#25
SUMMER 2013 $8.95 in the US
LEE WEEKS INTERVIEW & DEMO
DC’s Rising Star
yildiray çinar inking legend
JOE RUBINSTEIN ROUGH STUFF’S
BOB McLEOD
PLUS MIKE MANLEY AND BRET BLEVINS’
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Characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
CRITIQUES A NEWCOMER’S WORK
DIGITAL
NS DRAW! (edited by MIKE MANLEY) is the professional EDITIO BLE A “HOW-TO” magazine on comics, cartooning, and IL AVA NLY animation. Each issue features in-depth INTERVIEWS FOR O 5 and DEMOS from top pros on all aspects of graphic $3.9 storytelling, as well as such DRAW! #4 skills as layout, penciling, inking, Interview with ERIK LARSEN, KEVIN lettering, coloring, Photoshop techNOWLAN on drawing and inking niques, plus web guides, tips, tricks, techniques, DAVE COOPER’s coloring techniques in Photoshop, BRET and a handy reference source—this BLEVINS tutorial on Figure magazine has it all! Composition, PAUL RIVOCHE on the Design Process, reviews of NOTE: Some issues contain nudity for comics drawing papers, and more! purposes of figure drawing. (88-page magazine) $5.95 INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS. (Digital Edition) $3.95
DRAW! #8
DRAW! #9
DRAW! #10
DRAW! #5
DRAW! #6
DRAW! #7
MIKE WIERINGO interview, BENDIS and OEMING on how they create “Powers”, BRET BLEVINS shows “How to draw great hands”, “The illusion of depth in design” by PAUL RIVOCHE, art books reviewed by TERRY BEATTY, plus reviews of the best art supplies, and more!
Interview & demo with BILL WRAY, STEPHEN DeSTEFANO interview, BRET BLEVINS shows “How to draw the human figure in light and shadow,” Photoshop tutorial by CELIA CALLE, inking tips by MIKE MANLEY, reviews of the best art supplies, links, and more!
Interview/demo by DAN BRERETON, ZACH TRENHOLM on caricaturing, “Drawing In Adobe Illustrator” demo by ALBERTO RUIZ, “The Power of Sketching” by BRET BLEVINS, “Designing with light and shadow” by PAUL RIVOCHE, reviews of art supplies, links, and more!
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DRAW! #11
DRAW! #12
DRAW! #13
Interview & demo by MATT HALEY, TOM BANCROFT & ROB CORLEY on character design, “Drawing In Adobe Illustrator” by ALBERTO RUIZ, “Draping The Human Figure” by BRET BLEVINS, a new COMICS SECTION, International Spotlight on JOSÉ LOUIS AGREDA, and more!
WRITE NOW #8 crossover! MIKE MANLEY & DANNY FINGEROTH create a comic from script to print, BANCROFT & CORLEY on bringing characters to life, Adobe Illustrator with ALBERTO RUIZ, Noel Sickles’ work examined, PvP’s SCOTT KURTZ, art supply reviews, and more!
RON GARNEY interview & demo, GRAHAM NOLAN on creating newspaper strips, TODD KLEIN and others discuss lettering, “Draping The Human Figure, Part Two” by BRET BLEVINS, ALBERTO RUIZ on Adobe Illustrator, interview with MARK McKENNA, links, and more!
STEVE RUDE on comics & drawing, ROQUE BALLESTEROS on Flash animation, JIM BORGMAN on his daily comic strip Zits, BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY on “Drawing On Life”, Adobe Illustrator tips with ALBERTO RUIZ, links, a color section and more! New RUDE cover!
KYLE BAKER on merging traditional and digital art, MIKE HAWTHORNE on his work, “Making Perspective Work For You” by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, Photoshop techniques with ALBERTO RUIZ, THE VENTURE BROTHERS, links, and more! New BAKER cover!
Demo of painting methods by ALEX HORLEY, interview and demo by COLLEEN COOVER, a look behindthe-scenes on Adult Swim’s MINORITEAM, regular features on drawing by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, links, color section and more!
