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JOH
N TOTLEBEN
HOWARD CHAYKINAND
REW ROBINSON
GENE COLAN
STEVEN BISSETTE
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N TOTLEBEN GENE COLAN
STEVEN BISSETTEAND
REW ROBINSON
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C e l e b r a t i n gt h e A R T
o f C r e a t i n gC o m i c s !
FeaturingFeaturingMICHAEL KALUTAMICHAEL KALUTA
HOWARD CHAYKIN
Batman, Starman, Adam Strange and Swamp Thing TM & ©2007 DC Comics.Batman, Starman, Adam Strange and Swamp Thing TM & ©2007 DC Comics.
18265827766
6
71
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 1
Volume 1, Number 4April 2007
Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!
EDITORBob McLeod
PUBLISHERJohn Morrow
DESIGNERMichael Kronenberg
PROOFREADERSJohn Morrow and Christopher Irving
COVER ARTISTMichael Kaluta
CIRCULATION DIRECTORBob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Periodical
Distribution, LLC
SPECIAL THANKSStephen BissetteHoward ChaykinJeff ClemensGene ColanMichael DunneMichael EuryDave GutierrezDavid HamiltonMichael KalutaGeorge KhouryAndy MangelsTom PalmerAndrew RobinsonJohn TotlebenRay WongEric Nolen-Weathington
ROUGH STUFF™ is published quarterly byTwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive,Raleigh, NC 27614. Bob McLeod, Editor. JohnMorrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: ROUGH STUFF,c/o Bob McLeod, Editor, P.O. Box 63, Emmaus, PA10849-2203. E-mail: mcleod.bob@gmail.com. Four-issue subscriptions: $24 Standard US, $36 FirstClass US, $44 Canada, $48 Surface International,$64 Airmail International. Please send subscriptionorders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the edi-torial office. Central cover art by Michael Kaluta.BatmanTM & ©2007 DC Comics. All characters are© their respective companies. All material © theircreators unless otherwise noted. All editorial mat-ter © 2007 Bob McLeod and TwoMorrowsPublishing. ROUGH STUFF is a TM of TwoMorrowsPublishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.
FEATURED ARTISTS3 Steven Bissette
13 Howard Chaykin
48 Gene Colan
67 Michael Kaluta
76 Andrew Robinson
ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEW24 John Totleben
ROUGH STUFF FEATURE60 Wonder Woman Day Art Auction Helps
Domestic Violence SheltersRay Wong
ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS2 Scribblings From The Editor
Bob McLeod
44 Cover StoriesHoward Chaykin and Michael Kaluta reveal the process of creating a cover.
66 PreProArt by featured artist Michael Kaluta, done before he turned pro.
85 Rough TalkComments and opinions from our readers.
86 Rough CritiqueEditor Bob McLeod critiques an aspiring penciler’s sample page.
88 Free WRITE NOW! #15 PreviewA sample of our mag about writing for comics, animation, and sci-fi—FREE!
ISSN 1931-9231
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 3
STEVEN BISSETTE
Swamp Thing, reborn! (from Saga of the
Swamp Thing #23, pg. 16) Not much to say
— this page was a pure shot, you can still
see the barely-harnessed energy of my
pencil strokes. I felt as liberated, unfet-
tered and born-again as Swamp Thing by
this point in the series! John and I had
been craving this juncture since the day
we went after the job. I was still getting my
sea-legs drawing Abby, which is apparent
to me looking back on this (and other
pages prior to SOTST #25): my penciling of
the character was still tentative and lack-
ing confidence. Luckily, John drew and
draws female characters as second
nature; his inks rescued many an Abby
face and figure in my first few issues with
the character.Swamp Thing TM & ©2007 DC Comics
STEPHEN BISSETTEStephen Bissette was one of the first and
most illustrious graduates of the Joe
Kubert School, and he’s probably best
known for his work on DC’s SWAMP
THING in the 1980s, which won a boatload
of Kirby awards. I first enjoyed his work on some stuff he self-
published called TYRANT, about a T-Rex. I hear he’s now teach-
ing comic art at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont.
F E A T U R E D A R T I S T
4 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
STEV
ENBIS
SETT
E
STEVEN BISSETTEThe Un-Men drones (September 1983) — These predate John’s and my tenure beginning with Alan Moore; these were, in fact, donefor our final issue or so with writer Marty Pasko, who launched The Saga of the Swamp Thing series with his friend, editor & ST co-creator Len Wein. From our first issue working with Marty (SOTST #16), John and I had stretched the boundaries of creature designas best we could within the parameters we were working with. With Marty and Len’s decision to resurrect the key villain Arcane andhis Un-Men, John and I pushed for a fusion of insect, humanoid and mammalian forms markedly unlike those Len and Bernie hadintroduced in the original Swamp Thing #10. With their blessings, we really went to town, exchanging a huge number of sketches anddesign concepts, fusing invertebrate and vertebrate structures, which is what you see at play here with these two. It’s too bad in oneway so little of this work was visible in the final product, but this gives you some idea how seriously — and playfully — John and Iengaged with every aspect of the Swamp Thing gig.
