SiDEBAR - COMICS, ART & POP CULTURE

Podcast Episode 176 :: PHIL HALE

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Making the transition into a new phase of our lives is always a challenging proposition. Even in our professions, attachments get made, bonds are formed, and none of these connections are easily severed. Sometimes, it can take years. Ask Phil Hale.

Phil worked as an illustrator early on in his young career, and that wasn’t something he set out to do. After being mentored by his friend, artist Rick Berry, moving the paintbrush for art directors just sort of happened. A “validation thing”, he says in our talk. And yet, it didn’t go unrewarded. His clients, we’re sure, must have been happy with his work. They continued to give him assignments. And his name became a very popular one amongst art collectors as well as fans. But in his time doing illustration, Phil grew weary of it and longed for other things.

Over the course of the next decade or so, his career focus shifted from working illustrator to working portrait painter. As it turns out, Phil comes from a long line of artists, specifically portrait artists, on both sides of his family tree. And his own work in this field received international notoriety in 2007, when he was commissioned by the House of Commons to paint a portrait of (then) Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

These days, however, if you wanna see a new Phil Hale image, don’t look for it on a book cover or in some portrait gallery. Your best bet is to seek out his next gallery show either here or abroad. Phil has fully and finally returned to personal work and he’s all the better for it. In a recent email exchange I had with him, he did share that while his exodus from illustration has been on-going, he still loves it. But judging from the breadth and depth of his personal work, clearly, he’s right where he should be.

Hope you enjoy the interview.

- SWAiN

*Our conversation with Phil covers some of his background, his friendship with Rick Berry, his thoughts about picture-making, and his plans to attend Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! this summer as one of its special guests.

The image above is an old fave (Swampy), and the one below is an example of Phil's newer work.

Podcast Episode 172 :: JOE PHILLIPS

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Like the legendary hip-hop group, Whodini, said back in 1984, "Friends, how many of us have them?" I've got a few. And you're about to meet one of them right now.

I first got to know Joe Phillips years ago, 'Nation. I won't embarrass him or I by telling you how many years — just know it was a lot! We were both drawing at the time. I clearly remember Joe, me and four other buddies sitting around on his living room floor drawing. And drawing. And drawing (though I've since become more art lover than art maker).

Even then, Joe was really good and already an entrepreneur in his own right. He had his own small comic book company, his own characters and super team — the whole nine. We were all like, “Daaamn!”.

Fast forward a few years, and Joe's working in comics full-time. A year after that, he co-founds a very popular Atlanta-based art collective, Gaijin Studios. Oh yeah, and he starts ballin' outta control (my words, not his).

He's penciling tons of mainstream comics (Green Lantern, Justice League, X-men), doing crazy trading cards, and straight makin' bank. It was the well-documented era of the early '90s known as 'The Speculator Boom'. And of course, it didn't last.

But Joe did.

He and I fell out of contact by that point. And as he shares in today’s interview, he ended up leaving the studio and starting anew by “going west, young man”. Over the course of the next decade plus, it was t-shirt designs, an apparel company, a magazine, illustration work, animation, calendars, and yes, some comics here and there. Dude kept busy!

Now, all the stuff that happened in between the highs and lows (there was a lot) kinda gets covered in our conversation with him. Kinda. Our chat with Joe was very much just that — a chat. Old pals reconnecting. It's not in any way formal, so do your best to keep up.

I saw Joe again recently for the first time in about 15 years. It was at this year's Dragon*Con. And it was all good. Obviously, we'd both changed a bit, but he seemed to be enjoying his time back home.

I told him right there on the con floor, that while I had proudly followed all of his successes from the sidelines — the comics, The Heretic, the Joe Boys stuff, the national ad campaigns — I never stopped thinking of him as anything other than my boy. That same talented, but humble kid sitting on the living room floor drawing and cracking jokes. 'Cause in my mind, that's where it all started.

Friends. How many of us have them, indeed.

- SWAiN

Podcast Episode 162 :: JOHN PICACIO

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First, a confession: Prior to last year's Dragon*Con, I had absolutely no idea who John Picacio was.

None.

Rewinding back to that particular convention, I remember Dwight strongly urging Swain and myself to check out the Art Gallery, post-haste. After much hemming and hawing (all by me), I followed Dwight over to take a look.

Now, speaking honestly, I've never been a sci-fi/fantasy art fan — by any stretch. But after we stopped by Picacio's booth and I saw his work for the first time, those words no longer rang true.

Dwight and I ogled his original drawings for Michael Moorcock's legendary hero, Elric, and let me say, they were something to behold. Seeing those grayscale images up close was an experience unto itself. And it was made more so by John's eloquence and giving spirit.

We had the good fortune of having him sit down and join us for a quick chat at our booth (as chronicled on Episode 136). Turned out he was an avid listener to SiDEBAR and we all became fast friends.

Picacio's lauded resume of over ten years includes illustration for all the major publishers of science-fiction, fantasy and horror. And at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, he debuted his latest project from Random House: the 2012 George R. R. Martin calendar for A Song of Ice and Fire.

John says the Martin fans at Comic-Con absolutely loved it and this was his best year ever. He describes them as "hardcore and beyond passionate". We believe him!

Our conversation covers the creation of the Ice and Fire calendar, as well as a look back at Picacio's formative years as a young artist. We also get into his thoughts of the ever-changing landscape of contemporary illustration, some process talk, and his amazing artbook, Cover Story.

Cover Story was published by Monkeybrain Books in 2006. And after meeting John at Dragon*Con, I promptly went home and ordered myself a copy. It's a treat for fans of sci-fi/fantasy illustration. Awww hell, fans of illustration period. Trust.

Lastly, from August 17-21, John will be set up at Worldcon in Reno, Nevada. The con also hosts the annual Hugo and Chesley Awards. This year, he's nominated for a Hugo for Best Professional Artist and three (!) Chesleys for his cover and interior illustrations. Good luck to John and the rest of the nominees!

Picacio's Blog

** Stay tuned after the interview for an extra special Easter Egg celebrating Dwight's recent birthday!

-ADRiAN

 

Podcast Episode 160: JEFF PRESTON

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Jeff Preston is many things. He's an illustrator. He's southern. He's old school. He's also our pal and a fun guy to hang out with!

Dwight and I met him at a Dragon*Con a few years ago (Adrian has yet to) and we've all been buds ever since. It's cool being friends with someone who's been doing this for 26 years, and whose artistic lineage goes back to Howard Pyle (yep, that's right).

Looking at his gallery, you'll notice Jeff has a penchant for the macabre — monsters, ghouls, zombies. Basically anything that goes bump in the proverbial night. Which is funny considering many of the assignments he's gotten over his career have come from religious publishers (drawing Jesus by day, and Dracula by night).

And hey, don't let the old school comment fool you. This man does work traditionally (his marker technique — oh my God!), but he also rocks the digital tools. He taught Photoshop courses for a while at a college in his native Tennessee.

Prepare to regaled by Preston's rich stories and tall tales. I say tall tales in jest. Jeff's experiences are all honest and real. In some cases pretty funny, too. He was a hoot!

And we do get into some process for all you tech-heads out there. Jeff wields a Copic marker like Thor wields his hammer — and there's just as much thunder and lightning as a result. You can quote me on that!

- SWAiN

His partial client list: Famous Monsters of Filmland, Darkhorse Comics, Lifeway Christian Resources, The United Methodist Publishing House, MGM/UA Home Video, Haunted Hill Productions, Spencer Gifts, Harcourt Publishing, McDonalds, Flynn/Sabitino/Day Advertising, Fantasy Flight Games, 5/3rd Bank, U.S. Post Office and more.

Here's a link to Amdale Media's latest in their Masters of Art Video Tutorial series. A DVD featuring Jeff and his incredible marker technique. Gobble it up, folks.

Below is an assortment of Preston goodies. The first one (left) is called Apparition Abolishers; a more recent piece. Dwight refers to it as Cyberpunk Ghostbusters. I'm fond of both titles!

 

  

 

Podcast Episode 158: KEKAI KOTAKI

 
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Hey, 'Nation!

When I met Kekai Kotaki (or 'Cake' as we call him here at the 'Bar) several years ago at the 2005 Concept Art Workshop, I was amazed and inspired by his talent and his awesome sketchbooks. Though he was a fresh face to the scene, I knew for certain that his skills would take him far. And that they have.

Since 2004, Kekai has worked consistently in the gaming industry, starting as a texture artist, and making his way briskly up the internal ladders of NCSoft and ArenaNet, to become the lead concept designer on GuildWars 1 and 2.

Yet even with the demands of his day job, he still finds time to do freelance work for clients like Tor Books and their art director, Irene Gallo.

Kekai is an artist of rare acuity and vision. The images he creates immediately immerse you in the realms illustrated. Some fantasy artists require a suspension of disbelief or a familiarity with the subject matter at the very least, in order to make you believe. Kekai provides you with immediate recognition — regardless of your situation.

Even though his method is abstraction, he assaults your senses with his evocative character designs, atmospheres and solid compositions. The majesty of his landscapes and environments are beyond reproach. The images we've presented here are a select few, but they will leave you in awe.