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DRAW! #14
DRAW! #15
DRAW! #16
DRAW! #17
DRAW! #18
DRAW! #19
In-depth interviews and demos with DOUG MAHNKE, OVI NEDELCU (Pigtale, WB Animation), STEVE PURCELL (Sam and Max), MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ COMIC ART BOOTCAMP on “Using Black to Power up Your Pages”, product reviews, and more!
Covers major schools offering comic art as part of their curriculum, in an ultimate overview of collegiate-level comic art classes! Plus, a “how-to” demo/interview with BILL REINHOLD, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ COMIC ART BOOTCAMP series, and more!
In-depth interview with HOWARD CHAYKIN, behind the drawing board and animation desk with JAY STEPHENS, COMIC ART BOOTCAMP on HOW TO USE REFERENCE and WORKING FROM PHOTOS (by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY), and more!
Interview and tutorial with Scott Pilgrim’s BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY on how he creates the acclaimed series, learn how B.P.R.D.’s GUY DAVIS creates his series, more Comic Art Bootcamp: Learning from The Great Cartoonists by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, reviews, and more!
Interview & demo by R.M. GUERA, Cartoon Network’s JAMES TUCKER on the hit show “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” plus product reviews by JAMAR NICHOLAS, and Comic Book Boot Camp’s “Anatomy: Part 2” by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY!
DOUG BRAITHWAITE demo and interview, DANNY FINGEROTH’s new feature on writer/artists with R. SIKORYAK, BOB McLEOD critiques a newcomer’s work, JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews art supplies and tool tech, COMIC ART BOOTCAMP on penciling & more!
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DRAW! #20
DRAW! #21
DRAW! #22
WALTER SIMONSON interview and demo, Rough Stuff’s BOB McLEOD gives a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work, Write Now’s DANNY FINGEROTH spotlights writer/artist AL JAFFEE, JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews the best art supplies and tool technology, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS offer “Comic Art Bootcamp” lessons, plus Web links, book reviews, and more!
Urban Barbarian DAN PANOSIAN talks shop about his gritty, designinspired work with editor MIKE MANLEY, DANNY FINGEROTH interviews “Billy Dogma” writer/artist DEAN HASPIEL, plus more of MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp”, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work by BOB McLEOD, product and art supply reviews by JAMAR NICHOLAS, and more!
Interview with inker SCOTT WILLIAMS from his days at Marvel and Image to his work with JIM LEE, FRANK MILLER interview, plus MILLER and KLAUS JANSON show their working processes. Also, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp”, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work by BOB McLEOD, art supply reviews by “Crusty Critic” JAMAR NICHOLAS, and more!
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(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 US • (Digital edition) $3.95
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THE PROFESSIONAL “HOW-TO” MAGAZINE ON COMICS & CARTOONING WWW.DRAW-MAGAZINE.BLOGSPOT.COM SUMMER 2013 VOL. 1, No. 25 Editor-in-Chief • Michael Manley Managing Editor and Designer • Eric Nolen-Weathington Publisher • John Morrow Logo Design • John Costanza Front Cover • Lee Weeks DRAW! Summer 2013, Vol. 1, No. 25 was produced by Action Planet, Inc. and published by TwoMorrows Publishing. Michael Manley, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial address: DRAW! Magazine, c/o Michael Manley, 430 Spruce Ave., Upper Darby, PA 19082. Subscription Address: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614. DRAW! and its logo are trademarks of Action Planet, Inc. All contributions herein are copyright 2013 by their respective contributors. Action Planet, Inc. and TwoMorrows Publishing accept no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. All artwork herein is copyright the year of production, its creator (if work-for-hire, the entity which contracted said artwork); the characters featured in said artwork are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners; and said artwork or other trademarked material is printed in these pages with the consent of the copyright holder and/or for journalistic, educational, or historical purposes with no infringement intended or implied. This entire issue is ©2013 Action Planet, Inc. and TwoMorrows Publishing and may not be reprinted or retransmitted without written permission of the copyright holders. ISSN 1932-6882. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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LEE WEEKS
Mike Manley interviews the artist’s artist on creating from the abstract and the process of discovery
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Joe Rubinstein
36
Yildiray Çinar
49
ÇINAR GALLERY
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rough critique
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comic art bootcamp
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The crusty Critic
Inker extraordinaire Joe Rubinstein offers advice and demos his approach to inking
Mike Manley talks with the Turkish sensation about making it big in the American comics industry
A gallery of Yildiray Çinar’s personal sketches and commissioned illustrations
Bob McLeod gives practical advice and tips on how to improve your work
Mike Manley flies solo this time out. This issue’s installment: Color tells the story.