Building around a basic facial design which John cooked up — very Wrightsonesque, quite on purpose: that’s Bernie’s classic “Jennifer”,in essence, with the sorrowful pure black eyes and exaggerated upper lip — I was toying with a head/body configuration subverting thereal-world insect six-leg form into four legs and two arms, distinctively oriented as such. As you can see, these two sketches evoke a hive-like or ant-colony-like physiological and social structure within the new breeds of Un-Men — something that is completely lost, invisible inthe issue itself (SOTST #19). As with everything I do, form follows function: the warrior “Pie-Faced Un-Man” has a formidable set of jaws,tough exoskeleton, armored cereatopsian-like head, dorsal spikes (similar to some species of ants), and mole-cricket-like shortened, thick-ened forelimbs and clawed ‘hands,’ for digging and/or building and fighting. Everything is softened for the drone, the same basic anatomicaldetails, including human-like fingers and toes, and the linework reflects that softer, more pliable nature of its skin; note the harsher, tighterlinework on the warrior. Again, form follows function, line expresses purpose as well as texture, weight, volume, emotion.
An aside: I’ve only seen one live mole cricket in my life, in Virginia back in the mid-1970s, but I never forgot it: it’s a very mammal-likeinsect in appearance and movement, which is unsettling on a pretty primal level, though they’re harmless and actually very cool littlecreatures. All monsters are based on nature, however inventive, imaginative or divorced from day-to-day reality they may seem, andthese were no exception. We’re all just mixing-and-matching, having fun with the forms!
Cour
tesy
ofDa
vid
Ham
ilto
n
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 5
STEVEN BISSETTEA rare example of SOTST pencilsby yours truly (pg. 13 from SOTST#19) completed without full scriptor the complete text (balloons,captions, lettering) carefullyblocked into place. Unlike everyother issue of SOTST we drewfrom Marty’s writing, this issue —which turned out to be Marty’sfinal issue, as his TV and animat-ed series scripting jobs pulledhim away from the comic series— was completely penciled“Marvel style,” with Martyphoning me script pages, piece-meal, and my penciling them fromhis verbal descriptions. It’s not amethod I prefer: one can onlycompose pages as single units,instead of orchestrating thecomplete story and imagery withnarrative and emotional clarity ofpurpose and intent. Nonetheless,we did what was necessary. Onthe plus side, this penciled pageclearly shows my design, compo-sitional and story-telling sense ofthe period (over 23 years ago!) ,as well as the ongoing influenceand borrowing from Bernie’s orig-inal ST art at this early point in mywork with the character: all threeof those first three panels arecopped from Bernie’s work in theoriginal series. John’s inks werestill pretty reserved at the time,too — we didn’t really get intodrawing Swampy as we saw himuntil Alan’s tenure began with#20, and his reinvention of thecharacter in #21, “The AnatomyLesson,” gave us the licensewe’d long ached for to really cutloose! The outsized dragonfly-ship in the fourth panel is moretypically “Bissettian”, especiallyfor this period in my creative life.
Swamp Thing TM &©2007 DC ComicsCo
urte
syof
Davi
dHa
mil
ton
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 13
HOWA
RDCH
AYKIN
HOWARD CHAYKINHoward Chaykin is one of the smartest
comic artists I know, with enough talent
for three people. He writes and draws,
and does both with a lot of panache. He's
known for creating intelligent, sexy,
exciting comic books, and has created several popular
series, including his groundbreaking AMERICAN FLAGG.
F E A T U R E D A R T I S T
HOWARD CHAYKIN
The Flagg heads
date back to 1982,
before I actually
began the finished
artwork on
American Flagg! I
was playing with a
look that combined
elements of James
Garner, William
Holden, and
Stephen Collins.©2007 HowardChaykin
14 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
HOWARD CHAYKIN
The American Century #3 cover is a pretty solid demonstration of my
process. I wanted the covers to have an echo of the boy/girl illustrations
of the mass market women’s magazines of the ‘50s—the work of Coby
Whitmore, Jon Whitcomb and the astonishing Al Parker.
BOB MCLEOD
Art students should take note of
the subtle but very important shift
of the man's figure from a flat
straight-on pose to more of a 3/4
view, making it not only a sexier
pose with the cocked hip but
adding more 3-D depth as well.©2007 Howard Chaykin
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 15
HOWA
RDCH
AYKIN
HOWARD CHAYKIN
As you can see, the
idea was all there in
the concept, devel-
oped in the rough,
done on layout
bond, then traced
onto bristol board
for a tight pencil—
all done repro
size—then traced
up onto illustration
board to twice up.
