Rough Stuff 12 Online

Celebrating
the ART
of Creating
Comics!
FINAL ISSUE!
special feature
with art by
No. 12
SPRING 2009
Wonder Woman TM & 2009 DC Comics.
$6.95
interviews with
CHRIS MOELLER
COLIN WILSON
rough critique
Neal Adams
Murphy Anderson
Jack Davis
Mort Drucker
Will Eisner
David Finch
Hal Foster
Frank Frazetta
Adam Hughes
Jeffrey Jones
Joe Kubert
Jim Lee
Mike Mignola
Frank Miller
Earl Norem
Mike Ploog
John Romita
Mark Schultz
Marie Severin
Ryan Sook
Al Williamson
Wally Wood
Bernie Wrightson
HAROLD SHINDEL
also featuring
82658 27766
91
JEREMY DALE
TERRY DODSON
GOOD GIRL ART

ROBERT PLUNKETT
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TwoMorrows 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 FAX: 919-449-0327 E-mail: [email protected] www.twomorrows.com
Volume 1, Number 12
Spring 2009
Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

EDITOR
Bob McLeod
PUBLISHER
John Morrow
DESIGNER
Michael Kronenberg
PROOFREADERS
John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington
FEATURED ARTISTS
COVER ARTIST
Chris Moeller
Jeremy Dale
11
Terry Dodson
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Productions
SPECIAL THANKS
Rich Cirillo
ROUGH STUFF FEATURE

16
Good Girl Art

Robert L. Plunkett
Jeremy Dale
ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEWS
Terry Dodson
Heritage Auctions
26
Chris Moeller
Jim Lee
44
Colin Wilson
Dominique Leonard
ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS
Chris Moeller
Robert Plunkett
Scribblings From The Editor

Bob McLeod
P. Craig Russell
Harold Shindel
42
Cover Stories
Chris Moeller reveals the process of creating a cover.
60
Editors Corner
The artists who woulda, coulda, shoulda been in Rough Stuff.
84
Rough Critique
Editor Bob McLeod critiques an aspiring pencilers sample page.
86
Rough Talk
Comments and opinions from our readers.
Tim Townsend
Nick Warmack
Colin Wilson
ROUGH STUFF is published quarterly by
TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive,
Raleigh, NC 27614. Bob McLeod, Editor. John
Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: ROUGH STUFF,
c/o Bob McLeod, Editor, P.O. Box 63, Emmaus, PA
10849-2203. E-mail: [email protected].
Cover art by Chris Moeller. Wonder Woman copyright DC Comics. All material their creators
unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter 2009
Bob McLeod and TwoMorrows Publishing. ROUGH
STUFF is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed
in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.
ISSN 1931-9231
SPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF
SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:
m afraid I have some sad news. Im very sorry to tell you that Rough Stuff will be leaving the shelves after this issue.
Im going to blame the general economy, because I think we did our best and produced a very worthwhile magazine, but
for whatever reasons, our sales just can no longer support our efforts.
I certainly gave it everything I had, and I want to thank our designer Michael Kronenberg for all of his excellent work. We did
get an awful lot of positive response every issue, and many good reviews in the fan press, so I thank all of you for that much
appreciated support. I know youre as saddened by this as I am. I also want to thank our publisher, John Morrow, for his leap of
faith in asking me to give this editing gig a try in the first place. I sure never expected to be sitting on this side of an editorial
desk, and his encouragement and belief in me is all any editor could ask for. Maybe now Ill be able to make better progress on
my commissions list at last! And of course I want to thank all of our many contributors and featured artists. I know we all were
very entertained and educated by their articles and comments every issue.
There were many highlights for me during these 12 issues, and I definitely dont think any issue was below par. Certainly
our feature on the great John Buscema in issue #3 was one of my favorites. I also enjoyed interviewing my fellow artists, and I
tried my best to entertain and inform you with the various articles I wrote. Im particularly heartened to hear how popular my
Rough Critique feature is, and Im happy to tell you that I will be continuing it in the pages of Mike Manleys Draw! magazine. Im confident and proud that we showed you a lot of excellent artwork you would likely otherwise have never seen, and
gave you a very educational and interesting look behind the scenes at the wondrous process of creating comic art. It was a
simple goal, but very worthwhile and important in my opinion. I fear our absence will actually leave quite a gap in the fans
knowledge, understanding and appreciation of comic art. That sounds rather pompous, I know, but I really dont think its an
overstatement. I always felt we were making an important and much needed contribution in these pages. If you missed any of
the fun, all of our issues are still available at www.twomorrows.com, and I urge you to get them all. You wont be sorry.
Its not all bad news, though. We do have this one last issue for you, at least. It opens with newcomer Jeremy Dale, whos
been working on the GI Joe comics. I met Jeremy at Heroes Con last year, and asked him to contribute. Hes followed by fan
fave Terry Dodson, whos perhaps best know for his way with the female form, which he demonstrates brilliantly for us here.
Then art collector Robert Plunkett offers a treatise on his favorite subject, Good Girl Art, with many examples from his own collection. Our cover artist, Chris Moeller, then shows us how he creates such stunning paintings for comics, cards, and other
projects. Last up is one of my favorite artists, Colin Wilson. Hes from New Zealand, and now lives in Australia. Hes interviewed by Belgian art collector Dominique Leonard, who wrote about the Belgian and French comic artists a couple issues ago.
I do my usual Rough Critique of a sample page, and we close with your letters of comment.
And as a special parting treat, we offer up art by a couple dozen top artists I had hoped to feature sometime but just wasn't
able to, for one reason or another.
Dont you stop there, though; go to my web site and see even more art and comments that I couldnt fit into the magazine:
http://www.bobmcleod.com/roughstuff.htm. And remember we offer every issue of Rough Stuff in digital form as a PDF download at http://www.twomorrows.com, including many images in full color, for just $2.95. Also, please visit our featured artists
web sites. Take care, friends, and as my grandfather always used to say, Ill see you in the funny papers! (I was never quite
sure what he meant by that...)
Bob McLeod: www.bobmcleod.com
Jeremy Dale: www.jeremy-dale.com
Chris Moeller: www.cmoeller.com
Colin Wilson: http://web.mac.com/wilco440
ROUGH STUFF SPRING 2009
Bob McLeod
Editor
[email protected]
www.bobmcleod.com
PO Box 63 Emmaus, PA 18049
D
U R E
F E A T
I S T
A R T
JEREMY DALE
mics
working in co
en
be
as
h
e
al
Jeremy D
strated
d has also illu
an
,
ow
n
s
ar
and logos,
for a few ye
pany mascots
m
co
ed
gn
si
s and de
at Heroes
childrens book
sign. I met him
de
te
si
eb
w
n
ow
ked him to
as well as his
pressed so I as
im
ry
ve
as
w
and
Con last year
ROUGH STUFF.
contribute to
JEREMY DALE
GI Joe #5, page 5
I really enjoyed working on this page. It has
its mistakes, but overall I really enjoy how
well I drew this in the two hours or so I had
to work on it. Scratch thatI love how it
turned out, given the time it took to draw it.
I enjoyed playing up the lighter, perhaps
more humorous elements of the G.I. Joe
books a lot.
As with all of my pages on Joe, I did thumbnails on your standard printer paper for the
whole issue to get approval from Hasbro
then printed it out at A3 size and transferred them to the final pencils with my
lightbox. It keeps my pages pretty clean
and I can still maintain a fairly good speed
putting these out. I ended up penciling
G.I. Joe TM & 2009 Hasbro
tighter on G.I. Joe since I knew going in

that there wouldnt be an inker involved.
JEREMY DALE
G.I. Joe #1 cover
process
Nothing would
have prepared me
for the Hasbro
approval process.
The cover to the
first issue really
taught me a lot
about working on
licensed properties, to say the
least. The first step
was drawing up
several concept
sketches (literally
scribbles at this
point, since the
turnaround time
was so hectic) for
approval from the

higher-ups at
Hasbro (seen in
versions A-C here).
They decided on C
before too long, so
I attacked that and
sent it back in for
another round of
approvals (version
D).
After a request to
shove the characters higher up on
the cover (E) was
turned in, they
asked for tweaks to
show battle damage, a feature
added at that point
to the action figures
the comics would
be packaged with.
The final pencils
here (F) is what was
finally approved and
sent straight to a
colorist to color
from. Im honestly
not a fan of dropping the inking
stage from comics
in most casesI
love seeing what
the inker brings to
the table in the
process. Still, the
colorist (Kieran
Oats) did a nice job
on this, I think.
F
BOB McLEOD
I can guess why Larry Hama asked for changes. Showing his hand
holding the sword is important, because otherwise it appears he's
watching other people sword fight. And tilting the head connects the
composition better, and gives him a more aggressive attitude. Also, the
refection on his forehead looks a bit like a tattoo in the first one.
JEREMY DALE
G.I. Joe #7, page 1
I love Destro. Larry Hama loves Destro.
Hasbro and the fans love Destro. This
issue was one of my favorites in my
entire run for that reason. The Cobra
characters are just more interesting
visually in general, so illustrating this
piece was a lot of fun I dont remember the exact specifics on why I
changed the composition, but I assume
it was due to a suggestion Larry sent
me after sending in the thumbnails. It
was a good move. I believe the tilted
drama and make it less symmetrical

from a design standpoint. Honestly, I
think this would have been just as good
as the issues cover.
shot and crossed swords add a lot of
JEREMY DALE
Miserable Dastards #2, page 1
Working on Miserable Dastards has been a lot of
fun so farI worked on this title the same time I
was doing work for G.I. Joe and another series,
New Patriots (with writer Paul Storrie). Given the
difference in work style, this was a great change of
pace. On this book especially, I was directing much
of the storytelling. Richard A. Hamilton, the writer,
comes from a screenwriting background, so his
transition to comic book scriptwriting has been a
learning experience for him and myself as well. I
was given free rein to translate the scripts to comic
form in most any way I needed to keep it clear and
moving all within the pages allotted.
BOB McLEOD
Characters TM & 2009 respective owners
Notice how the three figures in the lower left are

"framed" by the tree and the first three panels, really focusing our eye on them. This is a very effective
device in comic storytelling. There's also a nice circular flow from figure to figure through the page. I
would suggest moving the figure's head in panel 4
to overlap the foot in panel three, though, because
it looks like he's about to kick himself in the head,
and the illusion of depth is also weakened.
JEREMY DALE
What a thrill! After several years of working from a
full script, suddenly getting the chance to dictate
visual pacing and storytelling has been cathartic.
Richards scripts in the beginning would have several
complex moving actions per panel and camera pans
and all that youd expect from a screenwriter working
for the camera coming into sequential, panel-to-panel
comic writingso I had a challenge ahead of me to
work it all out into comic format. Stretching my artistic muscles was a real treat.
8
JEREMY DALE
Each panel would be roughed out individually and transferred
right to the board from a looser sketch like these. For heavierreferenced bits like the bank vault, Id go in on a separate
sheet of paper and work in those elements with the ref right in
front of me. So yeahthats why you dont see that fully rendered in that sketch there, hehehe.
I dont knowI think I like to keep these pages moving along
at a faster pace to keep it more kinetic. It seems like the more
time (and steps) I devote to a given piece, the less likely itll still
have that creative spark that sets it above the rest. Learning to
work fast has really been a great asset in helping me learn
more about my weaknesses and strengths in my artwork.
B
C
A
JEREMY DALE
After all the rounds of approvals on G.I. Joe, I
wanted to make Miserable Dastards as painless
a project as possible. Id work out a quick thumbnail on the script print-out and then dive right in
to quick sketches of each panel on typing paper,
then transfer immediately to final pencils with the
lightbox.
Here you can see the very quick thumbnail I
scribbled next to Richards script (A) and one of
the rough scribbles I did (B) before throwing it on
the box to work into the finished piece (C).
BOB McLEOD
Jeremy's finish style is doing a lot to add a professional look to his pencils. Nothing is sketchy,
and every line is put down in a very deliberate
way, even the wrinkles in the coat in panel one.
10
D
U R E
F E A T
I S T
A R T
TERRY DODSON
Songes: Coraline TM & 2009 Terry Dodson
reer in
started his ca
Terry Dodson
MANTR A,
u Ultraverses
ib
al
M
on
3
9
19
ter Mike
ated with wri
re
-c
d his
co
e
h
h
ic
wh
and Marvel, an
C
D
th
bo
r
fo
ce worked
s here, was
Barr. Hes sin
samples for u
e
h
h
ic
h
w
,
E
ALIN
US. Terrys
SONGES: COR
d soon in the
an
,
ce
n
ra
F
hed in
already publis
rist.
inker and colo
n
ai
m
is
h
is
wife Rachel
BOB McLEOD
I pleaded, but Terry Dodson offered no
comments for this feature.
11
BOB McLEOD
Many artists struggle with the female
form. Terry's a
great one to study
to understand how
to make your
females more feminine, both in anatomy and posture.
Notice the tilt of
the hips and rib
ous page lower

left. Also notice the
facial proportions
on the image
above it.
12
Young X-Men TM & 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc.
cage on the previ-
BOB McLEOD
The art on this page demonstrates the core
of good drawing, composition. Thumbnails
like these are a great way to get your ideas
down on paper and work out the various
ways to best show a scene. All of these
sketches were done just to arrive at #4.
Skipping these roughs practically guarantees you won't get to the best composition.
BOB McLEOD
As I've stated
before in these
pages, I'm no fan of
symmetrical design.
But dang if artists
don't keep showing
me it can be impressive. Take note of all
the asymmetry in
this symmetry, however, and just try to
find a horizontal or a
vertical.
Notice the change
in Dani's head
angle. It works well
both ways, but a 3/4
view is always better to show form
and depth. A
straight-on view will
always look flatter.
13
BOB McLEOD
Aspiring inkers
Rachel's ultraclean lines, and

careful outlining,
usually thin on top
and thicker below,
but not always.
Closer forms
sometimes require
a thicker outline,
and sometimes the
outline is thicker
just to contrast
against the thin
interior lines. This
decorative style of
inks, and pencils,
calls to mind the
art nouveau
posters of
Alphonse Mucha.
These girls aren't
afraid to load on
the eyeliner, either.
Remember that if
your women don't
look sultry enough.
14
should take note of
BOB McLEOD
I like the background
value contrast in the
small study better than
the finished piece,
which looks just a bit
flat by comparison. But
that's a minor quibble
in a very lovely color
job. Note how
Magma's black lipstick
changed to color.
You can see this in full
color in the downloadable PDF version of
Rough Stuff available
for $2.95 at
www.twomorrows.com.
15
ROBERT PLUNKETT
Where is the line
between GGA and
just a picture with a
pretty woman? This
one is close to the
line, but isnt GGA.
Notwithstanding the
Bettie Page figure
and the expanse of
thigh, this Rocketeer
by the late Gray
Morrow is just a fun
piece, lacking in
Rocketeer TM & 2009 Dave Stevens
sensuality.
Good Girl Art

by Robert L. Plunkett
Little Annie Fanny TM & 2009 Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
Good Girl Art: Popular imaginative art, featuring images of one or more women in a sexually attractive manner,
usually directly or indirectly in connection with a graphic narrative.
Robert L. Plunkett
A TERM TO CONJURE WITH
ccording to Wikipedia, comic book dealer and

