Issuu

No. 8 SPRING 2008

$6.95 Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

Featuring

Alex Horley Rafael Kayanan Nick Cardy Tony DeZuniga

MIKE MAYHEW

82658 27766

Interview and Gallery

Volume 1, Number 8 Spring 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

Nick Cardy

Tony DeZuniga

Alex Horley

Rafael Kayanan

Mike Mayhew

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Productions SPECIAL THANKS Nick Cardy

ROUGH STUFF FEATURE 26

Introduction to Belgian & French Comics Dominique Leonard

Tony DeZuniga

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEW

Alex Horley Rafael Kayanan

Mike Mayhew

Mike Mayhew Dominique Leonard Gerald Forton

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS 2

J.C. Mezieres

Scribblings From The Editor Bob McLeod

Albert Uderzo Mike Murdock

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 Mike Mayhew. All characters are copyright Marvel Comics. 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

PrePro Art by Rafael Kayanan, Mike Mayhew and Alex Horley, done before they turned pro.

Cover Stories Mike Mayhew and Alex Horley reveal the process of creating a cover.

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

Rough Talk Comments and opinions from our readers.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:

ell, Spring is here at last, and with it another great issue of Rough Stuff awaits. Before we get to it, however, maybe I need to explain what I’m trying to do here. I’ve received several e-mails from readers who would like me to focus more on teaching in Rough Stuff. My intention up to now has been mostly to

show you a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of comic art, and get the pros to offer comments about their work. This can be very enlightening, but my goal was not specifically to teach, since TwoMorrows already has a great teaching magazine called Draw!. I introduced my Rough Critique really only because we needed more features in the magazine, and it was just something I thought I could do that would be of interest, and that Draw! wasn’t doing. I also began making somewhat instructional comments in order to fill up space when some of the featured artists didn’t have a lot to say, or when the artists were deceased. As an artist myself, what I have to say about artwork tends to be analytical, and I also like to teach, so I can’t seem to help that coming out in my comments occasionally. Going forward however, due to your many requests, I will try to teach where appropriate in Rough Stuff, and I’ll try to get instructional comments from our featured artists. But not every artist likes to teach or is able to, so keep that in mind. Now, up first this issue is the wonderful Nick Cardy. After a long, successful career best remembered for his work on Aquaman and the Teen Titans, Nick left comic books just as I was entering, back around 1974. He moved on to advertising and had a second successful career there. I’m honored to include him in this issue. For a while now, I’ve been wanting to broaden the scope of Rough Stuff to include artists from other countries. We showed you some of Tony DeZuniga’s art back in issue #5, in Michael Browning’s article on the origin of Jonah Hex. This time, we also take a look at some of his other work you may not be as familiar with. Tony was one of the first Filipino artists to break into American comics, leading a wave of well-remembered and appreciated artists such as Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, Alex Niño, Rudy Nebres and many others. I’m planning to do an issue featuring some more of those artists down the line. Moving to Europe, I asked Belgian comic art collector Dominique Leonard to write an introductory article about the great Belgian and French comic artists some of you may be unaware of. These artists, influenced by the great American newspaper strip artists of the ‘50s, have in turn greatly influenced many current American comic artists. Then traveling on to Italy, we present the amazing Alessandro Orlandelli, better known as Alex Horley, who’s one of my favorite comic art painters. I wanted to see the pencils underneath those luscious paints, and I’m sure you will, too. He even shows us some of his childhood art for our PrePro feature, which also brings us back full circle to another younger Filipino artist, Rafael Kayanan. Rafael has done a lot of work in comics, but I asked him to show us some of the fantastic work he’s done outside of comic books as well. All I can say is “WOW!” Alex Horley also brings us a cover from start to finish for our Cover Stories feature, as does Mike Mayhew, who shows us how this issue’s sexy cover progressed. Mike’s also the subject of this issue’s interview, conducted by Len Gould, proud owner of the original art to our cover, which was commissioned by him. Bringing up the rear as usual is my Rough Critique, featuring an X-Men/Avengers page by newcomer Mike Murdock, and lastly, your own letters of comment. And remember, 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!). And as always, go to the Rough Stuff pages of my own web site for art and comments that didn’t fit into the magazine. And also visit the web sites of our featured artists, some of whom may accept commissions. Nick Cardy: http://www.nickcardy.com Alex Horley: http://www.alexhorley.com Rafael Kayanan: http://members.aol.com/Kayanancomicart/home.html Mike Mayhew: http://www.mikemayhewstudio.com/