Note the horizontal
line behind his
head—this both
anchors the piece,
and carries the eye
to his expression.©2007 HowardChaykin
24 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
INTERVIEW
JOHN TOTLEBENConducted by George Khoury
John Totleben, another former Joe Kubert School student, is best known for his beautifully intri-
cate, award-winning linework on DC’s Swamp Thing, which is all the more incredible when you
learn that he’s legally blind! It’s now extremely difficult for him to do the precise type of
linework that made him famous (not that it was easy before!). John sent me so much great art
to choose from that it was very difficult for me to choose what to print, so be sure to check the Rough Stuff
page of my web site to see some more! This interview was originally conducted in 2003, but recently updated
for this issue by John himself.
GEORGE KHOURY: How did you discover Swamp Thing for the first time?JOHN TOTLEBEN: It would have been the very first issue. I remember seeing aDC house ad for it, and just picked up the book when it came out.
KHOURY: Did you follow the entire series, even the Nestor Redondo ones?TOTLEBEN: Oh yes. I had them all, right to the very end. There might have been24 issues or something like that, and I bought them all… even the ones thatsucked. I thought that while Redondo was a great artist, better than Wrightson asfar as drawing figures and women and such, but somehow he still was not quitea match for Bernie’s obviously definitive version of Swampy. While Redondo hadsome fairly obvious technical advantages, he lacked the sheer vision and feel forthe macabre that seemed to come so naturally to Bernie.
KHOURY: I thought you weren’t a big fan of the Wrightson work on the series?TOTLEBEN: That’s not true. It was his earlier pre-Swamp Thing stuff I wasn’treal crazy about, say, anything he did before 1971. I liked what Wrightsondid on Swamp Thing, quite a bit. I was, at the time 13 years old, more of aNeal Adams fan basically, and I had more of a taste for that “realistic” typeart. By the time Swamp Thing came along I had expanded my tastes beyondjust Adams work and was able to dig a lot of other artists, including Bernie’swork. What Wrightson was doing seemed more caricaturish to me, like JackDavis’s art, but I quickly became a huge fan of Bernie’s work on SwampThing. It was pretty amazing stuff, there’s no question about it. He had reallyset some new standards, at that time.
Swamp Thing TM & ©2007 DC Comics
26 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
KHOURY: When you began helping [artist] Tom Yeateson [the art chores on] Saga of the Swamp Thing, was itbecause it was a character you always wanted to depict?Or was it that Tom just needed your help?TOTLEBEN: Well, both. I had always wanted to do thecharacter in some way or another, as it just seemed to me, ifI were going to do comics – if I had to pick any character —it would have been Swamp Thing. It just so happened thatTom had gotten the art assignment on the second seriesand was working on it, so when he needed an art assist,which was inevitable really, it was a natural thing for me orSteve or Rick to pitch in. We would always jump in and helpeach other out in any way, on whatever jobs we wererespectively working on when the deadline loomed.
KHOURY: You were already helping Tom out as early as#2? What kind of things were you doing?TOTLEBEN: Jeez, I don’t remember what issue it was. Imay have penciled a couple of pages or some panels. Idon’t think I did any inking on those early ones; just somepenciling.
KHOURY: Was Tom falling behind or was it becauseyou were the “monster” guy?TOTLEBEN: I think he was just starting to fall a littlebehind, although I was an obvious choice to drag in whenthe situation arose.
KHOURY: Was he behind right from the beginning?TOTLEBEN: Well, it is kinda hard for one person to do amonthly book. At some point, you always end up slippingbehind a little, because it’s a lot of work for one person.It’s a lot of work for two people, y’know!
KHOURY: What did you think of the stories that Paskoand Yeates did together?TOTLEBEN: I remember thinking the writing was getting a lit-tle stuffy as issues went on. There was some good stuff inthere… but I remember some sort of anti-Christ storyline goingon, with some girl or something, and it seemed to me that itwas getting a little convoluted… boring, actually. The drag forTom was that, after the first issue, Swamp Thing was taken outof the swamps and put in a more urban environment. Tomexcels at drawing the natural world — jungles, swamps, wood-lands, etc. — so for him to have to draw these boring urbanbackgrounds was a waste of his abilities.
KHOURY: Stephen Bissette was also there lending ahand to those issues, right?TOTLEBEN: Steve did the layouts to #8, and I think hemight have done the cover layout, too. I remember himhaving done a considerable amount of work on the book.
KHOURY: Was Tom becoming disenchanted with theassignment?
JOHN TOTLEBENFrankenstein
I don’t remember
what this was for,
but it appears to be a
fairly typical quick,
rough, brush-inked
drawing that was
possibly done in a
sketchbook.
Courtesy of DavidHamilton
28 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
TOTLEBEN: I think Tom was just probably getting tired ofit, the monthly deadline grind, because he had beenworking on it for over a year at that point and I imaginehe felt like he wanted to go on to other things.
