Artist Interview: Charlie Harper, Creator of Crazy Normal, & Co-Creator of Ennui of the Dead

Part 4 of our 5 part Firetower Studios interview series. Action Lab has taken a big interest in this crew, and their fan base is getting bigger and bigger. This time around, we are talking to Charlie Harper about his two series Ennui of the Dead and Crazy Normal. He talks a lot about how his process has evolved, and some of the big creators that have influenced him.


CBotMP: What is your comics origin story? What’s the first comic you remember reading, and did it immediately make you put pencil to paper and start drawing?


Charlie Harper: I grew up in the country surrounded by fields and there were no comic books to be found. One of my mom and dad's old high school friends was moving to California and he was unloading a bunch of stuff and brought me a box of his old comics. I was probably 7 or 8. The first one I pulled out was Punisher. I remember thinking it was cool that he was all in black with the skull on his chest. Plus I was into G.I. Joe at the time so it clicked. There was a lot of Avengers and Justice League, all 80s, titles in there. I would say by far though, Iron Man and The Punisher were the ones I loved. I did draw them a lot. 

CBotMP: Being secluded from comics only to have this box of color and light dropped into your lap, that must have been pretty mind blowing. In our interview with Jeremy Whitley, he said that you invited him to your artist meet up, how long had you been holding these before he joined you? 

CH: Well Jason Strutz had actually started the art group via Craigslist. About 4 weeks after joining the group, I saw another Craigslist posting, by Jeremy, looking for someone who wanted to draw a comic with him. I answered it, and we met at the same coffee shop that the art group was meeting. Jeremy didn't live far from there, so I told him he should start coming to the group. I introduced him to Jason and those guys have created awesome work together.  

CBotMP: As an illustrator who are your major creative influences?

CH: It changes all the time. One constant however, is Marko Djurdjevic. And this is from ConceptArt.org back in the day before he dropped the X-Men work. His pencils and concept art is amazing. I own his CA.org DVD and I have always been a huge fan of his. Right now I have to say I am really into Rafael Albuquerque of American Vampire . I love the ink work he does with the gray washes.  As far as classic illustration Andrew Wyeth is my favorite. I am also a big fan of Nic KIein's work. His combo of different styles in the Viking books is fantastic. 

CBotMP: What sorts of subjects do you like drawing most? Is there a particular project you would love to draw?

CH: I love ghosts and the supernatural more than anything.  I am always saying to people that I love stories about the "intelligent dead". Not in the vampire sense, but in the "oh shit, I died and I now live in the underground as a ghoul" or something like that. I love the series Being Human on SyFy, to give you an idea. I am also a huge fan of Steve Niles. I have never read 30 Days of Night either. I am talking about Criminal Macabre, Doc Macabre, and his Ominibus book of short stories. 

CBotMP: You should check out the first issue of Aleister Arcane by Neils. It's about a late night shlock horror movie host that seeks revenge against a town that killed him. The first issue is one of the best horror comics I've ever read, but it turns pretty quickly into a scare-fest that in no way lives up to the first issue. Also, you should check out DC's Showcase Presents House of Mystery Volume 3. There are some AMAZING artists in there and their work is truly chilling. 

On average, how long do you spend drawing each strip?

CH: It really depends on the family and how tired I am. 1.5 to 3 hours normally. This is sad to say. I should be more consistant with how I do the strip. Some weeks I do it 100% digitally in Manga Studio EX 4. Then some weeks I do it traditionally.  I have recently started doing the initial drawings and all the lettering up front in MSEX4, and then printing it out to do the final drawing and inking over blue line. I like this method best. Also in regards to color I have been toying with the idea of watercolor. I have just started introducing/LEARNING to do gray wash toning like my influences listed above. 

CBotMP: You can see a bit of Far Side influence in Crazy Normal, is that intentional? Or are there other people you admire in the one panel gag strip/political cartoon genre that have influenced you more?

