PJ Interactivity Thread

[Carl_Shinyama]

My questions to you guys:

-How long have you been drawing?

-Did comic books play a large role in your love for drawing?

-Have you always wanted to draw comic book characters?

-Did comics have a major impact on the way you draw now?

-What was your favorite comic title (and tell me why, please)?

1. I've been drawing seriously for almost five years now. I drew sporadically here and there until I got into college, and I learned to draw a little bit. Then when I was 24, and I saw Michael Turner's art at that time, that got me back into drawing.

2. Yes.

3. Not always, but they were the ones that I enjoyed drawing the most.

4. Yes. I pretty much want to do only superhero comics.

5. Superman. I am attracted to power and those who use that power selflessly.

[Carl_Shinyama]

I seem to be one of the few aspiring comic book artists that hasn't been drawing "for as long as I can remember." I really applied myself to drawing regularly when I hit my mid-twenties.

And this was mostly because I had a different passion and dream growing up; I wanted to be an Olympic Track and Field Athlete

[Bruce Lee]

I seem to be one of the few aspiring comic book artists that hasn't been drawing "for as long as I can remember." I really applied myself to drawing regularly when I hit my mid-twenties.

And this was mostly because I had a different passion and dream growing up; I wanted to be an Olympic Track and Field Athlete

I also was very athletic, Carl. I was a runner, and a martial artist. Most artists don't tend to be very athletic, I've noticed. I'm not sure why I was particularly inclined to be a physical person, but I think it might be that I enjoyed the outdoors a great deal. I loved stomping around the mountains of Virginia, growing up. My friends and I had great times doing that.

Are you still running?

[Carl_Shinyama]

I've noticed that, too. I, too also spent a lot of time outdoors, spending half my life in Hawaii and Washington.

I don't really run much anymore, especially since I spend a lot more of my free time drawing. I mostly go to the gym at work and lift weights. It's the best form of stress relief I know, especially when I do a no-rest-in-between-sets type of workout That, and drawing!

Edit: I just realized I never asked you the question I meant to ask you last night in my reply: I know you do licensing art as a freelance artist, but would you ever consider doing a creator-owned book?

[LewsGhost]

I think this would be a good exercise for me- I'm just discovering this thread.

My questions to you guys:

-How long have you been drawing?

-Did comic books play a large role in your love for drawing?

-Have you always wanted to draw comic book characters?

-Did comics have a major impact on the way you draw now?

-What was your favorite comic title (and tell me why, please)?

Please feel free to ask me similar questions right back!The goal of this thread is for me to get to know you guys a little better, and vice versa.

Since I was pretty little. I don't know exactly how old, but I do remember making things as early as kindergarten. I say "making things" because for me it's always been about more than just drawing. I remember in kindergarten we had this assignment where we had to cut simple shapes out of construction paper. I thought this was too boring, so with all the scraps that were left over, I made Superman and Dracula. My teacher was pretty shocked. I don't remember what it was we were supposed to make, but that is what I made.

Yes. But again, I've always been interested in other stuff too. Superheroes were always a perennial favorite.

Absolutely. I used to refer to them for almost everything. I learned to draw noses from comics, and no telling how many other things.

My favorite titles were Batman, Detective Comics, Superman, and Ghost Rider. The visuals were always really strong. The Norm Breyfogle Batman was very inspiring to me. When I was a kid, I had my own comic company whose flagship title ran for 12 issues. By today's standards, the art and writing were very poor- but it was a great experience. I would make photocopies and try to sell them for 85 cents each. This was before the internet and computers, so my readership was never more than say, ten. heh.

[CopperPop]

-How long have you been drawing?

For as long as i can remember, Drew Snoopy, and the Jupiter 2 and the Robot when I was in kindergarden, then went from there.

-Did comic books play a large role in your love for drawing?

Maybe not initially, but i looked at a lot when i was a child. when i was hospitalized for a brief period, my dad gave me a stack of comics to pass the time; that might have planted the seed. Then what i can remember the most was a time when we were playing my dad made my brother and a drawing of BATMAN and SUPERMAN. i thought he was the coolest. From there, i drew off and on, but never figures.

