Have you all read Princeless? If you haven't I hope you've at least heard about it. It's written by Jeremy Whitley and the official tumblr is here. It's about Princess Adrienne who is locked in a tower and told to wait until a Prince comes to rescue her. Stuff this, she thinks. She rescues herself, befriends a dragon and decides to go rescue her sisters who are also stuck in towers (put there by their crappy yet loving parents because that is how things are done). Adrienne befriends a female blacksmith who is quite exuberant about anything, battles demons protecting her sisters and in volume 3, rescues Raven, the Pirate Princess, who is also stuck in a tower. Raven is also known as the Black Arrow. Obviously, I like her a lot.
So I got an interview with the two UK artists who are doing volume 3. Ted Brandt and Rosy Higgins. We talk about lettering, inking (because I love hearing about that shiz) the art process, their influences and how they got the gig.
Read on!
What parts of the art do each of you
do?
Ted: It's a completely collaborative work, honestly. We have pretty
complementary strengths, so it works out pretty cleanly, at least most of the
time. In theory, I do the layouts, Rosy pencils, I ink, Rosy colours and I
letter, but it doesn't always quite work out that neatly.
Rosy: Ted
pretty much summed it up really. It's a lot of juggling about, there's a lot of
suggestions to each other about things that could be improved or need fixing.
We keep each other on our toes.
Ted: We are doing all the art for volume 3; it's all been handed in and
approved, so all that's left is to solicit and get it into stores!
Rosy: We really hope the fans enjoy it. There will
be 4 issues and I think issue 1 comes out January 28.
So, after a few years I've just got the joke in the action lab logo.....
Can you describe to me, or link me to, your favourite visual pun? Or draw
me one....
Ted: I can't find a link to it now, proving my Google-fu is weak, but I
always loved that Alex Ross line-up of the Justice League, with the
whole “picture with flash”/”picture without flash” that saw the latter
both dimmer, and missing Barry Allen.
Rosy: I'm quite fond of this one.
How did you get the Princeless gig?
Ted: We got the gig mostly by luck, honestly; I was following Jeremy's tumblr,
when I saw him say that the third volume was going to be delayed as the
scheduled artist was having difficulties. Since we both wanted to get into
comics, I suggested we ought to get in touch and offer our services!
Rosy: We sent an email saying how much we'd love to be a part of
Princeless and asked if we could get some sample scripts to show off what we
could do. Jeremy liked our stuff and our approach and we got the job!
How much guidance did you get from Jeremy for panel lay out, new
character's design, mood of the comic etc?
Ted: The great thing, and the
challenge, of Jeremy's scripts is that they're very open to interpretation. It
means that as far as the layouts go, it’s an open playground, which is as
terrifying as it is freeing! The mood of the work was fairly evident from the
scripts; it comes organically through the characters and their exploits.
Rosy: As for the character design stuff, for the main characters we're
given a name, a race and a brief physical description which is again very open
to interpretation really. For the less significant characters we can
go wherever we want, unless there’s anything specific that Jeremy had in mind
and even then it’s usually only suggestion. Jeremy is very trusting of us for
that kind of stuff.
How long did it take you to do this issue of Princeless? How many
redrafts did you go through?
Ted: The first issue took…a little longer than we would have liked. It
was our first professional issue, our first time collaborating together, and
our longest comic to date. There was a steep learning curve!
Rosy: A very steep learning curve, yes! I'd never done anything on this
scale before and it took a little while to get into the swing of things. It’s
quite a test of stamina!
Can you explain the job of the inker to someone who doesn't know
anything about comics?
Ted: I've never inked anyone else outside of my collaboration with Rosy,
so I can't speak for the job as far as others go. For us, it's about
clarifying, really: as the penciller, Rosy creates all the expressions, body
language, and all the other details that breathe life into the comic and the
characters. It’s my job as the inker to create a purer, condensed version
of her lines so that they're neat and consistent, without taking away the
spark that she gives them.
Rosy: Ted also corrects any mistakes I make, most frequently he makes
hands look like hands rather than some kind of weird root vegetable.
I really appreciate the art of lettering but I don't know much about the
technicalities of it. Can you explain how you decide on a font and
placement of the letters, and how you make the lettering work? Do you
draw the panel first then fit the lettering on or do you work out where the
speech bubbles go and then draw the panel around it?
Ted: Lettering is a grossly underappreciated art in comics. I didn’t
even realise how underappreciated it was until I started lettering this book
and realised how many critical choices letterers make. For the fonts I use,
they are mostly made by the excellent Comicraft font foundry - there simply
aren’t any better out there.
The lucky thing about this book is that I do the layouts as well as the
letters: it allows me to take into account how much speech is needed in the
panels before I design each page, which means I can shape the panel sizing as
well as the layout to make sure that our art balances with Jeremy’s dialogue,
neither treading on the other’s toes. That said, I'm still pretty new to this,
so it’s definitely a case of learning as I go!
Is comic-ing your day job? If not, how do you fit the comicing in with
the day job?
Ted: It is! This volume has been our first outing into the world of
full-time comics work. It's always scary leaving the regular world of work
behind, but I'm pretty sure we'll have more fun this way.