CH: I own every Far Side collection book out there. Jeremy had the idea that I change to that format because he knows how tight my schedule is. Since then, I have enjoyed doing it and it makes coming up with ideas easier.  I lean on social issues for my ideas in general and sometimes those cross over into politics, but I do not want it to ever be just about politics. 


CBotMP: The first strip of Ennui of the Dead was in color, and it quickly shifted to only black and white. Was there a specific reason, or just timing?


CH: Well I simply wasn't happy with the result in color. It is one of MANY things I need to work on to be a better artist.  


CBotMP: Whose work (graphic novels or otherwise) have you read lately that you really enjoyed?


CH: Well, The Walking Dead is just fucking insane. I am reading the hell out of that series. Jeremy and Jason have been great at introducing me to some great Vertigo titles, which is by far my favorite label. Y the Last Man was great, but Preacher was amazing. Right now I am going back and reading Alan Moore's Swamp Thing in the late 80's on my Kindle Fire via Comixology. It is great and the art work is amazing too. The page design reminds me of Sandman where every page is a huge piece of art. And my wife got me the Star Wars comic art book at christmas and I have been through that thing a thousand times. 

CBotMP: Thank you so much for answering our questions. And we can't wait to see how Ennui of the Dead develops as it continues.

Charlie Harper posts new strips of Crazy Normal every other Tuesday and Ennui of the Dead on Thursdays at Firetowerstudios.com. 

Thank you to everyone for all your continued support. If you have the time, check out the store, and click on our sponsors. We hope you're having as much fun reading these books as we are!

Artist Interview: Rich Lombardi, Co-Creator of Werewolf D.A.

Here is part 3 of our Firetower Studios interviews series. This time, we talked with Rich Lombardi, the artist on Werewolf DA. We discuss his influences, his love for character design, and how he almost quit being a comic artist before he'd even begun.

CBotMP: What is your comics origin story?

RL: Well, I'd feel pretty confident in saying that I've been into comics my whole life. My siblings and I, all grew up drawing. Each of us focused on different things though. For me, if a pencil was in my hand, I was drawing superheroes. We had a decent sized comic shop one town over from my childhood home. 'The Upper-Deck' in Peekskill, NY. We used to buy all our books, figures, and trading cards there. 

The place was like a walk-up dungeon. A poorly lit, dusty secret. They didn't advertise or anything like that. You either knew about it, or you didn't. To a middle schooler, it felt exclusive. The shop owner fit the classic NY small business owner archetype, old & unapproachable. He had a bulldog face and was always wearing some kind of military hat. To a child, it was like Mecca. If I saw it today, I'd probably feel same way. I'll never forget that place. 

CBotMP: How did you connect with Firetower Studios?

RL: Every year in Raleigh, they do this big downtown festival called SparkCON. It's a few summer days of art & entertainment featuring local businesses and vendors. Two years ago, my wife & I are wandering around down there, looking at chalk drawings.

CBotMP: Looking at chalk drawings?

RL: Yes! Since the event takes place outdoors in the middle of our city, they section off a couple of blocks for chalk drawing. I guess the way it works is you buy a square of street space & go crazy. Everyone's on their hands and knees like kids in a driveway, toiling away with huge hunks of chalk. You inevitably see some fantastic stuff.

Anyway, That's what we were doing when we stumbled across the Firetower Studios table. That's where I met Jeremy & Jason. We got to talking about comics, drawing, and childhood dreams. They had this group that met on Mondays to draw, write, & drink coffee. I thought to myself "I like all of those things, I should meet up with these cats". And by the next SparkCON, I was at the table with them.

CBotMP: Did you always plan on having a career in comics, or was it a kind of "hell, if these guys can do it, SO CAN I!" kind of moment?

RL: Actually, drawing comics has always been a lifelong dream of mine, but I had given up on it at an early age and I'll never forget why. My mother was taking us to the comic shop a few towns over, because there was going to be a REAL, LIVE comic artist signing books there! I was so young and wanted to pick his brain about my undoubted future profession. Anyhow, upon getting this guys autograph, I asked him if he had any advice for a young aspiring illustrator. He told me to find something else to do. Now, I never gave up on drawing, but a dream died that day. Or so I thought.

