007

SUMMER 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

EDITOR’S CORNER by Bo b Mc Le od

ince I began editing Rough Stuff last

every issue, and the right occasion just hasn’t come up

year, several people have asked me

before now. But this issue we have some extra room,

why I haven’t shown any of my own

since a couple of our featured artists didn’t provide as

prelim art in these pages. I figured it

much art as we’d hoped, so I decided to take this oppor-

was enough for me to be writing

tunity to share some previously unseen work of mine with

editorials, articles, interviews, and my “Rough Critique”

you. After over thirty years in comics, it’s hard to decide where to begin, so I decided to just show a sampling from various jobs. I’m probably still best known for something I did 25 years ago, co-creating a younger group of X-Men still attending The School for Gifted Students called The New Mutants. This was the splash page of issue #1. It’s an establishing shot to introduce the characters, and I tried to make each character an individual, and imbue them with a lot of personality. This was my first regular penciling assignment and we were behind schedule from the start, due to squeezing in the graphic novel first. I eventually left the series rather than rush out less than my best effort.

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2007

BOB McLEOD Following the New Mutants, I penciled several issues of Star Wars for Marvel, doing breakdowns for my idol Tom Palmer to ink. After years of inking other artists, the finish was very important to me, and it was difficult to focus just on layout. But I wanted to see what Tom would do, and it was fascinating to see. He did almost nothing the way I would have done it. He added a lot of juicy detail, especially with Chewbacca and all robots and the space ships. In this scene, he had to change Han to Luke because Han was away on an adventure by the time this was published.

SUMMER 2007 • ROUGH STUFF

ROUGH CRITIQUE By Bob McLeod his issue’s sample page comes from the obviously very talented Stephen Molnar. This is a real beauty of a sample page, and I like it a lot. But it’s also an example of my pet peeve, the modern “no inker needed” school of penciling. One of the problems with the penciler doing so much of the inker’s job is that all that time and energy could often be much better spent on the penciler’s main job, which should be layout and figure drawing.

Spidey and the Bugle lettering are the focus of the panel, so why have all that wasted space below them? Place Spidey first, well into the panel, not shoved up in the corner. Then place the Bugle lettering to balance him, a bit lower down in the panel. Even without anything else in the panel, this much should be a balanced design. I tilted mine so the diagonals in the panel all go toward the Spidey figure. In yours, everything in the panel seems to be sliding off the page to the right, away from Spidey. I’ve deliberately placed my buildings and the shadows on them to frame Spidey, making him the

The first thing that struck me about this page was the excellent perspective, and the nicely done buildings. You don’t often see that in beginners. The figures have a very nice feel to them, with a lot of movement and life. And he does have an impressive, highly finished rendering style. I’m thinking Stephen is probably a pretty good inker, at least in the rendering department. I like the amount of black he’s using, too. This is a very solid page, with a lot of depth and form. And he’s moving the camera around well and using good visual storytelling. We know just what’s happening without a single word of script. I really think the big publishers should give him a chance. I’m sure he’ll improve by leaps and bounds once he’s drawing 22 pages a month. But let’s take a closer look beneath all of that nice finish at the underpinnings. Stephen, the main thing you need to work on at this point is your composition. You can place the main elements and focal points (usually the heads and hands) anywhere you please, so be very deliberate about it. You should design your backgrounds to lead the eye to the center of interest and frame the focal points, not conflict with them. In panel 1, for instance, the hands are lost in a maze of grey patterns, with costume webbing and building windows all melding together into a confusing mess. You don’t want to place background objects where they’ll interfere with the foreground, especially the hands and heads. In panel one, your main building on the right distracts from the left hand. It’s also a little too obviously contained within the panel. Mine partially goes off-panel, keeping it more firmly in the background. Simplifying or eliminating the windows removes the conflict with his hand. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I repositioned the arms at more divergent angles, creating a more dynamic pose and placing the hands so they’re unobstructed. Your arms and the left leg are all basically parallel, creating an awkward silhouette. And, uh, speaking of silhouettes, I think maybe you should move that right foot.....! The weakest panel compositionally is the second one. Spider-Man TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ROUGH STUFF • SUMMER 2007

focal point of the panel. Notice I deleted the building behind Spidey. You don’t want a grey pattern behind the grey pattern of his webbing, because it flattens out the depth and just distracts from the center of interest. In panel 3, Spidey’s hands are a bit too large and too randomly placed. Why is his left hand exactly where you put it, touching the beam? Place it more carefully. Spidey’s right arm and leg are vertical. Diagonals are always better! There’s an awkward tangent where Spidey’s elbow bumps up against JJ’s head, and Spidey’s head looks squeezed by the vertical lines of the building behind him. You should also vary the size of the main elements from panel to panel. I think your two Jonahs are too similar in size, so I came in closer on mine here. Notice I also arched Spidey’s back. Yours looks a bit too much like he’s been flattened by a bus. I also think the angle of the window in the lower left corner tends to lead the eye off the page. I think it should go the other way, which turns the panel into an up-shot instead of a down-shot. In panel 4, all the heads (the main focal points) are in the top of the panel. Where is the dialogue balloon going to go? I’d rather see it above JJ instead of covering up Spidey’s arm. And I like the depth created by diagonals better than flattening horizontals, so I’d angle the picture frames on the wall. When you add blacks, you want to use them to focus the viewer’s eye on the center of interest and add depth. Don’t put black on black or white on white or grey on grey. So in panel 1, you don’t want that black next to his right foot, because you have a black above it on his leg. You don’t want grey window patterns behind his costume webbing patterns, as you have behind both his feet and hands and head. In panel 2, you have black on the center of interest, Spidey, so surround him with mostly white and place some blacks on the right to help frame him. In panel 3, the black chair flattens into Spidey’s black costume, which flattens into the blacks on the buildings behind him, and his costume web patterns flatten into the building window patterns. Yes, color can help a lot with this, but you can’t depend on good coloring, so get it solid in b&w. Then it’ll be even better in color. After composition, work a bit more on your figure drawing. In panel 1, with the right arm in that position, it’s actually painful to point your thumb down at that angle. Try it. His right leg is too short and his left leg is a bit too long, especially since it’s foreshortened coming toward us. And his left foot is a little small. You’d see a bit of his buttock in this pose, behind his left leg. And as his right arm comes forward, his shoulder comes forward

with it (feel your own shoulder move as you extend your arm). In panel 2, his arms are too long and rubbery and his legs are awkwardly posed. Angle his right leg (stay away from verticals and horizontals!) and angle his left foot. In spite of all these problems, though, I do think you’re about ready for the big time. Keep doing new samples and knocking on doors. Persistence pays off. Any brave readers who’d like me to critique their sample page should email me at mcleod.bob@gmail.com, or mail me a sample at P.O. Box 63, Emmaus, PA 18049.

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Rough Stuff #5