The upcoming Wildstorm relaunch of The Authority through its Worldstorm event looks to please fans of the book both old and new. With the white-hot creative team of Grant Morrison on writing duties and Gene Ha on art the title promises to be one of the most anticipated of the year.
Gene pretty much defines the term “superstar artist” in today’s industry. He is a three time Eisner award winner, in 2000 he won for Best New Series (Top 10), in 2001 for Best Continuing Series (Top 10) and in 2006 for Best Graphic Novel (The 49ers). His amazingly detailed yet fluid artwork combines the fantastical and realistic side by side in a way that few other artists can match.
Fractal Matter took the opportunity to chat with Gene about his work on the book, as well as discussing with him how he broke into the industry, his approach to drawing and design work and future projects that we can look forward to.
Fractal Matter:You originally worked in advertising? So what led you to become an artist and how did you get your break into the wonderful world of comic books?
Gene:I quit advertising work because ad people drove me crazy and comics’ editors are cool.
The folks who hire you at ad agencies feel obliged to ask for changes, but don’t have the analytical chops to know what they want. I once did twelve drawings of a bar of soap and a washcloth. At the end, I just whipped out the original drawing and penciled in some changes while sitting in the designer’s office. It took that long for him to figure out the tiny thing he didn’t like so he could explain it to me.
Comics’ editors almost never ask me for changes, and when they do they’re concise. They’re cool to work with.
FM:The first work I remember seeing by you was at Marvel, on the Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix mini, but when you were originally trying to get work they rejected you, what was the story behind that?
Gene:My samples sucked. My drawing was sloppy, my anatomy was wonky, my storytelling was all about the flash and I didn’t understand the basics. Marvel sent me a checklist form of everything a sample could have wrong and they checked everything but the storytelling box. They should have checked that one too.
I spent the next few days collapsed on a couch. It was a pretty harsh fall from art school star to comic book reject.
I don’t know how but Neal Posner at DC saw potential in my work. When I look back at those samples I honestly don’t know how he gleaned my future work in it. But he put me in touch with Kevin Dooley and his then assistant editor Eddie Berganza. They sent me a sample script, and those samples were a little tighter and better thought out. That eventually led me to draw three issues of Green Lantern.
I’m sad that Neal didn’t live to see where I am today. Dooley has left DC, but I still do jobs for Eddie and he’s hasn’t let being a group editor go to his head. Fun guy.
Based on my work for DC I began getting X-Men work from Bob Harras. First I did an X-Men annual, and then Cyclops and Phoenix and its sequel, Askani’son. Things moved fast way back in the early 90s!
FM:Who are your artistic influences? I see a flavour of Moebius in your artwork, are you a fan of that European style of art?
Gene:There are so many influences. I do adore European comics, but I try to look at it with a critical eye. A lot of the realistic styles from Europe are very stiff and formal. I try to inject some of the dynamism of American and Japanese comics into my work too. But I love detail so that drains some vitality from my work.
I used to check out French Asterix albums from the library as a kid, and I still love how it was both detailed and colorfully zippy. Akira blew me away when I was in college. I drew a lot of cities being destroyed in my early work in imitation of Katsuhiro Otomo.
In my head I’ve always been trying to draw a book that impresses the 37 year old me the way Matt Wagner’s Mage impressed me twenty years ago. The problem is that I’ve gotten pickier, so it’s pretty damn hard to impress me that much. Not many people are that good, and I’m afraid I’m not one of them.
FM:How do you prepare a page?
Gene:Oh, there are so many methods I’ve gone through! Currently I’ve been trying to lean on my colorist, Art Lyon, for rendering so I can make deadlines more consistently.
I used to shoot extensive photo reference, but nowadays I mostly draw from my head. I used to find models who resembled the main characters and did extended photo shoots with them. I might take a few photos of my wife or myself, but that’s mostly to get the folds in clothing or an unusual hand gesture.
I start off by drawing panel compositions on the edge of the script. I include all the major storytelling elements I’ll need. I include little empty word balloons, and I try to arrange speaking characters so that, when read left to right, they appear in the order that they speak. That’s a trick that Alan Moore and Zander Cannon taught me.