As we discuss in the interview, Kotaki has created so much content that's been used in promo adverts by the gaming industry, that you may recognize them all, and never have known they were his. As such, we recommend you check out his site and blog for a bigger piece...of 'Cake'.

- DWiGHT

Below is a small gallery of Kekai's images. There's a distinct "wow" factor at work!

 

 

This is one of the images mentioned in the interview. The one Cake said Daniel Dociu kinda art directed him on (to good results).

 

Podcast Episode 156: JASON PALMER

 
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The eye of an illustrator is a real particular thing. When I was a youngster, I didn't pay that much attention to what was what in art — comics, cartoons, movie posters, an image on a lunchbox — it was all just cool pictures to me.

But after a few years of maturing and taking a closer look at what falls under the artistic umbrella, illustration, as with all the disciplines, has its own lane. And it requires a very specific skill set, too. You gotta have the "magic eye" like Denzel Washington tells Ethan Hawke in the movie 'Training Day'. Our pal, Jason Palmer, has the magic eye.

Jason lives out on the west coast in California, where he was born and raised, and has been a professional illustrator for over 20 years. He's worked on a variety of projects in his career: Star Trek comic books, prop art for various TV shows, licensed artwork for Warner Bros., Universal Studios and Lucasfilm properties, storyboards, ad designs, and more.

And as we cover in our interview, he recently worked on the new Wonder Woman television show that was in production over at NBC. This was the one, of course, being helmed by David E. Kelley and featured actress, Adrianne Palicki.

Other than commercial gigs like the ones mentioned above, Jason creates images for his own business featuring the liknesses of many of his favorite sci-fi, fantasy and pop culture icons. If you go to his store or if you see him at a convention, you'll likely see merch with characters from Star Wars, Star Trek, Tron, Smallville, Firefly and The Matrix.

When we first met Jason and his wife Yelena at Dragon*Con a few years ago, we ended up being their booth neighbors. Jason told us he was a fan of the podcast and how much he enjoyed it. And we were floored at how good his art was. After about ten minutes, we became bestest buddies and the rest of the weekend was a complete hoot!

In our chat with Mr. Palmer, we get to hear about everything — his early days working in an art store, his encounters with guys like LeRoy Neiman and Dave Stevens, becoming a professional illustrator, and what it's like to be considered Drew Struzan's protege (yes, that is correct).

- SWAiN

**Below are two classic Indy images. The one on the left I happen to own as a print — a gift from the Palmers!

 

Here, Jason does a terrific version of Morpheus, Neo and Trinity; then an homage to his late friend, Dave Stevens' character, the Rocketeer.

 

And last, two of my favorite Padmes. Jason did a gazillion of them and they're all brilliant.

  

Podcast Episode 140: Dial V for VAN FLEET - Illustrator JOHN VAN FLEET Picks Up the Phone

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John Van Fleet is an illustrator and comic artist who's work I've enjoyed for many a year. He graduated from art school at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY alongside the likes of Kent Williams, George Pratt and Mark Chiarello. Adrian warmly refers to them as "that Brandywine crew." For me, they'll always be The Fab Four.

Van Fleet started out studying graphic design at Pratt, but hated it. After seeing what his buds were doing in comics, he decided to make the switch.

The stuff by him that you'll wanna check out weaves back and forth between full blown comics, masterfully illustrated comic covers and trading cards. I say look for Typhoid, Batman: The Chalice and Batman: The Ankh if you want some really fun comic stories.

As for single images, try his covers for H-E-R-O and American Century. You cannot go wrong. And all of his trading cards are super nice, too—he's done tons.

John lives outside of Chapel Hill, NC with his family and works from his home studio. We caught up with him there and found him to be affable, funny and pretty free wheelin' in our chat. He was a hoot!

In the interview, we cover his background and some hilarious stories from his days in NYC, how his approach to picture-making developed, the sometimes 'arduous' use of photo ref and freelancing after all these years.

- SWAIN

**There's a really funny Easter egg at the very end of this episode. Check it out!

Also, the title of the interview is a reference to the H-E-R-O series Van Fleet worked on back in 2003. It was a new take on a Silver Age DC book from the '60s called Dial H for H-E-R-O.

 

Podcast Ep. 131: 'Using Your Illusion' - SiDEBAR Interviews Visionary Storyteller IAIN MCCAIG

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Terminator 2, Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We could stop there and have your rapt attention, right?

We won't.

Iain McCaig is one of the most lauded and respected artists working in film today. He's virtually on every artist's list as, not only an influence, but a hero. Those that have met him in person all say the same thing, "He's like the most positive teacher or professor you've ever had in your life!" That's a quote, by the way.

Iain has worked as either a concept or storyboard artist on all of the movies mentioned above—beginning with T2 in the early '90s when he was employed at Industrial Light & Magic. Today, he's often hired as a consultant, as well as a designer, by studios like ILM, Disney, Pixar and etc.

His own studio, Ninth Ray, a collective of the artists he met while working on the Star Wars properties, has been behind things like Outlander and the highly anticipated John Carter of Mars, due out in 2012.

While he makes his home in Canada, we caught up with McCaig on the job in California and it truly was a dream come true. He was one of the names at the top of Dwight's personal pursuit list for SiDEBAR, and man...did he deliver. Tons about his background, filmwork, process and upcoming personal projects.

Listen in for the game we played with Iain after the interview called 'Either Or, Choose One—No More'. Twas mad fun. Not only was he down to play the game, but he turned it back on us near the end. Awesome, right?

And we have to mention here that the road to this interview was paved with the help of some very good friends. Guys like comic artist Leland Purvis, concept artist Dermot Power and new buddy J.J. Torres were instrumental in helping us get in contact with McCaig. We thank them sincerely and profusely.

And of course, BIG OL' GIANT THANKS to Iain himself for hanging out. What an incredible guest and a terrific person.

**Yes, the title is a reference to Guns N' Roses third studio album. It looked cool enough when we typed it in.

Podcast Episode 130: LOIS VAN BAARLE - Animator and Illustrator

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The Internet is an interesting thing. Without it, you wouldn't know what a podcast was. Nor would you be able to subscribe to a blog. And for that matter, none of us outside of Holland might have ever heard of a talented animator and illustrator named Lois van Baarle (roughly pronounced van Barr-luh).

To be honest, and this is Swain speaking here, I can't remember how I stumbled upon her work. Maybe through Drawn, maybe a link on another artist's website. Either way, her stuff is killer.

At first, I thought Lois was mostly an animator, but once I saw Trichrome Blue, I could see she's more than that.

She's an artist.

Not in the "I draw and I paint" kind of way. She's that as well. I mean in the "I have something to say, I have a story to tell" kind of way. And she does, truly.

By the way, my daughter was completely transfixed watching Blue for the first time. Absorbing all the beaufiful, haunting elements in it, she asked a lot of questions (kids know when it's good).

We've blogged about van Baarle's work twice before on this site, so we're running out of things to say about her without giving away some of the interview. And that's not gonna happen.

What we will reveal here is, she lives in the Netherlands where she was born. She's lived in other places around the world like Indonesia, the U.S. and France. She went to school in Belgium for a while, but recently graduated from The Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) in Holland. And her future is as bright as can be.

Going back to the pros and cons of the Internet for a minute, thank God for VOIPs. Mobile phones are tricky little bastards when you go international and this interview almost didn't happen because of that oversight. Luckily it did though 'cause we were mad ready for Lois. And we hope you are, too.

Take care and thanks for listening.

Podcast Episode 126: Giant Steps - The Undeniable Impact of Artist FRANK FRAZETTA (1928 - 2010)

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We heard like everyone else did that Frank passed away yesterday from a stroke, so we decided to talk about his art and legacy. That's really about it.

He...was the man, and truly one of a kind.

**Giant Steps is a reference to John Coltrane, another great artist and innovator, who's work continues to affect the generations that have followed him.

Podcast Episode 125: Cover to Cover with Illustrator JENNY FRISON

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"We're baaack." Apologies for the long absence, but a chat with Jenny Frison will hopefully make up for it.

She's the Chicago-based artist who's been putting it down lately on IDW's Angel series (we posted about her before). She's also done work on The Dreamer, Voltron and Hack Slash—all three of those from Devil's Due Publishing.

Jenny is a part of the new wave of creators in comics today known exclusively as cover artists. She's done interior work before on stuff like Chicago 1968, but applying her illustrator's eye to the comic book cover is where her awesomeness really shines through. Fortunately for her, she figured that out early enough to well...get good early.

I was in my local comic shop here in Atlanta a few weeks ago, saw an Angel cover she did and just stopped. Very well composed, good staging, smart choices on the color palette and a pretty classic looking presentation.

I thought, "This person has gotta be an illustrator." And she confirmed that for us in the chat.

Other items covered in our conversation (sorry), her art training at Northern Illinois University and The Kubert School, breaking into comics via alcohol (okay, it was a Drink & Draw—sorry, again), adapting to the life of a professional, and attending C2E2, Chicago's newest downtown comic convention. That's right, downtown, baby!

Jenny was an absolute joy to speak with and we'd love to talk to her again someday. Stop by her table in Artist's Alley at C2E2 and buy some stuff. She's the real deal, gang.