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 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

NICK CARDY

AHAWK, ty on DC’s TOM ri la pu po g in in First ga work on st known for his be s ap rh pe s e’ h d my TEEN TITANS, an AQUAMAN and e drew the g, and SH. Early on, h e Hogarth writin rn favorite, BAT LA u B ith w ile h e did rip for a w strips as well. H N A TM daily TARZAN st BA d an comics to SEY RUGGLES , before leaving 0s worked on the CA ’7 y rl ea e th all of for DC in e Comic Book H th to in scores of covers ed ct du appealing, ing. Nick was in eral are always n work in advertis ge in t ar d an is figures ve him. Fame in 2005. H e who doesn’t lo n yo an ow kn t and I don’

BOB McLEOD Nick penciled the first 39 issues of Aquaman from ’62’68, and all the covers through the final issue, #56 in 1971. This

NICK CARDY

is an unpublished version of

I also preferred the

the cover for issue #43, which I

original version, but the

like better than the published

word came down from

version. The flowing line work

on high, so it was not

on the distant figure, as well as

up to me.

Aquaman’s dynamic pose amid

I penciled and inked

the tangled seaweed are much

all of my stories. No one

more interesting to me. Notice

could ink over my loose

how the black ‘L’ shape creat-

pencils. [Drat! I started

ed by the large sandal and its

ten years too late! - ed.]

shadow frame the Aquaman

When my deadline

figure.

became tight, others penciled (Neal Adams, Gil Kane, George Tuska,

NICK CARDY

Carmine infantino) and I inked.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

BOB McLEOD Bat Lash #5, p. 11 This is a page from my personal collection. Bat Lash is my favorite Cardy series. I love the use of dry brush for texture, the expert placement of blacks, and the overall brush dexterity. I like the action in his horses, too. Like Joe Kubert, Cardy varied his shots quite a bit, with close-ups and long shots often side by side. Here he goes from a medium shot to a close-up to a long shot to an up shot to a down shot, all used with good reasons for maximum effect.

NICK CARDY

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

ALEX JOHNSON Nick Cardy is one of the nicest people I’ve ever encountered and that Bat Lash drawing is my favorite piece in my collection. I’ve had it as the picture on my computer desktop since I got it. When Bat Lash was published, I thought it was one of the best drawn and written comics that I’d read. I was really sad when it imploded. A couple of years ago, I realized that the artist whose work I so enjoyed would accept commissions. For Christmas, my wife ordered a Teen Titans drawing from him. It was then that I discovered how kind and friendly Nick is. He called Kathy several times to ensure that the picture made it safely and later called me to see if I liked it. At this point, I should also mention that Nick is very charming. Both my wife and one of my daughters have fallen in love with him from his calls and voice mails. I think that if he were local, either one or both would run off with him. :) For my fiftieth birthday, Kathy and I commissioned this Bat Lash drawing. Nick called again to see how I liked it. To give you a feel for how good it is, my wife, who favors impressionism and pointillism and other forms of serious art, lets it hang in our bedroom. She loves the romantic feel of the piece. This is the highest form of Bat Lash TM & ©2008 DC Comics

Bat Lash courtesy Alex Johnson

praise available at my house. SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

INTRODUCTION to Dominique Leonard

he very first time I was in contact with Bob McLeod, it was for a commission. A few weeks later, I got two marvellous drawings he made for me. Wow, great work. Basically, I’m a fan of comics who grew up with Belgian and French heroes, but I’m also really interested in American artists and characters. Now, I’m trying to re-discover stories I read when I was a teenager 30 years ago. It’s fun to re-read all these stories with lots of super-heroes.