-Have you always wanted to draw comic book characters?

No… I did traditional art most of my academic life… until, I met my best friend Dean.

-Did comics have a major impact on the way you draw now?

No, not initially. In middle school, I had a friend named Dean that always sat near the front of the class and came up with characters… That always impressed me. we talked and became best friends. He was my first comic teacher, he drew bubble muscles, but better that anything i was doing at the time. we drew constantly. So much so that our teacher, not knowing what to do with us let us make things for class. I was out sick, and He drew a picture of one of my characters… What a cool dude, Right? I was hooked on comic characters then. I made over 100.

I devoured drawing characters…. Then, my older brother had a friend that lived across the street. He drew the established characters.. Batman, and Captain America; his favorite. We fast became friends and competitive rivals. He now draws for Red Handed Studios…. and can't remember my name :/ But, Hey I'm really happy for him, it is something we talked about for years and it came true for him!

I was impressed with his drawings from comics, but that is how we all start out… 13th birthday. Another one of my brothers friends gave me a collection of SPIDERMAN books, from then on, my collection and love of drawing grew, I drew day and night, year in year out. Dean and i went to separate high schools, Scott moved away, then went to the army… but i kept drawing.

My biggest honor for me came, when I reunited with Dean, before college, and i showed him my stuff… He had stopped drawing by then, but he looked at my stuff and said WOW, you surpassed me… Then he proceeded to give me a team of HIS characters… Sounds corny, i know.. but HE was the reason i started drawing comic characters.

-What was your favorite comic title (and tell me why, please)?

My Favorite titles were if i have to narrow it down,

DC: Teen Titans , The art and stories

Marvel: The Spiderman titles, Why? It's SPIDERMAN But XMEN for the stories and art… it was Sci-fi and had a good mix of characters.

Thanks for posting the questions, and for those who read it.

[shannonh]

-How long have you been drawing?

Since I could hold a pencil without chewing on it.

-Did comic books play a large role in your love for drawing?

Yes and no. My dad was a fine artist so I grew up around a community of artists that painted in the traditional mediums. So very early in life I learned to paint bowls of fruit and landscapes but never really liked it much. Just too boring. Through my teens and twenties I would pull together a few paintings so that I could do local shows with my dad but never thought of it as a career in those days. Mainly because of seeing my dad struggle to work a full time job and also try to fulfill his dream of being a full time gallery artist....Which never happened. As long as I can remember, I loved horror and would spend hours drawing guts and decapitations. Freddy and Jason lived in just about every drawing I did from elementary to middle school. I look back at those days and think, wow, if my kids were drawing the stuff I drew back then, the school would call a psychiatrist lol.

I live in a small town and didn't really know anyone who was into comics. But I remember going to Kroger every week to get groceries and running straight for the magazine isle Where I would find Cracked, Mad, and Savage Sword Of Conan. My mom would only let me buy one a week so by the third week of every month I would have all three. That was it. I had NO IDEA that there was such a thing as a comic shop. The closest one to my house, even today, is about 45 minutes away. I've always had a soft spot for black and white sequentials and painted covers because of that influence early in my life.


-Have you always wanted to draw comic book characters?

No. I didn't really start drawing comic book characters until junior year of high school. I played a lot of basketball and football through high school so art was not my top priority. Again, seeing my dad struggle made me not want to do it for a living so I never took it serious in those days. I did, however, doodle all the time and had lots of problems in school because all I did was doodle in class. My junior year I found myself needing to take an elective class so I said what the hell and took an art class. There were several guys in there that were into comics pretty heavy and would bring STACKS a foot thick into art class every day and I found myself overwhelmed by the art that was inside. Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Sam Keith, Wilce Portocio, Marc Silvestri, Jae Lee, Bart Sears, and on and on. I felt like that wide eyed kid again watching my first horror flick. I began drawing ONLY comic characters at that point. And let me tell you, my art teacher HATED comics. She always told us to stop drawing that garbage because it wasn't real art haha. That made us do every project she assigned in a comic style lol.