Jenny Frison's DeviantArt Page

**At the very end of this episode, there's a short talk between the three hosts about the life and career of Dick Giordano. R.I.P, Dick.

  

 

Podcast Ep. 124: Twenty Years of Art & Skulduggery with TONY HARRIS

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Comic artist and illustrator Tony Harris has been makin' pictures for a good long while now. Two decades to be exact. And depending on who you talk to, he can be described in a lotta ways. Here's what we found in our interview with him.

He's a passionate artist who's committed to his craft, loves this medium, a devoted family man and he wears his heart on his sleeve. Yes, he has his rough edges and bad days like we all do, but don't define him by just that stuff. Pick up and read his new artbook.

After 20 years in the only profession he's ever wanted to work in, Art & Skulduggery, is a massive tome that covers his earliest work in comics, all the way up to the immaculate conceptions of current day (from the rooter to the tooter, like the old folks say).

Available in March from Desperado Publishing through their new IDW imprint, Tony and his publisher, Joe Pruett, have put together a must-have for old and new fans of this industry's original pirate.

Inside, you'll find all the goodies a die-hard Harris follower will wanna see: Nightmare on Elm Street, Starman, Obergeist, Spiderman, Ex-Machina, War Heroes, license stuff, prelims, pictures of family and friends, convention photos, tales of Jolly Roger, personal work, unpublished work and all of it peppered with lively and colorful commentary by the man himself. It's a true look at "a brilliant career", as Tony's ex-studiomate Cully Hamner once said. We agree.

Tony revealed in our conversation with him that he got a bunch of friends and professional peers to write a few words about him for Art & Skulduggery. Only a handful of the writings made it into the final edit, but it's an awesome handful: Adam Hughes, Dave Johnson, James Robinson, Tim Bradstreet and the late Jim Royal, just to name a few.

Everyone speaks openly and honestly about knowing the guy, working with him and almost all the way down the line, about how much they respect his talent and body of work (and it doesn't turn into just a big circle jerk either—honesty is a sword that cuts on both sides.)

For us, Tony was a lot of fun to talk to and seemed to be a true fan at heart—which is cool. Speaking of which, there's an Easter egg about Christopher Walken at the very end of the show. It's priceless! 

Enjoy the conversation, 'Nation and pick up Art & Skulduggery wherever you can. It's a thick-ass book (ha).

   


 

Podcast Ep. 121: GURNEY'S JOURNEY - SiDEBAR Interviews Fantastic Artist JAMES GURNEY

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We start off our conversation with the man by listing some of his many achievements and career highs—so we won't do it again here. Just know that he's been at this for a while now and he's rocked it all (Google or Bing him, but make a sandwich first).

Dwight and I have been following James Gurney's work since the Dinotopia series and his book covers first started appearing some years ago. Imagine our recent surprise when James sent us an email out of the blue saying how much he enjoyed our podcast. We almost lost our sh*t! It was as if the Great Wall of China or the Colossus of Rhodes had written us a note.

We wrote back, kept the gushing to a minimum and planned to have him on the show soon. Well, soon is today, lucky listeners.

In the discussion, we cover as much as we can with this modern day Renaissance Man: his background, his life now in upstate New York, some of those career highs we mentioned earlier and his newest book, Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist.

We also get into his daily blog and why he started it, his travels around the world and we end things by posing a question—to which James offers the most interesting answer (hey, he's James Gurney, what else would you expect).

Our thanks to him for coming on with us. It was an art nerd's dream come true.

And a big thanks to our friend Paolo Rivera for his help in bringing it all together.

**For this episode, we played a snippet of The Police's song Secret Journey. A great tone-setter for the interview, although Jim's amazing journey has been no secret.

Also, a reminder about the current Dinotopia exhibition going on in Wilmington, Delaware.

Podcast Ep. 120: 'Sam I Am' - An Interview with Illustrator SAM WEBER

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Today's episode is indeed a conversation with Sam Weber and I (Swain) am really geeked that we finally got a chance to speak with him. Sam and I have traded emails for over a year now and in that time I've connected with his work in a big way.

I, like Sam, Dwight and many others, started off loving comic art and eventually broadened my scope to include other areas of the visual arts. Fine art, illustration, animation, concept art, etc. Sam's work today reflects many of his influences, not least of which, his earnest love of comic books.

I'm sure I stumbled across one of his paintings on The Art Department blog (one of the best damn art resources on the planet) and pretty much fell right away. Later, I realized he was the same guy doing those covers for Vertigo's House of Mystery that I loved.

Sam is an illustrator by trade, but often times gets asked to lecture and share with students. He's spoken at his Alma Mater in Canada, The Alberta College of Art and Design, done a workshop here in Atlanta at SCAD, and was a part of the recent Art Out Loud 6 experience in NYC. Art Out Loud featured him and a few other folks you may know (all of this stuff is covered in our talk, by the way).

Visit Sam's site, ogle his images and prepare for amazement—the man's got something to show you. Oh, and enjoy the interview, too!

**Yes, that's a reference to the great Dr. Seuss in the title—one of my all time favorite writers.

Pic above by Irene Gallo.

Ep. 114: Spinning the Chamber with STUDIO REVOLVER

"Man...who are these guys?" Glad you asked that question, 'Nation. We'll tell ya.

Studio Revolver is a diverse collective of artists and creative types who share studio space here in Atlanta. We've known most of them, some in passing, some more personally, for forever. They're all good people, very talented and very focused on combining their individual strengths to make the whole stronger.

Other than talent, one of the things that makes Revolver unique is how many members there are. They're nine deep, folks—nine. That's a baseball team! They can kick the asses of any other studio you know just based on numbers (kidding—JOKES).

Seriously, we were destined to chat with them at some point, and now seemed like as good a time as any for us to do it. Plus, they just moved into their spacious new spot about a year ago.

The studio roll call is as follows: Casey Edwards (artist and graphic designer), John Tyler Christopher (artist and graphic designer), Tariq Hassan (artist and graphic designer), Tom Feister (artist and inker), Kevin Stokes (artist and inker), Jason Pearson (writer and artist), Georges Jeanty (artist and illustrator), Dexter Vines (artist and inker) and Bernard "Shay" Shepard (graphic designer and inker).

In the interview, they all kinda give a brief mention as to what they do and what they've done that you might know.

**Note to listeners: Studio Revolver didn't start out as a complete Sausage Party. We know there's been at least one female member (we met her). However, this industry tends to be full of dudes, so whatareyagonnado?

We caught up with the fellas late one Friday night at their lair, which is located right in the heart of downtown Atlanta. And yes, hilarity did ensue.

Dwight and I have to thank 'em for letting us bring our new fangled set-up into their space. It was a lotta fun and we had a great time as always. Thanks, guys!

**For this episode, how could we not play snippets of Revolver by Rage Against the Machine? I mean, c'mon?

In the pic above are just a few of the guys. Left to right, top to bottom: Kevin, Dexter, Jason, Casey, Tom and Georges.

Go here for their personal websites: John Tyler Christopher, Casey Edwards, Tom Feister, Tariq Hassan, Georges Jeanty, Kevin Stokes and Dexter Vines.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 113: STERLING HUNDLEY - The Illustrator and The Fine Artist

Youth, it is often said, is wasted on the young. In the case of today's guest, I gotta disagree. He's only 33 years old and as an illustrator, educator and now, fine artist, he has the accomplishments behind him of a man twice his age. Impressive.

I'm thinking we first became acquainted with the name Sterling Hundley while trolling the Richard Solomon website. You know how it goes—you see something that strikes you and say—"Okay, that person's style is pretty cool."

His name came up again when we spoke to George Pratt on the show and that's when we really started our research (I make it sound much more studious than it was—really, it was just more trolling).

I'm absolutely digging Sterling's work these days and I'll tell you why. As I get older, I become more a fanboy of artists who can bridge the chasm between the natural and the abstract. Those that can weave the two approaches together seamlessly. I'm sure it's not an easy feat since so few do it well (to me) and this guy rocks at it.

As mentioned above, Hundley not only kills as an illustrator, has been published by everybody, has awards out the wazoo and just launched his first solo art exhibition, Emergent—but he shapes young minds, too.

He's a professor in the Department of Communication Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University and he's one of the core teachers involved with Illustration Academy. At the Academy, he works alongside folks like Mark English, Anita Kunz, Gary Kelley and Chris Payne. Not bad company, huh?

I won't call Sterling Hundley a wunderkind, but at the "crotchety" old age of 33, he's damn near done it all. Or has he?

Sterling's site and blog

Click here to download the show.

 

Ep. 111: A Sketchy Interview featuring Artist PETER DE SÈVE

Okay, this time we really tried to color inside the lines, so to speak. We got the opportunity to interview a lauded and respected illustrator, Peter de Sève, and wanted to play it sorta serious.

I mean, this guy has been doing it for over 25 years, right? He's painted covers for The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report—you know, the big ones.

He illustrated one of Mark Twain's short stories called A Murder, A Mystery and A Marriage back in 2002—that's serious stuff.

Now granted, he did work on all three of the Ice Age movies, but that was as a character designer. He wasn't writing gags or jokes.

Anyways, about a minute into our conversation with him, Peter had us cracking up big time. So much so, we had to join in (any old excuse will do, I suppose).