KHOURY: Before getting the assignment from Tom, whatwere you doing in terms of work?TOTLEBEN: Before we got on that book, I was jumpingaround doing freelance stuff, only real sporadically.
KHOURY: Was the period between leaving the KubertSchool and getting the Swamp Thing assignment a toughperiod for you?TOTLEBEN: After I got out of Kubert School, I was work-ing with [Golden-Age comic book publisher] Harry “A”Chesler for a couple of years on The Rubaiyat of OmarKhayyam illustrations, so that kept me busy for awhile,and after I finished that, I had moved back to Erie fromNew Jersey. I picked up a few art jobs here and there,but mostly I was doing regular jobs. I had worked as ajanitor, at one point, for some outfit. I ended up workingat a plastic factory for a couple of months – you know,the kind of crap we all have to do before we end upescaping and doing what we want. [laughs]
KHOURY: Were you having doubts that you weren’tgoing to make it as a professional artist?TOTLEBEN: No, I never really thought that I’d fail. I justwas convinced that sometimes you just have to wait untilthe right moment, I guess, and that moment came, ofcourse, when Swamp Thing came up for grabs.
KHOURY: How did that happen? Did Tom let you knowthat he was leaving?TOTLEBEN: Tom did mention to both Bissette and I thathe was going to be quitting the book, and that we shouldsend some samples to [then-editor] Len Wein.
KHOURY: Was it Tom’s idea that Bissette and you worktogether?TOTLEBEN: I don’t remember if it was his idea, or what,but it might have been. I don’t really remember too clear-ly, other than I do recall that Tom had recommended us.
KHOURY: This was around the time of [Bissette &Totleben’s collaboration] the Dracula story [BizarreAdventures #33]?TOTLEBEN: Yes, that was the thing where Bissette hadfallen behind on a job and he had to get it done prettyquick. So I went up to Vermont, stayed there for a weekor two, and we just sat down and completed this job. Idid a lot of work on it, though I don’t know how much hehad done on that by the time I got there, but it was apretty big book. Steve may have finished 10 pages into it,or something, but there was still a lot left to be done, sowe just sat down and did it.
KHOURY: Were you two the only artists to try out for thatbook? Did you know if Len was thinking of anybody else?TOTLEBEN: Nah, we weren’t the only ones considered. I
JOHN TOTLEBEN Strange Adventures
In 1998 sometime, I got a call from Axel Alonso asking if I might be interested in doing something for
the Strange Adventures mini-series he was editing. I told him I’d think about it. A few days later, I
met Mark Schultz at a convention in Cleveland, and asked him if he might like to write up something
we could work on together for the book. He came up with “Metal Fatigue”, and I finally got a
chance to draw a cool robot story! Strange Adventures TM & ©2007 DC Comics
44 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
COVER STORIES
W hat happensbetween theinitial layoutof a cover,
and the finished, printedpiece? Usually a lot ofchanges—some broughtabout by the pencil artist,some by the inker (assum-ing they're not the sameperson as the penciler), andsome at the request of aneditor or publisher.
HOWARD CHAYKINJonah Hex
My inspiration for the image—
and this is based on memory, as
opposed to actually looking at the
artwork in question—was a
cover for a MAX BRAND paper-
back by an illustrator named Roy
Andersen—who did a beautiful
series of covers for Warner books
back in the seventies or eight-
ies—imagery that was apparently
too damned sophisticated for the
western buying public.
Somewhere between the con-
cept and the finish, my rough
pencil seems to have lost a bit of
horse that Steve saw on the
comp, so when I delivered the
finish, he asked me to add a bit
more horse—which the finish
here demonstrates.
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 45
HOWARD CHAYKIN
For a single image, I tend to work out the pattern of darks and lights
more specifically than on a comics page—and as you can see, the
finish is a pretty solid reflection of what was there in the rough.
I was delighted to get an opportunity to do a JONAH HEX cover for
Jimmy and Justin’s take on the character. According to Steve Wacker,
the then-editor, he opted for the specific comp he chose because no
one had done a horse on the cover—pretty odd for a western, huh?Jonah Hex TM & ©2007 DC Comics
48 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
GENE COLANGene Colan has always been one of the
best artists in comics. His Tomb of Dracula
series was my favorite comic series ever,
and he was paired (as he often was) with
my favorite inker, Tom Palmer. Although I’ve always enjoyed ink-
ing his work, many other inkers were flustered by all the grey
tones he uses. But he shows us here that his art is superb even
uninked! He’s still doing amazing commissions after recently
celebrating his 80th birthday!
F E A T U R E D A R T I S T
GENE
COLA
N
Courtesy of David Gutierrez
BOB MCLEOD
These two fairly
recent commis-
sions are proof that
Gene Colan is
doing some of the
best work of his
very distinguished
career at the age of
80! Staggering
depth and form,
dramatic lighting
and camera angles,
subtle rendering
and dynamic poses.
