Pencils and Q&A of the Western Horror comic we are working on (Issues #2 & #3)
Hello folks.
Here we have a quick Q&A with our Artist Tomás Aira, and pencils for page 1 of issue 2.
Our project on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deadmoney/dead-money-a-western-horror-comic-book-2-and-3
Here is the Q&A audio in spanish: https://soundcloud.com/mishka-de-caro/dead_money2_tomas - English transcript after the image.
Mishka: Hello Tomás, to start I'd like to know how you began illustrating professionally... At what point did you realize you were a professional illustrator?
Tomás: I don't know if there was a specific moment I realized, but in 2006 I sent a portfolio to a local publisher that was putting out an anthology magazine, and they sent me a short script, that meant they liked the work I was doing… they sent me a short script to work on, everything ad honorem, very old-school, but I was doing these colorful works, kind of minor, somewhat peripheral things. But I don't know, I hit it off with the publisher, which was Gárgola Ediciones, and they sent me a long script, and that long script, on one hand, helped me understand rhythm better, how to do comic storytelling. I was 20 years old, I had ideas, I was a reader and I knew how to draw, but it was at that moment where I said, “hey, this is possible”. And the magazine's editor was gathering all the magazine's people to get people to work abroad, so while we were doing this work, which was for some money, real money, not a stipend, let's say… we started getting into the North American market, and then… well, we were there. That work was the one that, despite having drawn comics on my own, published fanzines, and many things before, was like the beginning of my career.
M: Great, great. Tell us one or two sources of inspiration for your work.
Well, in general, I read a lot of comics and I'm always finding new inspiration from artists I like, classic artists or ones I already know, and I buy new material I come across, or what those who are alive are doing. But I also like audiovisual media, I watch movies, series, and that also renews you and gives you tools that you later want to put into comics. I play a lot of video games, video games also awaken a certain visual thing in me, visually storytelling… and there's a back-and-forth with all the audiovisual media I consume. Obviously literature too, but I don't write, so it's harder to translationally turn what you read into drawing, inspirationally. Is that roughly what you asked me?
M: Yes, yes… Well, since we're here, what do you like about comics, about sequential storytelling?
There's something about it being a self-sufficient medium, with two or three people, like literature, literature needs just one person, but a comic with very few people, in a basement, in a hovel, you can produce a work and reach many readers, reach people's hearts. Not in the sense of selling many copies, but in the sense that many people get to know a finished work, not a sketch or like… like a film script. Many people can read a script, but the script isn't the movie, and making a movie takes a huge effort, a lot of work. But even making a video gam, video games usually involve many people. Independent games made by one person, I think of Stardew Valley by Eric Barone… that's five years of work. In half a year I can make a comic, and that's it, and the audience sees it, and then I make another, and it's a spinning wheel. There are many authors who work that way, maybe as a second-hand job… (he corrects himself) a second job, and there's more comics and more art, and that seems like a beautiful thing to me.
M: What attracted you, or how did you come to Dead Money?
T: I'm very attracted to it. All genres amuse me, but the horror and atmospheric thing… building places, characters moving through that place, creating narrative, moving people around. That, from the first not-script, before the script, from the concept, the first outlines, already seemed like something I could navigate. And I keep discovering new things, and that keeps me very entertained.
M: Alright, tell us your favorite scenes, favorite either for drawing or for what they convey, from the first two issues. Try not to spoil issue 3…
T: In issue two, there's a scene I really like, when Miles and Moses find the train with the horses. For me, that's the best part; it grabbed me… let’s say… like… there are many scenes, like when they play poker at the end of the first issue, that was very good because of the faces, the hand expressions, but there are many people, so you don't get as deeply into one character. But here there are TWO, and they go into this train car… It's two or three pages, not that long, but it's very good. I really liked it. When I read it, I SAW it immediately, and it seduced me, and I liked how it turned out.
M: Alright, how did you decide on the themes for the covers you did for all three issues?
T: I draw from a Western visual imaginary. I'm watching many movies, also, old movies, a lot of John Ford, and you start entering into ways of narrating, camera angles, and that creates an image library in my head. And when I have to think: well, what's happening, what's most important in this issue? In issue two, this scene was my favorite, so the cover referred to something similar. But for issue one and three, which feature a wider cast of characters, I went with this Western world I've been building and feeding.
M: Alright, and finally, what advice would you have for people who want to start making art today?
T: (silence)... ehh… It's hard, it’s hard. Art in any discipline is immensely rewarding, but it's kind of a martyrdom. Artists are treated very badly in all industries. So I'm not going to say I don't recommend it because it's given me so much satisfaction. I would like to share this wonderful way of life I've had for 20 years. But you have to be strong. You have to find… find… The most important thing for a young artist, for me, would be to find pleasure in doing it, to want to do it despite everything, to find it in their free time, whatever the discipline. If they get a job, I think of video games or filming, making movies… if they have their day job doing something like that and still have the desire to do the same thing in their free time, that's good, they're on the right path. It's about finding a certain passion to be able to fully immerse yourself in that world and not see it as a passionless job.
M: Great, thank you, Tom.