Jamar Nicholas reviews the tools of the trade. This issue: Sensu Portable Artist Brush and Stylus
www.twomorrows.com DRAW! SUMMER 2013
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P
-ING AHEAD
op the champagne and throw the confetti— DRAW! has reached its 25th issue! I’d love to thank John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington for being there all along and helping DRAW! look great and get out the door every issue. I’d also love to thank my regular contributors, Bob McLeod, Bret Blevins, and Jamar Nicholas. Regrettably, this is also Bob’s last issue as a regular contributor with his “Rough Critique” column, but we have a great new regular contributor ready to step up to the plate—Jerry Ordway! Jerry’s coming on board to give us plenty of shop talk and behind the scenes tips and tricks culled from his stellar career. I’d like to dedicate this issue to several great Golden Age and Silver Age artists who have passed since our last issue, Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino, and in the last week Dan Adkins. All of these artists put the “bricks in the building” as I call it. You can’t think of comics over the last 50 years without Kubert and Infantino—their work is still part of our foundation and language we use today as comic artists, and their work will stand the test of time. Now go Draw something!
NEXT ISSUE IN OCTOBER! DRAW! #26 (80 pages, now in its new full-color format, $8.95 print/$3.95 digital), the professional “how-to” magazine on comics and animation, travels from the desolate Barsoom to the cold winds of Cimmeria to track down the legendary illustrator Joe Jusko! He demonstrates his process on creating some of the top fantasy art being produced today. Also, JAMAR NICHOLAS interviews JIM RUGG, the artist behind STREET ANGEL, AFRODISIAC, and THE PLAIN JANES. DRAW! is also proud to welcome new regular contributor Jerry Ordway with a new ongoing feature on his behind-thescenes working process as an industry legend. And there are the usual columns you know and love: “Comic Book Bootcamp” with Mike Manley and Bret Blevins and “The Crusty Critic” with Jamar Nicholas! Edited by Mike Manley. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Four issues in the US: $30 Standard, $40 First Class, $11.80 Digital Only Outside the US: Canada: $43, Elsewhere: $54 Surface, $78 Airmail
TwoMorrows.A New Day For Comics Fans!
TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 E-mail: store@twomorrowspubs.com • See free previews and order at www.twomorrows.com
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the Art of Discovery Interview conducted by Mike Manley on Feb. 24, 2013 and transcribed by Eric Nolen-Weathington
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Lee’s thumbnail rough and finished pencils for the cover of Hulk Smash Avengers #2. Hulk, Iron Man © Marvel Characters, Inc.