All kidding aside, de Sève is a major talent and it was a lotta fun speaking with him. We caught up with him at his home studio in Brooklyn, NY and chatted about the new Spectrum Exhibit that just opened there, digital prints vs. original paintings, working in animation and his two new projects.

Peter just released his first ever hardcover artbook, a monograph called A Sketchy Past - The Art of Peter de Sève. We blogged about it recently and with good reason. It's filled to the brim with resplendence and chronicles his art and career beautifully.

He also has a children's book coming out that he illustrated called The Duchess of Whimsy, written by his wife Randall de Sève. Randall's written two other kid's books, but this is the first time she and Peter have worked together.

We had a blast, as always, and outside of his having some fun with us too, Peter is a brilliant artist. A thinking man's artist, we like to say. And we need more of his kind out there doing it—that's for sure.

**Psst! He also has a tutorial DVD coming out through our friends at Massive Black—imagine that, gang!

Peter's Blog (that's right, blog)

Click here to download the show.   
 
 
 

Ep. 104: 'Walk Your Path' - The Wisdom in the Words of Artist RUDY GUTIERREZ

“If art is therapy,
if art is to inspire,
if art is a weapon,
if it is medicine used to heal soul wounds,
or if it makes one not feel alone in his or her visions,
or if it serves as transportation to a higher self,
then that is where I aspire to live everyday.”

You can't deny that some people just seem to be destined to do what it is they do. Call it providence, call it serendipity—what have you. Rudy, with all of his training and self-determination, is very much one of those people.

I (Dwight) have been a fan of his work for a long time, having been made aware of his skills as a Illustrator by a mutual friend, Jim Hamilton. Jim and I worked together years ago and he would talk about his days as an Art Director in NYC working with his talented friend, Rudy Gutierrez. So much so, it seems completely fortuitous that I finally got to meet him through this podcast!

Rudy's career and body of work commands much respect. Book covers, album covers, CD art, illustrations for periodicals and children's books. His paintings have appeared in galleries and shows, nationally and abroad. He's done 'performance art' in front of live audiences, Art on a Grand Scale and received awards from The Society of Illustrators. He's spent time as a teacher at schools like Parsons and his own Alma Mater, Pratt.

As a matter of fact, in his own brand of fortuitousness (is that a word?), he was commissioned to paint the cover to Santana's platinum selling Shaman CD, back in 2002. While the disc is only seven years old, the path to Rudy getting the opportunity to collaborate with one of his musical idols, started in his childhood (listen to the interview, you'll love the story).

The Shaman image ended up being featured not only on the CD, but later, several stories high on a billboard in Times Square. It was also displayed on a huge backdrop behind Carlos Santana himself during his performance at the '02 Super Bowl. It's one of Rudy's most noted contributions, as a painter, to the pop culture landscape.

We had the best time chatting with this man about life, love, spirit and art.

In the interview, he talks about his early days growing up in The Bronx, his first experience with art on a sidewalk scale (snicker...sorry) and working on staff in a commercial art studio before going freelance.

He also discusses the backstory behind him getting the Santana gig, his relationship with his agent, Richard Solomon and why he stays true to himself...always.

**For this episode, we played snippets of Santana's Black Magic Woman and Sideways ft. Citizen Cope, plus John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. I know, right? We have excellent taste!

Also, go here and here to buy two children's books recently illustrated by Rudy and click here to see a gallery of his amazing paintings.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 101: GREG MANCHESS - Journey Man

 

We never know what our conversations on this show are gonna turn out like. Some people are talkative, some not so much. The one thing we seem to be getting here lately though is genuine—and we love it. Greg Manchess was as genuine as they come, folks.

If you're a fan of illustration, you already know his name and what his career consists of. Tons upon tons of high profile clients, book covers, posters, magazine illustrations, concept work for film, children's books, awards and a U.S. postage stamp.

He's been everywhere and done everything, yet when we talked to him, he was resolute that he's still learning. Still on his journey.

Hard work was also his mantra in the interview. Manchess isn't a big believer in gifts and 'God-given' talent. Put some blood, sweat and tears into it and then he says, you'll have something.

In the exchange, we found out a couple things about him that we didn't know.

One, he's essentially a ninja (our words, not his—and we're not kidding).

And two, he says he's just now starting to create the kind of work he always wanted to—after 30 years of doing it. That's astounding!

Dwight and I walked away from this one much fuller and richer than we were when we sat down. Greg was warm, honest and open—and kinda Zen at times, too (his words, not ours). In preparation for the interview, Dwight picked up on the Zen part and he was dead on—Greg doth wax poetic.

We had an amazing time with the man and thank him much for coming on with us. He's originally from Kentucky and listening to him talk was like enjoying some Kentucky Bourbon on a warm, summer night.

Hmm, maybe next time...

Greg's Site

**Big thanks to ConceptArt.org and Greg's agent, Richard Solomon. They, along with artist Bryan Beus, have been putting us together with some truly awesome talent. We appreciate it, guys.

Picture provided by Irene Gallo.

At the VERY end of this episode, we played a snippet of Norah Jones' Painter Song. We too think 'painting your reverie' is a worthy pursuit.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 97: JOSH MIDDLETON Shows Us the Sky Between Branches

Doing it all is a rare trait in American comics. Doing it all and doing it well is even rarer. And that's exactly how illustrator Josh Middleton has made a name for himself.

He started his career as a young artist back in the late '90s at CrossGen, the Tampa-based comic book publisher. He and a bunch of creators signed on for what looked like a bold new direction in the making of comics—and it was.

After relocating to Florida from Pennysylvania, Josh worked on their title Meridian and fans ate it up. But it wasn't long before things went South (pun intended), and he and others decided to part ways with the maverick company.

Post CrossGen, Josh pubbed a creator-owned project called Sky Between Branches with a European company, Com.X. The preview issue of the book got the attention of Joe Quesada at Marvel, and he asked Middleton to collaborate with him on a little something called NYX.

That series was, of course, a huge hit and from there Josh worked on Superman/Shazam First Thunder over at DC among other things. He's also done a ton of covers over the last few years for titles like New Mutants, American Virgin, Vixen and Supergirl.

As implied earlier, this guy is somewhat of a white tiger. He's one of few comic artists living here in the States who handles all the art chores himself. Every bit. You tend to see more of that sort of thing in places like Europe, so it makes him a rare breed on this soil.

In the interview, we cover some background, the 'dark days in Tampa' (HIGH-larious), many of the projects mentioned above, and just why he decided to take the reins and do it all himself.

Plus, Josh gives us the inside scoop on his recent book cover illustrations for Tor and Scholastic, and tells some funny stories about his recent experiences in Hollywood.

Middleton's Site

**Picture provided by Midus Unknown.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 96: BRAD HOLLAND on BRAD HOLLAND (and other things, too)

Once again, we here at SiDEBAR must confess to being late to the party. We really just became acquainted with Brad Holland's work in the last three years or so. Well...actually for me (Swain), that's not accurate.

You see, my father had a rather sizable Playboy collection and I used to sneak them out to ogle all the interesting artwork (never cared much for the articles). Anyway...

Brad's been a 'creator of images' (that's a nice safe title) for almost four decades now and he's still going strong. In our opinion, his career and contributions to the art community are marked in several ways.

One, by his work for the earlier referenced Playboy Magazine. A gig he got when he was in his 20's and his big break, some would say.

Two, his terrific pieces published on the Op-Ed page of the NY Times in the mid '70s. The page's editor was the late Harrison Salisbury, a noted author himself and Pulitzer Prize winner.

And three, by his tireless efforts in the area of preserving creative copyrights for intellectual properties. Brad's one of the founding members of the Illustrators Partnership of America, and he's been a vocal opponent of things like the Orphan Works Bill from day one. 

Prolific is a word often given to describe Holland's output of art over the years, but it's horribly understating. A rough tally of his body of illustrations falls somewhere in the, ohh...7000 range! That's a good 'guestimate' from the man himself and a staggering one, to say the least.

Our talk with him ended up being everything we strive for in a podcast—interesting, funny, informative, honest and insightful. If you hear Dwight and I being curiously silent during the conversation (it doesn't happen often, so cherish it), it's because we were listening.

And absorbing. And digesting.

You see, Brad's an extremely well read guy and we didn't wanna pretend we could hang. We decided to adopt a boxer's philosophy—we stayed on our toes, but stayed out of the way!

After all, it's not often that these two art nerds get to hear a fella like Brad Holland tell his story. We didn't wanna miss a thing.

His Site

Gallery I     Gallery II

**Our thanks to Brad for making some time to chat with us—it was surreal (he'll get that).

Also, many thanks to Jason Manley at ConceptArt.org, Richard Solomon and Bryan Beus for their help in facilitating Brad's appearance on the show. It was invaluable.

Picture provided by Jonathan Twingley.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 94: 'Keep Saying AH!' - More with Us and ADAM HUGHES

This is Part II of our interview with Adam and he's still crackin' us up! We were rolling! But in between the laughs, he still dropped lots of gold nuggets as far as art and illustration go.

For those who're unfamiliar with his work (all two of you), this is an excellent opportunity to hear from an artist's artist. A guy who's admirers include, not only comic fans and art collectors, but his peers as well.

