Carpe Noctem Interviews - Volume 1

by Carnell, Thom

  What do you think when you see someone at a club or something who has lifted their ‘look’ from one of your drawings? Is it a surreal moment like, “Hey, I conceptualized you!”

  You know it’s a weird sensation ’cause I don’t know if I specifically had much to do with it. Maybe I do and I’m just not taking it too seriously. I could tell you about hundreds of instances where I’d be out at a club with friends and they’d say, “Hey, check out that guy. He looks just like that one guy you drew.” Girls, guys, it makes no difference, it happens all the time. Did I help conceive that look? I don’t really know. I think I may be just one of thousands of people who play a small part in it. Really though, I guess it’s kind of flattering to hear people say that kind of stuff to me. I just wish I could collect a royalty.

  Do you find, as we approach the coming millennium, that art is getting darker and darker?

  I think, to a certain extent that illustration has been headed that way since the late eighties. Maybe even before that. The dark subject matter seems to be on the rise in the past ten years or so. Not just in comics or games, either. Music and movies seem to be a step ahead most of the time. I think it’s a case of trying to top what’s been done before. This movie has got to be darker than this movie or, this has to sound even darker than this stuff, so to speak. In the late eighties, when I started to move toward this modern primitive look, there was no one else doing it that I can think of. To me it was just an extension of where I was at the time. That was one of my influences, visually. Now it seems every character has a fuckin’ tattoo or fifty. But that is one example of that darker ideal. It is all born out of pop culture. That’s where I discovered it. Maybe it was born out of the punk movement. Industrial music really took it all a step further. I don’t know if it’s a millennial thing (if “millennial” is a word I can use). I think the more our society progresses the more it seems the stuff that was done before has to be topped. Everyone wants something new. But it’s really just the same concept with a darker coat of paint. Isn’t Marilyn Manson just one part Iggy Pop, one part Alice Cooper, and one part David Bowie? He’s darker and more dangerous because these guys paved the way. Not to take anything away from Manson, I think he’s very talented and he’s got great taste in producers. I don’t think we’re done topping dark by a long shot.

  When you approach a blank piece of drawing paper, how do you conceptualize your ideas and begin to document them?

  Very simply put, I take all of the information available to me and digest it, much like an actor preparing for a role. Then I try and bring what I know about the character into his/her body language. If it’s a cover or single illustration, I try to add elements of the story or something personal to the character into the piece. Whether it’s something like a setting or graphic imagery, either one can do the job.

  A lot of your characters exude a sense of history; people with pasts, presents, and futures. Do you oftentimes enlist the help of friends to model for you in order to achieve that?

  Definitely, that is something I’m cognizant of. I love historical looks. Whether it be military, straight costumes or whatever. I love period stuff. World War I trench infantry uniforms are so cool. The Australian units, the firearms, vintage, vintage, vintage. I love to take certain kinds of historical gear and retrofit that stuff into my work. Kind of a hodge podge of different periods blended together to make something unique. Picking a model that has the right look is very important. Some people look like their genes are brand new, made in the last half century. And then there are those people who have a distinctive old world look. Europeans are very singular in their appearance. They have the old world look. In the states, it’s been bred out of a lot of people. But the fact is, where else could you find such diversity in facial features and body types. It is important to me to use everything at my disposal to give the character some tiny bit of humanity, something someone can identify with. Visually, it’s these little subtleties, a flask from the eighteenth century, a squadron patch on a sleeve, a tattoo on the arm, World War II web gear, etc, that can give the characters a sense of identity. The onlooker then can take these visual clues and piece together their own history for the character. This is why a lot of the subject matter to my illustrations is left ambiguous. I like to leave something to the imagination.

  Does the work take on a life of its own or do you see the image first and then replicate it on the page?

  I usually start out with a mental picture, which I then sketch out. It’s something that just presents itself to me. Then, I take that initial concept to the photo shoot. Very often I get exactly what I want. But the best stuff happens when the model makes it his/her own, and runs with it. Sometimes I pick up a great vibe in the photo shoot and just roll with it. Some of my favorite shots are the ones that get real spontaneous and eclipse my initial concept. The photo studio can be a very creative place itself. I’m usually very open to the model’s input. I love the energy that brews up when the model really gets it. Sometimes I don’t like any of the shots and find the groove when I’m inking. Much more challenging that way, and every bit as satisfying.

  From where do you draw the majority of your inspiration?

  It used to be from other artists, but, for the last ten or so years, it has been with film and music. It’s all using the frame. Cinematographers inspire me in a big way. I have grown to really love and appreciate photography. Lighting is everything. Music’s inspiration works best on me while I’m doing the actual illustration part. I primarily listen to soundtracks, and when I don’t, it’s everything from Johnny Cash to Tool.