There's simply no
one like him.Shadow TM &
©2007 Conde Nast
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 49
Courtesy of David GutierrezDaredevil TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.
GENE COLAN
This Daredevil drawing came to me as I went along. Once I
established the positioning of the two figures, I had enough
of the background in my files to complete it.
50 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
GENE
COLA
NBOB MCLEOD
Gene was one of
the first to break
away from the stan-
dard grid and use
angled panels,
which allow more
dramatic shots and
add visual excite-
ment. Imagine this
page with horizontal
panel borders and
see how much qui-
eter it would be.
And he always finds
the most dramatic
camera angle. His
panels have so
much depth from his
constant use of
foreshortening. This
page and the next
were never inked or
published, as far as
I know. When the
decision was made
to end the series,
the script was
rewritten and new
pages were drawn.
©2007 Marvel
Characters, Inc.
Courtesy of Tom Palmer
60 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
DAY Art Auction HelpsBy Ray Wong
Art by TerryDodson
Wonder Woman TM &©2007 DC ComicsCourtesy of Andy Mangels
How do you take a hobby like collecting comic books, memorabil-
ia, and original art and turn it into an event that raises
$15,405.33 for two domestic violence shelters? That’s exactly
what Andy Mangels did on Wonder Woman Day, October 29th,
2006 at Excalibur Comics in Portland, Oregon.
The art auction, featuring donated works from comic book, animation, and comic strip
artists such as Alex Ross, Adam Hughes, John Romita Sr., Dick Giordano, Bob McLeod,
Bill Morrison, Terry Dodson, Anne Timmons, and Matt Clark, benefited Raphael House
and Bradley-Angle House – domestic violence shelters for women and children in
Portland. Dodson, Timmons, and Clark appeared at the event to do signings.
Excalibur Comics displayed the auction art, and proxybidding by e-mail for a short period before the eventallowed non-attendees to participate in the fun. All artdepicted Wonder Woman — a fitting symbol to combatviolence against women and children. Highlights for theauction included an Alex Ross painting that sold for$4000. Adam Hughes’ marker piece with backgroundfetched $777. A flowing Terry Dodson pencil drawingbrought $500. Ryan Sook’s exquisite pencil rendering ofa sword-wielding Wonder Woman went for $400.
According to a press release, Jessica Elkin, Directorof Development for Raphael House, cited that the event“made a critical difference in the lives of thousands ofwomen and children in this community fleeing domesticviolence.”
Kristan Knapp, Development Director of Bradley-Angle House, proclaimed “Andy Mangels’ creative‘Wonder Woman Day’ celebration offered WonderWoman fans and comic book readers in general anopportunity to do something locally to stop abusebetween intimate partners.”
The idea for the event started out as a suggestion toAndy Mangels to include Wonder Woman in a charitycause. Though he had organized many charity events, fewrelated to comic books. An avid Wonder Woman collector,Mangels decided the heroine would be most appropriate to
help women and children of domestic violence.He contacted two local shelters in Portland to gauge
their interest. Raphael House was thrilled aboutthe marriage of a comic book characterto the issue of domestic violenceawareness and thought the themewould make for a great event.Mangels had worked previouslywith Bradley-Angle House, andthey signed on shortly after.
According to Mangels, “Iput my heart and soul intocontacting artists aboutdonating for the event. Istarted with ones Iknew, thencast a widernet.” Theresponsewas mind-boggling.He endedup withover 100pieces oforiginal
Domestic Violence Shelters
Art by Alex Chung
Wonder Woman TM &©2007 DC ComicsCourtesy of Andy Mangels
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 61
Continued on page 65
62 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
Art by GeofIsherwood
WonderWoman TM &©2007 DCComicsCourtesy ofAndy Mangels
66 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
PRE-PRO
W hat did your art look like when you were 16? Did you ever wonder what a pro's artlooked like back when he was in high school? Here's what Michael Kaluta was doingat that age. He even knew what a crow-quill point was! A genius in the rough!
MICHAEL KALUTA
Originally drawn in a Grumbacher spiral-bound sketch book using a crow quill pen point, this drawing of the Heliumetic Navy from
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom Books shows my 16-year old mind and hand at work: the mind was lucid, but check out that figure:
woooo: pretty squirrely! The flyer designs owe a large debt to the airships in the Abbott art for Ballantine Books paperback covers
from the ‘60s.
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 67
MICHAEL KALUTAMichael Kaluta is so individual. His
influences are apparent, but his style is
totally unique and always has been.
From his early comics work on Edgar
Rice Burrough’s VENUS, to THE SHADOW, to STARSTRUCK,
to his many book illustrations and commissions, he’s contin-
ued to dazzle us with his fantastic detail and imagination.
He’s also one of my favorite people in comics.
