Issuu

No. 7 Winter 2008

$6.95

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

Featuring Dan Jurgens Sandy Plunkett Chris Samnee ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

THE ART OF GRAPHIC NOVELS by MIKE GAGNON ROUGH CRITIQUE

MARTIN BALCER

TIM TOWNSEND MARIE SEVERIN 74

Interviews & Art Galleries

82658 27766

Volume 1, Number 7 Winter 2008

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics! EDITOR

Bob McLeod PUBLISHER

John Morrow DESIGNER

Michael Kronenberg

FEATURED ARTISTS PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington COVER ARTIST

Dan Jurgens

Sandy Plunkett

Chris Samnee

Tim Townsend

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, CookieSoup Periodical Distribution, LLC SPECIAL THANKS Martin Balcer Dawn Brown Dewey Cassell Mike Gagnon Scott Hampton Tomer Hanuka Dan Jurgens Sandy Plunkett Chris Samnee Marie Severin Ben Templesmith Lance Tooks Tim Townsend

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 Tim Townsend. All characters are © their respective companies. 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 FEATURE 18

Graphic Novelties Mike Gagnon

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEWS 54

Marie Severin

Tim Townsend

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS 2

Scribblings From The Editor Bob McLeod

Cover Stories Tim Townsend and Sandy Plunkett reveal the process of creating a cover.

PrePro Art by Tim Townsend, done before he turned pro.

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

Rough Talk Comments and opinions from our readers.

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SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:

hen we started Rough Stuff last year, neither the publisher nor the readers nor I knew where we were going with it. We just had a vague idea that we wanted to show some pencil art and get the artists to comment on it. Here we are six issues later and I’m still working out where I want to go with it. I’ve

decided it should be more than that simple premise. I want more interviews and articles, and I want a broad variety of artists. And I want to keep experimenting with new things. Your opinions are important to me, so please keep telling me what you like or don’t like. We open this issue with the very prolific Dan Jurgens. He’s probably best known for writing and drawing Superman long before, during and after I had my shot at him. In a business bursting at the seams with unreliable prima donnas, Dan is an editor’s dream, always on time with the same level of quality month after month. Then writer Mike Gagnon is back, this time bringing us four young artists, Ben Templesmith, Dawn Brown, Lance Tooks, and Tomer Hanuka, working in the exciting new field of graphic novels. I’ll be taking notes and paying close attention, because I’m teaching a class on drawing graphic novels this semester at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster! About 100 years ago (actually I think it was 1974) when I was just starting my career, I briefly shared an apartment with a very talented artist named Sandy Plunkett. It’s my pleasure to welcome him to these pages. His work has a nice romantic feel to it, somewhat in the tradition of the great Al Williamson. Following Sandy is a relative newcomer you might not have heard of, but he’s got game. Chris Samnee shows us some pages he did for Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor, and Oni Press’ Queen & Country. And then, it’s an honor to present an interview of the grand dame of comic books, Marie Severin, by Dewey Cassell. I remember Marie best from her work in Marvel’s Crazy magazine, where I got my start. She preceded me as artist on my favorite strip, Teen Hulk! But she also did dozens of great cover layouts that might surprise you. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love Marie, and I’m sure you will, too. Our featured interview this issue is with one of the best inkers in comics, Tim Townsend. When I first started editing Rough Stuff, the publisher and I thought it might turn into an “inker’s mag,” focusing on the inker’s contribution to comic art. I think up to now we’ve focused more on the preliminary pencil art, but we do get a bit into inks now and then. If there’s anyone as opinionated as I am about inking, it’s Tim Townsend, and he has a lot to say in this interview. But did you know he also does some sculpting? And not only can he draw now, he shows us he could do a darn good John Byrne impression when he was just 11! Then newcomer Martin Balcer offers up a cool Ghost sample page for my Rough Critique. Don’t forget, www. twomorrows.com is now offering Rough Stuff with full-color in PDF form for the reduced price of only $2.95 (free for subscribers!), so be sure to check that out and let us know what you think. And go to the Rough Stuff pages of my own web site for art and comments that didn’t quite fit into the magazine. I’ve also added some of my own prelim art there on the Editor’s Corner page. And while you’re on the web, why not visit the web sites of our featured artists, some of whom may accept commissions. Now, on with the show! Dan Jurgens: http://www.theartistschoice.com/jurgens.htm Sandy Plunkett: http://plunkettart.com Chris Samnee: http://www.chrissamnee.com Marie Severin: http://www.theartistschoice.com/severin.htm Dawn Brown: http://www.dawnbrown.net Tomer Hanuka: http://www.thanuka.com Ben Templesmith: http://www.templesmith.com Lance Tooks: http://www.lancetooks.com 2