The Comic Book Price Guide advisor David T.
Alexander coined the term Good Girl Art in
the early 1970s and inserted it into his compa-
nys sale lists to alert potential buyers of comics featuring

pictures of sexy women. It was a marketing feature, like a
seller putting mag wheels in a classified ad for a car.
From this humble beginning, it eventually became a term
to conjure with.
GGA is a powerful force in the popular art community.
It is not really a genre, but some comics seem like excuses for GGA. There are no official statistics, but, judging
from the Internet galleries, the majority of all commissions
and con sketches are Good Girl Art. For the first time
since the demise of the non-photographic pin-up in the
early 1970s, it is possible to make a good living drawing
and/or painting girlie pictures. Those who have the knack
are in demand and have a source of income denied to
those who dont. Those who can draw women now market to comic art collectors, even if their professional connection with actual comics is slight or nonexistent.
What is GGA and how did it become identified with
comic art and vice versa? The line between simply a pretty picture of a woman and a piece of GGA is fuzzy at the
edges, but its like that old saw that its impossible to tell
exactly when heavy mist becomes rain, but every fool
knows when to come in from the rain. The definition at the
beginning of this article is my own. The only part that
probably requires further explanation is the direct or indirect connection to a graphic narrative. In a direct connec-
ROBERT PLUNKETT
I commissioned this
Little Annie Fannie
from Ray Lago, Annies
current artist. The
tion, the image is part of a story, gag panel or the like. An
position, clothes, open
example of a direct connection would be a story page. An
fly and the unribbed
indirect connection is one that references it, like a pin-up
shirt were my idea.
17
ROBERT PLUNKETT
This shows the halfinked version of a
Lara Croft pin-up.
The scene would
probably be more
appropriate with
James Bond in the
front but it just happens to have a Lara
packing heat while
wearing a legless
wet suit cut above
the hips and
unzipped to her bikini line.
BOB McLEOD
GGA doesn't have to
be real anatomy, of
course. This girl's
waist is impossibly
thin and her rib cage
would suggest starvation. But this is a
very common style of
anatomy in current
comics which I first
noticed among the
Image and Top Cow
artists; broad shoulders, very thin waist,
Lara Croft TM & 2009 Eidos Interactive
slim hips, perfectly

round breasts, muscular arms, extremely small nose tip, and
angular jaw. Contrast
this with the style of
an older artist known
for his sensual
women, Frank
Frazetta: narrow
shoulders, round
belly, very wide hips,
natural breasts, slender arms, almost
invisible nose tip,
and round jaw.
18
art by Roy Cover
of Wonder Woman would have an indirect connection
marginally successful. Only a few hotties, like Lil Abners
with the overall Wonder Woman narrative.
Daisy Mae, and Steve Canyons Dragon Lady have been

influential.
GGA PREHISTORY:
THE SILVER AGE AND BEFORE
In the Platinum Age of comics (the 1890s to 1920s),
The prevalence of GGA in the comics preceding the

Comics Code Authority is vastly exaggerated in the modern mind. The first Good Girl Art superheroine didnt
heavily graphic publications like Judge and the original
arrive until 1942. She was Jim Mooneys Wildfire, who
Life largely lived off of their girlie panels. Artists like
came out in Smash Comics #31 in February 1942, six
Charles Dana Gibson and Orson Lowell used often virtu-
months before Wonder Woman. She lasted only seven
ally pointless jokes or commentary as an excuse to depict
issues and never appeared on a cover until 2001! In this
the female ideal of the age. These died out by the mid-
writers opinion, Wonder Woman wasnt GGA for
1930s, to be replaced by more blatantly risqu and
decades. She wore bicycle shorts until the late 60s. She
underground magazines like Captain Billys Whiz Bang.
was originally drawn in a crude cartoony style and then
Though the concept of the girl strip, as it was origi-
depicted virginally. Unless you count the near-constant
nally called, has been around since at least the 1920s,
bondage when William Moulton Marston was alive, its a
American comic strips have never been a great source of
stretch to call her sexy until the advent of the New
girlie art. Here, they have usually been considered largely
Wonder Woman in October 1968.
or entirely a kids medium, making overt sexuality inappro-
Fu Mancho TM & 2009 respective owner
art by Mike Vosburg
Women in the major publishers comics were tame.
priate. With few exceptions, like Modesty Blaise or
Black Canarys Golden Age garb revealed her curves less
Liberty Meadows, girlie comic strips have been coy about
than Supermans did his. Mary Marvel and Supergirl were
their appeal at best, and most were failures or were only
girls, like ones little sister. Lois Lane, Lana Lang,
19
Art 2009 Buzz
ROBERT PLUNKETT
This commission
from Buzz is in the
Batwoman, Vicki Vale, etc. were all small-busted and

chaste. The pre-code tawdry delights of heroines like
Sheena Queen of the Jungle and The Phantom Lady were
COMICS BECOME GIRLIE ART

CENTRAL
Two broad trends came together to make comic art the
rowdy pin-up tradi-
the products of fringe companies like AC (American
main avenue for popular girlie art. First, the competition
tion, but no one
Comics) or Fiction House.
vanished. Except for those on bodice-ripper romance
would suppose this

to be a piece of nose
Up until nearly two decades after Seduction of the

Innocent came out, comics were, to use a term of the
novels, lurid paperback covers disappeared from the book

racks. The last of the true pulps, the blood-and-guts
art or anything from
time, nowheresville when it came to pictures of hot
genre, lost readership rapidly from the mid-1960s with the
the 1940s or 50s.
women. If you wanted cheesecake art, you looked in pulp
last and oldest of the type, Argosy, closing shop in 1978.
20
magazines, especially the mens variety, lurid paperback
The publishers of girlie calendars found out that photos
book covers, pin-up calendars by the likes of Gil Elvgren,
were just as popular as paintings and they switched
or girlie humor magazines by imprints like Humorama.
entirely to photographs by the end of the 70s. All twenty
ROBERT PLUNKETT
This pencil by Ron Enruquez of a jungle girl taking a shower is a textbook example of great Good
Girl Art. Taking it from top to bottom: We start with the symbolism of the elephants trunk raised and
squirting. Then theres the thigh-length, lush, wonderfully coiffed hair that isnt the least bit wet, the
perfect face, the head tilted back revealing a long, smooth neck. Her arms are up in a position that
would raise the breasts in real life and is frequently a sexual signal combined with the arched
back. The breasts themselves are full, round and a believable size. The torso tapers to an
unusually narrow waist with a front
that is defined but not muscular.
Her hips are slightly idealized, following a smooth
rounded line, tapering
down to the legs; a taper
which is accentuated by
Art 2009 Rol Enriquez
their position.
21
ROBERT PLUNKETT
Its no mere coincidence that virtually
every Playboy centerfold shows the
Playmate looking
straight at the reader.
Its a way of pulling
the viewer into the
picture. Actors are
usually not supposed
to look directly at the
camera because it
breaks the fourth
wall, but in girlie art
breaking that wall is
exactly what you
want to do. M.C.
Wyman has made a
Vampirella who
seems to be saying,
Lets have some
fun, directly to the
reader. Usually
breasts drawn this
size dont work.
Here, they gain
believability by how
their shape responds
to gravity and the
pull of the costume.
Wyman depicts the
exact right moment,
second before the

right one pops free.
22
Vampirella TM & 2009 Harris Comics
approximately one
Humorama girlie cartoon magazines and almost all of their

competitors, except the most vulgar ones like Sex to
Sexty, folded by the end of the 60s.
Second, the economics of the comic book trade
changed. The Comics Code Authority lost its grip both
from the waning of the hysteria that created it and from
the growth of distribution outside that system, primarily to
comic book stores. Simultaneously, comics target audience changed from prepubescent boys and girls to
teenage boys and young men. In effect, they went from
having the worst demographic for girlie art to the best.
At the same time, artists began routinely getting their
original art back, leading to a secondary market for their
work. All things being equal, GGA sells better than nonGGA and for higher prices. So, not only do the books sell
better, but pages with GGA are more profitable as origiArt 2009 Michael Dooney
nal art. The growth of comic book conventions, with their

artists alleys, along with eBay and other outlets like
www.comicartfans.com helped create a market for both
original pages and also commissions.
GGA TODAY
The comic Good Girl artists are the inheritors of the
traditions of the pulp illustrators, pin-up artists, and cartoonists of the past. They frequently evoke those traditions with images of hard-boiled dames, winking cuties,
women caught off-guard and such.
Through the ages, girlie pictures have fallen into two
categories: those that pretended to be something else,
like the man who says he reads Playboy for the articles,
and those that were open about their intent. The current
structure, the way the skeleton is connected, the
ROBERT PLUNKETT
crop is no different. Just having a female character, espe-
shape of the face, etc. Evocations of that difference
This Tressy (a made
cially one with a skin-tight outfit, allows for a lot of sly
make a womans image more attractive and any use of
up name) by Michael
voyeurism and an essentially codeless industry allows for
the more masculine features makes her less so.
Dooney is a prime
some pretty explicit stuff. Commissions similarly range

from attractive action shots to essentially pornography.
No female in the comics is safe from the GGA treatment.
Well done GGA uses various devices to achieve interest.
example of the
2. The ability to create a scene and present a personality.

Sometimes the personality evokes the scene. Every
good picture tells a story or creates one in the mind of
implied seduction
that has just succeeded. Like the
Some tap into male fantasies by the scene they create, such
the viewer. In GGA, if the picture doesnt stimulate
as a seduction that is either about to succeed or has just
the imagination about what is happening or about to
succeeded. Many use Freudian symbolism, others are pure
happen and what the woman is like, its an anatomy
voyeurism. Still others rely almost entirely on the portrait
shot. The more vivid the scene and the personality,
itself, either crudely or with an effective presentation.
the better. Far and away the most important feature is
for some of the same
the face, and the eyes are the most important part of
reasons. Compare the
bad? Excellent GGA features:
the face. If the face is mannish, hangdog, ugly or just
body position, rotated
wrong, it hardly matters whats showing from the neck
90 degrees from the
1. A combination of technical mastery with a knowledge
down.
jungle girl, and the
What distinguishes great GGA from the forgettable or
textbook example of
excellent GGA and
facial expressions.
and appreciation of the female form. They take into

account the literally hundreds of primary and second-
jungle girl, it is a
Those qualities are what primarily separate the GGA
Tressys hair is totally
ary sexual characteristics that distinguish women from
artist who gets the better assignments, commands the
fantasy and her body
men beyond the obvious ones, clear down to bone
higher-priced commissions and inspires admirers, and the
sleek.
23
ROBERT PLUNKETT
ones who make a few bucks off eBay selling pictures of
This Dean Yeagle
big-busted women in slatternly poses.
print is voyeurism
leavened by humor.
In the final, Mandys
dog is just about to
land on her, starting
a new morning.
WHY COLLECT GGA?

Why collect art that depicts female beauty? One obvious answer for me is that one should collect what one
likes and thats what I like. Id far rather be surrounded by
pictures of lovely ladies than musclemen in tights or ducks
or boats on a river. In this, Im not alone. Well done
Notice the low
images of female beauty have universal appeal to both
angle, the frilly lin-
men and (surprisingly) women. While much popular art,
gerie, the influence
especially comic art, is subject to the ups and downs of
of gravity. Like all the
fashion, GGA will always have a market.
best GGA, this communicates a person-
Aside from aesthetics and commerce, the ability to

depict lovely women well is a good touchstone of an
ality. You can almost
artists real ability. The human race is very visually orient-
hear her reluctant
ed. Sight overwhelms the other senses. Our examination
waking up noises.
of the human image is especially acute. It has developed

with a unique and unforgiving exactitude. This is why mak-
24
ing convincing computer-generated images of people has

been so elusive. While the human eye will settle for an
approximation for almost everything else, we demand
higher standards of perfection in images of human
beings. An artist can get by drawing a tree that is 50%
inaccurate, but we insist that people be shown in a way
that is either accurate or that obeys certain rules of caricature. In the hierarchy of human images, the brain is
most unforgiving in the depiction of beautiful women. A
drawing of a man or an unattractive woman can be off and
still pass, but the margin for error in depicting a beautiful
woman is the smallest margin there is. Someone who can
create a truly beautiful image of a woman can probably
draw or paint virtually anything else well. Girlie art is at
least as old as the classical Greeks and Romans. Like
Rome, it is eternal.
ROBERT PLUNKETT
For a while, it
appeared that the
Spider-Man comic
strip had an awfu lot
of scenes of Mary
Jane lounging in her
lingerie. Al Rio started
this piece doing the
famous kissing scene
from the movie one
better, but abandoned
it after doing this
pencil preliminary.
Spider-Man TM &
2009 Marvel
Characters, Inc.
BOB McLEOD
To see a whole lot
more great GGA, visit
Robert's comicartfans.com site.
25
INTERVIEW
CHRIS MOELLER
By BOB McLEOD
hris Moeller is one of my favorite illustrators. His painting style is very energetic and I like his color
sense. I was very glad when he agreed to participate in a Rough Stuff feature. Chris is also a writer
and maybe best known for his Iron Empires, consisting of two fully-painted graphic novels, Faith
Conquers and Shevas War. In 2006, an Iron Empires role-playing game was published, called Burning Empires. Hes also
done many illustrations for gaming, and dozens of trading cards.
BOB McLEOD: Welcome to Rough Stuff, Chris! So how
stories, but I cant help myself. I love paint. Im addicted to
did you first get your career started? Did you begin as a
it. Ive had a lot of publishers ask me if Id be interested in
painter or did you pencil or ink some comics first?
doing some traditional pencil/ink/color work, but I honestly
CHRIS MOELLER: My first professional comic work was
cant imagine it. Maybe someday.
writing and painting a book called Rocketman: King of the

Rocketmen for Innovation Comics.
McLEOD: Did you go to college or art school, or are you

self-taught?
McLEOD: How long ago was that?
MOELLER: I went to the University of Michigan School of
MOELLER: That was back in 1990, when Id just moved
Art for my BFA and to Syracuse Universitys Independent
to Pittsburgh.
Degree Study Program for my MFA.
McLEOD: Was your painting style basically the same then
McLEOD: Why two different schools?
as it is now?
MOELLER: The UofM was very much a bastion of
MOELLER: I didnt use the same painting approach I use
abstract expressionism when I attended in the early 80s. I
now. It was a real multi-media free for all. I was mostly
remember one of my professors looking at my portfolio
concerned with getting the pages done on deadline, and
when I was graduating and scratching his head. He said,
having them look as good as I could make them. I used
We should really have somebody here who can help you
everything I could lay my hands on: watercolor, acrylic, air-
with this stuff.
brush, colored pencil you name it.

