Artist August: Declan Shalvey (Interview)

Today on Artist August, we’ve got another rising star artist, as we talk with Declan Shalvey (Thunderbolts, 28 Days Later). While Declan has really only been working at the major comic publishers for the past few years, he’s been making his presence felt thanks to his versatility and his keen eye for design (see: our art process piece we have with him in an hour), amongst other gifts. Plus, his efforts on art blogs like Comic Twart and Eclectic Micks have quickly made him a favorite amongst the comic community as well.

Today, we talk with Declan about how he got started with Marvel, the truth about Jeff Parker, his thoughts on telling “the great Irish graphic novel,” who he’d like to work with, and a whole lot more. Check it out after the jump.

Was there a single moment in your life that made you want to work in comics? Or was it more of a natural progression that led you here?

Declan Shalvey: It’s always been comics for me. I remember drawing comics of cartoon characters before I really knew what a comic actually was. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to draw comics.

Who or what has influenced the development of your art?

DS: There’s been a lot of artists who have influenced my work over the years; it started out with the usual superhero types; Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, Alan Davis etc, but Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli’s Batman Year One had a huge effect on me. Since really honing my craft though, it’s been artists like JP Leon, Goran Parlov, Jorge Zaffino and Sean Murphy who have really had an impact on my work. Since I went though my artistic adolescence, it’s been those artists who’ve helped me develop my art and how I look at it. To me, they are artists who are/were really thinking about how they draw. That is the type of artist I want to be. For a while, I though my training in art college had been a waste, but I’ve found in the last few years I’ve been applying what I learned to how I draw comics and it’s made my art far, far better. It’s like it was gestating in my brain until I was ready to apply it to my work.

Ghost Character Sketches

You’ve come out on Twitter as a bit of a fan of Thunderbolts character Ghost, and you even mentioned wanting to do a Ghost specific book with Jeff Parker. What is it about Ghost that you like so much? What would you do with that book if given the chance? Totally would buy that book by the way.

DS: Wow; someone actually pays attention to my Twitter feed! Well, to be honest, I was just inking a panel of T-Bolts with Ghost in it, and was enjoying it a lot; I realised I would gladly draw a whole book about that character. I really like how much I can push the eeriness of the character design. In a genre full of broad, powerful body-types, it’s fun to draw a lanky, creepy, awkward figure around the place. Plus he’s such a mysterious character, it’s always fun to mine a shady character’s background. Jeff and Kev Walker did a great spotlight issue on Ghost in Thunderbolts; I think that really shows there’s more than enough potential for a mini-series. My tweet was also me coming up with an excuse to work with Jeff Parker more. Any excuse would do, but a Ghost mini-series would be a great one.

A page from Thunderbolts #163.1

Speaking of Parker, out of all of the people we’ve spoken to, he might be the nicest. What’s it like working with him, and how did the Thunderbolts project come up?

DS: Jeff is a pure gent! He’s full of that relaxed Southern charm that I’m familiar with because of movies and TV. Well, Jeff is actually the guy who helped me get my foot in the door at Marvel, so I would work with him out of gentlemanly recompense alone. But more so, I love Jeff’s writing. Every script he’s given me has been entertaining and consistently challenging. I can’t get lazy/complacent as long as I’m drawing a script written by Jeff Parker. His scripts are very easy to visualise, which makes drawing them so much more enjoyable. I’m sure it’s because he’s an artist as well. He’s also ridiculously easy to work with; at times he tries to make things easier for me to draw. Since my Irish upbringing would make me feel very guilty about taking shortcuts, I try to never take advantage of those opportunities. Still though; the fact that Jeff is an artist means he knows what is tough to draw and tries to help out his artists. He’s generally fine with any decisions I make. If he has any suggestions of his own, I know it’s for good reason and try to always take them on board.

As for how I got involved, with T-Bolts, I think Marvel needed someone to fill-in for the Shadowland crossover to give the series artist Kev Walker, a much-deserved break. Jeff had seen my work and suggested me to the then T-Bolts editor Bill Rosemann. Bill seemed to like my work and offered me the Shadowland story. Once I started handing in pages, Marvel seemed happy with what I was doing and they’ve kept giving me scripts since 🙂

Before you hopped onto Thunderbolts, you were working on a sleeper favorite of a lot of us around here at Multiversity as well as your first major company work: Boom’s 28 Days Later. How did you get onto that project, and what’s more fun: zombies or superheroes?