CBotMP: Who would you say are your biggest influences as an illustrator?

RL: Mark Texeira, specifically Wolverine 61 - 68. I just thought it was the most visceral thing I'd ever seen. I went back to those issues the other day and still can't believe my eyes. I got to see a bunch of his original pages at one of the last conventions we did. Super intense. His uncommonly aggressive line work is something I'll poorly imitate for the rest of my life.

CBotMP: I can see that Texeira influence now that you mention it. 

RL: I think It's important to strike a balance between what comes natural & what you've been influenced by. I think, if done right, you end up with something pretty original. 

CBotMP: I can also see that Wolverine has left a mark on your psyche.

RL: Back then there weren't a lot of characters like that! He was a short, ugly shade of grey. A bad guy doing bad things to people that just happen to be ethically worse than him. He may be overexposed and a bit toned down now, but he was the end-all-be-all of my childhood.

CBotMP: What is your favorite part of the comic creation process?

RL: Character design, hands down. When I was a kid I'd build these stacks of computer paper as thick as phone books, all full of original characters With elaborate outfits. (organized by team affiliation of course) Even if I was drawing a pre-existing character, I'd revise their duds or re-design them completely. It's still my favorite thing to do.

CBotMP: Character design seems like a lost art in comics. More often than not, the characters seem incredibly generic or rip-offs of things that have come before. Very happy to hear that it's a major focus for you.

RL: Oh absolutely. I've always felt that unless I can capture a complete visual representation of a character, I can't do anything else with him or her. 

CBotMP: Your art has a strong sense of eye-flow. It’s next to impossible to look at the wrong part of a page. The anatomy is often odd, but as with Kirby, it seems to control the reader’s focus. Does this discipline come naturally, or did it take you a while to develop?

RL: Wow, what a huge compliment! Thank you. The reality is that Werewolf DA has been my first foray into sequential art. So as far as eye-flow and controlling the readers focus, it's natural for me. As far as my sense of anatomy goes, I'd say its a result of nature and nurture working in collusion. I think that there was a certain anatomical recklessness that existed in comics when I was a child. Impossible proportions & muscles that don't exist. As someone that draws completely from there head, that's always been appealing to me. The less true to life it looks, the more it makes sense to me.

CBotMP: You render the hell out of facial hair, and just hair in general, it’s a bit of a stretch, but have you given any thought about drawing a medieval Viking comic?

RL: I'd love to do that! I've always had a fascination with history and warfare. 

CBOTMP: On average, how long does it take you to draw each strip? 

RL: If I don't take any breaks I can do a whole strip in 3 or 4 hours. 

CBOTMP: Is there anyone’s work that you are reading right now that you really enjoy?

RL: Right now I'm reading a book called "Oil!", by Upton Sinclair. It's the book that inspired "There Will Be Blood". As for comics, I'm all about The Walking Dead.

CBOTMP: The Walking Dead is definitely on everyone's must-read list these days. 

    

RL: For me, it's all about dangerous storytelling. I don't want to feel safe as I turn the page. That's what The Walking Dead has. So many characters you love, and none of them are guaranteed to make it out alive. The show works on that level too.

CBotMP: Especially the last couple episodes! Thank you for your time, Rich. And we can't wait to see all the twists and turns, and kinetic pencil work on Werewolf DA as it continues.


Be sure to check out new pages of Werewolf DA every Wednesday at firetowerstudios.com. We have two more interviews lined up in this series, we are just waiting on their responses. The Very Near Mint episode is in the can, and being edited as we speak. Should be up a little later than anticipated, but it is worth the wait! 


Thank you to everyone for all your continued support. If you have the time, check out the store, and click on our sponsors. We hope you're having as much fun reading these books as we are!

Artist Interview: Jason Strutz Co-Creator of The Order of Dagonet

Here is the second installment of our Firetower Studios interviews. We managed to get Jason Strutz to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk about his influences, how his art style has changed over time, and the many varied projects he's working on at the moment.