We start this second half off discussing his killer line of comicquettes for Sideshow Collectibles, then ease into some Star Wars talk. Adam is a huge fan of the franchise and so is Dwight. I must confess to being slightly anemic on the subject, so I kept my mouth shut!

Anyway, those two mix it up like Luke and Vadar in Empire, only no one loses an arm (ha!).

After that, we get into topics like commissions and eBay flipping, Hughes' recent work for Playboy Magazine, and of course, the infamous 'All-Star' question.

Adam was the best and we thank him much for hanging out with us. He, like many of our other guests, was awesome to put up with me and Dwight's shenanigans!

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 93: 'Just Say AH!' - SiDEBAR Interviews ADAM HUGHES

There are guys who can draw and then there are guys who can DRAW. And after those guys, there are these other guys who can DRAW women—damn well, I might add! That's Adam Hughes.

Adam falls in a long line of illustrators who create exceptionally beautiful images of the fairer sex—Gil Elvgren, George Petty, Vargas, Dave Stevens. And we put him right up there with all those folks! The grace and expression he's able to capture in the female form is masterful. Not many artists see it...the way he sees it.

Dwight and I have known Adam in passing pretty much since he moved to Atlanta from New Jersey. He was one of the early members of a local art collective, Gaijin Studios and I believe, that's where I first met him.

I was visiting Gaijin (The Honeycomb Hideout) with a buddy back in 1994 and wandered into his space as if invited in.

"Hey, who's that?"

"Umm, Power Girl."

"Wow, you draw pretty good, man!"

"Umm...thanks."

**curious look on his face**

Later, after my 'genius' moment, I went out and bought his runs on Maze Agency, JLA, Legionaires and a pant load of covers (sorry about the visual).

Dwight says his conversion took place upon seeing Hughes' short, but sweet stint on Dark Horse's Ghost series.

About ten years ago, Adam stopped doing sequentials and became a cover artist exclusively. This wasn't by choice. Many of his clients began to only comission him for cover work. We, like the rest of his fans, started feenin' for more gorgeous interiors, but happily made due with his many Wonder Woman, Catwoman and Tomb Raider pieces.

Now, one of the things that makes today's interview so special is, it's Part I of a II-Parter. We had a long, fruitful conversation with the man and lots of cool stuff came out of it, so we decided to break it in half.

The other thing is—he had us in stitches! Adam has a serious wit and he's quick with it, too! I'm sure many of his fans don't get to see that side of him, so brace yourselves. We had a blast hanging out with the guy and we hope you enjoy listening in!

Just Say AH!

**Many thanks to Ms. Allison Sohn for her help in facilitating Adam's appearance on SiDEBAR. It was invaluable.

And for this episode, we played snippets of The Tubes' She's a Beauty. Hey, the three of us are '80s kids—what did you expect?!

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 92: 'The Graduate' - FRANCIS VALLEJO Makes His Debut

We've been fortunate to have a few firsts on SiDEBAR and today's episode is no exception. Francis Vallejo is still technically a student at Ringling, but shows such incredible promise, we invited him on for a chat.

He's a painter with a penchant for oils and he sights some pretty heavy weight influences: Norman Rockwell, Ilya Repin, Nicolai Fechin, Dean Cornwell, James Jean. We can't argue with his taste—at all!

Francis came to our attention like so many others do. People started singing his praises and his name began popping up everywhere. We visited his site and after snooping a bit, we too, joined the chorus! This young man has skill and vision beyond his years.

In our talk with him, he discusses his old stomping grounds in Detroit, his intense love of art and Hip Hop, a superstar teacher and mentor of his, George Pratt, and recent projects he's contributed to like Totoro and Microvisions.

Graduation is in May, but before he jumps right into the professional ranks, looks like Vallejo will be studying abroad for a while—in Saint-Petersburg, Russia at the Repin Academy (wow, do your thing, sir)!

We wish Francis the absolute best over in Saint-Pete and in all of his future endeavors. He's a cool kid who's star is certainly on the rise.

**For this episode, we played snippets of the following songs: Lupe Fiasco's Superstar, Dead Prez' Hip Hop, Eminem's Stan, Kanye West's Through the Wire, Beanie Siegel's Rock the Mic and Ch-Check It Out by The Beastie Boys.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 89: Makin' Moves with TOMMY LEE EDWARDS

An artist friend of ours once referred to Tommy Lee as 'Boss Player' and we have to agree. Even though the guy is way laid back and approachable, you can just tell he's got some cool stuff goin' on behind the scenes. And he does—trust! But more on that later...

I first got hip to Tommy back when he and Rick Veitch did that Question series for DC in 2005. His lines had all this crazy energy and charisma to 'em. I remember looking at those bold ass gestures and thinking, "Man, this guy has no fear!" Plus, he colored the book too, which also stood out to me.

We ended up meeting him and the rest of The BLVD Studio at a Heroes Con in Charlotte the next year. All super nice guys, by the way, and all major talents in their own rights.

After The Question, Edwards worked on Bullet Points, What If, covers for Daredevil, and 1985 with writer Mark Millar. All over at Marvel. As a matter of fact, most of his mainstream comic book work since '05 has been for Marvel. Hmm...

Beyond comics, his name is also a staple in the movie world. He's contributed to the style guides for a couple of films you may have heard of: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Men in Black II, Batman Begins and Superman Returns.

Not to mention, he's doing concept art for a Hughes Brothers picture that's in production right now. Here's a teaser for you—there's an Oscar-winner in the lead role who's a huge star. Now, that's what we call makin' moves!

We cover that project, his craft, Star Wars, conventions and comic shops, and everything else we could in the time we had with TLE. Hope you enjoy this special extended episode and we'll see ya next time!

TLE's Site

**For this one, we played snippets of the following: Will Smith's "Men In Black", Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California", Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It", "Duel of Fates" from Star Wars and Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild".

Photo taken by Albert Hughes.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 88: 'Back to the Drawing Board' - A Conversation with THE BLVD's JOHN PAUL LEON

My first real connection with John Paul's art was at a Heroes Con back in 2006, I think. I had, of course, seen his epic work on Marvel's Earth X series, but up until then, was more a casual fan. That weekend, we met all the guys from The BLVD Studio and Dwight picked up their three sketchbooks (all of which are great, by the way).

Later that night, we attended the Art Auction which is always one of the high points of the convention. I'm standing in front of the original art display, floored by this one killer Wolverine piece, and I can tell this guy next to me is feelin' the same way (it was the hotness).

We go back and forth for a minute, then I look up and realize---the guy is Tony Harris! The artist from Ex-Machina! Tony is pretty amazing himself and apparently, a big Leon fan (later that year, JP ended up doing an Ex-Mach Halloween Special). You just never know...

The man's vitals are these: he was born in NYC, but makes his home in Miami. He started working professionally at the age of 16 doing stuff for TSR's Dungeons magazine. He graduated from SVA with a bachelors degree in fine art. He's a member of The BLVD Studio with four other exceptional artists---Sean Chen, Bernard Chang, Trevor Goring and Tommy Lee Edwards. He created licensing artwork for the mega-hit film Batman Begins and also contributed to the Superman Returns style guide.

And he rocks it on all of the following comic titles: Tom Strong, Wintermen, Midnighter, Scalped, both Ex-Machina Specials and those DMZ covers.

I've been a staunch JP fan ever since that time in Charlotte (isn't it obvious?). In my almost never humble opinion, you'd be hard pressed to find a bolder, more dramatic storyteller working in comics today. Leon's approach is near-cinematic, to quote a friend of mine, and I can't front---I'm lovin' every frame of it.

Oh, and he's famous on YouTube, too!

    

JP's Site

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 87: Introducing JOAO RUAS

We're stoked that we finally got to speak to Joao (pronounced "Joo-whoa"). He's been on our radar as someone to check for for a good minute. I know I've been visiting his site for at least eight months---long before the Fables announcement was made.

To be perfectly honest, when we talked to Jon Foster way back when, I remember Dwight and me asking him about Ruas. We were thumbing through Spectrum 14, right before Jon's interview, and got curious if he knew Joao. Jon said he didn't, but agreed that the man's work was impressive. More SiDEBAR serendipity (whoopee!).

And not to glaze over an important fact---yes, he is the new Fables cover artist. Yes, he's awesome. And yes, YES, we got the inside scoop on the road he traveled to get to this point.

We titled this one "introducing" for a reason. Even though Joao's done a few interviews in the last year, we feel especially proud to be his first podcast. We think an art literate show, such as ours, is the best place for fans to hear this hot new artist in his own words.

As to this blog entry---sorry folks, but we're not gonna reveal one single thing about him here. WE WANT YOU TO LISTEN IN! C'mon, now...

What we will give up is that he lives in Brazil, he's 28 years old, he's an excellent choice for the Vertigo gig---and that's all!

Oh yeah, and his English is about ten times better than our Portuguese. That part, I'm sure, is no surprise (ha).

Adeus!

**Two things: We wanna thank Pamela Mullin at DC Publicity for hooking us up with Joao---she really looked out!

Also, for this episode, we played "Hush" by Jellyfish and "Girls, Girls, Girls" by Jay-Z.