Next, I move onto thumbnails. These will be anywhere from two to five inches tall. I arrange the panels in this stage, and I draw the characters in the position and size they’ll have in the final artwork. Perspective and anatomy are still very rough at this stage. I scan this into my computer, and then blow it up as a blueline print on 8½”x11″ paper.
Then I draw the pencils those over bluelines. At this point, I tighten up the anatomy and the perspective. Even at this size, they’re about as tight as the pencils drawn by most folks in this industry. Again, I scan it into Photoshop and blow it up. This time it’s printed as a blueline on standard size comics art board, 11″x17″ Strathmore Bristol. Let me just tell your readers to not bother buying the crappy comics Bristol from comics conventions and comics shops. Miserable stuff. Save some money and buy a pad of 400 or 500 series Strathmore Bristol, or buy it in sheets and cut it down to size.
Anyhow, I know take the blue line of the small pencils and tighten them up. I ink them using a Winsor Newton Series 7 size 1 brush and Staedtler Mars refillable tech pens. I tried using disposable tech pens, but the ink doesn’t dry as permanently because good permanent ink would clog the pens before they got to the stores.
Finally, I scan this into my computer and FTP it over the Internet to the editor and my colorist.
FM:Do your work methods change depending on the type of piece?
Gene:Definitely, or perhaps it’s more accurate to say I get projects that match how I want to draw. The 49ers was a grand graphic novel with a long deadline. This let me draw in an intricate and highly rendered style. When I feel like drawing faster, I pick shorter projects with tighter deadlines.
FM:What’s your typical working day like?
Gene:I wake up and walk the dogs. I live in a second floor condo just outside Chicago, and we don’t have a backyard. If I get a chance I try to get some drawing in while my wife gets ready for work. After seeing her off, I draw for a few hours and then walk the dogs again. More drawing, along with any chores or phone calls or email or errands that need running. Being a comic artist usually means being a househusband.
It’s not a glamorous life. But I’m my own boss and I believe in what I do.
FM:Top 10 was my favourite title from the ABC line, you and Zander Cannon meshed so perfectly on that book. How did you get involved with Alan Moore?
Gene:I tracked him down.
Way back in 1997 or so, I told Alex Ross that I was jealous he’d gotten the chance to work on Alan Moore books. Alex told me to get off my butt and to get one myself.
I first contacted Rob Liefeld’s company, Maximum Press. They were printing Alan Moore’s take on Supreme. It was great stuff, but the company folded before I could do work for them.
I followed Alan’s trail to Wildstorm, which was a part of Image Comics at that time. The editor, Scott Dunbier knew me. But Alan had no idea who I was. So for the third time in my career I sent out a pile of samples to a comics company. When Alan got the forwarded package he liked my stuff and I eventually go my very own Alan Moore world to draw!
FM:What was it like to work with him?
Gene:He’s perfectly charming if you’re not trying to make a movie of his work! I’ve never met him in person, but I’ve talked to him on the phone quite a few times. He’s a brilliant storyteller, even over the phone. I think what makes him so special is that he loves watching people and he loves hearing their stories. He’s very emotionally present.
I should talk about his scripts. They’re long, but in part it’s because they’re chatty. And he loves throwing in lots of ideas for you to use, and to explain why he did it. They’re not especially hard to draw and they’re great fun to read.
FM:Top 10 was legendary for the in jokes in its backgrounds. How much freedom did you have to do that?
Gene:I had total freedom with Alan. He never objected when I played around or twisted his ideas. DC could be rough. Oddly enough, they were most sensitive about the use of DC characters. As they wouldn’t sue themselves you think they’d be looser. Not the case.
FM:What’s the single panel you’re proudest of there?
Gene:Second page of Top 10 issue 8, “The Overview”. It’s a splash page of Neopolis, looking down. It’s my only Top 10 page I have hanging on my own wall.
FM:How did it feel working on something which was effectively a limited series?
Gene:I could have kept drawing that series to this day and Wildstorm would have loved it. But I had to stop for a while to keep from going nuts. It was hard work.