CBotMP: What is your comics origin story?


Jason Strutz: I had been doing paintings and art for years, but had trouble developing stories until I met Jeremy Whitley and he took care of that part. We started developing the story for The Order of Dagonet soon after we met when he saw a character design I had for Queen Titania and Bottom of A Midsummer Night's Dream. So while I was reading comics, it took finding a writer to get me into making them myself.  


CBotMP: You started out with a fine art background. That seems to be rare for a lot of comic creators. Do you have any artists that inspire you? 


JS: For classical painting I like Caravaggio's characters that are hidden in darkness, Whistler's restrained colors, Dali's ideas and painting quality, and Bacon's craziness (I haven't gotten anywhere close to the creepiness of his pope paintings. Mostly I get inspired by illustrators like Phil Hale, Rick Berry, Drew Struzan, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Norman Rockwell, Brad Holland, Frank Frazetta. I do like art with a purpose. Getting into comics people, Chrissie Zullo, Jeff Smith, James Jean, Simon Bisley are along my lines. 


CBotMP: With that arts background, how did you wind up joining the ranks of Firetower Studios? 


JS: Jeremy Whitley, Charlie Harper, and myself started the group with Dagonet and a story the Charlie and Jeremy were working on. We have continued Dagonet and branched out into other projects and webcomics at Firetower Studios and have added Werewolf D.A. artist Rich Lombardi, and artist/editor Alicia Whitley.   


CBotMP: Your art is amazingly vibrant! What is your process? It seems like it must take you quite a while to make. 


JS: For Dagonet art, it's not so long. There's a full pencil drawing, then airbrush basic colors and the tighten up the color with colored pencils. I would say a page all together would take about 4-5 hours if I worked straight through, but I do each step to all the pages at once before moving on to ensure some sort of consistency. I have been doing some pencilling and inking for Action Lab Entertainment on their Glob World series that shows some cartooning chops (hopefully), and pencils and inks on DeathCurse, a horror book from Lost Story Studios for some gooier black & white art. I feel I have a wide variety of styles to work in depending on the theme of the material. 


CBotMP: Seeing some of your work in progress pages at StrutzIllustration.com was really insightful. That final pass with pencils adds an interesting weight to your art. How did this style develop? 


JS: When I started working out how to adapt my painting and drawing style to doing comics, I remembered a sketchbook class I took in college working with toned papers, markers and colored pencils and I hadn't seen that done long-form in comics. I started Dagonet before I got on to airbrush, and also started by doing digital inking before the colors. So the art in 1-3 is a bit different and harder edged than the art in 4-now. Its been a learning process for me, but I like where that style has ended up. Mostly I think I was trying a bit hard to find something different in the beginning and have calmed down a bit now. 


CBotMP: Your layouts are very expressive yet very readable. I can’t think of many other creators who do anything quite like it. How did you create that look? 


JS: For the most part, I make it up as I go. I feel I have reigned it in a bit as the series has gone on. I try to identify the important beats on a page in the script form, and work from there. I have nothing against a strict grid page though, if the story calls for it. Its probably harder even.


CBotMP: You draw an awful lot of faeries and mythical creatures for Dagonet and its “sister” comic. Where did you come up with the character designs? 


JS: I like creatures, monsters and such, and tried to bring in nature and vegetation aspects to the characters and creatures we create. A lot of my designs start from nature and plant based creatures with hopefully some grace and grandeur. I wanted to make the faeries more modern when in their human size form, thus the t-shirts, jeans and dresses. 


CBotMP: Dagonet is the only Firetower book with a spin off comic, why did you two create the Faerie Sisters comic? 


JS: We liked the characters of Bella and Lunessa, and thought they could have some good adventures within the world we had created. It also gives us a chance to show the faerie world from their perspective, especially coming in about the time in the series when you discover that not all faeries are bad. 


CBotMP: Are there any good books (graphic novels or otherwise) that you have been reading lately? 