Joao's Site

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 83: From Book Covers to Video Games, JP TARGETE Has Many Styles

JP's name has been comin' up on this show since literally day one. He's an accomplished artist and illustrator who's resume includes companies like Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight Games, Bantam, Tor and Warner Books. Dwight got a chance to meet him at the ConceptArt Workshop in San Francisco, back in '05, and became an overnight fan. When he got back, D regaled me with tales of huge 3x5 foot canvases, live painting demos and lots of oohing and aahing!

Needless to say, it was only gonna be a matter of time before we reached out to JP and extended the offer of a podcast chat—and here we are.

While he has an extensive background in illustration, book covers to be precise, Targete's current title is Art Director at Ignition Florida. His job, he tells us, is to set the look and style of a video game, then guide the visuals through all the various stages to completion. Outside of his AD position at Ignition, JP says he still picks up freelance gigs, but laments that there's only so much time in the day to get it all done (we feel you, sir).

Also covered in our conversation is his relationship with his Dad, who's an architect, JP's days painting romance book covers (Fabio!), some stories about the life of an illustrator, and a description of the term he calls "Dark Fantasy".

Our thanks to the man for takin' a minute to hang out with us. We had an excellent time!

**Another thank you goes out to our buddy, Chuck Harper, for submitting some questions for JP through our message board. Go, Chuck!

JP's Site

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 77: "Tick Tock, Ya Don't Stop!" - It's Illustrator FRANK STOCKTON

Let's see, what can we tell you about our friend, Frank?

He lives in NYC, although he was born in California. He's a pretty young guy, but already has a long list of high-profile clients. He's friends with the equally amazing James Jean and Jillian Tamaki. Oh yeah, and he was sick as a dog the night Obama won (you'll have to hear him tell that story).

I found Frank's site like I find many sites—trolling the Internet in the wee hours (kinda like I'm doing right now). He wrote an entry called "Growing Pains" that was linked on Drawn!, and it was all about inspiration and influences. Not just creative influences, but people who've influenced his perspective on the business of art as well (Charles Schultz, Walt Disney, Todd McFarlane). I immediately loved his work and found his words to be thoughtful and honest—so it was on! After a few polite back and forths, Frank kindly agreed to come on and chat with Dwight and I.

In the interview, he talks about growing up in Cali and attending Art Center in Passadena, comic books, his competitive nature, sex museums (yeah, you heard me), the election results and the eternal debate: art vs. commerce.

And just to set the record straight, to us, he's the one and only Frank Stockton. It seems he comes from a long line of Stocktons and one of them wrote the famous short story, "The Lady, or the Tiger?". Go figger!

**For this episode, we played snippets of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" and "I Wanna Sex You Up" by the aptly named, Color Me Badd.

Frank's Site

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 76: Showing Our Xenozoic Age... More with Us and MARK SCHULTZ

Welcome back for Part II with writer and illustrator Mark Schultz—the man from PA!

This time Mark, Dwight and I are joined in the interview by our friend and forum member, Atomic 99...sort of. We posted a note on the SiDEBAR msg board about Mark's upcoming appearance, and 99 dropped a bunch of hot questions for him. So today, in spirit, he holds down the forth mic!

Topics covered in this second half are: black & white vs. color, writing prose for Flash: Stop Motion, rewriting scripts for Lucasfilm, art agents or the lack thereof, web presence (...or the lack thereof), "Hey guys, I can't hear you anymore!", Storms at Sea, Various Drawings #4 and small towns in rural Pennsylvania.

There's more than that in this here podcast, but you'll have to tune in to hear it!

Our sincerest thanks to Mark for chatting with us so long and being so gracious. Also, it would behoove you to pick up Storms and VD #4 when they come out—Mr. Schultz NEVER disappoints!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Jamie Cullum's All at Sea, and for two reasons: in honor of Mark's new project and us still being all over the place!

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 75: SiDEBAR Talks to MARK SCHULTZ (and it's an exploration of subject matter not commonly "heard")

The tagline for this episode isn't just a bunch of innocent hyperbole. We started off with some very creator-appropriate questions for our interview with writer and artist Mark Schultz—and ended up throwing 'em out the window! Once we got on the phone with him, the three of us connected, the "Conversation Muse" took over, and let's just say we happily followed its lead!

Don't get us wrong, there's tons of insight in there about the man. His opinions on music, art, comics, storytelling, capitolism, life—they're all present. We just didn't take the road most traveled to get to them. Call it, the scenic route—how 'bout that?

In all seriousness, Mark does confirm much of what you've probably heard about him. He's a brilliant and astute creator, talented beyond belief, a gentleman, and a genuinely fun guy to chat with. We ended up keeping things very informal and down-to-earth, and that we think, makes it all the more revealing.

Two of Mr. Schultz's current projects did however get official coverage in the upcoming Part II. The first being his soon-to-be released illustrated novella, Storms at Sea. The second, another Various Drawings book. This one will be number four in the series (yes!) and both will be pubbed by his longtime publisher and friend, John Fleskes.

Below is an image from Storms and at a glance, it looks a little like Key Largo, with a healthy dose of sci-fi thrown in for good measure. Not sure if that's what it is, but either way, we wait impatently for it.

**As implied above, this is only Part I with Mark, so look for Part II in a few days.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 68: Back for the First Time...RAGNAR!

The title of this interview is a reference to the man's first appearance on the show last year—an episode we lost! The audio crashed, the back-up was never found, it was ugly... But hey, today we've been given a second chance at greatness and greatness we deliver!

Ragnar is not only one of our favorite creators, he's also one of our favorite people. A wonderfully knowledgeable guy, a student of his craft, a committed family man and often seen wearing...what? The colors in his palette! Do tell! Plus, he's just a super nice guy. His response to the aforementioned lost episode was, "No worries, I understand completely" (and just so you know, we were worried as hell).

To us, as long as Steranko and Prince aren't in the room, he's the coolest guy around with one name. We met him in person for the first time at this year's ACE and for the convention, he brought with him a mucho smaller version of his Comic-Con set-up. It was all really quite neat. Books, prints, mugs, chimps, skate decks—again, just neat stuff. He sat in on about three panels that weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed his presence as a guest.

Now, the work. Ragnar's done tons of work in animation, but will tell you himself that a good bit of it, you may never see. His clients over the years have included companies like Warner Bros, Disney, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. However, with the nature of animation and the film business in general, projects often start off one way and end up somewhere else by the time they finally come out. And that's especially true for Development, which is the area he's contributed to the most.

What you can see though and plenty of it, are his own creations! Books like Chromaphile, Vernaculis, Kings of the Road and the newly released Symptomatica! All of them fantastic and all get the high SiDEBAR Seal-of-Approval (which means dick, but go buy 'em anyway, they're hot)!

Our conversation with him stays pretty loose since we all sorta know each other, but we do get to some key items. Big City being one, Symptomatica being another, and the latters being his upcoming all-ages book and where he got his name. Beyond that, the rest is just filler—but it's some damn good filler (ha)!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of Dead Kennedys "California Uber Alles" in honor of Dwight's timely reference.

Little Cartoons

Symptomatica Blog

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Ep. 64: Chiuists Unite! - BOBBY CHIU of Imaginism Studios Comes to SiDEBAR

OK, how's that for a rallying call?

Bobby Chiu has been referred to as the new Walt Disney by some and that may not be much of an exaggeration. He's full of...well, imagination, has vision for days and does seem to embody Walt's whole philosophy of moving forward. In just a short few years, he's graduated from the ranks of hired artist, and gone on to CEO and Educator. And he's still a pretty young dude (whoa)!

Dwight was an admirer of Chiu's work from afar, while I had only seen a few things here and there. That is, until we ran into Bobby and artist Kei Acedera at this year's Heroes Con in Charlotte. They had an exhibitor booth set up for Imaginism Studios, their home base, and had mad lines all weekend. A listener and friend of the show named Chuck Harper prompted me to go by and check 'em out, and I was blown away! All their books and prints featured these really cool and interesting looking characters—it was all that!

Later that night, at the hotel bar, Bobby came over to Dwight, myself, Chuck and his buddy Beau, and chatted with us for like two hours—solid! Didn't really know us from Adam, but felt our enthusiasm and joined in with his own. The next day, I went back by their booth to thank him and he and Kei kindly gave me a copy of their sketchbook, Water Worlds.

As people go, Bob is the exact right mix of talent and complete lack of pretension. He's as regular a guy as you'll find, but obviously has immense drive.

Speaking of which! His drive recently put him on a fantastic Hollywood project with a very famous director, and he talks about it early in the interview. We also get into Schoolism, the whole subway sketching phenomenon and some of his philosophies about drawing and life.

So relax, breathe deep, exhale yourself some Chiuism—and prepare to be converted!

http://www.imaginismstudios.com/

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Ep. 62: Here's to You, ANDREW ROBINSON!

Andrew Robinson creates great art. Period. We've known it for a while now and we think you should, too. Just take a look at his beautiful covers for Starman and Hawkman, or check out the cowboy-noir storytelling in his own book, Dusty Star. Clearly greatness abounds in the guy's work.