McLEOD: You had comics samples in your portfolio?
26
McLEOD: And you just did more painted jobs after that?
MOELLER: By stuff he meant representational image-
MOELLER: After Rocketman I did a few small pen-and-ink
making. Its funny looking back, but I actually got a lot out
CHRIS MOELLER
Dejah Thoris
Painted sketch
For obvious reasons,
the beautiful, scantily
clad princess of
Helium is a favorite
commission subject.
She doesnt have a
belly-button because
the red Martians
hatch from eggs!
BOB McLEOD
In every one of the
novels, John Carter
gets separated from
Dejah Thoris. Wouldn't
you think he'd stick
closer to home?! It'd
take a four-armed
green Martian to get
most guys out of that
bedroom!
You can see this and
the rest of Chris' paintings in full color in the
downloadable PDF
version of Rough Stuff
available for $2.95 at
www.twomorrows.
Dejah Thoris TM & 2009 ERB, Inc.
com.
27
CHRIS MOELLER
Iron Empires: The
Passage #2, page 4
Some Anvil-armored
mercenaries on
patrol. One of the
tools in my artists
toolbox is the idea of
large interlocking
shapes moving
across the page. If
you look at my painted work, youll see it
again and again. Its
a way of seeing that I
got directly from
studying the wonderful illustrations of
Iron Empires TM & 2009 Chris Moeller
N.C. Wyeth.
28
of the school. I decided to just focus on what they could
As long as five years. I rolled my eyes. Sure this guy was
CHRIS MOELLER
teach me: about color, designing a two-dimensional
good, but come on. I got my Rocketman job five years
Shevas War
space, drawing. I use those lessons to this day.
later.
Sketchbook Page
McLEOD: But then you went to Syracuse?
MCLEOD: Ha! Very similar to my start. The art director at
MOELLER: My MFA program at Syracuse was an illustra-
DC then, the great Joe Orlando, took one look at my
tion program specifically, so I got my nuts n bolts instruc-
samples and told me I needed to go back to school and
tion there. In all, Im grateful for the schooling I got, even if
learn how to draw! I managed to get some work in
it wasnt directly applicable to what I wanted to do.
comics a few months later (it was easier to break in back
Another page from my
in the 70s), but it was five years before I was any good.
Shevas War sketchbook, this time

designing something
as prosaic as the
main characters helmet. These little
McLEOD: Were you doing good stuff in school, or did it
Is anyone else in your family artistic?
take you a while after school to get up to a pro level?
MOELLER: Looking forward, I believe my daughters
touches often seem
MOELLER: Oh, in my mind I was always hot stuff. When
going to be amazing. Looking in the other direction, my
like a waste of effort,
I graduated, I knew I was going to take the world by
grandfather designed ladies handbags for Macys. And
but I find they almost
storm. I was lucky enough to meet a professional illustra-
going back even further, my mothers side of the family
always pay off in the

end.
tor called Richard Williams who offered to help me get an
had a Viennese court painter called Agricola, who painted
illustration portfolio together (the one I came out of UofM
rosy-cheeked farm girls and faeries. Its possible some of
with was too full of abstract expressionism). It was an
those genes filtered down to me.
Iron Empires TM &

2009 Chris Moeller
amazing experience. Richard is a fantastic illustrator an

oil painter with a phenomenal ability to compose and
McLEOD: I think so. I believe talent is genetic, although it
draw and paint and solve visual problems. He worked
can skip a generation or two. Do you always work in
with me for a little while before advising me stop with the
acrylics, or do you use oils and watercolor also?
portfolio and really teach myself how to draw.
MOELLER: Acrylics is a fairly recent discovery for me.
MCLEOD: Ouch!
with whatever came to hand. Its part of the learning
MOELLER: I was stunned. He followed that tidbit up with
process, I think. At least it was for me.
When I was starting out, as I described earlier, I worked
the comment that it might take me a while to find work.

29
McLEOD: Yeah, we all have to experiment to find what
achieve opaque effects with a transparent medium. He
were most comfortable with.
was right, but it took me another half-dozen years before I
MOELLER: I didnt have any sort of comfort level with any
felt comfortable enough with acrylics to leave watercolors
media. Every painting was a struggle, just trying to force
behind entirely.
the tools that I had do what I wanted them to do. I remember showing one of my early watercolors to Kent Williams
McLEOD: And you chose acrylics over oils because oils
and he commented that it looked like I was trying to
are too slow?
Iron Empires TM &

2009 Chris Moeller
CHRIS MOELLER
Iron Empires
Sketchbook Page
When I was going
through my five years
of waiting-to-be-published, I began keeping sketchbooks that
were more than just
places for me to
practise drawing. I
decided to begin
building a visual
bible for an imaginary science fiction
world that would
later be called the
Iron Empires. Earlier
names were Latter
Empires of Man (not
as catchy), and
Shadow Empires
(which was sold to
Lucasfilm and
changed to Iron
Empires long
story).
30
MOELLER: Acrylics really work for what I want to paint
MOELLER: With watercolor you have to preserve your
and how I paint. Im impatient. I like to paint fearlessly
whites. With oils, you have to let things dry. You have to
without a lot of preliminary work, and without worrying
prepare your painting surface. Too many rules. With
about making mistakes. Acrylics lets me work that way.
acrylics theres none of that. The one limitation is drying

time. They dry incredibly fast. But for me thats just anoth-
McLEOD: Yeah, I can see that in your work. That spon-
er bonus. I dont want to have to wait. If the painting
taneity really shows through.
needs something, I like being able to mix up a new color
Iron Empires TM &

2009 Chris Moeller
CHRIS MOELLER
Shevas War
Sketchbook Page
Along with my overall
Iron Empires sketchbooks, Ive made separate sketchbooks to
support each of my
graphic novels. This
ones from Shevas
War. You can see how
Im working out the
details of the storys
antagonists. This
work is done between
the thumbnail stage
and the layout stage,
where I need to begin
to decide what things
look like. In the
thumbnail stage they
can be a random big
monster shape. In the
layouts they need to
be a specific kind of
big monster.
31
and begin throwing it on immediately.
MCLEOD: Whats your process? How tightly do you draw

on the board before you start painting?
McLEOD: Very interesting. I asked because Im still decid-
MOELLER: Very loose. It goes to what I said about paint-
ing what medium I prefer. I do love the lushness of oils.
ing fearlessly. Right now Im working with nothing on the
MOELLER: I love looking at oils, watercolors, digital paint-
board at the outset. No drawing, no under-painting, just a
ings (though I dont have a desire to make them). Acrylics
big white board. It forces me to think, right from the start.
suit my personality.
MCLEOD: Yow! Thats bold. Have you been doing that all
CHRIS MOELLER
Iron Empires Sketchbook Page
along?
MOELLER: The way Ive worked until now is more careful:
I use an opaque projector to enlarge my drawing, then
A central feature of the Iron Empires sketchbooks was their copious annotation, yet another
ink it with black acrylics to preserve it once the color
example, I suppose, of how difficult it is for me to separate words and pictures. My world built
begins being tossed around. But its begun to feel a bit
itself, in the early stages, in these sorts of half-imagined side notes. Later I wrote more elaborate
like coloring by numbers.
backstory, trying to weave all of the sketchbook bits and pieces into a more coherent whole.
McLEOD: Yeah, I can see that could get

Iron Empires TM &
2009 Chris Moeller
a bit boring.
MOELLER: Ive been painting long
enough now that a large amount of what
I do is instinctive. If I want a particular
effect, I know how to get it. Its a lovely
place to get to, but dangerous too
because thats when your paintings tend
to get stale and workmanlike. So Im trying this new approach, and so far its
exciting me.
McLEOD: Ill bet! I really admire you
being that daring.
MOELLER: Any time you remove tools
from your toolbox, its un-nerving. It
slows you down and makes you think
about how youre going to proceed, but
it also clears the way for growth to happen and thats what keeps me passionate about what I do.
McLEOD: What kind of brushes do you
use?
MOELLER: Acrylics are hell on brushes,
so I use cheap white sable watercolor
rounds. Ill go through two or three every
painting.
McLEOD: No kidding! Im glad to hear
that. I was afraid I was doing something
wrong, wearing out my brushes so fast.
MOELLER: Robert Simmons makes a
very serviceable, affordable brush for
32
Iron Empires TM &

2009 Chris Moeller
CHRIS MOELLER
Iron Empires: The
Passage, #1, page 2
This is the opening
shot of an Iron
Empires story that
appeared in Dark
Horse Presents #79. I
dont do a lot of blackand-white work but I
enjoy it when I do.
This is a very early
look at the Iron
armor that my Iron
Empires books are
named after.
33
CHRIS MOELLER
Iron Empires Print
This is a print that I sold at the San Diego Comic-Con years
ago. The character is Geil Carcajou from the comic book Iron
Empires: Faith Conquers being fitted into her Iron battle armor.
The lucky fellow in the foreground is her Stentor: the personal
assistant and mechanic who helps her into and out of her Iron
and keeps it in top condition.
Iron Empires TM &

2009 Chris Moeller
34
acrylics (series 785). I tend to use two sizes: size 4 and
digitally isnt my bag personally, but I see it as just anoth-
size 1. I also use bigger flats (Grumbacher Bristlette
er medium, no better or worse than any other.
#4s) when Im moving large areas of color around.

McLEOD: Right. You also dont have an original piece of
McLEOD: And what paper or board do you prefer?
art working digitally, which I really dont like.
MOELLER: My board of choice is Strathmore 240-2
MOELLER: Once I got a scanner, I began to scale my
white illustration board. Its white on both sides and very
work down to accommodate it, so Im not usually working
tough. I like having a little bit of tooth on the surface.
more than 22" in any direction (thats two scans at the

most). I love being able to scan work and submit it as a
CHRIS MOELLER
Iron Empires:
McLEOD: Me, too. How is your studio set up? Do you
digital file. Theres nothing scarier than packing up a
work on an easel or a drafting table?
painting and shipping it out. The downside is that Im
MOELLER: I work vertically. I like to move back and forth
working smaller and that doesnt really suit me. I should
while I paint getting close up when I need to, but able
probably invest in a good digital camera. I know a lot of
In the same way that I
to step back easily and see whats going on. I like to
artists are doing that now, and it frees them up, size-wise.
do thumbnails for
Shevas War thumbnails
cover sketches, these
move my arm freely most of the time. Ill get in and rest
my wrist on the board when Im doing detail work, but
McLEOD: Yes, I should do that, too. Ive heard a lot of
are how I approach a
otherwise Im back off the board a bit.
horror stories about shipping original art. Not to mention a
page of storytelling.
FedEx truck that burst into flames right in front of my own
After Ive written my
McLEOD: How large do you usually paint?
house! The driver asked if he could use my phone
script, I begin block-
MOELLER: Before I could scan my work, I generally did
because his engine was overheating. Next thing you
ing out the entire book
covers at 20" x 30" (comic book pages at 11" x 17", the
know the whole front end of the truck was on fire! Then
with these little
standard size). I love, love to work big. Its so freeing.
the firemen came and shot their firehose straight through
Painting is a sensual, physical activity. Its messy and alive
the windshield, soaking the entire contents of the truck! I
and passionate. Its the main reason why digital painting
hate mailing artwork. So, anyway, do you work 9-5, or do
doesnt appeal to me. Its too removed. Too clean.
you like to work in the middle of the night?

MOELLER: Im a 9-5 guy, mainly because Im a dad. The
thumbnails. Again, the

goal is composition,
storytelling, how to
organize the page
large issues only. If
McLEOD: Yeah, I painted a wall mural of some clouds in
minute I had kids, my lifestyle changed. I wanted to have
our living room. The freedom and looseness working on
time for them, and its so hard to leave your work at the
the script needs to be
that scale was fantastic. But have you tried any digital
office, when your office is in the home. So I decided early
re-worked because of
painting? It seems to be more and more what everyone is
on that I was going to keep my work hours limited to
discoveries I make in
doing.
allow for solid family time.
the thumbnail stage,
MOELLER: There is some gorgeous work coming out

digitally. Justin Sweet, Jon Foster great stuff. Working
this is when it hap-
McLEOD: Yeah, me, too. I used to work all night and
pens.
35
sleep all day when I was single, but Ive raised three kids
MOELLER: Thats a great question. My relationship with
and have tried hard to stay on a normal schedule. How
line developed along with my graphic novel work. I need-
long would you say a typical painting takes you?
ed to solve two problems with my paintings, as a story-
MOELLER: It depends on the size of the piece, how com-
teller. First, I had to paint fast. I had to do a painting every
plicated it is, and how comfortable I am with the subject
two days, and I had to do hundreds of them. Second,
matter. If its something Ive painted a hundred times
comics have word balloons all over them which are very
before, it goes a lot quicker than if its something where
graphic, hard-edged objects.
my toolbox is limited and I have to slow down and figure
McLEOD: Yeah, the balloons have an altogether different
out how to make things work. My comics work, when Im
graphic look that doesnt exactly blend in.
in the middle of a project and alls going well, is two days
MOELLER: On painted artwork they tend to pop off the
per page. Thats pretty much the bare minimum I need to
page, visually. I wanted my comics to live in the same
get to the level of finish I feel comfortable with. Its slower
world with them to the extent that I could. I cultivated a
than pencils and inks, but its pretty fast for a painting.
graphic quality in my paintings that would welcome the
McLEOD: Id say thats pretty fast. I know a lot of artists
ple of books, I painted in the sound effects as well, as an
are spending two days just on pencils now, and some
attempt to bridge that gap between painting and graphics.
word balloons and not fight against them. In my first cou-
pages can take two days to ink as well. Ive noticed that
you sometimes use an outline in your paintings. How do
McLEOD: I see you use outlines on non-comic art, too,
you decide when to draw an outline in paint, and when to
though. Im not at all against the outlines, Im just trying to
just let color contrast hold the form?
understand your thinking.
CHRIS MOELLER
Iron Empires:
Shevas War
Layouts, pp. 2-3
When Im ready to
begin painting, I will
do a dozen pages or
so of more detailed
sketches. This is
where I begin to
make more specific
decisions about
what reference I
want to use (I used
one of the excellent
Posefile books for
the female character
in this sequence),
what the costume
designs will be,
where Im going to
insert a map. Its also
where the character
likenesses are
locked in.
36
MOELLER: When Im painting outside of comics, those
ting a copy of Richard Corbens Neverwhere on one of
needs disappear, but I cant reinvent myself. I try to limit
the shelves. Id never seen painted comics before, and
my use of line more in those pieces, but its part of how I
this was painted comics on steroids naked, shaved,
see the world at this point. Its always in there some-
super-endowed men and women in glorious technicolor.
where.
McLEOD: Ive got that book! Its so outrageous. Corben
McLEOD: Who were your major influences?
is incredible.
MOELLER: My earliest influences were the fantasy
MOELLER: My shop was a shopping mall
painters that were doing cover illustrations when I was in
Waldenbooks. How a copy of Neverwhere got onto
high school: Frank Frazetta, Michael Whelan, Boris