DS: Yep; you’ve done your homework! Indeed, I was working on 28 Days Later for it’s first year. I’m really happy with my run on that book. The editor, Ian Brill, e-mailed me about it and asked if I was interested, and I bloody well was, no pun intended. Drawing a contemporary-set, moody, atmospheric series was right up my alley. I have to be honest, I prefer drawing superheroes to zombies. Though I have to say. there were no actual zombies in 28 Days Later; they were ‘Infected’. Drawing ‘Infected’ isn’t as much fun as drawing zombies because zombies can be literally falling apart. The Infected were essentially really, really angry people, so I couldn’t go to town with any crazy gore. They were people covering in blood so they weren’t as visually interesting as traditional zombies.

Before you got into the world of the major American comic publishers, you were working on a range of small press works around Ireland. Any interest in getting back to your roots with more creator-owned work?

DS: Yeah, I would really like to do something like that again. Not necessarily a small press book, but something more Irish-centric. I’d love to write and draw the ‘Great Irish Graphic Novel’. Some day, I’d love to do a crime story set in Limerick, a great city in Ireland I used to live in, but one with a bad (and not completely justified) reputation. I have another personal project I’d like to work on some day too, but I think it’s best that I find establish myself first and build a solid career, before embarking on those personal crusades. Since my time in the Irish/UK indie scene, there seems to have been a surge in the amount of publications coming from Ireland and Irish creators. I’m really happy to see that happening. I still try to contribute to some of them, when I can find the time.

One thing I’ve noticed about your work on American comics so far is that you haven’t done many (any?) covers. Then recently, Eric Canete tweeted you in response about your suggestion of him providing covers for your theoretical Ghost series, saying he believes you have the skill set to do your own covers. What’s your take on doing your own covers?

DS: Actually, I have done some covers; A short run of variant covers on 28 Days Later. Have more with some smaller publishers, including a variant for Image Comics’ new PIGS series. Just got offered covers for a BOOM series I’m pretty excited about. Truth be told, I’d really like to do more covers, specifically on my own books with Marvel if possible. I don’t know how one can make that happen. I really like it when interior artists do covers to their own books. I mean, I’ll take Jock , Dave Johnson or Massimo Carnevale on covers any day of the week, but if not, than I’d like to do my own. Eric Canete was very kind to say what he did on Twitter (thanks again Eric!). I loved how he drew Ghost in the recent T-Bolts extra sized issue and thought a series would sell better with the phenomenal covers I’m sure he would do. Also; I’m no big name, so I understand that it makes sense for a higher-profile artist do the covers. For this series that doesn’t actually exist.

One relationship many comic fans don’t understand is the one between a penciler/inker and their colorist. Ideally, who would you like coloring your work, and how has your experience been on your work with Boom! and Marvel been so far?

DS: I’ve been very lucky with guys like Nick Filardi on 28 Days Later, Matt Wilson on Crossbones and Frank Martin on Thunderbolts. I’d love to be coloured by the giants like Dave Stewart, Matt Hollingsworth, Dave McCaig and newer talents like Bettie Breitweiser and Rico Renzi. Recently though, I’ve been collaborating with my girlfriend on a lot of personal pieces and really like the results. I would really like to collaborate with her on my Marvel work as she is phenomenally talented and we have very similar tastes. It would also mean I’d get to have more input as to how my work is seen in print. Since I ink myself, I already have way more control over how my work is seem more than say, a traditional penciller. Still though; colour plays such a huge part in comics these days and I’d like to take more initiative in how it’s used on my pages.

You’re a member of art group blogs Comic Twart and Eclectic Micks. What does participating on those blogs do for you as an artist, and how did you become a member?

DS: Well, it makes me feel like crap every time someone like Fowler or Samnee posts, that’s for sure! I’ve been part of the Eclectic Micks blog for years now (all professional Irish comic artists) and when we started it, it was a great place to have a communal area, as it were. We are all Irish but worked alone in different parts of this small country, so it was great to have an online place where we could interact with each other. What does inevitably happen though, is that you are forced to push yourself. When another artist is posting right next to you, you can’t slack off and lazily knock out half-hearted work. Having some friendly competition makes you want to be better, and that drive will help you accomplish that.

Comic Twart is an unusual thing. As I remember it, I would end up talking to some artists regularly on Twitter, like Evan Shaner, Andy Kuhn, Chris Samnee, etc. I remember saying to Evan that I thought I’d find it hard to draw Thor, specifically. To prove myself wrong, I ended up doing a pretty nice Thor piece. As did Evan. Chris had just happened to draw Thor that week too. Fowler showed a previous Thor commission. So, as another challenge, we all tried to draw another same character the following week. Then, Laura Samnee set up a blog where we could all post them and the group blog was born. The one thing I have to take the blame for though, is the name. I thought it sounded funny (and disgusting) and suggested it as a joke, but everyone seemed to like it and they ran with it! Comic Twart gave me a whole new set of phenomenal artists to ‘compete’ with, making me push my work even more. Unfortunately, I’ve been so busy with my Marvel work of late, I’ve found it harder and harder to take the time to contribute to the blog.