ROUGH STUFF • WINTER 2008

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

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

DAN JURGENS

ok stalbeen a comic bo as h s en rg Ju Dan na s and has draw wart for decade regular addition to his in rs ve co of k titles stac g and drawing n ti ri w s n ru ries. He also monthly many other se d an artists A JL , N A the few comic of e like SUPERM on s e’ H . Gold for DC ave plenty of created Booster mic and still h co ly th on m a n’ t pencil a cover, he does es who can easily do e h en h ral very his hands. W e sent me seve spare time on H e. re th es do ch, he just do one sket k. ples of his wor interesting exam

DAN JURGENS For this Action Comics cover, the basic concept was a fight between Superman and Black Adam. Since Black Adam wears such a stark, black costume, I wanted to go for something that would allow for some lighting effects. Both approaches, the first with pouring lava and the second with lightning, provided that. We went with the lightning because more of the focus would be on the main characters. Superman, Black Adam TM & ©2008 DC Comics

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Graphic Novelties Mike Gagnon

ne of the fastest growing trends in the comics and pop culture industry is the graphic novel.

Previously only enjoyed by children’s libraries, cus-

The enthusiasm from the education system has fed the growth of the graphic novel industry, as has the interest of Hollywood film studios. Movie producers have

tomers of comic and hobby shops and a very limited num-

embraced the graphic novel adaptation as it provides not

ber of book store patrons, graphic novels have exploded

only a recognizable property with a built in fan base, but

in the last half decade. In book stores where it was once strange to see more

also an instant script and storyboard ready to be filmed or adapted as the producer sees fit.

than a couple of well-known classic graphic novels, now

Leading this trend of growth are not only large pub-

it is strange not to find an entire section devoted to illus-

lishers specializing in mainstream super-hero fare, but

trated or graphic novels. Libraries can’t grow their graph-

also smaller publishers specializing in new and unique

ic novel collections fast enough and universities are

stories and methods of illustrated storytelling, which con-

adopting many of these illustrated narratives as official

tinues to lend artistic credibility and interest in graphic

text books. Comic shops have many more options when it

novels as an entertainment medium.

comes to their graphic novel purchases now.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with several well known graphic novelists and discuss their work, their approach to creating and their take on the current popularity of graphic novels.

Tomer Hanuka RS: Why do you think graphic novels have become so popular over the last five years? TOMER: I think it comes in cycles. The culture would open up to comics and then shut it out again. Maybe it has to do with Hollywood putting it under the spotlight, in

Tomer Hanuka

terms of identified brands, but also as source material.

“Richard” and “investigation”

RS: Do you personally prefer graphic novel or comic

(opposite page) are

book format?

drawings exploring ideas/scenes/

TOMER: Graphic novels, as I think they go deeper usually. 24 pages is such a quick read, you’re mostly left with just a taste.

characters from the book Life of Pi

RS: How do you approach a page from scripts to finished

which I am a big

art and what art supplies do you use?

fan of and I was

TOMER: I usually write the script as I draw the thumbnails,

inspired by the

so I really write it with drawings more than words, then

visuals it describes.

after I edit the thumbs and feel it works as a narrative, I’ll redraw it on a big Bristol paper and ink and letter. I use