Rosy: We're really lucky to be in a position where we were able to take
this job on. I feel very privileged to
have this opportunity.
Any advice for Brits wanting to break into comics? Do you feel like
you've broken into comics?
Ted: I'll probably feel more like I've broken in once our first
collected volume is out in print. Once we have our first book in our hands,
it’ll all feel more real!
As for advice: chance favours the prepared mind. If an opportunity does
arise, you need to not only see it but be ready. That said, take those chances!
Fail upward!
Rosy: The chance to work on Princeless came completely out of the blue
so I'd advise anyone wanting to get into comics to always keep an eye out for
opportunities and don't be afraid to make a grab for them when they turn up.
What comics would you recommend to new readers and to long term readers?
Editor's note: Links are to the Comixology or Amazon storefronts but don't forget you can get the issues in your local comic shop too!
Ted: Lucky you asked! There are a lot of great books out there
right now. Superhero-wise, I'd recommend Marvel’s Captain Marvel (editor's note - I reviewed the first volume of Captain Marvel here), Ms Marvel and
Thor; from DC, the revamped Batgirl and Gotham Academy are both flawless. All
of the above are pretty all-ages friendly, fun, and wicked-smart; perhaps most
importantly, they're all new enough to be new reader-friendly.
I’ve tried to pick ones that worked for new or longer readers - they all
are new enough that there's not a lot of catching up on the specific stories
currently being told, while (in the case of the superhero books, at least)
still having plenty of characters and references that longer readers will
appreciate.
Independent book-wise, I was bowled over by the first issue of ODY-C, loved
Gail Simone’s Red Sonja, and am waiting very impatiently for Kelly Sue
DeConnick’s new Image book (Bitch Planet).
ODY-C might be more suitable to longer readers simply because of the way
the pages are constructed - they're as much design pieces as comics pages in a
lot of ways, so I can certainly see that being intimidating for people who are
new to the medium in general. Content-wise, however, it's a new book, so
accessible to all. Bitch
Planet and Red Sonja are both suitable for new readers, though may be less
suitable for younger ones.
I'm not reading much that's mired much in continuity generally; while I
can easily get it, I generally find that stuff that's accessible to new readers
is more entertaining.
While I'm not reading anything really non-accessible continuity-wise
right now, older series are a gold mine for that kind of stuff. Final Crisis is
definitely fantastic (editor's note - for non comicers I explain Final Crisis here). That said, DC's Multiversity is definitely steeped in
continuity - not just in terms of DC, but in terms of Morrison's work there: it
stands as the final piece of a story he started back when he first took the
reins on Batman, and including Final Crisis, his run on Action Comics, and
more.
As to the other part of your question, looking for comics
recommendations for books that are less accessible to new readers in terms of
being new to the medium, well, that's harder. Jason Shiga's Meanwhile is a
great example - it's a fantastic comics version of a make-your-own adventure
with an alarming number of stories to be told. David Mazzucchelli's AsteriosPolyp is similarly challenging in its storytelling, but is possibly the most
intelligent book I've ever read. Semiotically speaking, Asterios Polyp is
active on every level, with each line and colour imbued with meaning that may
not be obvious on immediate inspection.
Rosy: For someone who wants to work in comics I’m actually
really, REALLY bad at reading them.
To be honest I'm not even really that big a reader. Unlike Ted I don’t like to get individual
issues because I'd end up losing one of them and then wouldn't be able to
follow the story, so I prefer to get the trade paperbacks. Unfortunately, I
haven't been able to pick up any in a while so I'm really behind
I guess I'd recommend
anything Stuart Immonen has worked on, because even if you don't completely get
everything that's going on you'll still have spectacular visuals to look
at.
(Editor's note - I review two Stuart Immonen books here).
Oh, and absolutely everyone should read Princeless, obviously.
Question to Rosy: May I ask how you
find drawing comics/storytelling when you don't read that much of them?
Rosy: The truth is that Ted is the one who sorts out where everything is
going on the page, blocking out not just the panels but the general positions
of the characters and how everything flows together. My job is to flesh out his
ideas. It's sort like he's the director to my actors.
My background is that I learned to draw through watching cartoons. I
initially wanted to be an animator; I found out I lacked the patience and
stamina for animation during my first year at university. I did, however,
really enjoy doing storyboarding and animatics and thought comics could be an
avenue to go down. I ended up transferring to another course at another
university specifically for graphic novels, which was where Ted and I
met.
Now, to find out more about Princeless and these guys' work, follow these links:
Rosy's tumblr: Unassumingpumpkin.tumblr.com
Rosy's twitter: https://twitter.com/RosyTintedSpecs
Ted's tumblr: Tenbandits.tumblr.com
Ted's twitter: https://twitter.com/ten_bandits
Action Lab website: http://www.actionlabcomics.com/
Release date for Princeless vol 3 issue 1: January 28th 2015
New readers Princeless
review: http://paipicks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/princeless-save-yourself.html
View all Princeless available issues here (and go buy them!):
Thanks to Rosy and Ted for their time!
This interview also appears on my New readers... start here! blog - www.paipicks.blogspot.com - which normally contains comic reviews for new readers.
This interview also appears on my New readers... start here! blog - www.paipicks.blogspot.com - which normally contains comic reviews for new readers.
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