JS: I really haven't been reading much lately, too much going on. I follow the Fables series, Princeless by Jeremy Whitley and will pick up anything by Doug TenNapel, Eddie Campbell, and Craig Thompson. I want to get into Orc Stain, some 2000 A.D. stories and read Unwritten to talk about it with my wife. Hopefully some life changes are coming up soon that will allow some more time for work and reading. 


CBotMP: Wow. Thanks for pointing out Doug TenNapel. His art looks amazing. Thank you for your time Jason. The crew can't wait to see what you work on next.


We have a few more interviews with the Firetower creators to come, and we are going to be recording the VERY NEAR MINT podcast tomorrow so expect it up in the next week. Thank you to everyone for all your continued support. If you have the time, check out the store, and click on our sponsors. We hope you're having as much fun reading these books as we are!

Indie Spotlight #2: Firetower Studios

Chris, Dylan, & Keith gather around the laptop for a little over an hour to talk about the smorgasbord of webcomics produced by Firetower Studios. Listen to Chris spew good-natured bile!

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Download this episode (right click and save)

New updates every weekday!

Mondays: Jeremy Whitley and Jason on "Faerie Sisters", a webcomic tie in to The Order of Dagonet

Every other Tuesday: Jeremy and Alicia on "Hot Interracial Marriage" a diary comic on interracial relationships, parenting, and life.

Every other Tuesday: Charlie's "Crazy Normal" a commentary and satire cartoon in one panel

Wednesdays: Jeremy and Rich's "Werewolf D.A." a supernatural legal thriller

Thursdays: Jeremy and Charlie's "Ennui of the Dead" a look at the lives, times, and melancholy of the long undead.

Fridays: Postings of pages from the "Order of Dagonet"

Both the Crew and you the listeners are rather lucky it took this long for us to review their work. All of these web comics have finished up their first storyline, so there is a wealth of strips to get you into their crazy world. The comics Firetower Studios produces are very unique, and we look forward to seeing this group as they continue to develop. If you would like to purchase the first trade paperback of "The Order of Dagonet" (which if you're in the mood for crazy fantasy adventure in a modern setting with psychedelic coloring, you really should!), you can buy it from their store.

We also discuss the wonderful world of comics litigation for about 15 minutes towards the end. The song is Feuer Frei by Rammstein.

We will be back in two weeks time with our Book of the Month Episode featuring VERY NEAR MINT by Justin Peterson. Stick around, we know you're all going to love it!

Creator Interview: Jeremy Whitley, Founder of Firetower Studios

While you are waiting for the next episode to be posted, we thought we'd share this interview we did with Jeremy Whitley. He was able to take time out from his busy schedule of writing five web comics for Firetower Studios, Princeless and his day job to answer a few questions. Even after the Indie Spotlight episode is posted, we plan on doing more interviews with each of the Firetower creators over the next few weeks.

CBotMP: Jeremy, what is your comics origin story? (what got you into sequential art to begin with?)

JEREMY WHITLEY: My dad got me into comics when I was a kid and we had a great comic store just down the street from us in Livermore CA.  When we moved to North Carolina I didn't have a local shop and kind of lost touch with comics.  However, in that time I ended up going to college for English and Creative Writing.  A few years after graduating I discovered comics again thanks to Joss Whedon and his Astonishing X-Men.  Before I knew it, I was spending $40 a month on comic books and borrowing trades and graphic novels.  Eventually I decided that there was an idea I had for a story that I really wanted to see in comic book form, so all that was left was to find an illustrator.  So I did what any serious writer would do...I posted an ad on craigslist.

CBotMP: And did you have much success?

JW: Well, Charlie Harper answered that Craigslist ad and invited me up to the local coffee shop where he had an art meetup so that we could discuss the project.  I decided to stick around and met another artist named Jason Strutz.  A lot of things happened, but a few months later we were sitting around a table in Barnes & Noble discussing officially forming a studio.

CBotMP: I can see it's grown quite a bit since then. How did the other creators become involved? 