Vallejo, the Hildebrandt brothers.
CHRIS MOELLER
Iron Empires: Shevas War Layouts, pp. 3-4
McLEOD: All the usual suspects.
In the margins you can see references to the Posefile book Im using for reference. The way that
MOELLER: I would go into my local bookstore and buy
page 5 is laid out is something I really enjoy experimenting with, but I find I have to be careful
the art books that Ballentine was putting out in those
that I dont sacrifice readability for an innovative layout. I dont want the reader to lose the story
days. I distinctly remember walking in one day and spot-
thread because he or she is admiring my clever page design.
37
McLEOD: Sure! I wanted to do childrens books for years,

but was always too busy in comics. Its only lately that I
finally got around to doing one, and Im now doing more. I
never thought about writing comics, but Im writing my
childrens books.
MOELLER: Childrens books and comics allow both of
those interests to be expressed, so theyre natural places
for me to work. I actually had two portfolios that I was
working on after college, one for kids books, the other for
comics. The comics one took off first, so thats the direction I went.
McLEOD: Well, Ill look forward to your first childrens
book someday. Do you do any art outside of comics and
gaming and cards? Magazine or book illustration?
Landscapes, portraits?
MOELLER: Ive done some personal pieces in recent
years and I love to do on-site paintings, but games and
comics are my stomping ground. I can easily spend every
waking hour working in those fields and never have a dull
moment. That said, theres no knowing where the future
will lead.
McLEOD: Any as yet unrealized goals for your career?
MOELLER: My most rewarding moment was having the
Iron Empires comics published: Faith Conquers and
Shevas War. They are entirely my creation, from start to
finish the art, the characters, the story. Thats just
incredibly gratifying. If I can continue to publish those
books Ill be a happy man. There are a thousand stories
Id like to tell before I die, but Ill only get to tell a few
more if Im lucky each one takes so much time and finding publishers willing to take a chance on creator-owned
work right now is tough. I want to make those few stories
their shelf Ill never know, but I snatched it up, took one
count.
glance at the interior and fell in love. Soon after that I subscribed to Heavy Metal magazine. To my teenage mind,
McLEOD: Whats your favorite subject to paint?
Heavy Metal was a kind of mecca tons of beautiful
MOELLER: Well, beautiful women, of course, with land-
painted art plus stories all for a fraction of the price of one
scapes coming in a close second! Honestly, one of the
of the art books. That was my introduction to painted
joys of being a comic book artist is that youre asked to
comics.
paint everything. Thats really wonderful. Being able to
McLEOD: There wasnt much else available early on.
cover painting a hand raising a tea cup, or flicking a cig-
Those early Heavy Metals were cherished by all of us.
arette away.
paint those odd little details that dont make it onto a
MOELLER: In college I began to branch out more.

American painters were doing more storytelling work: Jon
McLEOD: Thats a very good point, and one Ive never
Muth, Kent Williams, Scott Hampton. I bought all of their
heard anyone mention. Do you read comics? Novels?
stuff. I also became very interested in childrens book illus-
MOELLER: I read comics, not as heavily as I used to, but
trators. I love to write, and the idea of combining art and
I try to get into the shop every month or two.
writing appeals to me.

McLEOD: What about novels?
38
MOELLER: I also usually have three or four books going at
are currently watching Battlestar Galactica. Favorite
CHRIS MOELLER
the same time: either novels or history books. Im a military
movie has to be The Lord of the Rings films. And if my
Iron Empires:
history buff (wargaming is a favorite hobby of mine).
arm is twisted enough to have to pick one of them, it
Shevas War
would be the first one, the Fellowship of the Ring.
Finished Art,
McLEOD: Do you play video games, watch TV? Do you
The finished art for
have a favorite movie?
McLEOD: Do you collect any art by other artists?
MOELLER: Unfortunately, since I have two kids, time is a
MOELLER: I love trading art with other artists. I have
tough commodity to get hold of. I dont watch TV, though
pieces by a dozen or so artist friends. Theres nothing
I like to get television series on DVD. My daughter and I
better than that. I have bought a few pieces over the
this book was done

on 11x17 Bristol
board with the panel
borders taped off with
white graphic tape
(probably no longer
available, since computers have replaced
graphic design
mechanicals). This
stage of the process
takes about two days
of painting. More for
very detailed pages
with lots of panels,
less for simpler
pages.
Iron Empires TM &
2009 Chris Moeller
39
CHRIS MOELLER
Shevas War
Published Art,
Page 5
And here it is with
the dialogue balloons in place.
When youre reading
a comic, the pages
go by in a blur, as
they should if the
creators done his
job correctly.
Unfortunately, the
process of creating a
page isnt even
remotely a blur,
unless youre staying
up all night trying to
hit your deadline.
Iron Empires TM &

2009 Chris Moeller
40
years. Theres a page from Mike Mignolas Fafhrd & the
Death TM & 2009

DC Comics.
Gray Mouser series hanging in my studio. It was the first

piece I ever got from an artist and holds a special place in
my heart. I got it from him at Mid-Ohio Con for $75. That
was big money for me in those days.
McLEOD: What other art do you have on your walls?
MOELLER: I have mostly landscapes. One by Bob Dacey
that was given to me as a wedding present. I have an artists
proof by Burt Silverman. A pastel by Scott Hampton. A couple of prints and pencil/gouache pieces that my grandparents
brought over from Austria when they fled the war.
McLEOD: What projects are you working on right now?
How far ahead are you scheduled?
MOELLER: My pipeline generally runs two or three
months ahead. Right now Im working on some Magic
cards, some World of Warcraft cards, a cover for DC
Comics, a special Iron Empires project, a personal commission, and my next Iron Empires graphic novel. So
things are always hopping here.
McLEOD: What do you think you would have done with
your life if you couldnt draw?
MOELLER: Its so hard to imagine. I think I would have gone
after some sort of writing job. A novelist, perhaps? A poet?
Words and pictures are such an integral part of my life that I
honestly cant imagine life without one or the other (preferably
both!). Something Im feeling drawn to at this point is teaching. I love my craft and love talking about it. I think you learn
so much when you teach someone else.
McLEOD: I can attest to that. Doing my Rough Critiques
do what you do?
CHRIS MOELLER
thing I do subconsciously. And I also started teaching part
MOELLER: The one thing I always tell young artists is
Death painted
time a couple years ago at the PA College of Art &
hang in there! Remember how my mentor Richard
sketch
Design in Lancaster. I like it a lot. What artwork are you
Williams told me I might have to wait five years before get-
Occasionally, I do
proudest of, Iron Empires?
ting published? I laughed at him, but that was a very long
painted sketches of
MOELLER: Shevas War is a book Ill always be proud of.
five years. There were times when I was totally broke,
characters. Usually I
Everything kind of came together for me in that book. JLA:
panic-stricken, wondering where my next months rent was
do these at conven-
going to come from. Im convinced those five years are
tions, where Ill take
for this magazine has made me very conscious of every-
A League of One is a close second.
when most artists drop out of the race. Its totally underMcLEOD: What art do you wish you could go back and
standable. You need to live. If you have a family, you need
incinerate?
to support them. But if you can hold on, even if its by
MOELLER: As for incineration, I take a philosophical view of
your fingernails, and if you can keep yourself ready to act
my failures. Theres always someone who comes along and
the moment an opportunity comes up thats what it
asks me to sign those pieces and I have to bite my tongue
takes. Opportunities will present themselves. When they
and smile and say, Im glad you enjoyed it! Because they
do you have to be ready and able to pull the trigger.
sions during each day

of the con and paint
them right at my table.
Its a nice way to talk
to fans and serve as
ready-made demon-
did enjoy it, and who am I to say otherwise?

McLEOD: Thanks very much, Chris! I appreciate you takMcLEOD: Any parting advice for young artists hoping to
two or three commis-
strations.
ing the time for this interview.

41
COVER STORIES
ou look at a beautiful finished cover and wonder, where and how did the artist start? Chris
Moeller takes us through the steps of creating a cover for DC's Lucifer comic and demonstrates
that it's no walk in the park.
Lucifer #47 Thumbnail, Step 2
For this piece, Shelly wanted something completely different, so I worked up two
more thumbnails. The point with these sketches is that theyre only about composition. Theres no consideration given to likenesses or
details of any kind. Once the compositions agreed
to, I go on to the next step.
CHRIS MOELLER
Lucifer #47 Thumbnail, Step 1
Painting the covers to Vertigos
Lucifer title was a great gig during
which my editor, Shelly Bond, and I
developed a very productive
method for developing ideas into
finished pieces. Ive used a variant
of it on every job since. This is step
one: a very simple thumbnail outlining my ideas on the piece. For
Lucifer, this would be e-mailed
back to Shelly, sometimes just a
few minutes after we got off the
phone.
Lucifer #47 working sketch

Once the composition is agreed on, I develop a more detailed sketch. I
dont do a lot of shading or finish like I would on a full pencil drawing; this
is a roadmap for me to develop a painting from, with indications of light
42
sources and a good sense of how the final piece will look.
CHRIS MOELLER
Lucifer #47 finished
piece
This is the final painting. You can see how
closely it holds to the
drawing in composition, but the colors,
rendering, values
all of that is determined during the
actual painting. I usually have a sense of
where I want to go
during the sketch
stage (do I want it to
be mostly warm colors, is there a color in
particular I want to
key off of, etc), but
nothings final until
the painting stage.
BOB McLEOD
The grayscale version
shown in our print
magazine really
shows how well Chris
manages his values to
give his paintings so
much form and depth.
But you really should
download our PDF
version and see this
in full color!
Lucifer 2009 DC
Comics
43
INTERVIEW
COLIN WILSON
COLIN WILSON
Blueberry
Covers always give
me huge problems,
and Ive never really
been very happy with
most that Ive done.
Unlike in the US, in
A New Zealand Artist in Comics
By DOMINIQUE LEONARD
f youre a fan of Star Wars, you know his name: Colin Wilson. He drew a few issues of Star Wars
Legacy, but during his 30 years in comics, he did much more than this: Judge Dredd, Rogue
Trooper, etc... The very first time that I discovered Colins work was when I bought La Jeunesse de
Blueberry book 4 Les Dmons du Missouri. Jean Giraud, one of the original creators of the series
Europe the artist who

works on the interior
story is also expected
to produce his own
cover, and it is almost
unheard of there to
have other artists do
this work. After two
very unsatisfactory La
Jeunesse de
Blueberry covers I
wanted to go with a
full wrap-around for
Le Raid Infernal, and I
was reasonably
happy with the final
result. It had movement, some indication
of the story, and was
reasonably eye-catching, which has to be
the essential element
of a good cover.
Blueberry TM &
2009 Jean-Michel
Charlier & Jean
Giraud
(with writer Jean-Michel Charlier), wanted to give another artist the opportunity to illustrate the early adventures of their successful
cowboy. Giraud would continue work on the main series, and Colin Wilson would draw a spin-off series, Blueberry: The Early Years.
COLIN WILSON
Unfortunately my
cover for Le Prix du
Sang was less successful. I originally
submitted three
roughs, the editor
chose the least interesting of the three,
and the one that I preferred (shown here)
unfortunately never
made it. Im still convinced that this one
would have made a
much more interesting and successful
cover, but the editor
always knows what
is best
BOB McLEOD
Uhmm
Blueberry TM &
2009 Jean-Michel
Charlier & Jean
Giraud
WINTER 2009 ROUGH STUFF
45
COLIN WILSON
Blueberry, Tex and
Kit
Tex is by far the most
popular Italian
Western series, as is
Blueberry in France.
As I have drawn
books of both, it was
an obvious choice to
combine characters
from both series in
this private commission, one of the first I
have done. I wanted
to get some of the
feel for both series
into the illustration,
and slowly built up
the final piece from
several rough
sketches chosen to
best display all three
characters.
Each needed to
be easily recognized
- these Western
books are still hugely popular in Europe and so placing them
I immediately became a fan of
Although I started a fanzine there
Colins work. He is very good at west-
in 1977, and helped produce New
erns. Its a genre that perfectly fits his
Zealands first 32-page color
graphics. Later, I sent him a letter with
comic (Captain Sunshine) shortly
his editor as an intermediary, just to
afterwards, it was only on leaving
tell him about my admiration for his
New Zealand for London in 1980
work. He very kindly answered me, and also gave me a
that I really had the idea to take comics seriously as a

profession.
into such a panoram-
marvelous drawing of Blueberry, a sketch that still adorns
ic scene presented
the wall of my office at home. I read his Blueberry in
me with a few diffi-
1985. Two decades later, at the beginning of 2006, I final-
for a top UK comic weekly, 2000AD, and for the next two
culties. Adding the
ly got the opportunity to meet him when he came to a
years I worked on such well-known series as Judge Dredd
approaching rain-
signing session at a comics shop in Belgium. We
and Rogue Trooper. But having seen my first European
storm seemed like an
exchanged e-mail addresses, and I had in mind to com-
comic work before leaving NZ, it was France that really
obvious choice. This
mission a drawing. So we stayed in contact, and one year
interested me, and in 1983 I moved to Paris and began
gave the whole com-
later Colin produced the nicest piece of my comics collec-
working for Glnat with Dans LOmbre du Soleil. It was
mission a sense of
scale and feel for the
landscape that I love
in some of the best
examples of the
Shortly after arriving in London I began drawing stories
tion. Colin very kindly agreed to answer my questions
this work that first caught the eye of Jean-Michel Charlier
about his career in comics, and he also provided lots of
and Jean Giraud (aka Moebius), who subsequently asked
artwork which youll have the chance to see in the next
me to begin work on La Jeunesse de Blueberry
few pages.
(Blueberry: The Early Years). Over the next ten years, I

drew six books for that very popular Western series.
DOMINIQUE LEONARD: Colin, could you give us a
Following a second stint for 2000AD in the late 90s, I
Western Illustration
short bio of your life, family and work?
was approached by WildStorm to work with top comic
genre that is so pop-
COLIN WILSON: Although Ive drawn comics for myself
writer Ed Brubaker on Point Blank (WildStorm, 2003),
for most of my life, living in New Zealand there was no
which led to more work for various US comic publishers
way that I ever thought that I could make it my career.
including DC Comics (The Losers, written by Andy
ular in the States.
46
back in New Zealand when I was growing up. All of our
BOB McLEOD
Garth Ennis) and a variety of Star Wars titles for Dark
comics at that time were imported from either Great
Okay, raise your
Horse Comics. Alternating with this work, I also had the
Britain or the United States, so I can remember reading
hands if you miss
Diggle), WildStorm again (Battler Britton, written by
opportunity to co-author Du plomb dans la tte
Eagle, the weekly Fleetway War books (many of which I
Westerns in American
(Headshot) with Matz, a three-book series published in
was later to discover were drawn by notable European
comics as much as I
France by Casterman. The screen rights for this series
artists such as Hugo Pratt, Gino dAntonio, Victor de la
do. Geez Louise, this
have been recently sold to Warner Bros.
Fuente, George Moliterni, etc.), and even Mad magazine.
is some great stuff!
Im currently living with my wife and family in
But I never imagined that one day I would be drawing
Melbourne, Australia where I am working on a variety of
stuff like that. My art school training, such as it was,
projects including Bionic Commando (a limited edition
ended after two years when I started working full-time in
comic story written by Andy Diggle that will be available
the graphics department of a local television station, but
in the Collectors Edition of the Capcom game due for
at the time my passion was motorsport photography,
release in late-2008), new Judge Dredd material for
which eventually led me to graphic design and (motor-
2000AD, and an exciting new, as yet unannounced, Star
sport) magazine production.
Why are we letting

other countries beat
us at our own genre?
Blueberry, Tex TM &
2009 Jean-Michel
Charlier & Jean
Giraud
Wars-related project for Dark Horse.