  Based on the varying subject matters you address in your work, do you approach each genre differently?

  Yeah, for sure. However, I don’t think the average person is likely to really get as much from it. The average person is probably just checkin’ it out ’cause it’s cool for a few weeks to buy trading cards. Inevitably, some people would discover something cool and keep it with them. Those are the ones that make it worthwhile.

  Why do you think that the comic industry has fallen on the hard times?

  That’s a tough one, or an easy one depending on how you look at it. Personally, I think the collectors market in the late eighties stabbed a knife right through the heart of good comics. The glut of new books, the fucking ashcans, the chromium covers, the alternate or “variant” covers, etc. That shit killed us. What were there, like 450 titles out there for a while? Who could keep up? And then, the paper shortage jackin’ prices up. Comics started getting expensive. Add to all that the distributor wars. I’m surprised there is still an industry. I thank God there is.

  Do you feel that the ‘serial art’ medium is still a viable one? What I mean is that what with the advent of multi-media and desktop publishing, do you think that type of storytelling has had its day and is that day over?

  I hope that sequential art in the form we have known it will be around forever. Is it still viable? I think that it is. In the same way books will never be completely out of vogue. There is a romanticism about holding the information in your hands. If we ever get to the point in my lifetime when all of the things we read or learn from become completely digital, then it’s time for me and a few thousand other people I know to leave the planet and start a new primitive colony. The flashiest convenience we’d have would be light bulbs and frozen pizza. It would indeed be a shame if my children would not be able to hold a newly printed, hot off the presses copy of my most recent work. Hopefully, it will never come to that, but change is inevitable. Illustration is an art form that can exist on paper or digitally, but there is something about holding an original drawing that you cannot get from a keyboard. I hate to sound to negative about where our technology is going. There are a lot of very talented digital artists around. I hope for a happy medium.

  Are there any subjects or images that you would not address?

  There are probably a few. I saw a Danzig comic once; I can’t remember the name of it. This cheerleader was k
idnapped and brutalized by a bunch of young thugs, stuffed in a van, raped in all orifices, had lighter fluid squirted on her sexual organs and lit on fire, beaten and then beaten some more. She was then taken to a secluded wooded area and tied to a post with barbed wire or something. I keep thinking, these guys are gonna suffer huge. Something’s going to happen to give this girl her dignity back, right? Wrong. A phone rings at her parent’s house. The father answers. The mother is hysterical, frantic with tears. She’s lost her baby. Her girl is missing and she’s going through hell. The father takes the call in another room, and tells the wife it’ll be OK. It turns out that the father is talking to the kidnappers, but not to discuss ransom. He fucking hired them. He’s just making sure his ass is covered. He hired them to kidnap and dispose of his daughter so he could use the money for her college education for some business deal. That is gratuitous beyond belief. The fucked up thing is that someone wrote it and someone drew it. I’m pretty sure their mothers didn’t see it. I believe in freedom of expression so if that’s how they want to spend their time “creating” then I hope they can live with it. I prefer to glorify the female form. I think it would be a lot of fun to do an erotic con where all the artists that usually attend conventions only bring their dirty pictures. The ones no one else has seen but a few friends. Hell, I’d even bring my mom. She’d love it.

  Do you think that art can ever go too far?

  Anything can go too far. It’s a matter of taste.

  Who then, would be the arbiter of said taste? I mean, should certain work be restricted or should each member of the proposed audience decide where the line should be drawn – for them – and then, choose to view it or not?

  Even though I don’t condone the earlier mentioned kidnap/rape/torture/murder story, I think they have a right to do it if they choose to. That kind of material is going to exist whether someone likes it or not. I thought there would be a light of decency or an avenging angel somewhere in the story. The fact that there wasn’t is what made the thing offensive to me. But it got me mad. It had that power. Whether it was good or bad it got a reaction from me. If you think about it, you can find a silver lining in it. The story was horrible, but it made me think. This kind of shit happens. That kind of stuff has been happening since the dawn of man in one form or another. It’s a slice of very ugly life. It’s a good example of the kind of situation you hope you never have to come into contact with. That’s real horror. It could happen to any one of us. So what I’m saying is that no matter how offensive a thing is, it can have meaning for someone, even if it’s only the guy who writes or draws the stuff. If you don’t like it, don’t look at it.

  Do you feel that multi-media is the wave of the future for artistic expression?

  I fear that it could be. I don’t want to be a dinosaur so I bought a Mac G3 for graphics purposes. It just saved me three weeks work on an issue of Hellblazer. I still did a lot of work though. It’s on paper and everything. I even used real ink and real paper. I can’t stand the thought of not being able to physically draw and touch the original piece.

