Artist August is back today, and we’re featuring one of the most talented artistic storytellers in comics: Gabriel Hardman. His work can be seen on “Kinski” at Monkeybrain Comics, which he both writes and draws, and the upcoming “Station to Station” that he created with his wife Corinna Bechko at Dark Horse Comics, and he’s someone whose work everyone should be paying attention to.
We talk to Hardman about his art, the development of his work, the differences for him between writing for his own art and someone else writing for him, and more. Thanks to Gabriel for chatting with me, and enjoy!
Can you look back on your life and recall the single moment or work that made you want to work in comics? Or was it more of a natural progression that led you here?
Hardman: There was never a point where I didn’t think I was going to draw for a living. My mother is a fine artist and I was exposed to art of all kinds from a young age. I started seriously pursuing comic art when I was 14, sending samples to submissions editors regularly for the next few years.
Who or what has influenced the development of your art the most?
Hardman: Stylistically, artists like Jorge Zaffino, Gene Colan, Noel Sickles, Bruno Premiani and Alex Toth are all big influences. But my visual storytelling skills are informed a lot by my work in movies and my appreciation of film in general. None of those filmic ideas can be directly applied to comics but I’ve adapted them to serve my purposes.
In the digital age, new tools are available to artists of all types. How does that affect and expand your work? Are you someone who readily uses computer aids to create your art, or do you try and stay as traditional as you can?
Hardman: I stay as traditional as I can. I draw all my comics with brushes, ink and paper. But I adjust things in photoshop and everything has to get scanned in order to send the files to the publisher. Easily accessible reference materials are the great thing about being a comic artist now. Digital distribution is a lot more exciting to me than creating the comic digitally.
You’re currently working on two hugely different comics in Star Wars: Legacy and Kinski. The topics couldn’t possibly be more different, nor could the genres. I’m always curious: does working on differing books of that sort stretch a different muscle for you as a creator? Do you find yourself changing how you work on something like Kinski vs. Legacy, besides one being finished in color and the other not?
Hardman: It’s all about the storytelling. They have different styles because that’s what the story is asking for. Since I write (or co-write in the case of Star Wars: Legacy) both books as well as draw them, it all feels like it’s part of the same process.
You’ve been making a lot of ground up in prominent for-hire work recently, and with Kinski, you’re working on a creator-owned book. What made this the right time for you to work in creator-owned, and what made Monkeybrain such an ideal fit for the story?
Hardman: I had always planned to do creator owned work, the challenge is carving out the time to do it. Between the freelance comics I’m working on and the movies I storyboard, I have a full plate. I only wish that I had been putting out creator owned books the whole time. Speaking of which, my co-writer Corinna Bechko and I have a creator owned one shot called STATION TO STATION coming out in August. It’s a modern day sci-fi book with big monsters and interdimensional craziness.
With both Kinski and Legacy, you’re not just providing art but writing (or co-writing, on Legacy) as well. Do you find yourself taking shortcuts with your scripts that you wouldn’t see on, say, Jeff Parker’s Atlas scripts, because you know how you want to handle it without visualization cues in writing?
Hardman: To a limited degree, yes. But the scripts for Legacy are actually pretty tight. Since I’m pretty good a visualizing at the writing stage, we put all that information into the script so that we’re on that same page with our editors all along. Kinski is written more like a screenplay with no panel descriptions since I’m the only one responsible for it.
Continued belowOne thing I thought was really fascinating about Kinski was the very simplistic, almost daily newspaper strip comic feel to it, which was quite the juxtaposition to the story itself. Was that something you very consciously developed, or did that look and feel just come together naturally?
Hardman: I just felt that a very straightforward, uninflected style would serve the story best. I think that style is necessary to pull off the tone of the book. The story isn’t telling the reader what to think about the main character’s actions and I needed the art to reflect that.
You’ve had a very successful career as a storyboard artist in film, and based off what I’ve read from you, that’s clearly a passion. How do movies and their look and feel influence your art? Do you see something that works in film and try to incorporate it into your art, even if it is a completely different medium?
Hardman: It’s never that direct. It’s more that core storytelling ideas can transcend even if you execute them in different ways. Comics a unique discipline, that’s what I love about them.
Working on highly visual and brilliant movies like The Dark Knight Rises and Inception for Christopher Nolan must be a thrill. When working as a storyboard artist vs. a storyteller in comics, how do you find that your approach changes? Is there much overlap between the two, or do you find that they are two hugely different challenges?
Hardman: I think they’re very different. The biggest difference is that comics are the end product and storyboards are a preparatory step in planning the end product which is a film. Also in comics I have the freedom to tell the story — in the writing and art — the way I want to. If I’m working for Chris, I’m angling the work I do to adapt to his style. Writing and drawing comics is much more satisfying creatively.