JW: Well, Alicia & I met a long time ago in an English class.  If you read Hot Interracial Marriage, that first arc is more or less true to life.

   As for Rich, a year and a half ago we were at an outdoor festival in Raleigh with our tent full of comic books.  We were approached by this snappily dressed man who said, "Aw man, I always wanted to do what you guys are doing...and you're doing it.  That's so cool."  We invited him to come to our weekly drawing/writing meetups and he brought some ideas he was working on.  When we started talking about doing webcomics we were looking for more artists to contribute and his name immediately came up.

CBotMP: Rich's work is excellent. Switching direction over to the medium itself, why did you decide on webcomics?

JW: We've been working on print comics for what feels like so long...and it's such a long game.  Being an indy publisher and having real full time jobs, we were forced to disappear for months between issues.  Having a creative output where we get to tell stories, get them where people can see them immediately, and not have to spend money we don't have on printing is a huge plus for us.  Not to mention, we can tell stories like Werewolf D.A., which at times just feels to crazy to exist in a printed form.

CBotMP: You're not kidding. Firetower Studios "flagship book" is The Order of Dagonet. Where did the idea come from?

JW: During one of those first artist meetups Jason brought a portfolio of some of his paintings.  I found one of Titania and Bottom that reminded me of an idea I had for having modern knights do battle with actual mythological creatures.  I went home that night and wrote a script for a first issue.  I brought it to the meetup the next week and not so subtly asked Jason to read it.  After reading and chuckling, he asked how I'd feel about him taking a crack at illustrating it.  I, of course, was thrilled with the idea.

CBotMP: How much research was done for Dagonet?

JW: A few hours of direct research into trying to find good candidates for the order and learning about obscure English royalty.  Most of the rest is from memory.  I've read a lot of fantasy and I was an English major in college, so it's largely made up of things I already knew. 

CBotMP: Where do the characters come from? Are they amalgams of people you know?

JW: Well, most of them are amalgams of real people who are actual knights.  Well, amalgams may actually be putting it kindly in the cases of Dizzy and Emerald particularly.  Tottington is a little bit of Ian McKellen and a little bit of Peter O'Toole. Everyman is...well, he's a rather cynically minded Neil Gaiman to be frank.  The only truly original characters are LaVerne and my faeries.  All three of them are bits and pieces of people I know and love.

CBotMP: Each one of the web comics has a very distinct style and feel. Yet they are all written by you. Do you try and write for your artists, or do they have a rather strong say in the creative process?

JW: A little bit of both.  A lot of what I do in Faerie Sisters garners its inspiration from what Jason has done in the book.  The style and format is all him and the goofy faerie girls are all me.  Alicia is co-writer on Hot Interracial Marriage, so quite often she decides what story she wants to tell and suggests it to me.  Usually I just specialize in the formatting (and I wrote most of the first arc, which is all true by the way).  Rich and Charlie have the least to do with what I wrote, as I really started writing those strips before we had officially started the webcomics, but both of them have made the art their own in ways that are impossible to underestimate.  Charlie likes to challenge himself to do neat tricks with panel formatting and storytelling.  Rich, however, just bleeds art onto the page.  I couldn't have chosen a better style for the primal nature of these pages.

CBotMP: How far ahead are these stories mapped out?

JW: Am I supposed to map them out ahead of time?  That's only kind of a joke.  I had a huge lead on everyone when we started this thing, but while I've been paying attention to Princeless stuff, that has quickly evaporated.  I really need a vacation so I can get some work done. 

CBotMP: Any teasers you would like to tell our audience about future story lines?

JW: Well, Faerie Sisters is into its second storyline now and is going to continue to be wacky in the upcoming "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" story.  Werewolf D.A. is headed inside the courtroom, as Maya is about to find out she's not the only legal professional with a few supernatural tricks up her sleeve.  Ennui of the Dead is just going to go plain crazy with a little WWII action, some True Blood inspired naughtiness, and more examples of immortals having absolutely no sense of responsibility.