So I guess I was like 17 when I was introduced to the comics community at large. Sports came second after that. I would draw underground comics all the time. I would make up characters to poke fun at teachers and my friends...And people I didn't care for. My new comic buds and I would go to Dragon Con and wait in hour long lines just to show our books to editors. I look back and laugh about how ignorant we were. I would just bring in pages on typing paper and spread them out in front of the editors lol. I didn't know what format the pages should be in, type of paper, or that my drawings should have been in a portfolio of some sort. You have to remember that I lived in a small town and I didn't know anyone who had a computer to find out any info about the process. We didn't get computers in the school until my senior year and before then I had never even cut one on. Plus the so called internet was crap then. Everything I learned about the process came from those editors we saw on out yearly mecca to Dragon Con. Then, of course, I found Wizard Magazine.

-Did comics have a major impact on the way you draw now?

Yes! When I started drawing comics, I knew it was my passion. And I haven't put it down yet.

-What was your favorite comic title (and tell me why, please)?

It's hard for me to pin down one title. I guess it would have been Xmen. But the easier thing to say would be what ever title Jim Lee was on. Loved the St. George he did. Loved Alpha Flight. Loved Punisher... Xmen..Whatever he was doing I was buying. I never followed characters or writers, just artists.

[Bruce Lee]

I think this would be a good exercise for me- I'm just discovering this thread.



Since I was pretty little. I don't know exactly how old, but I do remember making things as early as kindergarten. I say "making things" because for me it's always been about more than just drawing. I remember in kindergarten we had this assignment where we had to cut simple shapes out of construction paper. I thought this was too boring, so with all the scraps that were left over, I made Superman and Dracula. My teacher was pretty shocked. I don't remember what it was we were supposed to make, but that is what I made.

Yes. But again, I've always been interested in other stuff too. Superheroes were always a perennial favorite.

Absolutely. I used to refer to them for almost everything. I learned to draw noses from comics, and no telling how many other things.

My favorite titles were Batman, Detective Comics, Superman, and Ghost Rider. The visuals were always really strong. The Norm Breyfogle Batman was very inspiring to me. When I was a kid, I had my own comic company whose flagship title ran for 12 issues. By today's standards, the art and writing were very poor- but it was a great experience. I would make photocopies and try to sell them for 85 cents each. This was before the internet and computers, so my readership was never more than say, ten. heh.

I'll share a story with you.

When I was a kid I drew on the back of long mailing envelopes. I drew comic strips featuring a 12 year old jungle boy character named "Lonlo Tonlo" (Not that bad of a name for an 8 year old to come up with, all things considered). My first story started with Lonlo captured in a cage in the cargo of an airplane. The pilot and crew of the plane were poachers stealing animals from Africa. Lonlo was trapped by the bad guys, and they put him on the plane with the rest of the cargo. Lonlo gets free of his cage (jungle strength of a tiger) and sneaks to the cabin of the plane, and overhears the crew saying, "It's time to drop that jungle boy off at the pool". The plane was above the Atlantic Ocean, you see. There is a fight, and Lonlo pushes two thugs out the door of the plane, grabs the gun and shoots the pilot. Lonlo grabs the ONLY parachute on the plane (conveniently hanging on the wall near a fireman's axe--go figure), and jumps out over the Atlantic. He lands in the water, and there are shark fins in the water. He sees a ship in the distance. Then I never drew another panel. LOL. Not bad for an 8 year old though! Maybe I should revisit that character.

[KarAnde]

Figure while Im lurking instead of posting pictures and learning(scanner is looking to start a brawl with me at this point) I'd do this

-How long have you been drawing?
As long as I can remember, in fact still have a remarkably bad 1st grade cheetah drawing(I was the best "drawler" in my class).

-Did comic books play a large role in your love for drawing?
Not at first, Really I was inspired by some amazing sketches my dad had done of big cats in my baby books, they were my only connection to him growing up and thereby drawing became that connection(unfortunately as a stupid kid wanting to show off to my friends I've lost the things he drew over the years).

-Have you always wanted to draw comic book characters?
Not always its been a long and winding road from wanting to be a veterinarian to a game designer to wanting to get into comics, now Im trying to divide my school pursuits between becoming a better artist and social psychology.