ROUGH STUFF • WINTER 2008

Speedball ink and a 000 brush, W&N series 7. RS: Is Bipolar the only comic project you have had published? TOMER: I’ve published regularly in Meathaus, an anthology of artists who came out of SVA and we graduated together. Eight books have come out so far from the series. I’ve published a short story in New Thing: Identity, an indie anthology with a literary bent. Also, I have created covers for DC Comics/Vertigo Midnight, Mass and then the second volume that ran as a mini-series. I’ve created cover work for DC Comics’ Focus series which included four books a month. I’m currently doing covers for a Vertigo project that has not been solicited yet. RS: What has been your favorite comic/ graphic novel project to work on? TOMER: The Placebo Man, a collection of short stories I’ve published recently with Alternative Comics. RS: What other types of art or illustration have you done? TOMER: Everything from editorial to book covers to advertising to television to apparel to snowboards to packaging. To name a few of the clients, I’ve worked with Rolling Stone Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, GQ magazine, and many more. RS: How would you describe your artistic style? TOMER: Narrative visuals. I like drama. I want to tell a story in one scene, but compose it so that you get many points of view and the situation is boiling toward some sort of climax. I try using the color for atmosphere, and to manipulate the eye a little, control the way you interpret what’s important here, what is the driving force.

Tomer Hanuka

Ben Templesmith

“Iraqis” is an edito-

RS: Do you think fans have embraced the graphic novel format of comics? BEN: Nope. Well, not fans. Fan is short for fanatic. By their very definition, they’ll probably be addicted to the

rial illustration for Mother Jones about the problem of the

monthly floppies until they die. But readers both casual

Iraqi refugees (now

and regular — meaning normal people that buy things

numbered at about

based on content, rather than say, what publisher puts it

half a million).

WINTER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

T T E K N U L P Y D SAN

reer the started his ca tt ke n u Pl dy n Sa ct, we were room fa In d. di I e m same ti ays too ile. He was alw h aw r fo es at m d out a ectionist to grin quite a bit, much of a perf unced around bo s e’ projh so , es rating several st u monthly seri ill d an l ve just see ting for Mar ose artists you doing some wri th of e on s e’ H comics. ng more. ects outside of aves you wanti le s ay w al e h d occasionally an

’ve always been a little self conscious about the way I work. When I began teaching myself inking, the process scared the willies out of me. I’d pour all this time and effort into the pencils of a page and face the possibility that I might destroy it by flubbing the inks. In particular I was

skittish about putting in blacks and so approached black-and-white spotting very cautiously. Which was frustrating because the artists I most admired at the time were Wrightson and Jones, both of whom were exuberant in their use of deep, lush, black shadows. I ended up by adopting the working method of another artist I greatly admired, Al Williamson. He used reams of tracing paper to work out his drawing problems. In his EC days he might generate a half dozen overlays of a single panel or figure position, working out subtle changes in lighting or positioning. Tracing paper! Seemed like the right solution for me. Actually, it was (and still, to a certain extent, is) a doubled-edged sword. Though it can save you from making some serious blunders, it can also rob you of the spontaneity that gives a drawing its life. You can find yourself simply trying to copy the success of the tracing, an approached guaranteed to result in tedium and a lifeless finish. I’ve always tried to ink as loosely and as fast as possible on the overlays, using a blunt marker or a brush pen or a Winsor & Newton on its very last legs. Even today, if I do a tracing, I’m working over pencils that are barely comprehensible to any eye other than my own. This helps diminish the sense that I’m simply “going over lines” and, hopefully, maximizes inventiveness. There always seems to be this pull between correctness of drawing and expressiveness. I tend towards being more expressive these days.

SANDY PLUNKETT Conan A preliminary ink rough. I believe this Conan drawing was meant for a frontice for the Savage Sword of Conan. I attempted to finish the pencils but before getting very far realized that, to my sensibilities, the rough was the finished piece, whether it was clean enough to meet Conan TM & ©2008 Conan Properties Intl., LLC

ROUGH STUFF • WINTER 2008

“professional” standards or not.

SANDY PLUNKETT Conan cover The only variation in working method here is that I did the thumbnail in marker instead of leaving it in pencil. I’m not sure, but I think it was to clarify the image for the editor. Craig Russel did his usual great job inking this, but if you compare it to the inked rough, you can see that the piece lost some of its vigor in the finish. This almost always happens, at least to some extent.