So, when Bob told me about his magazine, and invited me to write a kind of “Introduction to European comics”

name to the magazine. Spirou, the character, appeared

for his readers, I felt very flattered, but as I’m not a pro-

for the first time in the first issue of the magazine.

fessional in the comics field, I also did worry. What could

Another important magazine, Tintin, created in 1946 (last

I write that would be likely to arouse your interest? Just to

issue in 1988), also took the name of its main character,

summarize the history of comics in Belgium and France

but “Tintin” the hero was never the property of the editor.

since the ’40s, I would need more than three Rough

His creator never sold the rights to his character. Tintin

Stuff issues, so I thought it would be more pragmatic to

was created in 1929 and is probably the most popular

highlight the work of top artists of the Golden Age of

character in comics worldwide.

comics (between the ’40s and the ’70s); my

Comics creators were “all-rounders.” They wrote

personal selection of 13 Golden Age artists.

the stories, did the pencil drawings and also

First of all, it’s important to mention that

inked their own stuff. This is the rea-

there are a lot of differences between

son why it took an average of

comics in Europe and in the USA. Let’s

one year for a story to

have a look at the major ones: In Europe, almost all characters are the property of their creators. Usually, when an artist stops his activities, his hero

DOMINIQUE: Forton has a great

disappears at the same time. Of course, there are some exceptions. The most

ability for sketching

important character

very fast. His

that was the editor’s

pencils are often

property is named

clean but very clear

“SPIROU.” It was

at the same time.

also the title of a

He likes horses and can reproduce

magazine created in 1938 and still

these animals

published

perfectly in his

today.

westerns. He’s also very good at working out the balance between black and white. “Teddy Ted”, unpublished sketch copyright Forton, 2008

The editor bought the rights to the hero who gave his

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

get finished. On

Belgian & French Comics BOB McLEOD: Giraud’s Blueberry is easily my favorite comic art series, even though I can’t read most of them. Luckily, many of them have been translated into English. Here is a rare look at Giraud’s rough pencils for a page from Mister Blueberry. I’m hoping he had to tighten up the pencils somewhat before inking, but possibly not.

BOB McLEOD: In the printed version, he stayed very close to the pencils,

top of the books, they produced pages for some

but I’m intrigued by

magazines at the same time. So, workaholics…

how he changed the

impassioned guys… Nowadays, lots of artists

angle of the lamp in

illustrate stories that are written by professional

panel two, which

writers, but in the Golden Age, artists regularly

now contradicts the

did a full creation.

perspective, which

Between 1940 and 1960, three writers produced

of course he knows

lots of great “success stories”. Their names: Jean-

very well. I assume

Michel Charlier, René Goscinny and Michel Greg. All the stories are published in hardcover. The standard measurements are 8" x 11". The books contained 64-page stories till the early ’60s, and then they were reduced to 44page stories. The price for a book today ranges from $10.50 US to $20 US. Let’s have a closer look at some artists amongst my all-time favorites. All of them have very important links with the two magazines listed above: Tintin and Spirou

he thought it was in which they published their main stuff, which is also

more important to

strongly linked to their graphic style. Spirou was more

have the yellow light

dynamic and humorous, Tintin had a staff of realistic

there rather than the

artists – classified under the generic name la ligne claire

black top of the

(the clear line), and Pilote, that came two decades later,

lamp, which would

was more the work of a second generation of artists,

have sunk into the

possibly more irreverent.

black background.

(both of them are originally Belgian creations that have

Artists from TINTIN magazine

been published in France too), but also with a third one,

HERGÉ (pronounced “airzhay”, Georges REMI,

Pilote, created in 1959. On the one hand, the graphics

Belgium, b. 05.22.1907 – d. 03.03.1983)

of some of these artists were influenced by American artists, but on the other hand some of them also influenced some contemporary American and British artists. I’ll try to classify the artists in relation with the magazines

The change in Blueberry’s pose is also interesting.

His pen name comes from the phonetic pronunciation of the first letters of his surname and first name ‘RG’. He’s the creator in 1929 of Tintin (the character), a reporter always accompanied by his dog “Milou”

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

ALEX HORLEY

es work n artist who do ia al It an is x Ale ates, and d the United St an y al It r fo both e for his best known her he’s probably orked for intings. He’s w r private fantasy art pa sought af ter fo ry ve is d an s, blisher to show several U.S. pu and asked him e, yl st g n ti in like his pa commissions. I intings. work for his pa im el pr is h of e us som

ALEX HORLEY Packaging for a computer game, the World of Warcraft’s “Fires of Outland” set. I did a small layout to start with. The art had to work as a wraparound cover, or similar to a VHS box. I did the layout in actual size, so that I had a precise feel of how to handle the composition. 38

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

ALEX HORLEY Evil Ernie cover rough. No thumbnails for this one. I just started drawing him on a 8.5” x 11” sheet and the rest pretty much came together.