LEONARD: Do you have family members who are active
LEONARD: Colin, you just said youve drawn comics for
in comics ?
yourself most of your life. Are you self-taught or do you
WILSON: For many years my wife Janet and I worked
have a degree?
together, with Janet coloring all of my pages as well as
WILSON: Although Ive always drawn comics for my own
working on several other European series. In those days,
enjoyment, the idea of a career doing this was unheard of
European comics were colored using the blue line techSPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF
47
COLIN WILSON
Blueberry on his
horse
This illustration
looks like something
that I probably finished later in my
hotel room as I was
accepting very few
private commissions
at the time. It has
taken me a while to
readjust to this
whole commissions
thing... in Europe,
drawing a series as
popular as Blueberry
often means comic
conventions quickly
become two- or
three-day book-signing endurance tests.
While I hugely enjoy
the opportunity to
sign books for the
fans, these days
these events can get
quite chaotic and are
not usually the best
environment for producing good art.
Especially
Blueberry... he is
always fun to draw,
but takes time and
concentration.
Blueberry, Tex TM &
2009 Jean-Michel
Charlier & Jean
Giraud
48
nique (the black-and-white artwork was printed onto good card using a light blue or gray
ink. This was then colored using conventional
coloring materialswatercolors, inks,
gouache, etc.using a transparent film of the
B&W art as an overlay). But by the mid-90s
computers using Photoshop could do this
work much quicker, and it was no longer necessary to send the original art to the editor
for the blues to be made. Coloring comics
suddenly became a lot quicker and, for Janet
at least, a lot less interesting. This was also
about the time that I began working for US
publishers, and the type of work I was doing
was much less interesting for Janet to color
she has never been a huge comic fan anyway
and eventually she stopped coloring altogether. She is now a primary school teacher.
LEONARD: Who are your influences in
comics?
WILSON: Like just about everyone else who
draws comics, I was influenced by a huge
number of artists whose work I grew up with.
In the late-50s I discovered the work of
Frank Bellamy in the UK weekly Eagle.
Several of the artists whose work I admired
in the small-format World War II comic books
(published by Fleetway) also had a significant
influence on my approach to drawing comics.
I was never really interested in the US
comics that were available in New Zealand at
that time, and it was my first sight of the
books drawn by Hermann, Hugo Pratt and, of
COLIN WILSON
course, Jean Giraud. It was he who really
artist. When I arrived in Europe, better printing was really
gave me the idea to seriously try to produce work of that
starting to raise the production levels of all comics, and
Thunderhawks
quality in the field.
color clearly became more important than it possibly had
cover
been in the past, but Ive never really seen the need (other
My initial pencil
knocked out by all the other wonderful artists that I had
that the production-line approach used by comic publish-
sketch for the cover
not encountered before, and so I was then even more
ers in the States) to separate the penciling from the ink-
painting eventually
determined to find a way to stay in Europe and become a
ing. Comic artists should be given the time they need to
used on the first large
serious comic artist myself.
complete the work at their own speed. Obviously that is
format edition of
When I first arrived in France, I was completely
not always possible, but for me that has been the only
LEONARD: Till now, you have always worked alone; you
way that I am interested in working.
(Editions du Soleil).
have always done the full artwork (penciling and inking).

Would you be interested in working in a team, like
LEONARD: Which writer would you enjoy working with?
American artists do?
WILSON: Ive been lucky enough to have already worked
WILSON: This is something that has never really interest-
with some of the best comic writers in the business, and
ed me, as Ive always thought that good comic stories
would love to have the opportunity to do more work with
resulted from the collaboration between a writer and an
Thunderhawks
any of them. Andy Diggle, Matz, Garth Ennis... Id love to
The later, conventionally-sized edition featured a different cover

illustration.
Thunderhawks TM &
2009 respective
owner
49
WILSON: I wrote my very first European project (Dans

lOmbre du Soleil), but I quickly realized that, in addition
to the translation problems, there were a lot of good writers out there at that time who were much better qualified
at writing than I was. Then Blueberry came along, and
COLIN WILSON
from that stage on I was perfectly happy to have the
RatCatcher
chance of working with some of the best writers in the
Pitches to comic publishers are some of the most difficult work to produce. Characters need to
business. Since those days Ive occasionally worked up
be designed, and a tone set for a story that may never see publication. These sketches were part
several projects of my own (there are 20 pages of a previ-
of a proposition Andy Diggle and I made to DC Comics several years ago for a story called
RatCatcher involving a complex relationship between a young naive detective and his older,
more world-weary superior.
RatCatcher TM &
2009 Andy
Diggle & Colin
Wilson
ously unpublished story currently available on my website:

http://web.mac.com/wilco440/RDDs.html), and Im hoping to do more writing whenever time allows.
do more stuff with those guys. Who wouldnt? Apart from
LEONARD: Which is your favorite series (or book) youve
that, some stories already published by non-comic writers,
worked on?
non-comic stories that I really enjoy reading for relaxation
WILSON: It is really impossible to compare different proj-
when I am not working, would adapt well to comics. I am
ects like that, as Ive been lucky enough never having had
a huge fan of detective thrillers, and authors such as
to work on material that I did not enjoy working with.
Michael Connolly and Robert Crais spring to mind....
There are some genres that I doubt if I would enjoy draw-
LEONARD: Did you never think of writing and illustrating
wise Westerns, detective stories, science fiction... they are
a fully-owned story?
all terrific genres to work in if the script is good.
ingromance comics is the obvious example!but other-
50
2009 respective
owner
Obviously, Blueberry was a remarkable opportunity for someone like myselfa
COLIN WILSON
huge fan of the series from half-way around the worldbut situations like that
Word Balloons cover
seldom last forever and sometimes it is best to move along.
Having published original work in three major comic markets (the UK,
the States, and Europe) theres a lot of my art that is unfamiliar to my cur-
LEONARD: You just mentioned your work on Blueberry. I think you like
rent fans, and so for a huge two-part interview that I did for the local
Westerns. My opinion is that youre great at westerns. In your short bio, you
comics magazine Word Balloons, I drew this cover illustration display-
forgot to mention one of my favorite books you drew; Im speaking about the
224-page Tex Willer Western story that you did for the Italian publisher Sergio
ing a collection of the characters Ive had the pleasure of working with
over the last 30 years.
51
come to this genre by chance ?

WILSON: At the time I was offered La
Jeunesse de Blueberry, I was a huge science-fiction fan, and had never considered
the possibility of drawing a Western comic
story. Obviously I was already familiar with
Blueberry, but it was very hard work getting
up to speed on such a well known and popular series. Luckily I had some time available
between the offer of the series and the
arrival of the first pages of script from JeanMichel Charlier, and so I watched a lot of
Western films, and read as much as I could
find about the whole era. It was also about
that time that the excellent The Image of
War: 1861-1865 series was published by
The National Historical Society, and this
great series gave me access to the huge
library of US Civil War images. As it was also
the first war to be seriously recorded by photography, I really wanted the feel of all of
those famous Matthew Brady images to be
absorbed as much as possible into my own
work on La Jeunesse....
LEONARD: You worked on Star Wars
Legacy. Did you enjoy doing those pages?
WILSON: Star Wars has been tough, as
while I enjoy drawing science fiction, a blockbuster like the Star Wars films often leaves
little space in which to create good comics.
The secret is to find a niche in the vast SW
continuity, do your research to get the details
correct, and tell a good story. The trouble is
that all six SW films cast a giant shadow...
COLIN WILSON
which presents an artist and writer with some real chal-
Crime Factory cover
lenges.
Crime fiction is what I read while Im not working, as Im a huge fan of the genre. The classic stories (Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, etc.) are terrific, but there are some contemporary
LEONARD: Wouldnt you be interested to work on super-
writers such as Michael Connolly and Robert Crais producing wonderful books almost every year.
heroes like Superman, Spider-Man, etc.?
When this local crime fiction magazine started publication here in Melbourne I offered this rough
WILSON: No, not at all. I dont speak superhero, dont
sketch as a possible cover, which eventually saw publication on issue #10. Unfortunately it was
understand the logic of that world, and have never been

interested in producing those comics. Luckily, the US
their final issue....
comic market is large enough so that these days superBonelli. Tex Willer is certainly the most successful comics
hero comics are no longer the only game in town....
character in Italy. In the same series, Bonelli published
52
four other Tex-books drawn by famous European artists:
LEONARD: Have you really never drawn a superhero like
Jordi Bernet, Alfonso Font, Victor de la Fuente and an
Superman or Batman (or any other), just for the fun of it
American legend of comics, the great Joe Kubert. Were
or maybe for a fan?
you basically a fan of Western comic stories or did you
WILSON: The closest Ive ever really been to superhero
comics as a genre was Captain Sunshine, the comic I
special to me. With that series, I feel that I finally pro-
COLIN WILSON
produced before leaving New Zealand in 1980. We have
duced some non-Blueberry work in France that would
TC Baddie
so many other genres and possibilities in comics, while
stand the test of time. Thats why the recent acquisition of
While Andy Diggle
superhero stories can be great when done well, I think my
the screen rights of the series by Warner Bros. in the
was still the editor at
interests and skill-set rests elsewhere...
States has been gratifying... those books are so well writ-
2000AD in the late
ten that I am convinced they will make a terrific film one
90s, I was drawing
day.
Tor Cyan stories for
LEONARD: Which part of your body of work are you the

most proud of?
the UK weekly. I was-
WILSON: When I look through a lot of my published work
LEONARD: I totally agree with you. It will be a great
all I ever tend to see are things that I should have done
movie. Do you think theyll call you to work on the story-
better. But when asked a question like this, I guess the six
board for the film?
La jeunesse de Blueberry books that I was involved in
WILSON: I wish! But no, Warner Bros. has taken an
give me a great deal of pride. Not so much for my own
option on the Du Plomb Dans La Tte (Headshot) screen
contribution, more for the fact that I was just given the
rights, which allows them complete control over every
my own ideas. This
opportunity to work with that character by those creators.
step of the film production. If Headshot ever goes into
was a quick sketch
I was in awe of Giraud and Charlier when first
productionand few optioned scripts ever doall the
for one of the charac-
nt too impressed with

the scripts for the
character, and so I
submitted a couple of
approached by them to work on La Jeunesse (I initially
work to get our series onto the big screen will no doubt
ters included, but
declined their proposition, only to be convinced by friends
be handled by Hollywood personnel. It will be interesting
unfortunately the sto-
that I was being made an offer that I shouldnt really
to see how much of our original project remains....
ries never saw publi-
refuse!) and I now look back to those early French years

with great fondness.
Apart from that, the three books that I did with Matz
for CastermanDu Plomb Dans La Ttewere also very
cation.
LEONARD: Could you explain how you structure your

work?
WILSON: While I often have great plans to illustrate each
53
2009 respective
owner
54
COLIN WILSON
new work that I am involved with in some new, ground-
almost always
breaking fashion, for some strange reason they all seem
represent the
to finish up looking like I drew them. Thats always disap-
work at its best.
pointing for me, as then I can never see my own work
From then on it is
Resistance
An illustration for the games industry such as this presents an interesting
set of problems. When I was asked for this, very few visuals for the soon
with fresh eyes, which is the reason why I seldom look
all downhill from
to be releases Resistance 2 were available, and so this art contains
through any of my previous books. But I think the
the original idea,
material mainly from the earlier game. I was trying to get the feel for the
approach is a good one... at least try never to repeat your-
and my job as an
epic scale of the game, and although I was only asked for a rough draw-
self, but stretch boundaries.
artist is to mini-
ing, over one weekend the art came together so well that I was able to
As far as how I go about starting a new story, I guess I
mize that decline
deliver a final illustration in color. At the time, WildStorm was looking
work using the same methods as most other comic
by preparing the
for someone to draw a comic series planned to go with the launch of the
artists. I start with reading through the story and prepar-
work in visual
new game. I didnt get the job....
ing small, quick thumbnail sketches of as much of the
form for our read-
2009 respective
owner
story as available. Fast and rough pencils follow on from
ers. They only ever get to see the finished work... our task
this, which I can work with because I always ink my own
is to ensure that the printed story keeps as closely as
work and therefore see no need to overdraw completely
possible to whatever interested us as authors to produce
finished pencils. The goal is to keep the inking as fresh as
the story in the first place...
possible... the whole process starts with the ideas, which

55
COLIN WILSON
LEONARD: Could you describe an average working day?
Dredd
WILSON: These days I spend way too much time online,
Iconic Dredd images
but after an hour or so of catching up with the news and
from my favorite
replying to any e-mail that demands attention, Im usually
Dredd story (to
at the drawing desk by 9:00 each morning.
date)Relentless.
Earlier in my career, it used to be 10 to 12 hours each

and every day at the table, but these days I find I work
better if I break up the day with regular returns to the
Internet (it is also now absolutely invaluable as an image
resource) and alternate the workload with scanning,
Judge Dredd TM &