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COVER STORIES

What happens between the initial layout of a cover and the published version? Usually a lot of changes as it goes from penciler to editor to inker, but sometimes it may not change at all!

TIM TOWNSEND Amazing Spider-Man #500 cover Pencils by Jeff Campbell Inks by Tim Townsend What can you possibly say about Jeff? He’s force of nature. He’s one of the true superstars of our generation. He’s one of the nicest people you could ever hope to know. He’s the whole package. Oh... he draws pretty pictures, too. When Jeff asked me to ink his famous run of covers on the Amazing Spider-Man I was incredibly flattered. Jeff and I had worked together a number of times over the years and he was always very kind to me. Spider-Man TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ROUGH STUFF • WINTER 2008

Inking Jeff, while incredibly fun, can also be challenging. His pencils are simply pristine. It’s all there, every line. This takes away the need to do any embellishing but it brings to the table a different set of challenges. You have to not only match his beautiful line work, you need to find a way to accentuate it, complement it, and elevate it without altering it fundamentally.

WINTER 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

D U R E F E A T

CHRIS SAMNEE

I S T A R T

reer at Oni started his ca Chris Samnee ANSAS. g CAPOTE IN K n ti ra st u ill s, Pres on Harvey s also worked Since then he’ R, r DC, and ICAN SPLENDO Pekar’s AMER CHECKMATE fo d an o, ig rt Ve r ovel for RS fo nced graphic n EXTERMINATO ou n an n u an orking on Manning is currently w ed for the Russ at in om n as w is. he lives in St. Lou e Vertigo. In 20 06 H d. ar aw er g Newcom Most Promisin

CHRIS SAMNEE American Splendor #2 thumbnails This just goes to show what a difference a great editor can make. Here are my original thumbnails and first draft of a few pages from American Splendor #2.

ROUGH STUFF • WINTER 2008

CHRIS SAMNEE After changing a few angles and zooming in or out a bit and helped to spice up what could have been a really uninteresting layout. American Splendor © Harvey Pekar

BOB McLEOD Amazing professionalism from such a young, relatively unknown artist. It ain’t Spider-Man, so most fans couldn’t care less, but this is solid comic art and a good storytelling textbook.

CHRIS SAMNEE

keeping the camera moving on the characters, it really

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INTERVIEW

MARIE SEVERIN By Dewey Cassell

irthful” Marie Severin worked at Marvel Comics for many years, serving in a variety of

“M

roles, including penciler, inker, production, colorist, and art director. Fans fondly remember her dynamic rendering of classic superheroes like the Hulk, Doctor Strange, and the Sub-

Mariner, as well as literary characters like Kull the Conqueror, and her wonderful sense of humor, brought to life in the pages of Not Brand Echh and Spoof. But in some respects, her greatest contribution to the Marvel Age of Comics was behind the scenes. For several years, from the late Sixties to early Seventies, Marie Severin designed virtually every cover that appeared on a Marvel comic book. The following is an excerpt

from an interview with Marie that took place last year. DEWEY CASSELL: There was a point in time in which Stan Lee had you doing mock-ups of the covers that Marvel Comics was putting out. Why was that? MARIE SEVERIN: Well, if Sgt. Fury was going to be on a cover All characters and covers in this interview are TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

with a helicopter sequence or somebody jumping out of a helicopter, and unbeknownst to the editor or Stan, somebody else was writing a story about Daredevil or Spider-Man hanging off a helicopter, you could have two covers in the works and only discover it when they both came back and two of them might be about helicopters. They wanted to have Sgt. Fury TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ROUGH STUFF • WINTER 2008

SEVERIN: I started hanging up the cover sketches over the previous covers. I had a whole six months of covers hanging on the wall, of all the books, and I would look at what was coming out this month. “Okay, let’s have a variety of that. Let’s change that.”