F E A T U R E D A R T I S T
MICHAEL KALUTA
Doorway To Nightmare #2, sketch
One of the refining steps in creating the cover for Doorway
to Nightmare #2... after some very rough sketching, tracing
paper is put over the rougher drawing and a cleaner image
is developed. This would, in its turn, be light-boxed onto the
DC Comics cover stock for final rendering and inking.
MICHAEL KALUTA Shadow #10, sketch
This is one of the layers done for DC Comics’ Shadow #10 cover in the 1970s... like the boat sketch with “I, Vampire” on it [see page 75], this would be
flopped for use on the finished cover, then the two killers added and, lastly, the large Shadow Face looming over all.
68 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
MICHAEL KALUTA
Batman #242, sketch
In 1969 or ’70 I opted
out of a DC Comics-
promoted bus trip to
the Sparta Plant (pos-
sibly in Connecticut)
where comic books
got their color separa-
tions hand made in a
room full of special-
ized Rubylith cutters
(a technique made
obsolete by today’s
computer coloring of
comic books). Instead
I hung out at the
nearly abandoned DC
Comics offices, doing
little scribbles in a
small office off the
main hallway.
Carmine Infantino,
then Big Boss of DC
Comics, leaned into
the room and asked if
I’d ever considered
doing covers for DC.
Whatever my answer
was, he asked that I
dope out some
Batman cover ideas.
This sketch is my first
ever cover idea, done
then and there... I
believe it was
Carmine’s idea for me
to pull in closer and
make it more of a
punchy image, the
Kaluta composition
that eventually ended
up on the comic book
[shown above].Batman TM & ©2007 DC Comics
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 69
MICH
AELK
ALUT
AMICHAEL KALUTA Batman Sketch
On Placemat.
The City Diner on Broadway, NYC,
has a stack of these placemats,
used for the breakfast set-up.
However, the waiters generally
bring me a small sheaf to draw on
when I come in late night while
waiting for my burger and fries. The
“unimportance” of the paper keeps
my ideas from getting “precious”
and allows them to drive my hand.
Not all the scribbles are kept, but
now and then the germ of a finished
piece is developed during this
process. Other ideas, like these on
this page, are held off to the side
for some future use.Batman TM & ©2007 DC Comics
MICHAEL KALUTA
Another group of drawings done on a placemat
or some similar “scrap” paper: letting the mind
drive the hand: there’s a fairy at the top left, then,
to the right, what appears to be a sphinx or lion,
but is actually Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN holding
a string of keys. Just below that is The Batman in
a pretty nice pose: it might even be the pose I
used on my Batman pin-up where I have
Catwoman sculpting him. Left of that is what I
was tempted to call a Shadow Sketch, until I saw
the high heels... it was an Idea for a Game
Magazine illustration of a woman detecting her
way into a basement with flashlight and legs...
76 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
Andrew Robinson was a new name to me,
but I really love his work! He’s a fantas-
tic painter, as well as a fine penciler and
inker. I was very impressed by his pencil
work shown here, and I know you will be,
too! And I hear he’s a Mort Drucker fan,
which gives him a gold star in my book!
F E A T U R E D A R T I S T
ANDREW ROBINSON
ANDREW ROBINSONHere is my layout for a He-Man front and back cover. I completed the final which included pencils, inks and colors. Sadly it never saw print due to my principles.The art director loved everything except for the coloring. He insisted on some over the top crazy coloring, which just didn’t jive with my style. I tried convincinghim that I was right. Sometimes sticking to your guns means you might have to miss out on a paycheck. And I did but it was worth it- every penny.
He-Man TM & ©2007 Hasbro
APRIL 2007 • ROUGH STUFF 77
ANDREW ROBINSON
Here’s a breakdown
for a sample page
for some Vertigo
book. I really like the
cartooning. And
tracing off my rough
helps me to keep
that initial energy
from my sketch. It
also helps steer me
away from adding
too many superflu-
ous details.
Unfortunately it was
too cartoony for
Vertigo and I didn’t
get the job. Oh well, I
probably would have
been late anyway.
78 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
ANDR
EWRO
BINSO
NANDREW ROBINSON
Trying to fit the
Sinister Six into this
square must have
taken me three
days or more, draw-
ing and erasing
until the paper
turned a shade of
gray. And it was
just for one card
from the game VS
by Upper Deck. Doc
Ock straining in the
background makes
the piece for me.
And then there is
Kingpin, a very
simple design
which makes it one
of my favorite VS
cards.Mysterio,Sandman, Vulture,Electro, Kraven,Kingpin, and Dr.Octopus TM &©2007 MarvelCharacters, Inc.
86 ROUGH STUFF • APRIL 2007
ROUGH CRITIQUEBy Bob McLeod
I f you’re serious about improving your penciling, send us a samplepage and I’ll publish and critique one page per issue sent in byour readers. Many beginners struggle with the same problems,and I think it’s helpful to see a critique of another artist’s work.