2009 2000 A.D.
Photoshop work, and the occasional film or TV episode

that I keep in reserve. But this also tends to stretch out
the day, and now with a family I find it much more difficult
to maintain a decent working rhythm. A page a day would
be nice, but is usually unattainable, even when my working
days can continue through to midnight or later if necessary. The hard thing is to maintain this for five days a
week, every week, so that working weekends is not a
requirement, unless absolutely necessary.
LEONARD: Well, Colin, thanks for having been so kind
as to answer my questions. Good luck with your new
projects.
56
COLIN WILSON
The Losers
Being asked to draw three issues of this terrific series was a major step for me to make the move in US comics, as I discovered that I was able to deliver the art within the
very tight time frame I was given on this series. In Europe I had become comfortable with drawing, on average, one album (52 pages) a year. 22 pages a month for a US editor requires an entirely different approach, and The Losers gave me the opportunity to modify my working methods in such a way that, hopefully, the quality did not suffer
from the speed required to produce this (unheard of for me at the time) amount of work.
Losers TM & 2009

DC Comics
57
COLIN WILSON
Gold rough & pencil
A commission from an ad agency here in Australia to produce
five color illustrations for a local IBM Share Portfolio. The
Western theme was obviously the idea of the ad agency, and
each illustration went through several variations before the
final images were accepted for publication. For complex illustrations like this, I usually work up my rough pencil ideas on
thin bleed-proof paper and then assemble all the various elements of the final illustration using a light-box.
2009 respective
owner
COLIN WILSON
Gold inks
This allows me to supply the
client with a final, clean penciled rough, and gives me a
chance to make any alterations
required before transferring the
art, again via a lightbox, to some
clean card (my preference for the
last 20 years has been a
European paper produced by
Schoeller) to ink the final art.
COLIN WILSON
Gold final color
This is then scanned into the computer and colored using Photoshop.
58
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59
EDITORS CORNER
here were a great many artists I tried unsuccessfully to feature in Rough Stuff. Some I couldn't contact,
some turned me down cold, some promised but never followed through, and some I just wasn't able to get
around to. The following pages are a small sampling of the many artists who eluded me, beginning with
the man who got me my start in comics with a phone call to Marvel, Neal Adams.
BOB McLEOD
Nobody could
touch Neal when
he was at the top
of his game. I
never even asked
Neal to be featured
in Rough Stuff,
knowing how busy
he is. He may well
have been too
busy, but I still
should have asked.
It's probably my
biggest regret with
Rough Stuff.
NEAL ADAMS
Tarzan TM & 2009

ERB, Inc.
60
Pencil rough for painted

paperback cover of
Tarzan and the Lion Men.
Courtesy Heritage
BOB McLEOD
Take that, Starman!
Tight pencils later
inked by Murphy
Anderson himself. I
was hoping to do a
feature on Murphy,
but unfortunately
never gathered
enough material.
I was commissioned to ink an
unused version of a
cover from a copy
of Murphy's pencils
a couple years ago.
I was asked to ink it
in Murphy's style,
which has a lot of
beautiful long brush
feathering strokes.
It's a very difficult
style, and made me
respect Murphy all
the more. You can
see it on my web
site here:
http://bobmcleod.co
MURPHY ANDERSON
m/show60.html
The Brave and the Bold #62 Cover Preliminary (DC, 1965).
Courtesy Heritage
All Characters 2009 DC Comics
61
BOB McLEOD
I grew up reading
MAD #291 (1989)

Courtesy Heritage
MAD, and always

loved Jack Davis.
He was one of the
EC greats, and is an
absolute master of
the brush. His satiric style of figure
anatomy is unparalleled. His pencil,
ink and color are all
top notch. What a
legend. Huge 19" x
24" art.
JACK DAVIS
Mad art 2009

William Gaines, Agent
62
BOB McLEOD
Mort Drucker is my
idol. I learned to
draw by copying
him. I loved him in
MAD when I was a
kid, and was
amazed to discover
his brilliant DC
comic book work
after I started my
career in comics. I
was simply too
much in awe of him
to ask him to be in
Rough Stuff.
Preliminary for Time magazine cover (1972).

Courtesy Heritage
MORT DRUCKER
2009 respective
owner
63
BOB McLEOD
Eisner was another
one of the greats I
missed. I should
have made an
effort to get him
into Rough Stuff.
Another big regret.
BOB McLEOD
This sketch from the Orlando
Con was done in 1978, when
he was 61 years old and obviously still at the top of his
game! You can see these figures were brought to life with
impressive style and a minimum of underdrawing.
BOB McLEOD
I think Eisner would have fit right in
with the EC crew of artists. Like Jack
Davis, he had a very charismatic way
of caricaturing human anatomy. The
Spirits right leg in this top image isnt
even connected to his body, and his
right arm is broken in two places, but it
WILL EISNER
gets the effect hes after perfectly.
64
The Spirit TM &

2009 Will Eisner
Estate
Preliminary cover art for The Spirit

and Orlando Con program book sketch.
Courtesy Heritage
BOB McLEOD
I really miss the
Warren magazines
like Vampirella, and
all the great artists
they introduced us
to from outside the
US, like Enrich.
They brought a
higher level of
artistry to comics
than we were used
to in the States at
that time. They
didn't have the
Marvel/Kirby
dynamics, but they
could flat out draw!
Courtesy Heritage
ENRICH TORRES
Vampirella TM &
2009 Harris Comics
65
Courtesy Rich Cirillo
BOB McLEOD
David Finch had agreed to be in Rough Stuff twice, but never sent me any art
scans or comments. I was too busy editing other artists stuff and didnt get
around to following up with him, so Ill take the blame. He draws very powerful
figures, and his use of high-contrast lighting really gives a nice three-dimensional
sense of form.
Batman 2009 DC Comics
Spider-Man TM & 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc.
Courtesy Tim Townsend
66
BOB McLEOD
I sure wish I could have found more material for a feature on Hal Foster. He started the whole ball game, in my opinion. He showed us how to draw everything,
from jungles to horses. Most of the great comic artists have been influenced by
him, either directly or indirectly. I studied him a lot.
The original art to the inked piece above hangs in Al Williamsons foyer. Its
almost life size!
Prince Valiant TM & 2009 King

Features Syndicate
Courtesy Heritage
67
BOB McLEOD
He sure did
emphasize the hips
and thighs, but
Frazetta women
just oozed sensuality. His masterful
use of lighting and
long, sweeping
brushstrokes made
for some breathtaking comic art,
inspiring a whole
generation of
FRANK FRAZETTA
artists.
68
If there's any one comic artist admired above all

others, surely it's Frank Frazetta. His wonderfully
rounded forms and rich color schemes are impossible to resist. His art is so sensual and dramatic
and full of life. I doubt he would have done a feature in Rough Stuff, but I should have asked.
Tarzan TM & 2009
ERB, Inc. Art 2009
Frank Frazetta.
FRANK FRAZETTA
BOB McLEOD
Courtesy Heritage
69
BOB McLEOD
I offered Adam an entire issue devoted just
to him, but he never sent me any art scans
ADAM HUGHES
or comments. Go figure.
All Characters TM & 2009 Marvel
Characters, Inc.
Courtesy Heritage
70
BOB McLEOD
Joe Kubert turned me down. He thought we were competing
JOE KUBERT
with his school. His son Adam ignored my offer as well. It's a
shame, because our readers could have learned a lot from
their comments and pencils. Here, Joe demonstrates how to
make a figure step right out of the page.
Art 2009 Joe
Kubert
Courtesy Heritage
Art 2009 Jeffrey

Jones
BOB McLEOD
I've been a big
Jeffrey Jones fan
since the days of
Lampoon. Jeffrey's
paintings are amazing, and I would
have loved to feature the prelims of
some of those old
Idyl strips. Again,
my fault for not
JEFFREY JONES
The National
even asking.
71
BOB McLEOD
Jim Lee also
turned me down.
This is a page he
offered up for
aspiring inkers to
take a crack at.
Good luck,
because you really
have to know what
you're doing to ink
this, as Scott
Williams showed
us a couple issues
ago.
Courtesy Jim Lee
JIM LEE
Superman and
Batman 2009 DC
Comics
72
BOB McLEOD
Mike Mignola just
kept putting me off
for three years
because he was
too busy. I can't
complain, because
I've been telling all
the people on my
commission list the
same thing. There
just aren't enough
hours in the day.
Notice how his
compositions lead
your eye through
the page from one
panel to the next by
careful placement
of the figures.
Courtesy P. Craig
Russell
MIKE MIGNOLA
Batman 2009 DC
Comics
73
BOB McLEOD
Frank Miller turned
me down. Or
rather his people
did. I guess Franks
become too big to
talk to in person
anymore. I was the
first to ink Frank
when he came to
Marvel, though this
page was later
inked by Frank
Springer. It would
have been interesting to interview
him about his
transition from
drawing comics to
directing movies.
Spectacular SpiderMan #27, page 13.
FRANK MILLER
Characters TM &
2009 Marvel
Characters, Inc.
74
BOB McLEOD
I always enjoyed Earl Norems painted covers for Marvels black-and-white
magazines. He did a lot of Conan covers, and had kind of a Buscema feel to
his Conan. These roughs were for a storybook he did back in the 80s. I would
have really liked to interview Earl and find out more about him and his art, but
I was never able to get in touch with him.
Fantastic Four: Island of Danger (Marvel Books, 1984).

Courtesy Heritage
EARL NOREM
Characters TM &
2009 Marvel
Characters, Inc.
75
BOB McLEOD
Mike Ploog never
got the fan
acclaim he
deserves because
he didnt do superheroes. Ive
always enjoyed
his work, but just
didnt get around
to asking him to
be in Rough Stuff.
What a talent! But
be sure to check
out his recent
Modern Masters
volume, available
now from
TwoMorrows.
Courtesy Heritage
MIKE PLOOG
Frankensteins
Monster TM & 2009
respective owner
76
BOB McLEOD
I really should have done a feature on the great John
Romita. Maybe I could have interviewed him and his son
together (JRJR was in issue #3). John always used a blue
pencil for prelims. This Wizard of Oz stuff is really nice, but
itll always be Spider-Man hes remembered for.
Wizard of Oz TM &
2009 MGM
JOHN ROMITA
Courtesy Heritage
77
BOB McLEOD
I didn't get to Mark
Schultz, mainly
because
TwoMorrows featured him in a
Modern Masters
book. His pencil
drawings are beautiful, and his prelims
are as artistic as
his finishes. This is
a plate from one of
the Conan novels
he illustrated.
Conan TM & 2009

Conan Properties
Intl., LLC
BOB McLEOD
Marie Severin is a
treasure, and I
wish I could have
featured more of
both her and her
brother John. I did
publish an interview by Dewey
Cassell concerning
her Marvel cover
prelims. But I like
her work for Crazy
best.
Courtesy Heritage
All Characters
TM & 2009
Marvel
Characters, Inc.
78
BOB McLEOD
I hadnt heard of Ryan Sook until someone suggested that I
feature him. I e-mailed him but never heard back from him. I
think his art is very impressive and would love to have had him
in Rough Stuff. I dont know anything about these pieces except
that I like them a lot.
Courtesy Nick Warmack
RYAN SOOK
2009 respective
owner
79
BOB McLEOD
Yes, even legends
like Al Williamson
sometimes had to
do sample pages!
This piece is a big
13.5" x 20.5". I sure
hope he got the
job. I was fortunate
enough to visit Al
at his home years
ago and swapped
original art with
him. I never did get
around to a feature
on him, though,
much to my regret.
AL WILLIAMSON
Tarzan TM & 2009

ERB, Inc.
80
Pellucidar/Tarzan Try-Out (1957).

Courtesy Heritage
Preliminary Art for EC Comics "The Spawn of Venus"

(circa 1954)
BOB McLEOD
I had hoped to do a feature on Wally Wood using all
the pages from this story, but didn't get it together in
time for this last issue. According to the Heritage
Auction web site, "This was published in Woody's
own magazine, Witzend #6. This is a reworking of
the story originally penciled by Al Feldstein that
appeared in Weird Science #6, and is almost certainly the inspiration for the 1958 film The Blob.
WALLY WOOD
2009 respective
owner
81
BERNIE WRIGHTSON
BOB McLEOD
Bernie Wrightson is one of my favorite comic
artists of all time. I e-mailed him about a feature
in Rough Stuff, and he never responded. I always
enjoyed how he used his Jack Davis influence
and his Frazetta influence and blended them into
his own unique style, capturing much of the best
of each.
Bernies storytelling is first rate. He always
chooses the prime way to show a scene, and this
page from DCs Swamp Thing #9 is a great example of that. This rough is so good I dont think
even Bernies own superb inks did it justice.
Check it out. How Len Wein could cover it up
with so many captions and balloons, Ill never
know. It doesnt appear to need a single word.
Swamp Thing TM &
2009 DC Comics.
Swamp Thing #9, page 14 Pencil Prelim (1974) and

The Thing sketch.
Courtesy Heritage
Swamp Thing 2009 DC Comics
BOB McLEOD
Well, I'll end with a drawing that
Bernie entitled The Thing.
There were many more artists I
had hoped to feature in Rough
Stuff, of course, but I think we
managed to show you some of
the best in the business, past,
present and future. I hope you
enjoyed and learned from these
past dozen issues. I know I did!
2009 respective
owner
82
BOB McLEOD
This cover rough for
the George Romero
comic is small, at
only 7" x 10.5."
I was going to close
with just one page
of Wrightson, but
this one is too good
to pass up. 30 years
later and Bernies
still knocking them
out of the park!
Study the close
attention to lighting
and texture. I love
the eye on that elephant!
Toe Tags #3 Cover Prelim (DC, 2005).
BERNIE WRIGHTSON
Toe Tags TM & 2009