The question that's always boggled my mind though (and I'm an easy boggler)—is why can't I see more? I love everything he puts out, but I'm greedy. Why can't I get a monthly book and covers? Hell, some trading cards and a yearly art book?! Hmm...

In our interview with Andrew, we get a clue as to why he doesn't always do more. Or at least, a partial clue. It's not because he doesn't want to, that would be silly. And it's not because he's slow, although he openly admits to having missed a deadline or two. I won't divulge the clue here, but you'll know it when you hear it. And the worst part about it for me was, after hearing it—I was frustrated more! In a perfect world, all my favorite creators, like Robinson, would be left alone to do what they do best...create. And they'd be well paid for doing so (ahh, what a world that would be—naivete, I love you)!

In the last 15 years, my man Andrew has worked for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, Upper Deck, Wizards of the Coast and more. He created Dusty Star (his baby), started a fine art career out in California and recently took the leap into music. That's right, he's written some lyrics for a band project called Space Junkies (Hey, Suki).

I kinda hesitate to use the word phenom (although I just did), but the guy draws like Bridgeman, paints like Loomis, tells stories like De Palma and always leaves you wanting more. And more is what I want, dammit! I kid...

From where I sit, you don't have to look far to see the greatness in Andrew Robinson's work. Just open your eyes, it's right there.

http://www.nextexitproductions.net/index.html

http://www.nextexitcomics.blogspot.com/

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Ep. 60: STEPHAN MARTINIERE - The Gentleman Artist

Some people are born to do it all. Or at least it seems that way! They can do so many things well, it comes off more like destiny than determination. Artist and illustrator Stephan Martiniere is certainly perceived to be one of those people. In his 25 year career, he's had his hand in nearly everything—animation, illustration, comics, TV, film and he's currently the Creative Visual Director for Midway Games Chicago. So you can add video games to his resume too (yeah, yeah, I know that's not exactly everything, but it's damn close).

Our introduction to this uber-talent's work came through very familiar channels. We're Spectrum guys and Stephan's work has been featured in the anthology several years in a row now. All of it awesome and most of it from his book covers for Tor Books (good lookin' out, Ms. Gallo). When you see the man's images, brace yourself, because you'll lose your mind—seriously! His dazzling city and spacescapes, and his far off worlds are so fantastic yet so familiar all at the same time. It may indeed be science fiction, but man, does it feel real to geeks like us!

Speaking of real, the accolades he's received from industry peers is absolutely real. Spectrum, Hugo, Thea, Chesley and many others have all honored Martiniere over the years with awards for his artistic excellence. They all know he's the mack man. And we do too, for that matter! That's why we shot him an email asking him to slum a bit by coming on the show for an interview. He accepted the invitation saying something about "never having done a podcast before and it might be fun." [Note to audience: We have no proof, but we suspect ours may be his last podcast—so listen in while you can!]

The conversation with him covers much, but just like the intro to this text, not everything. Dwight and I thought we had the best chance of not embarrassing ourselves by keeping it simple. So we got some stories from Stephan's art school days, a little concept design and illustration talk in there, nerded out on video games for a minute, and ended it with the good stuff. What is the good stuff, you ask? Hmm..? Well, you'll have to tune in and find out, now won't you?

**For this episode with the gentleman artist, we played a snippet of Sting's Send Your Love. The lyric about sending your love into the distant dawn just seemed so appropriate. [Also, as is my luck (Swain), I was very sick while recording this and you can hear me gently hacking in the background—my apologies!]

http://www.martiniere.com/

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Ep. 48: The Dreaded Marko - SiDEBAR Talks to MARKO DJURDJEVIC

Marko Djurdjevic finally visited the esteemed SiDEBAR mics and it was all that with leftovers. Of course, like anything else worth having, it was not without a cost. Let us back up...

When we started this show over a year ago, the very first podcast we made, praised and extolled the virtues of The Dreaded Marko (mispronouncing his last name, of course). We also used one of his X-Men First Class covers for the blog entry featuring his daring re-designs. I've (Swain) been enamored with the guy's style since he started doing covers exclusively for Marvel. Dwight's been a fan since he met him at the Concept Art Workshop in San Francisco back in 2005—wearing a beautiful hand-painted Elektra jacket, no less.

The super abbreviated version of Marko's path is this: he was born in Germany, started drawing, got work at 17, posted on Concept Art.Org in his early twenties, and took the world by storm minutes later. With a few...umm, embellishments on our part, that pretty much sums it up.

Check out the guy's handiwork and you'll be convinced like we were. Blade, Daredevil, Super Villain Team-Up, Marvel Illustrated, Wolverine Origins, Thunderbolts, Mystic Arcana, What If—the list literally goes on and on. Plus, tons of design stuff on Concept Art and they're all badass and all immaculately rendered by Mr. Djurdjevic. This man is the truth and YOU know it.

He recently made the excursion into doing interior pencils for the new Thor series written by J. Michael Straczynski and the book is a solid hit. He was filling in for the talented Olivier Coipel and just knocked it out. 

OK, back to the cost. We tried several times in the past to reach the man, but to no avail. And all jokes aside, it wasn't him, it was us, going through the wrong channels (duuhh). Finally, after getting the accurate contact info straight from the source at the NY Comic Con (all thanks to the FANTASTICALLY TALENTED AND GRACIOUS, PAOLO RIVERA—PAINTER EXTRAORDINAIRE HIMSELF), we made it happen.

Throw in three calling cards, six redials and bad sound coming out of Dwight's microphone, and you've got yourself one nice little Marko Djurdjevic interview. And we loved every minute of it!

**For this episode with Marko, we played a small portion of Depeche Mode's I Feel You, because we do!

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 46: The JAMES JEAN Interview

The road to our conversation with the uber-talented James Jean was indeed a long one, but it was worth the wait. We contacted him some time ago through his site, http://jamesjean.com/, and got a polite response back that while he was interested in chatting, he was simply too busy. However...he would be in Atlanta in February visiting the Savannah College of Art and Design, and maybe we could do some podcasting then. Sounded like a plan!

We stayed on top of it for a couple of months, got his cell number before he left Cali (Thanks, Gary) and showed up Thursday night for the start of SCAD-Atlanta's Comics & Illustration Forum. That evening, James and artists Yuko Shimizu, Andrew Robinson and Eric Canete sat in the round with about 150 people and shared their stories and professional insights. Dwight and I had a great time and afterwards, much schmoozing was had.

The next day at noon, we met up with the man at SCAD and had a wonderful talk about his career and background, his time as a student at SVA, Fables and of course, art. We also touched on his participation in the West coast art event, Baby Tattooville and his upcoming 2009 gallery show in NYC.

And yes, James does love art. And art history. And jazz. And pizza too (he eventually got sustenance from Rick Lovell, one of the event's organizers).

The interview ran just under an hour and we couldn't have been happier with the outcome. Many thanks to SCAD for bringing these amazing artists to our city—it was terrific meeting them all. And a special shout of thanks to the "fairly reclusive Mr. Jean" for squeezing us into his hectic schedule—it was like that.

**This episode of the show features a snippet of CocoRosie's Rainbowarrior in honor of life in the Brew.

http://www.processrecess.com

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Ep. 44: More with Cover Girl, CELIA CALLE

What's up and welcome back for more with artist and illustrator, Celia Calle. This is Part II of a lengthy, but hilarious talk we had with her and it's chocked full of artsy goodness!

In the conversation, Celia covers: going from fashion to illustration, life drawing class, being cruel to your schoolmates, ADs vs. Editors, Will Dennis and the SDCC, AMERICAN VIRGIN AND THOSE AWESOME COVERS, her opinion of the series in general, criticism of her palette, people jacking her images, more Wuthering Heights, "Why is there no book of your art available..?!", kissing Storm Troopers, why Darth Vader is hot (...he is?), the NYCC and more.

Again, it was awesome having Miss Calle on the show and we can't wait to do it again—hope you dig it too!

**On this episode, we played a snippet of The Kills' What New York Used to Be 'cause it's in heavy rotation in the Circle.

http://celiacalle.com/

cofcircles.blogspot.com

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 43: Caution Boys & Girls! - It's CELIA CALLE

Have you ever met someone who was exactly what you thought they'd be, only better? Well, that's just where we found ourselves on the roller coaster ride that was our interview with illustrator, Celia Calle.

For months, we've been blown away by her American Virgin covers for Vertigo and her unique and individual style. We think comics is always best served by creative people bringing other elements into the medium and stirring up the mix. Celia does that ten fold!

For those of you just being introduced to her work through AV...trust, she's really a big deal in the commercial art world with clients like ESPN Magazine, Calvin Klein, Nike and Gaultier. Of course, you'd never know that by talking to her, she's much too chill a person to brag. Minutes into our conversation, we were smitten by her down-to-earth charm and humor, and she was our new best friend. Celia's personality is a lot like her art—playful, energetic and well, kinda sexy. But with that, she's also warm, thoughtful and has a real sincerity that comes from the heart. She's the best of many worlds, we suppose.

As is our way, we went off the rails a bit just having some fun (there's maybe 25 minutes of hardcore art talk in the whole interview). But fear not, true believers, you can always go to CC's site and blog for the full skinny on this NY girl and what she's up to. Plus, this is only Part I of our talk with her, so hey—stay tuned!