This action-packed sample page was submitted by Jeff Clemens. He saysthe lead roles are played by the Kubert brothers, so I’m assuming Jeff isa student at the Joe Kubert School. Let’s see if we canbump him up to the head of the class!
First, let’s begin with what I think Jeff’s doing right. Jeffobviously draws very well and with some study will soon beworking as a comics pro. His composition is very good. He’susing the panel space well, focusing on what needs to beshown and nothing else. He’s using a lot of diagonals andvariety in the size of the main shapes, and he’s moving theviewpoint around well. He’s also doing what Joe Kubertdoes so well, which is a good mix of really close close-upsand really long long shots. There’s a lot of drama, emotion,and action. The forms have weight and the panels havedepth. His storytelling is very clear without needing words.
As with most beginners, though, he still needs to studyfigure drawing a lot more. His anatomy is weak and awkward,and his foreshortening is off. He hasn’t put much thought intodeveloping a rendering style yet, either, but that will comeeasily enough with a bit more study. The other thing that reallyjumps out at me is his lack of correct perspective in the back-grounds, which by the way, are pretty sparse. You can get bywith that on an average action page, but a good samplepage really needs more (and better) backgrounds.
Panel 1: Jeff, I’m guessing you don’t wear glasses. Alleyeglasses have nose pads, and your bridge has depth andis shown from below, yet your lens frames are flat and shownstraight on. A little research and reference on stuff like thisgoes a long way. The eyebrows look like they’re on fire. Studyyour own in the mirror. But this is a great close-up otherwise.
Panel 2: I generally dislike profile shots, which tend tolook flat. Since the Adam figure on the right is closer to us, itwould have been much better if we were looking over hisshoulder. It’s unclear whether he’s just holding the sword orif he’s hitting Andy in the hand or clavicle with it. I’m guess-ing that you’re attempting to show him just threatening Andywith the sword, but you’re forcing me to guess by using thisawkward angle. And is he losing his grip on the sword, orwhat? You’re also having some difficulties with anatomyhere. Andy’s left thumb is dislocated (ouch!), and Adam’s leftring finger is broken (double ouch!). Adam’s right arm is
coming directly out of his pectoral (chest muscle) rather than his shoulder(that’s gotta hurt!). If you feel your own jawbone, you’ll notice it’s in front ofyour ear, not behind it like you drew Adam’s.
Panel 3: This reminds me of my advice in the critique I did for issue #1,where I said think of Charlie Brown flipping upside down from a baseball hitright at him when you show someone getting hit by a punch. So you have theright idea in exaggerating the action with Adam, but the other part of myadvice was about the guy throwing the punch. You need to show him putting
Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH (former MarvelComics editor and Spider-Man writer), WRITE NOW!,the magazine for writers of comics, animation, andsci-fi, puts you in the minds of today’s top writers andeditors. Each issue features WRITING TIPS from pros onboth sides of the desk, INTERVIEWS, SAMPLE SCRIPTS,REVIEWS, exclusive NUTS & BOLTS TUTORIALS, andmore! Issue #15 features an in-depth interview withJ.M. DeMATTEIS, discussing his work on Disney’sAbadazad with MIKE PLOOG (who provides a sidebarinterview, and our all-new cover)! We also have aNUTS & BOLTS section on DC’s 52 series, featuringscript by the MARK WAID/GREG RUCKA/GEOFFJOHNS/GRANT MORRISON team, breakdowns byKEITH GIFFEN, and pencil art by JOE BENNETT andCHRIS BATISTA! Then: JIM OTTAVIANI—writer ofTWO-FISTED SCIENCE—tells you about the worldof nonfiction comics writing and publishing!GRIMJACK’s JOHN OSTRANDER discusses thedifference between writing a character you ownand a “franchise” property! STAR TREK novelistBiLL McCAY tells how to deal with editors andrewrites, and more!
(80-page magazine) SINGLE ISSUES: $9 US
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Four issues in the US:$24 Standard, $36 First Class
(Canada: $44, Elsewhere: $48 Surface, $64 Airmail).
WRITE NOW #4HOWARD CHAYKIN, PAUL DINI,KURT BUSIEK, DENNY O’NEIL
WRITE NOW #14BRIAN BENDIS, STAN LEE,
PETER DAVID, JIM STARLIN
WRITE NOW #16SILVER SURFER WRITERS, TODDMcFARLANE, STAR TREK WRITERS
WRITE NOW #13X-MEN SCREENWRITER, AGENTS,WRITING MANGA, BREAKING IN
We hope you enjoy this FREEWRITE NOW #15 PREVIEW!
TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com
TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.
52 NUTS & BOLTS | 89
Feast your eyes on J.G. Jones’ sketch for thecover to the issue, then his finished inks,and, finally, the fully rendered cover as itappeared in your pull-file!
Here it is! A special Nuts & Boltssection featuring script, layouts,and pencil art from issue #24 ofDC’s red-hot 52 series!