DRAW!: So you’re getting ready to go to Toronto? LEE WEEKS: Going to Toronto in a little less than two weeks. DRAW!: I know they have two shows up there. Which one are you going to? LW: Apparently, they’re run by the same people. They have a big three-day show and a two-day show. I’m going to the two-day one, which he claims is about a 20,000-person attendance. Apparently that three-day one is pretty big. I don’t know if he’s exaggerating; a lot of times those guys will pad the numbers to get you to come. I went to Heroes Con for the first time last year, and that was about 20,000, maybe a little less. I thought that was a perfect show—the best show I’ve ever been to. DRAW!: I’ve been to the Heroes Con before myself, and it reminded me of what conventions used to be like, where it
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wasn’t about all the celebrities or whatever. It was about people who liked comic books and wanted to come talk to people who draw and write comic books, and have that experience. You go to most of the other shows now and if you’re a comic guy, you’re in the ghetto. You’re way in the back, and it’s all about the guy on whatever TV show—The Walking Dead or whatever show is hot now. LW: Yeah, you seed the show, you grow the show, now we’ll move in and push you to the back of the bus and take over the show. DRAW!: You’re back working on Daredevil now? LW: Yeah, actually a small story arc I’ve been working on way too long. It’s the kind of thing where I work on it a little bit, then I step away from it for a few weeks at a time. It’s actually a story I came up with about five years ago, and it sat in a drawer a couple of years before somebody approved it. They told me to do it the way I wanted to do it. It’s a weird situation, but they
let me go away into my corner and do it the way I wanted. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff on the side—commissions, more convention appearances. It’s been a strange decade. DRAW!: You’ve been posting some of the commissions on Facebook, and they look great. It’s not like the con head sketch, quick with a Sharpie before you go out the door. These are really nice, nice drawings. LW: Thank you very much. It’s always my goal to make sure they get more than what they pay for. Honestly, I don’t remember when I’ve had as much fun drawing, so it’s very easy to put more time into these. Something’s happened in the past year. A lot of it has to do with connecting on Facebook, which I used to despise the idea of, but I signed up a year ago this month, and started stepping back into the convention scene a little bit. I’d been away mostly for nearly a decade, and totally away for about five years. I try to do the New York show each year. And then I added another one, and then last year was the most I’ve ever done in one year. I did six.
two regrets. “Oh man. I didn’t get over to see Jerry Robinson. I’ve never met Jerry”—or whoever it was that particular year. But I like connecting with the fans. I feel like I was too isolated for a few years. DRAW!: I know there are a lot of negative things about Facebook, but I find as an artist it’s a great way to reach out to people and to stay connected to people. Blevins started doing that. He has a fan page, and he’s really been posting a lot the past month or two, and he’s getting a lot of great responses and feedback. Because that’s where everybody is. Everybody is on Facebook, and I really enjoy it for that aspect. I’m sure in five years it’ll be how MySpace used to be. As soon as Facebook came along, everyone said, “See you, MySpace!” LW: I was waiting for Yogi Berra there. “Nobody goes to the beach anymore; it’s too crowded.” [laughter] “Nobody goes to Facebook anymore; it’s too crowded.” But for right now, gosh, I didn’t realize how much I appreciated the direct feedback. When you take a long time on a job, it’s a weird way to wait month to month to month to get feedback on something.
DRAW!: The last time that I saw you DRAW!: You and I might have been the were cutting our teeth last New York show around the same time. I did, which might We both worked on that have been four or five Remo Williams, The years ago. I stopped Destroyer comic. going myself. I just kind LW: Yours was good! of got burnt out on having Yours was good! to haul all my stuff with me and everything. I did a little show DRAW!: You’re being up near Allentown back in August, and far too kind. that was fun. The people were very nice LW: That underwater and everything. But doing the whole selfstuff. I remember that; that publishing thing and the magazine, you was beautiful. would drag your comics, and drag all your artwork, and drag all your back issues, A Rocketeer convention commission piece. DRAW!: The nice part of that was and set everything up, I found it became I got Al Williamson to ink some of that. Rocketeer © The Estate of Dave Stevens. a diminishing return for my effort. And But that was one of those five pages a the part that I liked the most was seeing guys like you and other day kind of things. But I really liked yours. Even though I’ve friends I wouldn’t see very often. So I said, “I can sell my pages always admired your drawing, because you draw beautifully, on eBay. I don’t need to pull all that stuff with me.” I find the the thing I always admire the most about your work—that’s social aspect of the show much more enjoyable. gotten even better—is your storytelling. LW: Yeah, at the show itself, I always promise myself that— LW: It was drilled into me that that was the most important there are all these great giants. We’re losing a few every year. thing. I always listen to my elders—try to listen to my elders. I promise myself to get over there, but invariably I can’t get [laughter] I was only one year into Kubert School, but that away from the table, and I leave the show with at least one or was the thing that I remembered, that it doesn’t matter how
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Joe Rubinstein racters, Inc.
