IDW Publishing Forums

[ultramagnus1]

Heres my final interview of 2012. Thanks to Andrew for his time with this. Enjoy.

1 Have you always been a fan of transformers? What is your earliest memory?

1) Well, always, yes. If by always you mean "as long as Transformers have been around." I first became a fan of Transformers when my brother came home from school excited about these new toys his classmates were all talking about and he drug the family off to the local mall. What we found there was what seemed like a row of toys full of cars, planes and cassette decks that could transform into alien robots. My brother got Prowl and I got a discolored Bumblebee. After that, I read the first issue of the Marvel comic, saw the premiere of the cartoon show and was hooked!

2 When did you become interested in drawing?

2) Well, I remember a specific moment in kindergarten or first grade, when we all drew people as stick figures, and I had this epiphany. I suddenly realized that people actually had a thickness to them, and rather than a single line to represent a torso or limb, it would be more accurate to draw things like limbs with two lines to represent the thickness. From then on I really took to drawing and was constantly striving to better understand how to represent the 3D world in 2D.

3 Are there any artists who you look up to?

3) In a general sense? Well, I grew up loving both comics and fine art. I grew up being inspired and influenced by comic book artists ranging from John Byrne, Ron Frenz, Walt Simonson, to Moebius and Barry Windsor-Smith. At the same time, I grew to love fine artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. In my teen years I spent a lot of time drawing in comic book styles, and even made a failed submission to Marvel, and by that time my influences in style were largely people like Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri and Arthur Adams. So many other artists I could name, but that's just a few to start with.

4 You worked on the movie comics before Robots In Disguise. How did you like tackling the movie designs?

4) Well, they were definitely a challenge to wrap my head around. But they were often more forgiving at the same time. Drawing something slightly off on a character design like movie Megatron is a lot less noticeable than say, on G1 Optimus Prime. There are so many moving and nearly indeterminable parts on some of those movie guys that most people really aren't going to notice if you draw a gear a few inches higher than it should be, or a piece of armor is slightly smaller than they'd seen it was on screen. I found it kind of funny though that after working on Defiance and Foundation I must have been one of a handful of people that could pretty much draw movie Megatron from memory. Not sure I could right after not drawing him in a while, but I could probably get pretty close.

5 Is there a favourite/least favourite character you like to draw?

5) I don't know if there is a lead favorite. It probably depends on who I've had to draw a lot. Almost anyone can get to be a pain if you draw them enough. But then you get a break and suddenly you enjoy drawing them again.
As far as favorite, well I've really enjoyed drawing the WfC Ironhide design I've been using in RID. Wheeljack was one of my favorites too, but I've drawn him enough now that sometimes it can be a bit of a chore. That never lasts long though, I'm certainly not complaining about what I get to do.

6 Where you a fan of the movies?

6) The live-action or the cartoon movie? The '86 movie was a big part of my young life. I saw that thing so many times it almost felt like a habit. I still pull it out and watch it every once in a while. A far as the live-action films, well I've grown to admire the designs a bit more than I originally did. But I guess I'll just say Michael Bay's style of film direction has limited appeal to me.

7 We are nearly at the end of year 1 for RiD. Have you been happy so far with how its been received?

7) Oh, definitely! I tend to stress about how things will be received. I know how fans can be, being one myself. But it was a nice surprise when reviews started coming in on the first issue and they were overwhelmingly positive, both for the writing and the art. I mean getting noticed in not just Transformers sites, but also in more "mainstream" comics sites has been particularly encouraging.

8 Do you have a favourite issue so far from the run?

8) Well, I might have to say issue 4. It was a fun issue to draw, and I think as things unfold over the next few issues people are really going to be able to go back, reread that issue and go "ooooooohhhhhh!"

9 Who is your favourite to draw from this series?

9) Boy, that's really alternated as the series has gone on. Sometimes I would have said Arcee, sometimes Blurr, sometimes Wheeljack. Needlenose has always been fun too, mane just because it's so odd to see him in a fairly central role.

10 How long does it take to draw a typical issue?


10) Well, that really depends. If I'm on my game, I can pump one out with pencils and inks in five weeks. Some tend to stretch out to more like seven or eight weeks, the tough ones. But I'd say on average they tend to take me about six weeks.

11 Can you give us any hints about whats to come?

11) Well, I can definitely say if you've been reading this far, don't stop now! Things are really about to come to a head, starting with the action-packed issue 11. The return of a very central character provides the catalyst for a lot of revelations and helps ignite the climax of the main story.

12 Finally can you tell us something about yourself that most of us wouldnt know?

12) What don't people know about me? Hmmm.... I could probably list off a bunch of things, but maybe the fact that I'm something of a fanboy when it comes to the great cities of the world. I just always find places like New York, Paris, London, Rome and the like so addictive. They keep drawing me back. I think it's a combination of the vitality, the art and culture, the endless sense of possibility and the history... It really creates a rich tapestry that I feed off of so much and it really inspires me. I just got back from a trip spent exploring the great cities of the Hapsburg Empire, and got to take in some tragic history in Budapest, some great music in Vienna and some great food in Prague. That's the kind of stuff that really rejuvenates me and helps keep me inspired creatively.
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"No man needs a vacation so much as the man that has just had one" Elbert Hubbard

[Kirjava]

Nice to know Andrew is a city-appreciater! There's a lot to love here in Central Europe.
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