[©20
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90 | WRITE NOW #15 PREVIEW
52 #24 FINAL
PAGE ONE
PANEL ONE: EXTERIOR ESTABLISHING, THE OLIVER QUEEN
MAYORAL CAMPAIGN OFFICE.
1 DATESTAMPS: Week 24, Day 1.
Star City
2 SIGNAGE: QUEEN FOR MAYOR
Campaign Headquarters
3 FROM IN/burst: MAGGIN!
PANEL TWO: INTERIOR. OLLIE QUEEN (VERY CASUALLY
DRESSED) IS IN HIS MODEST OFFICE, GIVING A PRESS
CONFERENCE TO REPORTERS WITH AT LEAST TWO CAMERAS. AT
FAR LEFT, A YOUNG ELLIOT MAGGIN POPS HIS HEAD IN THE
DOOR. (SEE ELLIOT PHOTO REFERENCE, ATTACHED.)
4 ELLIOT: You rang, Ollie?
5 REPORTER: Mr. Queen, with the election less than
three weeks away, voters still see you as
a political UNKNOWN. Can you nutshell
your platform once more for--
6 OLLIE: Elliot, come talk to these nice REPORTERS!
PANEL THREE: OLLIE PATS CONFUSED ELLIOT ON THE BACK,
SHOVES HIM IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS.
7 OLLIE: Ladies and gentlemen, this is my CAMPAIGN
MANAGER, and he’ll be DELIGHTED to take
any further QUESTIONS!
8 ELLIOT/whisper: Ollie, what are you DOING? They
wanna talk to YOU!
9 OLLIE/whisper: Gotta take an important CALL. You
can do this. You know what I’d say.
Use the word “FATCATS” a lot.
((more))
PANEL FOUR: ELLIOT, NERVOUS, WAVES TO THE REPORTERS AS
OLLIE SCURRIES OFF.
10 ELLIOT/whisper: I SCREEN your calls! I didn’t hear
one come IN...!
11 OLLIE/whisper: This one, you WOULDN’T.
PANEL FIVE: TIGHT ON OLLIE’S HAND DISCREETLY PULLING A
SHIELD-SHAPED, OLD-SCHOOL JUSTICE LEAGUE COMMUNICATOR
FROM HIS POCKET. IT’S ABOUT THE SIZE OF A CREDIT CARD.
12 OLLIE/whisper/off: PRIVATE LINE.
13 SHIELD: JLA COMMUNICATOR
PANEL SIX (THIN) DC COMICS 52
Keith Giffen then breaksthe scripts down into roughlayouts (in which we seecopy placement, where eachnumber corresponds to apiece of copy in the script),which are then developed intopencil art, in this case by PhilJimenez (which was theninked by Andy Lanning).
[©20
07D
CC
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The creative process for 52 isvery much a collaborative one.In a nutshell, the team ofwriters (Greg Rucka, Mark Waid,Grant Morrison, and GeoffJohns) works out the storieswith the editor—for this issue,it was Steve Wacker.
52 NUTS & BOLTS | 91
PAGE TWO
PANEL ONE-A WRITER CREDITS
PANEL ONE: EXTERIOR, REAR ALLEYWAY. GLANCING AROUND TOMAKE SURE NO ONE’S LISTENING IN, OLLIE SPEAKS INTO THECOMMUNICATOR LIKE A CELLPHONE, IS EXITING THROUGH A REARDOOR.
1 OLLIE: GREEN ARROW here.
2 OLLIE: Who’s this? Supes, is that you? Bats?WHOEVER it is, am I glad to hear from Y--
PANEL TWO-A ART CREDITS
PANEL TWO: CUT TO FIRESTORM, ELSEWHERE, LIKEWISE USING ABADGE AS A CELLPHONE.
3 FIRESTORM: It’s FIRESTORM, Mr...Arrow, sir.I...umm...
4 FIRESTORM: How...ARE you...?
5 ELECTRIC: PEEVED. That ain’t Firestorm’s VOICE,kiddo. Who is this and how’d you get thisFREQUENCY?
PANEL THREE-A COVER AND EDITOR CREDITS
PANEL THREE: BACK TO OLLIE.
6 ELECTRIC: I’m Firestorm’s...SUCCESSOR, sir. I gotthe communicator through HIM.
7 ELECTRIC: You don’t really KNOW me, but I’m a bigFAN and...well...I wanted to INVITE youto...to...
8 OLLIE: To WHAT? A TAYLOR HICKS concert? WHAT?
9 ELECTRIC: N-NO, sir. To...to...
[© 2007 DC Comics.]
Current 52 editor MikeSiglain explains thingsfrom here on:
“I talk to the writersnumerous times within theweek, and they certainly talkto each other, but we makesure that we all get on thephone at least once a weekto revise and tweak thescripts, and to make surethat the story is still headingin the right direction.