George Romero
83
ROUGH CRITIQUE
By Bob McLeod
ur final Rough Critique sample page is by Harold Shindel. Hes taking us back to the days of King Arthur
and knights in battle. I have to admire Harolds bravery in tackling such a difficult subject. It requires a lot
of reference for costumes and everything in addition to all the usual problems of drawing comics. And itll
inevitably be compared to the great comic art master Hal Foster, who created the Prince Valiant newspaper
strip. Very few artists working today can compete with

that. I did a sample page hoping to take over that strip a
few years ago, but lost out to Gary Gianni. You can see
mine here: http://www.bobmcleod.com/prince2.gif
Harold, in panel one theres a lot of empty space in the
top right corner. Moving the small inset panel up fills that
space nicely, and flopping the knights moves the tree (which
I enlarged a bit) over to fill the now empty lower right corner,
as well as improving the composition by better filling that
space. You also dont want it bumping up against your figure. One of your big problems is how you use your space.
You need to design your drawings to fit and fill the allowed
space.
In panel 3, enlarging your figure uses the space better,
and you should have him looking into the page rather than
out of the page. Notice I also added some shadows here
and elsewhere. Using more shadows and black adds weight
and form to your drawings and makes your figures look
more solid and three-dimensional. Hal Foster is very good to
study for this (as well as everything else!).
In panel 4, your figures are shoved down into the corners, which is a no-no. Move them more into the panel. You
should never crop off part of a figure unless you have to.
And instead of having the figure with the barrel walk in from
the right, if we enlarge him he appears to be closer to us
and entering the scene from our side, adding much more
depth. Also, his hand is too big in yours.
In the last panel, I flopped your background to better balance your figure, whose hand is once again too big. I also
enlarged the figure a bit. Drawing horses is always very challenging and yours need a lot of help, so I brought in the best
horse artist I know to advise us. My friend June Brigman, cocreator of Marvels Power Pack, former instructor at the Joe
Kubert School and current artist on the Brenda Starr newspaper strip, enjoys riding and drawing horses. She drew the
corrections shown here, and I asked her to offer what advice
she could. Brace yourself. Like me, she doesnt pull punches.
84
June: These arent the worst horse drawings Ive seen; they do look
like horses. But they look like sleepy, stuffed animal horses. Horses are
very athletic, so its important to indicate some bone and muscle. One way
to understand how the horse is put together is to look at a book on horse
anatomy and see how it compares to human anatomy. A horse has a
scapula, a humerus, an ulna bone. They have obliques and latissimus dorsi
and quadricep muscles just like we do. Where is the horses elbow joint
and how does it correspond to ours? The knee of a horse is like our wrist,
the stifle joint is like our knee, the hock is like our ankle. When you think
about it that way, horses dont seem so alien. A great horse can move like
a cat. So make your drawings move, make them exciting. The nostrils
should flare, the mane and tail should be whipping around, the whites of
the eyes should be showing.
Drawing a horse in a scene is a
chance to add drama and action.
There are many books on how
to draw horses. But the only one
you need is called Draw Horses
with Sam Savitt. I had the good
fortune to study with Sam one
summer. He could draw any horse
doing anything from any angle,
without reference. He was the
author and illustrator of over a
hundred books of horse stories, an
avid horseman, and the official
artist of the United States
Equestrian team. Not only did Sam
know the anatomy and movement
of a horse, he understood their
behavior and personalities. He
makes horses come alive better
than any artist I know.
Even if you dont want to make
a career out of drawing horses, its
worth taking a little time to figure
them out. Because if you can
understand how a horse is put
together, you can apply this knowledge to drawing dogs, cats, deer,
cowsall kinds of other mammals.
Really, its not as hard as you
think. And it might even be fun. So
go for it, get in touch with your
inner Mr. Ed.
Thanks, June! Um, you do
remember who Mr. Ed was, dont
you, Harold? You kids can google
it. Well, I dont know about you,
but I just bought myself a copy of
Sam Savitts book! For more
drawings and advice from June,
be sure to check the Rough Stuff
section of my web site. This is the
last issue of Rough Stuff, but my
Rough Critique feature will
continue in Draw! magazine. So
if youd like me to critique your
sample page, e-mail me at
[email protected].
85
ROUGH TALK
The feature I enjoy the most is your Rough Critiques. Im learning
new things about comic art or having things I never considered
before pointed out some 40 years after I first began reading comic
books! (Im 49 years old) And I disagree with the letter writer in
issue #8 who took you to task for being too negative. If with the
limited space in the magazine you sometimes come across as blunt,
your taking the time to draw the corrections you suggest more than
makes up for it.
Among other things I had never before thought about facing figures so they draw a readers eye along the path you want them to
read the panels on the page. Instead I remember old reprints of
Batman stories from the 50s where arrows where drawn to lead
you to the next panel to be read! They sure dont do that nowadays.
Instead we get double-page splashes that confuse readers about
the panel sequence because the borders of the panels touch
across the center spread and get swallowed up by the staples!
Some of your other insights are almost making me look forward to
the next comic that I find hard to follow to see if they lead to figure
out what went wrong.
I also like the picture of Superman you used as a backdrop on
the letters page in issue #8. And was pleased to see it on the
website not covered up by letters. Among other things Superman is
my favorite character and it bothers me when an arist isnt able to
draw him on model. You did just fine. But, for example, Gil Kane
(one of my favorite artists) never quite got it right, I felt when he
was drawing Superman in Action Comics in the 80s. It was like
somebody else was wearing Supermans costume. It really surprised me later when Roy Thomas in Alter Ego printed a character
sheet Gil Kane drew of Superman for the 1988 Ruby Spears cartoon that did look like Superman to me!
commission Sinnott himself to ink the Garney illo on page 8. I think

Reinhold needed much heavier foreground holding lines in the inked
version on pg. 9 for the Cap and Venom figures. I dont get any
sense of foreground, midground, background from these inks,
although they are technically well rendered. Your comments on pg.
15 apply to the inked image on pg 9.
3) My God is this guy good! Pgs. 1619.
4) Matt Haley is an incredible draftsman, in the Buscema tradition. He can just flat out draw. But the Power Girl on pg. 31 caught
my eye the most. Beautiful, clean, rhythmic, bold strokes that are
bursting with life and vitality! Anybody inking this with lesser talent
than a Palmer, a McLeod, or a Breeding would bring it down.
5) You teach at PCAD? Didnt know that. Congrats! And congrats for a great article. Your paragraph that has Drawing comics
requires in it is a tutorial within a tutorial. The novice will read
these words but only the longtime amateur like myself or pro like
yourself will appreciate the depth of meaning in your words.
6) The technical skill of Jason Paz is amazingly displayed on pg.
52. Did it take him a year to draw this? Incredible!
7) AIEAHH!!! Alex Raymond!!! Direct from the pantheon to the
pages of Rough Stuff!!! Brilliant!!! His skill, craftsmanship, line, command, breadth, boldness are right there to see! What a thrill to see
them!!! I will be purchasing Roberts book.
8) Enjoyed the Editors Corner immensely. Always a study in the
craft of comic book art when I view your work. Your inks on pg. 80
were a joy and a terrific example of inking improving the pencils by
doing the things inking does much better than pencils: light/shade and
surface textures (the buildings). A master inker shows his stuff!!!!!
Well, I guess you can say I liked the issue!! Bring it on!!! Cant
wait for the next issue!!!
Sincerely,
Pat Mattauch
Your buddy,
Michael Greczek
Wow!!! The best issue yet!!!

1) I love your inking over Garney on the cover! A return to ink
strokes that have life and vitality!!
2) I always loved Garneys pencils but never was comfortable
seeing them inked or colored. The pencils shown in issue #10 confirm just how alive his pencils are. For some reason with Garney,
inking flattens his stuff out to my eyes. I dont know why. Id love to
86
Im a big fan of Rough Stuff and I just wanted to write to you to say
how much I love the magazine. Every issue is a visual feast! I cant tell
you how many times I flip through each issue. (Have them all by the
way!) Its great to see raw pencils from some of the industrys greatest
talents (past and present). I always think of pencils as the artist
unplugged. Its great to see the artwork before the inker takes over.
Or, to see how the artwork is changed from person to the next.
I loved issue #10 in that you featured Alex Raymond. Quite a

nice surprise. Do you have plans on featuring more great illustrators
from the past? It would be a nice addition. Seeing Cornwell, Loomis
or Leyendecker along side Adams, Buscema and Kirby would be
amazing. [Alas, no such luck. -ed.]
In future issues, do you think you could include any work by the
late and great Jim Aparo? Have you worked with him before? Mr.
Aparo has to be one of the most underrated talents in the history of
comics. Anyway, I was wondering if you could include some of his
work on The Phantom Stranger, Batman or Aquaman. Id love to
see his rough stuff. Also, do you think you could cover/include any
rough stuff from the great MAD magazine artists like Jack Davis,
Wally Wood, Will Elder or Mort Drucker? [I would have loved to feature Aparo, but since he usually inked his own pencils, theres very
little of his prelim work around. As for the MAD guys, see my comments this issue. -ed.]
Lastly, I think I owe you a bit of an apology. And the rest of the
inkers in the world as well. For the longest time, I kind of thought
that inkers were just people who traced the pencils and that anyone
could do it. Kind of like, Stan Lee would have his secretary ink
Silver Surfer before she went home at night. Yeah, its a popular
idea among non-comics fans that inking is easy. Im guilty of it too.
But it took your magazine to really open my eyes and see that there
is a lot more to inking than mere tracing. Just seeing raw pencils
next to the final inked pages is sometimes staggering. Especially
with the rough pencilers like John Buscema. So I just wanted to
clear my conscious and apologize to all the inkers out there for the
not giving you guys the credit you deserve. Never again. [Apology
accepted. Im glad we were able to educate you on the fine art of
inking. -ed.]
Thanks again for putting out Rough Stuff. I love the magazine and
the wait between issues is killing me. Looking forward to issue #11.
P.S. TwoMorrows had a book about Mr. Aparo in the pipeline
before he died. I havent heard anything about it in a while. Would
you happen to know the books status? [sorry, Brian, I dont. -ed.]
Brian Thompson
I love rough pencil art so it was a no-brainer for me to get

[Rough Stuff] magazine as an inexpensive way to collect art that I
can manipulate or practice coloring/tracing on my computer as well
as just collecting pop art for its own sake.

(Yes, comic books are Pop Art whether Roy Lichenstein enters
the picture or not. They were Pop Art before him and remain so
after his death. Im not bigoted about comic book art and am also a
realist. I hate seeing the term graphic novel in stores and libraries.
Are most of us still that self-conscious that we cant call a spade a
spade? They remain comic books to me!)
Rough Stuff and Draw! by Mike Manley are the two magazines I
currently buy religiously through the local comic shop. Got every
issue published of both books. They are a delight to sit down and
read in addition to glancing at the art and finding out kernels of
information that I havent noticed from reading thousands of comic
books or the hundred-and-million art instruction books Ive got.
Always something new in each issue.
Sincerely,
George Cepeda
The new Rough Stuff was great as always. I think I like your mag
more than Draw, which is saying a lot.
Greg Vondruska
I have been a fan of your work since I was introduced to it in the

New Mutants graphic novel, and I love your magazine Rough Stuff.
Thanks to your magazine, I have gained insight into so many of my
favorite artists and their artwork. I particularly enjoyed the article
about French and Belgian comics in issue #8, since I was born in
Europe and grew up reading those books.
Antonio Rodrigues
I just picked up issue #1 of Rough Stuff through TwoMorrows

and it is a great magazine. Needless to say, I will be subscribing.
Seeing the raw pencils of professional artists is incredibly helpful
for an amateur like myself. [Subscriptions are now useless, but
back issues are still available. -ed.]
Brian Carroll
87
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HOW-TO MAGAZINES
Spinning off from the pages of BACK ISSUE! magazine comes ROUGH
STUFF, celebrating the ART of creating comics! Edited by famed inker
BOB McLEOD, each issue spotlights NEVER-BEFORE PUBLISHED penciled
pages, preliminary sketches, detailed layouts, and even unused inked
versions from artists throughout comics history. Included is commentary
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ROUGH STUFF #1
Our debut issue features galleries of UNSEEN ART by a whos who of Modern Masters
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The follow-up to our smash first issue

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Still more galleries of UNPUBLISHED ART
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ROUGH STUFF #6
NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED
galleries (complete with
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Features a new interview

and cover by BRIAN
STELFREEZE, interview with
BUTCH GUICE, extensive art
galleries/commentary by IAN
CHURCHILL, DAVE COCKRUM, and COLLEEN
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looks at independent comics,
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MARIE SEVERIN career
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feature with art and comments by DAWN BROWN,
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Features an in-depth interview and cover painting by the
extraordinary MIKE MAYHEW, preliminary and unpublished art
by ALEX HORLEY, TONY DeZUNIGA, NICK CARDY, and
RAFAEL KAYANAN (including commentary by each artist), a
look at the great Belgian comic book artists, a Rough
Critique of MIKE MURDOCKs work, and more!
Editor and pro inker

BOB McLEOD features four
interviews this issue: ROB
HAYNES (interviewed by
fellow professional TIM
TOWNSEND), JOE JUSKO,
MEL RUBI, and SCOTT
WILLIAMS, with a new
painted cover by JUSKO,
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#1: ORDWAY,
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(108 pages with COLOR)

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DRAW! #25
LEE WEEKS (Daredevil, Incredible Hulk)

gives insight into the artform, YILDIRAY
INAR (Noble Causes, Fury of the
Firestorms) interview and demo, inker JOE
RUBINSTEIN shows how he works, Comic
Art Bootcamp with MIKE MANLEY and
BRET BLEVINS, Rough Critique of a
newcomer by BOB McLEOD, and Crusty
Critic JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews art supplies and software! Mature readers only.
NOTE: Some issues contain nudity for figure drawing

instruction. INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS.
See page 32 for subscription rates!