FM:Did it change how you approached the art?
Gene:I saw Top 10 and The 49ers as the last hurrah for my “Work harder, not smarter” philosophy. Now I’m trying to have it both ways: “Work harder and smarter.” I suppose at some points I’ll just act smart, but I’m not quite there yet.
FM:Is there anything you would have done differently?
Gene:It’s the same battles I’m facing now. I need to spend more time improving. I wish I could take more time to do life drawing sessions. I’d like to do more drawings for practice and the pure joy of it.
FM:Looking at your work for Wildstorm now and your work for ABC then, how do you feel your style has evolved?
Gene:I have more confidence now. Spending a few years under the tutelage of Alan Moore and Zander Cannon has done wonders for my understanding of the art. There’s greater clarity to my work.
I’m also a better collaborator with the other folks in the assembly line. My drawings are easier to color and letter.
FM:Is it true that you and Zander are currently working on a new Top 10 series together?
Gene:Definitely. Wildstorm hasn’t formally approved the project, but it’s definitely going to happen. Zander has already gotten several issues of layouts ready for me to finish. He’s the only person I let do layout work for me.
They’re remarkable pieces of art before I touch them. They’re like a refined version of the rough sketches I do. Because he roughly hand letters in the dialog, you can read them like a finished comic book. The stories and the storytelling are brilliant.
FM:How is working on the new Authority title with Grant Morrison going?
Gene:He’s brilliant and remote. He’s the only writer I’ve worked with who hasn’t given me his phone number. I think even Scott Dunbier has trouble contacting him. Even if we can’t harass him, Grant does come through. The scripts just flutter down like manna in the Sinai. He’s got one hell of a creative fire inside him.
FM:Are you changing your style at all for the book?
Gene:Oh yeah. Grant wants the book to feel very immediate and real, a comic’s version of cinéma vérité. To accomplish this Art and I are playing with depth of field. Objects at one distance are all in focus, but everything else is blurred or in motion. We’re going for a shaky cam effect.
FM:What’s your take on the book and the characters? Right Wing extremists or Left Wing liberals? Heroes or villains?
Gene:I really couldn’t tell you yet. I don’t know where he’s going and the issue 3 or 4 script could make any analysis look foolish. One of the qualities of a great writer is that you don’t understand the story he’s telling until it’s over.
FM:Is it true you asked Grant not to include Rose Tattoo in the first Authority story arc because you didn’t like drawing her tattoo’s or is that just a bit of comic book apocrypha?
Gene:I told him I hated drawing her, and he told me he didn’t plan on using her anyway. He might have just said this to be nice. But yes, I hate drawing that tattoo!
FM:Is it just The Authority and Top 10 in the immediate future or are there other potential projects in the pipeline?
Gene:Oh, there are schemes aplenty rolling around! But they may not all happen so I don’t want to announce them yet.
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FM:You’ve worked with some very impressive writers including Moore, Morrison and Warren Ellis is there anyone else on your “wish” list? I understand you’re a big Mage fan; would you jump at the chance to work with Matt Wagner on a project?
Gene:I choose assignments because I like the writer. After Grant and Zander I’m really itching to do a longer Bill Willingham story. Matt Wagner is on the list, along with Eddie Campbell, Mark Millar and Lowell Francis.
FM:What do you read yourself?
Gene:Obviously, anything by Bill Willingham and Alan Moore. I’ve enjoyed Bill’s new superhero series Shadowpact, and his ongoing Fables work. I’ve loved everything I’ve read from Top Shelf, notably Lost Girls and Derek Kirk Kim’s Same Difference and Other Stories. I’ve just read Street Angel and loved it. And Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is great stuff. I’m hoping to track down some books drawn by Claire Wendling, but they haven’t been translated into English and my French is atrocious.
- :Eddie Scrafton grew up in the UK in the Seventies and was exosed to Action, Logan's Run, 2000AD, Damnation Alley, Dr Who and a variety of other weird and wonderful things which had an effect upon him for the rest of his life. He and his family currently live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.