a little more control on the design of the covers, so you wouldn’t have subject duplication. CASSELL: How did you get involved in designing the covers? SEVERIN: I was very fast with design and sketches and the individual artists didn’t have time to come in and do individual sketches. It was faster for Stan to say “no” to a design with somebody in the office doing them, rather than have the artist, say John Buscema, do a cover and Stan wouldn’t like the layout or he thought the layout was too close to something else or he wanted a different expression (which, of course, John wasn’t that annoying.) But I would have a variety because I knew what the rest of them looked like. CASSELL: How did you keep track of all of the different covers? The Fantastic Four TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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INTERVIEW

TIM TOWNSEND By Bob McLeod

hen we first started on Rough Stuff, Twomorrow’s publisher John Morrow and I thought it would probably turn into the “inker’s” mag, but instead we’ve usually been predominantly focused on the pencil side of comic art. This issue I’m excited to welcome the amazing Tim Townsend to our

pages as our first featured artist who’s mostly known for his inking skills. Tim is a great inker and a great guy. I first got acquainted with him on a Yahoo inkers forum, then met him in person at MegaCon, in Orlando. He began working in comics in 1993, starting out at Image and moving over to Marvel in late 1994. He says he worked on Uncanny X-Men for about 7 years and then bounced back and forth a bit between Uncanny and the adjective-less X-Men ever since, with some special projects here and there in between. He’s worked on most of Marvel’s main titles at one time or another, as well as most of the main books at DC and Image but to a much more limited amount. He’s had good runs

TIM TOWNSEND This was a gift for a good buddy of mine. I’ve always been a big fan of the Frankensteinlooking Hulk with his prominent brow and vacant stare. I was trying to turn the tables and do a very simple approach on the figure, the focal point, and go nuts with the detail on the extraneous area. It made for a nice contrast.

with pencilers like Joe Madureira, Adam Kubert, Frank Quitely, and Chris Bachalo, none of whom I’ve inked, so I’m a bit envious. This interview was conducted via e-mail near the end of April 2006. Tim’s incredibly shy, but I somehow managed to pull him out of his shell. No, actually, as anyone who’s met him can tell you, Tim’s effervescent personality is perfectly suited to the comic book world, and as you’ll see, he has quite a lot to say: Hulk TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ROUGH STUFF • WINTER 2008

TIM TOWNSEND This page is from a Savage Dragon story that I inked over Erik in issue #100. I’m one of the privileged few to get to actually ink Erik on anything Dragon! I’ve always been such a huge fan of Erik and the unique, energetic approach to his art that I was completely floored when he contacted me about inking this story. I’d inked him on a couple of Spidey covers and, quite literally, had some of the most fun I’ve ever had as an inker. I know it’s P.C. to say that about artists you admire but I’m serious. I find inking Erik to be nothing but pure fun and exploration. The pencils, while

BOB MCLEOD: I think it’s important to get some basics

loose, are all there, but they give you such latitude as an inker because there is still quite a lot left

first. Where and when were you born? Are you the first

to interpret. Initially, I expected my work with Erik to fall flat since his style is so far outside of what

artist of note in your family, or do you come from an

I’m used to working with. Who could have guessed that we would gel so well together?! At least

artistic family? Was your art encouraged or discouraged

we thought so. There’s not a lot of explanation that goes along with this page. Basically, I was just

as a child?

trying to find a balance between the anal retentive, slick tendencies that my inks tend to have and

TIM TOWNSEND: I was born January 19th, 1970 in Peoria, Illinois. I was adopted at birth and my family

the high energy, shoot-from-the-hip vibrancy of Erik’s pencils. I don’t pat myself on the back very often, almost never, but I’m exceptionally proud of the work we did on this story.

moved to South Florida only days later. Since I don’t share any genetics with anyone in my family (or anyone

at an early age. More importantly though, my mother was

I’ve ever known until my new son) I can’t really claim any

always hyper-alert to any interests I showed and quick to

predispositions to latent talents. My aunt was, however, a

nurture them and allow me to explore. At age four or five

commercial artist so I was exposed to a creative environment

I was given my first comic book, a Charlton E-Man, with

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Rough Stuff #7