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DRAW! #26
JOE JUSKO shows how he creates his

amazing fantasy art, JAMAR NICHOLAS
interviews artist JIMM RUGG (Street Angel,
Afrodisiac, The P.L.A.I.N. Janes and Janes in
Love, One Model Nation, and The Guild),
new regular contributor JERRY ORDWAY
on his behind-the-scenes working process,
Comic Art Bootcamp with MIKE MANLEY
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Top comics cover artist DAVE JOHNSON

demos his creative process, STEPHEN
SILVER shows how he designs characters
for top animated series, plus new columnist
JERRY ORDWAY presents The Right Way,
the Wrong Way, and the ORDWAY!,
Crusty Critic JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews
art supplies, and hit Comic Art Bootcamp
with Draw editor MIKE MANLEY and BRET
BLEVINS! Mature readers only.
HOW-TO BOOKS
DRAW! #28
FAREL DALRYMPLE shows how he produces

Meathaus and Pop Gun War, director and
storyboard/comics artist DAVE BULLOCK
dissects his own work, columnist JERRY
ORDWAY draws on his years of experience
to show readers the Ord-way of creating
comics, JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews the
latest art supplies, plus more Comic Art
Bootcamp by BRET BLEVINS and editor
MIKE MANLEY! Mature readers only.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
TOP ARTISTS DISCUSS THE

DESIGN OF COMICS
PANEL DISCUSSIONS offers the combined knowledge
of more than a dozen of the comic book industrys top
storytellers, covering all aspects of the DESIGN of
comics, from pacing, story flow, and word balloon
placement, to using color to convey emotion, spotting
blacks, and how gutters between panels affect the
story! Art professor DURWIN TALON has assembled
the top creators in the field to discuss all aspects of
creative process, including:
WILL EISNER
MIKE WIERINGO
MIKE MIGNOLA
DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI
DICK GIORDANO
CHRIS MOELLER
DRAW! #29
DAVE DORMAN demonstrates his painting

techniques for sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book
cover, LeSEAN THOMAS (character designer
and co-director of The Boondocks and Black
Dynamite: The Animated Series) gives advice
on todays animation industry, new columnist
JERRY ORDWAY shows his working process,
plus more Comic Art Bootcamp by BRET
BLEVINS and Draw! editor MIKE MANLEY!
Mature readers only.
SCOTT HAMPTON
WALTER SIMONSON
MARK SCHULTZ
MIKE CARLIN
BRIAN STELFREEZE
MARK CHIARELLO
If youre serious about creating effective, innovative

comics, or just enjoying them from the creators
perspective, this guide is must-reading!
HOW TO CREATE
COMICS
FROM SCRIPT TO
PRINT
REDESIGNED and EXPANDED version of the groundbreaking WRITE NOW!/ DRAW! crossover! DANNY
FINGEROTH and MIKE MANLEY show step-by-step
how to develop a new comic, from script and roughs
to pencils, inks, colors, letteringit even guides you
through printing and distribution, and the finished
8-page color comic is included, so you can see their
end result! PLUS: over 30 pages of ALL-NEW material,
including full and Marvel-style scripts, a critique
of their new character and comic from an editors point
of view, new tips on coloring, new expanded writing
lessons, and more!
(108-page trade paperback with COLOR) $15.95
ISBN: 9781893905603
WORKING METHODS
COMIC CREATORS DETAIL
THEIR STORYTELLING &
CREATIVE PROCESSES
Art professor JOHN LOWE puts the minds of comic

artists under the microscope, highlighting the intricacies
of the creative process step-by-step. For this book,
three short scripts are each interpreted in different ways
by professional comic artists to illustrate the varied
ways in which they see and solve the problem of
making a script succeed in comic form. It documents
the creative and technical choices MARK SCHULTZ,
TIM LEVINS, JIM MAHFOOD, SCOTT HAMPTON,
KELSEY SHANNON, CHRIS BRUNNER, SEAN
MURPHY, and PAT QUINN make as they tell a story,
allowing comic fans, artists, instructors, and
students into a world rarely explored. Hundreds of
illustrated examples document the artists processes,
and interviews clarify their individual approaches
regarding storytelling and layout choices. The exercise
may be simple, but the results are profoundly complex!
(176-page trade paperback with COLOR) SOLD OUT

ISBN: 9781893905146

COMICS
ABOVE GROUND
SEE HOW TOP ARTISTS MAKE

A LIVING OUTSIDE COMICS
DRAW! #30
We focus the radar on Daredevil artist CHRIS

SAMNEE (Agents of Atlas, Batman, Avengers,
Captain America) with a how-to interview,
comics veteran JACKSON GUICE (Captain
America, Superman, Ruse, Thor) talks about
his creative process and his new series Winter
World, columnist JERRY ORDWAY shows his
working process, plus more Comic Art
Bootcamp by BRET BLEVINS and Draw! editor MIKE MANLEY! Mature readers only.
(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Feb. 2015
COMICS ABOVE GROUND features comics pros

discussing their inspirations and training, and how they
apply it in Mainstream Media, including Conceptual
Illustration, Video Game Development, Childrens
Books, Novels, Design, Illustration, Fine Art,
Storyboards, Animation, Movies and more! Written by
DURWIN TALON (author of the top-selling book
PANEL DISCUSSIONS), this book features creators
sharing their perspectives on their work in comics and
their other professions, with career overviews,
never-before-seen art, and interviews! Featuring:
BRUCE TIMM
BERNIE WRIGHTSON
ADAM HUGHES
JEPH LOEB
LOUISE SIMONSON
DAVE DORMAN
GREG RUCKA
AND OTHERS!

ISBN: 9781893905313
BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 1 BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 3

Compiles tutorials, interviews, and demonstrations
from DRAW! #1-2, by DAVE GIBBONS (layout and
drawing on the computer), BRET BLEVINS (figure
drawing), JERRY ORDWAY (detailing his working
methods), KLAUS JANSON and RICARDO VILLAGRAN
(inking techniques), GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY (on
animation and Samurai Jack), STEVE CONLEY (creating
web comics and cartoons), PHIL HESTER and ANDE
PARKS (penciling and inking), and more! Cover by
BRET BLEVINS!
ISBN: 9781893905412
Compiles more of the best tutorials and interviews

from DRAW! #5-7, including: Penciling by MIKE
WIERINGO! Illustration by DAN BRERETON! Design
by PAUL RIVOCHE! Drawing Hands, Lighting the
Figure, and Sketching by BRET BLEVINS! Cartooning
by BILL WRAY! Inking by MIKE MANLEY! Comics &
Animation by STEPHEN DeSTEFANO! Digital
Illustration by CELIA CALLE and ALBERTO RUIZ!
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Cover by DAN BRERETON!
ISBN: 9781893905917
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The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America, 1957-1972

Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! Once
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JONATHAN FRID (Dark Shadows), GEORGE BARRIS (monster car customizer), ED BIG DADDY ROTH (Rat Fink), BOBBY
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TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 FAX: 919-449-0327
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BACK ISSUE #84
BACK ISSUE #85
BACK ISSUE #86
BACK ISSUE #87
BACK ISSUE #88
Supergirl in the Bronze Age! Her 1970s

and 1980s adventures, including her death in
Crisis on Infinite Earths and her many rebirths.
Plus: an ALAN BRENNERT interview, behind
the scenes of the Supergirl movie starring
HELEN SLATER, Who is Superwoman?, and a
look at the DC Superheroes Water Ski Show.
With PAUL KUPPERBERG, ELLIOT MAGGIN,
MARV WOLFMAN, plus a jam cover recreation of ADVENTURE COMICS #397!
Christmas in the Bronze Age! Go behind

the scenes of comics best holiday tales of the
1970s through the early 1990s! And we
revisit Superhero Merchandise Catalogs of the
late 70s! Featuring work by SIMON BISLEY,
CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOS LUIS GARCALPEZ, KEITH GIFFEN, the KUBERT STUDIO,
DENNY ONEIL, STEVE PURCELL, JOHN
ROMITA, JR., and more. Cover by MARIE
SEVERIN and MIKE ESPOSITO!
Marvel Bronze Age Giants and Reprints!

In-depth exploration of Marvels GIANT-SIZE
series, plus indexes galore of Marvel reprint
titles, Marvel digests and Fireside Books editions, and the last days of the Old X-Men!
Featuring work by DAN ADKINS, ROSS
ANDRU, RICH BUCKLER, DAVE COCKRUM,
GERRY CONWAY, STEVE GERBER, STAN
LEE, WERNER ROTH, ROY THOMAS, and
more. Cover by JOHN ROMITA, SR.!
Batman AND Superman! Bronze Age

Worlds Finest, Super Sons, Batman/Superman
Villain/Partner Swap, Jimmy Olsen and Lois
Lane go solo, Superman/Radio Shack giveaways, and JLA #200s A League Divided
(as a nod to Batman v. Superman)! Featuring
work by BRIAN BOLLAND, RICH BUCKLER,
GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, GEORGE
PREZ, JIM STARLIN, and more. Cover by
DICK GIORDANO!
Comics Magazines of the 70s and 80s!

From Savage Tales to Epic Illustrated, KIRBYs
Speak-Out Series, EISNERs Spirit magazine,
Unpublished PAUL GULACY, MICHAEL USLAN
on the Shadow magazine you didnt see, plus
B&Ws from Atlas/Seaboard, Charlton, Skywald,
and Warren. Featuring work by NEAL ADAMS,
JOHN BOLTON, ARCHIE GOODWIN, DOUG
MOENCH, EARL NOREM, ROY THOMAS,
and more. Cover by GRAY MORROW!

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Sept. 2015

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Nov. 2015

(Digital Edition) $4.95 Ships Jan. 2016

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships March 2016

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships April 2016
KIRBY COLLECTOR #67
ALTER EGO #135
ALTER EGO #136
ALTER EGO #137
ALTER EGO #138
UP-CLOSE & PERSONAL! Kirby interviews

you werent aware of, photos and recollections from fans who saw him in person,
personal anecdotes from Jacks fellow pros,
LEE and KIRBY cameos in comics, MARK
EVANIER and other regular columnists, and
more! Dont let the photo cover fool you;
this issue is chockfull of rare Kirby pencil
art, from Roz Kirbys private sketchbook,
and Jacks most personal comics stories!
LEN WEIN (writer/co-creator of Swamp

Thing, Human Target, and Wolverine) talks
about his early days in comics at DC and
Marvel! Art by WRIGHTSON, INFANTINO,
TRIMPE, DILLON, CARDY, APARO,
THORNE, MOONEY, and others! Plus FCA
(Fawcett Collectors of America), MR.
MONSTERs Comic Crypt, the Comics
Code, and DAN BARRY! Cover by DICK
GIORDANO with BERNIE WRIGHTSON!
BONUS 100-PAGE issue as ROY THOMAS

talks to JIM AMASH about celebrating his
50th year in comicsand especially about
the 90s at Marvel! Art by TRIMPE,
GUICE, RYAN, ROSS, BUCKLER,
HOOVER, KAYANAN, BUSCEMA, CHAN,
VALENTINO, and others! Plus FCA, MR.
MONSTERs Comic Crypt, AMY KISTE
NYBERG on the Comics Code, and a cover
caricature of Roy by MARIE SEVERIN!
Incredible interview with JIM SHOOTER,

which chronicles the first decade of his
career (Legion of Super-Heroes, Superman,
Supergirl, Captain Action) with art by
CURT SWAN, WALLY WOOD, GIL KANE,
GEORGE PAPP, JIM MOONEY, PETE
COSTANZA, WIN MORTIMER, WAYNE
BORING, AL PLASTINO, et al.! Plus FCA,
MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!
Cover art by CURT SWAN!
Science-fiction great (and erstwhile comics

writer) HARLAN ELLISON talks about
Captain Marvel and The Monster Society
of Evil! Also, Captain Marvel artist/
co-creator C.C. BECK writes about the
infamous Superman-Captain Marvel lawsuit
of the 1940s and 50s in a double-size FCA
section! Plus two titanic tributes to Golden
Age artist FRED KIDA, MR. MONSTER,
BILL SCHELLY, and more!
(100-page FULL-COLOR mag) $10.95

(Digital Edition) $4.95 Ships Winter 2016

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships August 2015

(Digital Edition) $4.95 Ships Oct. 2015

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Dec. 2015

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Feb. 2016
COMIC BOOK CREATOR #9 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #10 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #11
DRAW! #31
DRAW! #32
JOE STATON on his comics career (from

E-MAN, to co-creating The Huntress, and
his current stint on the Dick Tracy comic
strip), plus we showcase the lost treasure
GODS OF MOUNT OLYMPUS drawn by
Joe! Plus, Part One of our interview with
the late STAN GOLDBERG, why JOHN
ROMITA, JR. is the best comic book artist
working, we quiz PABLO MARCOS about
the days of Marvel horror, plus HEMBECK!
The Broadway sci-fi epic WARP examined!

Interviews with art director NEAL ADAMS,
director STUART (Reanimator) GORDON,
playwright LENNY KLEINFELD, stage manager DAVID GORDON, and a look at
Warps 1980s FIRST COMICS series! Plus:
an interview with PETER (Hate!) BAGGE,
our RICH BUCKLER interview Part One,
GIANT WHAM-O COMICS, and the conclusion of our STAN GOLDBERG interview!
Retrospective on GIL KANE, co-creator of

the modern Green Lantern and Atom, and
early progenitor of the graphic novel. Kane
cover newly-inked by KLAUS JANSON,
plus remembrances from friends, fans, and
collaborators, and a Kane art gallery. Also,
our RICH BUCKLER interview conclusion, a
look at the greatest zine in the history of
mankind, MINESHAFT, and Part One of
our ARNOLD DRAKE interview!
How-to demos & interviews with Philadelphia

artists JG JONES (52, Final Crisis, Wanted,
Batman and Robin) and KHOI PHAM (The
Mighty Avengers, The Astonishing SpiderMan, The Mighty World of Marvel), JAMAR
NICHOLAS reviews of art supplies, JERRY
ORDWAY demos the ORD-way or drawing, and Comic Art Bootcamp by MIKE
MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS! JG Jones
cover! Mature readers only.
Super-star DC penciler HOWARD PORTER

demos his creative process, and JAMAL IGLE
discusses everything from storyboarding to
penciling as he gives a breakdown of his
working methods. Plus theres Crusty Critic
JAMAR NICHOLAS reviewing art supplies,
JERRY ORDWAY showing the Ord-Way of
doing comics, and Comic Art Bootcamp
lessons with BRET BLEVINS and Draw! editor
MIKE MANLEY! Mature readers only.
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Aug. 2015

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Nov. 2015

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Jan. 2016

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Summer 2015

(Digital Edition) $3.95 Ships Fall 2015

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What are some of the interviews and features covered in the magazine issues?

What are some of the interviews and features covered in the magazine issues?

What building techniques and instructions are provided in the magazines?

What building techniques and instructions are provided in the magazines?

Celebrating

Wonder Woman TM & 2009 DC Comics.

GOOD GIRL ART

GET THE 9 ORIGINAL DIGITAL ISSUES!

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of LEGO. (& Comics!)

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

ROUGH STUFF FEATURE

Good Girl Art

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEWS

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS

Scribblings From The Editor

SPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF

SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:

ROUGH STUFF SPRING 2009

tighter on G.I. Joe since I knew going in

SPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF

approval from the

G.I. Joe TM & 2009 Hasbro

ROUGH STUFF SPRING 2009

G.I. Joe TM & 2009 Hasbro

drama and make it less symmetrical

ROUGH STUFF SPRING 2009

G.I. Joe TM & 2009 Hasbro

shot and crossed swords add a lot of

Notice how the three figures in the lower left are

SPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF

ROUGH STUFF SPRING 2009

ROUGH STUFF SPRING 2009

Songes: Coraline TM & 2009 Terry Dodson

SPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF

ous page lower

ROUGH STUFF SPRING 2009

Young X-Men TM & 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc.

cage on the previ-

Young X-Men TM & 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc.

SPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF

Rachel's ultraclean lines, and

ROUGH STUFF SPRING 2009

Young X-Men TM & 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc.

should take note of

SPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF

Rocketeer TM & 2009 Dave Stevens

Good Girl Art

Little Annie Fanny TM & 2009 Playboy Enterprises, Inc.

A TERM TO CONJURE WITH

ccording to Wikipedia, comic book dealer and

nys sale lists to alert potential buyers of comics featuring

tion, the image is part of a story, gag panel or the like. An

position, clothes, open

example of a direct connection would be a story page. An

fly and the unribbed

indirect connection is one that references it, like a pin-up

shirt were my idea.

SPRING 2009 ROUGH STUFF

slim hips, perfectly