My drawing pursuits are all either comic or game oriented though sometimes it feels like I missed out on a lot of learning in my teenage years pushing those dreams slightly further out of reach...which of course make me want to learn more...its like cookies hiding on the top shelf takes time but getting there is possible.

-Did comics have a major impact on the way you draw now?
I would say so, all the different "styles" that pop up have me constantly looking at different artists processes and how the fundamentals that im trying to slowly beat into my head play into those processes.....oh and comic characters are cool and I find myself wanting to create my own take on characters.

-What was your favorite comic title (and tell me why, please)?
Favorite title....Hard to say. After my Sonic years toons took over my life, it was only after high-school graduation and my first job that my pay checks started disappearing into comics...en masse covered a decent sized bedroom wall or two with a packaged and boarded wall paper of comic titles.

....anyways I just veered wildly into not answer the question land soo I think it comes down to either Bat family titles (the robins are my favs), teen titans, Spiderman, or Captain america, its a tie between those cant choose.

[stoat]

Havent been able to get near a pencil all week,have a Quiet 10mins at work so thought I would share:

-How long have you been drawing?
Since Day 1 ,Drawing was the primary way I spent my time from age 3-15,still drew regularly up to about the age of 20,when life changed in all sorts of ways and I didnt really start doodling again until my wife reignited it in the last few years.so a break of nearly 20 years! aside from the odd life drawing class or shortcourse.
-Did comic books play a large role in your love for drawing?
Initially it was anything from TV or Films or Books, Star wars, snoopy, Harryhausen films, then Spiderman hit me big time around 1978 on the TV and I was obsessed, My mum got me my First comic around 1981 which was the old uk weekly spiderman which reprinted US material.
Hooked, As well as the weekly Spiderman which also reprinted great Buscema era FF and Avengers, Marvel uk also put out an Original X-men weekly reprinting the Kirby era and ran Devil Dinosaur as a back up, also started reading all the UK war comics like Battle and commando, Secret wars hit town when I was 9 or 10 at the same time spiderman weekly caught up with the mid 80’s material and blew my socks off. This all Led into 2000ad,Heavy Metal and My discovery of a local specialist comic store selling US imports. I was being overloaded with exposure to more and more great artists and Varying styles and my drawings always reflected strongly what I was reading that Day.
This even carried on up to when I was about 18, starting Art Collage and Vertigo hit big time.
-Did comics have a major impact on the way you draw now?
Absolutely massive Impact, apart from my early Spiderman obsession I have nearly always looked to see who the artist is before I purchase, I was always mimicking the comic art of my faves, Saying that, I have always loved all aesthetic arts and have a great love of artists and illustrators in general, loved the lines of people like Schiele and Klimt, illustrators like Aubrey Beardsley and John Bauer, great Fan of Design and Graphics in General.
But there are countless sources of personal Inspiration and influence in comics: Buscema,Neal Adams ,The Romita’s, Alan Davis, Michael Golden, John Bryne, Smitty, Mazzuchelli ,Mike Zeck , Paul Gulacy, Art Adams, Rick Leonardi, Carlos Ezquerra, Cam Kennedy, Steve Rude, jordi Bernett, list goes on and on and I very much notice my Drawing has a tendency to emulate whatever I am currently reading.

-What was your favourite comic title (and tell me why, please)?
It was Spiderman up to about 1989 always loved the Character and he seemed to develop with me during the 80’s.Same with the X-MEN run throughout the 80’s when there was a real sense of underground outsiders, I dropped this as well around the same time the Silvestri/Dan green run ended. Buscema’s Avengers was 4 Colour heaven, Alan Davis’ Cap Britain and Excalibur were both dark and Fun under Alan moore and then Claremont .Bernetts Torpedo just rocks,Nexus has always been a favourite ,just for being different and Steve Rude’s iconic design. I Was always fond of Chris Bachalo’s Vertigo run on Shade.
2000ad was a godsend when I was 13.
And Recently I have simply loved Marcos Martin’s Daredevil, the Page design was gorgeous ,kudos to Rivera too.
Oh and Kaboom’s Adventure time just puts a big smile on both mine and my boy’s face