In the digital age, new tools are available to artists of all types. How does that affect and expand your work?

DS: It doesn’t really. I draw on paper and I don’t intend on changing my ways at any point in the future. I have my own opinions on digital art, but one thing that I know is that it isn’t for me. Aside from digital halftone and a little bit of clean-up, all my work is practical. I’ve been using Google Earth a lot for reference recently; that’s the most I’ve used a computer to help me draw. A lot of digital tools make things a lot easier to draw, but I think that also means you have to be careful HOW you use those tools. As for digital-drawing, there is something about drawing on actual paper that pushes you do better, and I find that to be a very rewarding part of the process. Enhancing a page digitally is fine with me, but I need to do all the thinking and problem-solving on the actual page.

Does feedback (both positive and negative) with fans and critics via social media push you as an artist? How does that aspect affect your art?

DS: I’d be lying if it said it didn’t affect me at all. Like many artists, I’m weak and crave attention. When you slave away on pages every month, the immediate gratification of someone commenting on your art eases the pain. The important thing is to be drawing for the right reasons; not for the attention or exposure, but for the sheer joy of drawing or experimentation. I’ve read both good and bad things about my work online, but the only people I really listen to are artists who I respect. I’m lucky enough to know a lot of artists (like the Twartists) who I believe are doing truly great work. If they tell me I’m messing up; I’ll examine what’s going wrong. If they say I’m doing well, I’ll take their criticisms on board. Criticism is totally fine, but you must always make it constructive criticism. It’s all so subjective anyway, who is anyone to say what is bad and what is good?

In the average comic book criticism or review, artists are typically given a lot less hype than writers are, even though this is a visual medium. Why do you think that is?

DS: We all want stories. Writers come up with those stories. Artists can be viewed merely as the ‘delivery system’ for those stories. At the core of it, I think that’s it. Fans follow characters for the most part and the writers are the ones who decide what they do. I wish I could say that the average comic fan knows or takes interest in good artwork, but I think a lot of readers practically ignore the art. Look at who’s on some of the bigger books; it’s mostly very obvious work; exactly what fans expect to see. I think what is encouraging though, is that a lot of writers are taking an interest in who is illustrating their work, and look outside the traditional generic superhero-looking work. I think there’s a Renaissance of original artists in mainstream comics right now, but it’s all happening under the radar for the most part. Also; it may be easier for your average fan to point out a problem with the writing than it is to properly criticise the art.

Comics, even with increasing acceptance amongst the mainstream, are still a niche medium. With that in mind, have your friends and family always been supportive of your pursuit of a career in this field?

DS: A lot of my friends from home just don’t ‘get’ comics, but have always been supportive. A lot of friends are reminding me that drawing for Marvel is something i wanted to do when I was young, and now I’m actually doing it. It’s very surreal. There was an attitude that drawing comics was a waste of time and I’d be better off getting a ‘real’ job. Considering how stable ‘real’ jobs are, and how I’m essentially doing my dream job, I’m glad I stuck with it. I’ve also been very lucky that my mother was extremely supportive and actively took an interest in my art and the comics I was into. My mum reads Preacher and Punisher Max. When I got T-Bolts, she knew who Juggernaut was.

Desert Island question: one book, one album, one film and one comic. What do you take with you?

DS: Homicide; A Year On The Killing Streets by David Simon, Mogwai’s ‘Rock Action’ (maybe slip in Sonic Youth’s ‘Daydream Nation’ and Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ in there too) Batman Year One. I’d need to take a DVD box set with me too… I’d take Six Feet Under… and The Wire… and Deadwood.

Who are your favorite artists working in comics today?

DS: Goran Parlov, Chris Samnee, Toby Cypress, Chris Brunner, Sean Murphy, David Lafuente, Jason Latour, Tommy Lee Edwards, JP Leon, Raphael Albequergue, Kevin Nowlan, Becky Cloonan, Dave Johnson, Duncan Fegredo, Gabe Hardman, Roland Boschi, Paul Azaceta. Stuart Immonen, Eric Canete, Ming Doyle, Tom Fowler, Guy Davis, Massimo Carnevale, Davide Gianfelice, Mike Mignola, etc. I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot of people, and sorry for the long list, I just think there’s a lot of great guys out there right now. Read their books!

What projects do you have coming up?

DS: I’ve more Thunderbolts issues on the way. Next being the Point One issue which was a LOT of fun for many reasons. I seem to have graduated from fill-in artist to co-artist on the book with Kev Walker and am enjoying it immensely. I have a two part story coming in issues 166 and 167. I also have a short arc in a critically aclaimed Vertigo series in the coming months.