**Celia's interview features a small portion of Portishead's Strangers 'cause that's how we started out. Now, it's friends.

http://www.celiacalle.com/

http://cofcircles.blogspot.com/

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Ep. 40: ACE Audio III - Fast Talkin' with PHIL NOTO

As we continue to bring you more ACE panel audio, let's pause here for this impromptu talk we had with artist and convention guest, Phil Noto.

Phil's only been in comics a short time really, but he's attracted a legion of fans with his sexy, vintage spy girls and classic approach. He has his contemporary influences like J. Scott Campbell and Adam Hughes, but most of the illustrators Noto digs worked in the 50's and 60's. Guys like Robert McGinnis, Coby Whitmore and the great Bob Peak are all inspirations to this Florida native.

As an ex-Disney clean up artist, Phil brings that experience, plus his appreciation for golden and silver age illustration to all of his comics work. Check out his skills on Birds of Prey, Beautiful Killer, Danger Girl and Scarlett: Declassified, and you'll see what we mean.  

In this quick sit-down, we discuss his schooling at Ringling and his past with Disney, his style and growth as a storyteller, plus the unusual way he got into comics. We also touch on Phil's first book of art, Jet Seven, his friendship with Howard Chaykin, being Mr. 4400 and his new Image project, The Infinite Horizon with writer, Gerry Duggan. Our thanks to him for stealing a few minutes away from the show to chat with us.

**And for those who haven't heard yet, Jet Seven is officially sold out!

http://www.notoart.com/

 

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Ep. 39: ACE Audio II - Character Design ft. SANFORD GREENE, STEPHANIE GLADDEN, RAGNAR and DEREK YANIGER

There's more where this came from! Today, we present another panel recorded in early February at ACE, the Atlanta Comics Expo. This one's called Character Design and it's full of info and insights on the subject from our four great panelists!

First up is Sanford Greene, penciler for DC’s Wonder Girl mini-series and the new Method Man/Wu Tang graphic novel. Sanford's done designs for companies like Sony Animation, Hasbro, SEGA and Nickelodeon, and was a member of the collective known as Artxilla Studios.

Then there's Stephanie Gladden, a wonderful character artist and designer who currently works for Cartoon Network. She's drawn tons of licensed characters like Ren & Stimpy, The Power Puff Girls and The Simpsons, but you may know her as the creator of Hopster's Tracks for Bongo Comics.

Next is Ragnar, a designer and illustrator who's done development work for people like Disney, Nickelodeon and Warner Bros. Ragnar's also a writer and he directed a five minute short film for Disney based on one of his own all-ages books, Got Your Nose.

And finally, Derek Yaniger, an artist with a delightfully retro style who's done work for Marvel Comics and Cartoon Network, and event shows like Tiki Oasis and The Wild Weekend. You can also see his art featured in magazines like Atomic Barracuda and Car Kulture Deluxe. 

This was an eclectic blend of backgrounds and perspectives and I (Swain) really appreciate everyone's candor. The discussion includes topics like working on established characters vs. working in development, trying to stay on model, pleasing a client (or not!) and responding to the Bat-Phone. I had a blast moderating this panel, folks and this time I even remembered to introduce everyone (yaay)!

http://www.sanfordgreene.com/

http://www.stephaniegladden.com/

http://www.littlecartoons.com/

http://www.derekart.com/

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 38: ACE Audio I - Digital Visions ft. RAGNAR, TONY SHASTEEN, BRIAN STELFREEZE and JIM BURNS

Dwight and I attended the Atlanta Comics Expo in February and had the pleasure of moderating some panels for the show. This is the first of several portions of ACE audio we'll be posting over the next week..and it's a good one! We call it Digital Visions and it focused on digital tools, the interface and how today's artists use them.

Our panelists were Ragnar, a California based artist and illustrator with a background in character design and animation. Ragnar has a tremendous following for his beautiful prints and art books, and his work's been featured in the prestigious pages of Spectrum.

Then, there's Tony Shasteen, a talented illustrator with a commercial background, but who many comics fans know from 12 Gauge's, Occult Crimes Task Force. He's had work in Spectrum as well and Tony's a new member of Gaijin Studios.

Next is Brian Stelfreeze, an artist and painter you know from his terrific Shadow of the Bat and Fallen Angel covers for DC Comics. He's the art director for 12 Gauge and a founding member of Gaijin.

And last up is Jim Burns, the creator behind books like Detached and Daemon Process and a comic artist who works completely in the digital realm. Jim does a weekly web and newspaper comic called Grumbles and he also does work for local publisher, Terminus Media.

All the guys were candid, insightful and full of opinions, and the panel was a lot of fun to be a part of. My thanks to ACE for having me and to the panelists for participating.

**This episode features a small snippet of Roger & Zapp's Computer Love 'cause it's all about the digital love, baby. And a shout out to John Burns for supplying the group image!

http://www.littlecartoons.com/

http://www.theillustrator.com/

http://www.gaijinstudios.com/

http://www.jamesburnsdesign.com/comics/index.html

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Ep. 34: Dear Jon - More with JON FOSTER

Jon Foster joined the show for an interview in December of last year and we're proud to present Part II of that conversation.

He and Dwight delve into their mutual experiences from the Concept Art Workshop in '05, Jon talks about teaching and being a late bloomer, and how maturity plays a large part in an artist's development. Then we shift gears into some personal stuff like dads vs. sons, fixing things and being the man, and couples working together. Finally, we end on Jon's comic book work, some geeky Star Wars and art questions, plus the back story behind his wonderful book of art, Revolution. Enjoy!

http://www.jonfoster.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Art-Jon-Foster/dp/1599290030

**A special thanks to Tim Underwood and the Fenners for helping us find the elusive Mr. Foster.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 33: JON FOSTER - r/evolutionary

If there were ever a church or religion established for illustration, Jon Foster would definitely be an apostle. He would bring the message of the heroic to the masses, push the believers to embrace the creatively divine and do so with a spirit of unrepentant zeal. If you could combine the rich, boldness of N.C. Wyeth with the energy and imagination of Frank Frazetta, you'd have Jon...maybe. Even that description of his art falls a little short to us. Let's just say he's one of the finest working in his field and is highly respected by his peers.

After a month or so of serious stalking (our dedication knows no boundaries), we finally got in contact with him and Foster agreed to come on the show. Our conversation is, at times, all over the place, but we think it stands as a wonderful and intimate glimpse of the artist and the man. Rarely do you find his kind of talent matched with his kind of humility, but then again, Jon is rare.

This is Part I of a conversation that took place in late December of '07 and Jon was our last guest of the year. It was the best Christmas present ever...thanks, Jon!

http://www.jonfoster.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Art-Jon-Foster/dp/1599290030/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198276235&sr=1-1

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 22: MARK CHIARELLO - The Artist and The AD

Mark Chiarello's been one of our favorite guys for a very long time. Outside of being a kick ass artist and painter, he's also the Art Director up at DC, he launches and edits unique and adventurous projects and still finds time to write books that promote the medium (see: The DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics with Todd Klein). After his name came up glowingly on several other shows, we decided to track Mark down and invite him on for a chat. In the conversation, Chiarello discusses going from artist to AD, his great books Solo and Batman: Black & White, discovering Darwyn Cooke and why he has the best job ever...most of the time.

**Dwight got stuck in traffic and joined this interview a bit late. Apparently, the highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive (that's a little Jersey reference for Mark).

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 16: The Quiet Giant - It's DREW STRUZAN

We won't attempt to cover his resume here because we don't have enough space. Just know that this man has done great things, he's an art legend and a modern master of illustration. He's our good friend, Drew Struzan, and he was kind enough to spend some time with us.   

http://www.drewstruzan.com/ 

**Two things: This episode features a snippet of Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better and it's very accurately applied. Also, I (Swain) was pretty sick while recording this and you don't even have to listen closely to hear me gently hacking in the background.

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Ep. 13: You're A Cool One, Mr. Freeze! - It's BRIAN STELFREEZE (Part II)

It's Part II and the conclusion of our interview with artist and painter, Brian Stelfreeze. On this episode, Brian shares his thoughts on digital original art, his 50 plus Shadow of the Bat covers, the untold back story behind Blanc Noir and the benefits of studio life and having very talented friends.

http://www.gaijinstudios.com/

**Again, the beeping you'll hear during the interview is various people going in and out of the studio.

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 12: You're A Cool One, Mr. Freeze! - It's BRIAN STELFREEZE (Part I)

Brian Stelfreeze is known for being many things: a great artist, a skillful painter, a graphic storyteller...and a wearer of some pretty cool hats! But the hat he wears most often with fledgling artists is that of teacher. Watch him at a convention or during down time at Gaijin, the studio he co-founded in 1991 and you'll see it. Droves of young novices line up at shows, portfolios in hand, and Brian is always the willing and patient sensei. We met with him on the first day of summer at Gaijin and Stelfreeze talked about art directing for 12 Gauge, going Whole Hog, experimentation and the idea of paying it forward.

www.gaijinstudios.com/

**The beeping you'll hear during the interview is Brian's studio mates, Cully and Karl, and the FedEx guy going in and out of the building.

Click here to download the show.