nking is the act of applying ink over someone else’s or your own pencils/graphite drawings with brush, pen, marker, fingers—even digitally—so the drawing becomes dark enough to reproduced. While modern printing can and does more and more often reproduce directly from the pencils, I feel there is something desirable missing (but then again, I would). Inking is not tracing, but like an actor with dialogue, or a musician with composed lines not of his own making, an inker has to make an art of interpreting the penciled lines very well, or at the very least do no harm. Inking can be a lot of fun and also very boring. Fun and exciting because I’ve gotten to work with artists who were childhood heroes of mine, and also to work with some new, hot artist who’s making a splash in the industry at the moment. Exciting when I have to rise to the challenge of finding a new way to work. Boring when it’s the same old style and the same old characters with the same old tools. My mentor Dick Giordano taught me that it’s important to respect the penciler whom you are inking over and to change
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your approach to accommodate their philosophies and thinking while doing what you can to amplify that approach. Give them the respect you’d want from an inker. Not every inker is right for every penciler, and not every job is right for the tools that you may always use. I can use as many as four different kinds of pen nibs during a job and as many as two to three different size brushes. The pens can go from small and flexible to large and stiff. I whittle the back tip of my brushes down and jam the barrelshaped points on them or tape the other shaped points on to it. That causes a firm hold and a natural grip for me. I use thinner ink for pen and thicker for brush work, never mixing them up. My approach is to draw with the ink using pen or brush to establish the shapes (muscles, noses, shoes, etc.), then the light source with the shadows, and then find the rendering (how to make hair, skin, and textures convincing). I can ink an entire job with just one brush or with just one pen, but there are some things that are just plain easier to do with the pen and others that are easier to do with the brush.
Wolverine © Marvel Cha
. rvel Characters, Inc
All characters © Ma
I
...on Inking
Batman © DC Comics
STEP 1—INKING WITH PEN: This Batman piece by the late Al Rio was about 75% pen
work because I wanted a harder, clean kind of line to get the subtleties of Al’s work.
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Istanbul , not New York City
Yildiray inar Ç
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Batman © DC Comics
Y
ildiray Çinar is one of the few Turkish comic book artists who draw superhero comics. In fact, the publishing house he co-founded in 1997 with some like-minded artists— Capa Comics—was the first Turkish publisher to produce original work in that most traditional of American comic book genres. After nearly ten years spent producing his own comics, as well as working in animation and film, Çinar finally broke into the American comic book scene, quickly coming into prominence for his work on Jay Faerber’s Noble Causes. Now he’s one of DC’s brightest stars, having worked on Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes, The Fury of the Firestorms, and now Earth 2. Interview conducted by Mike Manley via e-mail
Draw!: Tell me about what you are working on now. Yildiray çinar: I am working on Earth 2 #13 right now. I did a couple of fill-ins on this book, and my new ongoing will be starting after I finish this issue. Draw!: How involved are you in the storyline, or are you more of a hired gun on this project? Yç: I’d say I am a hired gun for this book. Draw!: Does that have any effect on how you feel about a project? I know sometimes in my case working as a hired gun can be a little difficult if I don’t have any affinity for the character. There are money jobs, or the jobs you do because you want work, and then the jobs that are passions and you do them for that first and pay secondary. I did layouts last year on a project that had the Teen Titans in it, and I have no “feeling” for them as opposed to the Fantastic Four, who exist as fully fleshed personalities in my imagination. Does this happen to you at all? Yç: The situation is a little bit different on this one. On my Earth 2 fill-ins, I draw single-character issues. It is still the same storyline, but about introducing a new character for the readers. I got to draw Wonder Woman’s daughter Fury and Captain Steel’s DC New 52 versions. It is new world-building in this book, so I feel lucky.