BOB McLEOD I love it when the roughs are works of art in themselves. With very little touch up this could easily be printed as an

ALEX HORLEY

interior illustration.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

COVER STORIES

ust how did a blank piece of paper turn into the sexy painting on this issue’s cover? Mike Mayhew wanted to do a new painting just for us, but our funds are limited and we just couldn’t afford him. Then Len Gould saw it and liked it so much he decided to buy it for his collection, and paid the difference between our cover rate and Mike’s asking price. It was a win-win-win situation for all of us!

MIKE MAYHEW This cover was done in the same vein as my Women of Marvel TPB work. The characters were chosen by interviewer Len Gould. I really had fun portraying these classic Avengers ladies.

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Mike often uses live models for his paintings, and I hope he's a fast worker because it must have been difficult for Ms. Marvel and Wasp to hang in the air like that! Here you can see the thumbnail he made to get his basic color scheme of red fading into yellow established, and the underpainting he did before adding subsequent layers to achieve the lustrous finish.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

INTERVIEW

MIKE MAYHEW By Len Gould

ike Mayhew is one of comicdom’s rising stars. His extremely tight pencil renderings have an

uncanny photorealistic feel. This truly forces his art to stand out amongst a crowded field. Mike is

most widely known for the series of covers which he has done over the last few years for Marvel,

most notably on She-Hulk, Pulse, and Mystique. His earlier interior work on Vampirella with writer Mark Millar was simply stunning, bestowing depth to the character not seen since the halcyon days of José Gonzales and Gonzalo Mayo. MIKE MAYHEW

Mike has a lot on his plate currently; mainstream work and creator-owned; covers

and interiors. His career has come a long way over the last decade. Recently, he sat down with me to discuss that journey, artistic influences, and techniques. LEN GOULD: As always, the best place to start, Mike, is at the beginning. Could you give the Rough Stuff readers a brief bio? MIKE MAYHEW: My pleasure. I was born In Mesa, Arizona. I grew up in the ’70s just really into horror movies and science fiction. I was seven years old when Star Wars hit and that just kind of solidified things for me. I just kind of always drew, too. I was an only child, so it was something that really kept me entertained and

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

This was one of a pair of tight

I could just sit there for hours and hours

unpublished Elektra

drawing characters. I never really drew

images that I did in

actual comic pages when I was a little kid,

anticipation for some

but I always drew little scenarios and that

Elektra covers.

kind of stuff.

GOULD: Were you a comic book fan? 66

MIKE MAYHEW

MAYHEW: Yes, but as a little kid mostly of

MIKE MAYHEW

horror comics. I remember having Creepy

Storm cover

and Eerie. I even remember bringing a

With these covers, I

copy of Tomb of Dracula to church, so I

wanted to celebrate

wouldn’t get bored, and I remember my mom tearing it out of my hands. I also had a lot of the Power Records that Neal Adams did the art for. I was a fan of the popular comic book (especially Hulk and Batman) and cartoon characters and drew them a lot when I was a younger kid, maybe before

the African ethnicity of Ororo and T’Challa. So many times in cartoonderived comic art, ethnic races end up in

ten, and then I kind of just got out of it for what-

caricature. I know

ever reason. Then, as an adolescent, I grew up

from working with

and discovered Frank Frazetta and Heavy Metal.

models and photo-

GOULD: OK, now that’s a pretty big step! [Both

ual’s unique, idiosyn-

laugh]

cratic features can be

MAYHEW: Yeah, then I got back into comic

captured, and in the

books when I was 14, 15, because of the art-

course of a series a

work. It just really kind of spoke to me. That was a cool time for art-

range of emotions can

graphs that an individ-

work, too, because there was a lot of experimentation going on. Bill

be displayed.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

Rough Stuff #8