  What artists do you think are working at the top of their craft?

  My finger isn’t exactly on the pulse of the art world, so I’ll stick to a few in the business and a few out in other arenas. Drew Struzan, Soryama, Mike Mignola, Gary Gianni, Geoff Darrow, Phil Hale, Rick Berry, Jeff Laubenstien, Mark Chiarello, Kent Williams, James Bama, Steranko (forever), Dean Motter, Brian Bolland, Dave McKean, Jill Thompson, Mark A. Nelson, Brom, and Frazetta will never die.

  What’s next on your agenda? What will you be releasing next?

  Covers for Hellblazer (ongoing), covers for a Punisher 12 issue series written by Garth Ennis, covers for a 4 issue Star Trek TNG series, a story for Flinch for Vertigo, illustrating a 3 issue series (top secret) with writer Warren Ellis for Wildstorm under Ellis’ imprint, an Unknown Soldier one shot for Vertigo. Down the line another Hellblazer story, an 8 page story for Batman: Black and White, covers for a Transmetropolitan story arc, and a cover for the Gangland collection from Vertigo. Phew!

  Are there any projects that you’d like to pursue in the near future?

  There is a project that I want to do in the very near future. It’s kind of an excuse for me to do a body of work that has no restrictions. I want to do like twenty-eight full page illustrations. Another fourteen widescreen illustrations to go with them; like spot illo’s. Whatever the fuck I feel like drawing. Whatever subject matter that needs to get out. I already have a few in the works. They will have many different themes: time travel, science fiction, historical, horror, fantasy, etc. Then, I’m going to get twenty-eight different writers to do short stories about each piece. Five hundred words, carte blanche. Whatever the illustration says to them, they can write about it. It could be a poem, a straight story, the thoughts going through this guy’s head, or maybe they want to write about the pack of cigarettes laying on the ground next to this dead guy and how they led him to his final destruction. Stories from illustration. Kind of a reverse of the way it’s normally done. My working title for the book is Battlescar. The idea of it is kind of like doing an art book or portfolio but with something extra. I really want to take my illustration to the next level and this is the kind of project that could really get those juices flowing. I’ve already spoken to a number of people about contributing stories and have verbal commitments from: Mike Stackpole, actor/writer Barry Pepper, director/screenwriter Guillermo Del Toro, director/screenwriter Frank Darabont, Bernie Wrightson, David Schow, and Brian Azzarello. Among others that we are hoping to get are: Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Neal Stephenson, Andrew Vachss and Clive Barker. The Wheels have begun to turn on this and I’m currently working up the proposal. If I can’t find a comics publisher to do it, I will be talking to book publishers soon. The other thing that I am pursuing is doing more work for films. I am going to be designing characters and doing some production work for Guillermo Del Toro for his movie Monte Cristo when that gets going. And I have a few other projects that are in the works as well.

  Thank You

  Our appreciation goes out to anyone who was ever touched by Carpe Noctem.

  Huge thanks to the following people who especially supported our efforts: (in no particular order)

  Allen Spiegel, Dave McKean, Jon J Muth, Paul Lee, Thom Ang, Cliff Nielsen, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Monica Richards, William Faith, Jhonen Vasquez, Autumn Adamme, Monique Motil, John Carey, Shawna Gore, Sam Rosenthal, Shawni Brothers, Bat and X, Pat Ogl, Tony Timpone, Andrew Corson, Ruth, Chuck and Annie, Connor Shae, Jhustin, Jessica Von and our many interns and contributors over the years.

  Thank you David Niall Wilson and Crossroad Press. Thank you Craig Spector for the hook-up.

  Special thanks to CK Burch, Assistant Editor at ZED Presents… for helping to put this Volume together.

  ~ * ~

  For more info on the people covered here:

  George Higham: www.poepuppet.com

  Dave McKean: www.allenspiegelfinearts.com

  GWAR: www.gwar.net

  Robert Rodriguez: www.twitter.com/robertrdz

  Lorelei Shannon: www.psychenoir.com

  Bob Wilkins: www.bobwilkins.net

  Neil Gaiman: www.neilgaiman.com

  Ronnie James Dio: www.ronniejamesdio.com

  Tim Bradstreet: www.timbradstreet.typepad.com

  Don’t miss the upcoming ZED Presents

  … The Carpe Noctem Interviews: Vol. 2, available April, 2011 at www.crossroadpress.com featuring:

  Frank Miller

  Clive Barker

  Stuart Gordon

  David Schow

  Caitlin Kiernan

  Nacho Cerda

  Tom Rainone

  Viggo Mortensen

  and previously unreleased interviews with:

  The Creatures

  Hajime Soryama

  Monica Richards