Draw!: How do you go about working with new characters? Do you do a bunch of sketches to work with them and get a feel for them before you start drawing them? Yç: Definitely. It is so hard to get yourself into the story if you don’t study the character. I usually try to start sketching as soon as the script arrives. You should be consistent with characters in an ongoing book. Draw!: There has been a fairly long history of artists from Asia working in comics since the early ’70s, and in those cases they were recruited by DC Comics and also Warren. Were you aware of that? Did that have an impact on you at all in wanting to work for American companies? Yç: Honestly, no. When I started reading comics in the early ’80s, I wasn’t aware of who is who in comics, mostly because the credits sections didn’t exist in the Turkish editions. As for wanting to work for American publishers, I was in love with superheroes, and it came out naturally with time. There is no way you can do this for a living here producing superhero comic books [only for the Turkish market]. Draw!: So you were reading American comics in Turkish reprints? Were they mostly Marvel or DC? Did you later find out who the artists were that you liked? I assume you also had
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access to work produced in Europe, like the graphic albums, etc. What about manga, did you get that as well? Yç: Yes, mostly. They were Marvels and DCs all printed in black-and-white and in smaller sizes. My first book was a Conan drawn by Gil Kane. In the late ’80s, most of the publishers were printing the credits, and I started to learn who was drawing, writing, etc. We had Tintin, Asterix, and some other European stuff printed here and there as well. For example, Thorgal did see print as a serial in a weekly children’s magazine. Other than cartoons, there was no manga. Actually, mangas started to see print just in the past couple of years here. Draw!: Did you have favorite artists that were your “school”—your favorites that you studied and emulated? When did you decide you wanted to be a professional cartoonist? Yç: John Buscema, Ross Andru, and John Byrne are the first names that come to my mind. I had a huge Conan collection back at that time. Also we got to see a big part of John Byrne’s Fantastic Four and Ross Andru’s Spidey runs in ’80s. In those days, there were few books I was able to follow.
Yildiray’s rough and finished pencils for page 10 of Earth 2 #8. All characters © DC Comics.
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Draw!: I think Ross Andru is one of the more underrated artists of the past 40 years. His work was always so good, and the layouts and storytelling top notch. José García-López told me Andru was a big influence on him, and you can tell that if you look at some of the figure posing and especially his layouts. Yç: I agree. Andru is great. His Spider-Man was something else. I loved his extreme angles and his use of backgrounds. He used to rotate backgrounds so they were opposed to Spidey’s poses, which gave the character swinging from the tops of buildings a fresh look. I was always drawing and attached to comic book art. My world turned 180 degrees when my art teacher in 8th grade did something very important for my life. Here is the story:
In 1990, the government decided to open Fine Arts High School in my city. My art teacher heard about it, and she filled out and sent in an application for me without asking me. She came to me and said, “You are going to selection exams for the Fine Arts school tomorrow.” I went home and told my family, and I got in. Suddenly, within a few days, I was in an art school. Those are the days when I decided I wanted to be a professional comic book artist. Draw!: That’s a great story! She was really a great person and teacher in your life. Are you still in contact with her? Has she followed your work and success? Yç: Sadly, I lost contact with her because I had to move to another city for university…. Draw!: Did you work in Europe first? Yç: If you mean Europe, no. But if you mean Turkey, yes. My career started here with self-published fanzines back in 1997. Draw!: How old were you and what titles did you work on? How did you go about getting training? Were there other cartoonists you worked with or hung out with? How did your education in craft come about? Yç: At age 15, I went to Fine Arts High School. After four years, I went to college at Cartoon Animation Department. Starting painting at an early age really widened my vision about art. Putting animation as a plus on it worked really well.
Yildiray’s contribution to a recent volume of the Turkish comic Deli Gücük.
Draw!: How did you learn the craft of comics? Were there any teachers at the school who taught classes on subjects like storytelling, etc.? Yç: The comic side I learned on my own. There were no specific storytelling classes, but at Animation Department we had Cinema class where we had a chance to do our short movies. I guess it helped a lot. Also, we were doing storyboards and layouts. To top it off, there was 2-D Animation as a main class in my time there. Now they focus mostly on 3-D and computer graphics….
Deli Gücük © its respective owners.
Draw!: I can see the animation in your work, in your line, and maybe that’s why your work stood out to me, so this makes sense. Doing storyboards can really hone those storytelling skills. I think my comic work got better after doing a lot of boards myself, and there is a lot of cross-training. Did you formally study storyboards at school? Did you use any texts? Yç: Yes, I did, but I can honestly say I learned more drawing more functional storyboards as a professional. Storyboarding also gives you speed, as the clients usually give you extreme deadlines, so you have to find the solution to tell the story in a short time, which is good practice.
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