For the final entry into this week’s set of Artist August interviews, we chat with Riley Rossmo! Riley’s a fantastic artist who has done 1320 pages worth of work at Image comics in this past year alone over six different books (which has to be some kind of record).
Today we chat with Riley about the past year in art, and a bit about what the future holds as well.
Can you look back on your life and recall the single moment that made you want to work in comics? Or was it more of a natural progression that led you here?
Riley Rossmo: I always drew a lot. The first image I made that got me thinking about comic art was a splash page from the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller “Wolverine” mini-series. I redrew that page 20 times, but I didn’t really think about making comics till I was 17 or so, about to finish high school and thinking I have to find a real job. It was Febuary in 1998 I guess, when I did my first set of samples. They where horrible Elektra pages. I decided the best way to get Marvel’s attention was to re-imagine some of their existing art, so I re-drew Frank Miller “Daredevil” pages (which was a horrible descision of course, as those pages are pretty amazing). I promptly received a rejection letter, to which I responded by doing more samples. It took until 2006 to get my first published work out. I think it was a pin-up in “Fear Agent.” Rick Remender ran my pin-up on the back of issue 5 or 6, and it was a huge encouragement.
Who or what has influenced the development of your art the most?
RR: Bill Sienkiewicz initially. He was huge for me. Since then Egon Schiele, Bernie Wrightson, Alex Toth, and Henrie de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Looking at the past few years, it’s quite impressive the sheer body of work you’ve done, with a stint at Marvel and sixty issues (1320 pages!) at Image. What’s the secret, Riley? What kind of magic art robot are you?
RR: I think fast and have a ton of creative energy. While working on “Proof” I had a full time job, too. Making art is pretty theraputic for me, as I’m a super high anxiety/energy person, My mind goes a million miles an hour most of the day, so having stuff to draw is really good for me. Keeps me sane and gives me a positive thing to channel my nervous energy into. Plus I read somewhere comic artists shouldn’t think about having too much of a style till they’ve done a 1000 pages or so.
At times I do regret not having taken more time to refine pages instead of rushing through them, but I think punctuality is important — though, sometimes I’ve abbreviated pages to make deadlines, especially on “Proof.”
Let’s break down your work a bit. With your time at Marvel on Rob Williams’ “Daken,” how did you come about with the distinctive style of Daken’s drug-o-vision? And what about working in that playground did you enjoy or dislike in contrast with your body of creator-owned work?
RR: Marvel really let me run wild on “Daken.” It took 6-7 pages for my editor to get a handle on the layouts I was sending her, but after we did a few pages together it was fun. I really enjoyed the work and that I got to draw Wolverine. Rob’s scripts were great.
The only thing that was a little hard for me was I had to run everything through my editor. On creator-owned books, I just do pages. Sometimes I do a couple revisions for my writers, but mostly I’m autonomous. I don’t have to get layouts, inks and colors approved, or if I deviate from the script I can just email my co-creator and say I want to run something differently that the script.
This year also saw the finale of “Green Wake,” which was your critical-darling title with Kurtis Wiebe. While we still lament the loss of this title at Multiversity, it remains a personal favorite specifically for the unique twist you bring to the art. When crafting the world of “Green Wake,” with its inhabitants and seemingly shifting landscapes, how did you come up with such a creative vision for the dystopian world, both in terms of its architecture and execution?
Continued belowRR: “Green Wake” just flowed out of me. I wasn’t worried about making it look too real or concrete, I just wanted to have a really strong atmosphere.
I also looked at a lot of my wife’s old photos (she collects old photos) and watched old movies like M, Rififi, and Freaks.
Fans of “Green Wake” were in luck, however, as you and Kurtis Wiebe teamed up again for “Debris.” However, as compared with “Green Wake,” this book’s art was a lot less vibrant and chaotic, with more of a focus on smoother lines and less chaos hidden underneath. When switching up between the moody Twin Peaks-ian vibe of “Green Wake” into the Final Fantasy-esque realm of “Debris,” how did you choose what differences to deploy in your art to give off such uniquely different executions?
RR: Kurtis and I wanted to do something light after the intensity of “Green Wake.” I needed to do something light too, after working on “Green Wake” and “Rebel Blood” for a year. I needed a break from horror.
I colored a few images for “Debris,” but realized I would go crazy coloring something without any spotted black and all the little details. I try to draw in a way appropriate to each project.
“Debris” sees your work colored by Owen Gieni. You’ve worked with a few colorists now in your career, as well as done the coloring yourself like with “Green Wake.” When working with other colorists, how do you feel their work enhances and adds to your own? On the other hand, what do you feel about coloring your own art brings out that others colors don’t?
RR: I like coloring myself best, but I get tired coloring. I can draw for hours and hours but coloring drains me. Owen adds a lot of depth to my work. As I mentioned, my attention span for coloring is limited. Having a colorist keeps the colors fresh. By the time I get to coloring a pages I’ve usually spent at least 5-6 hours on it doing, so 2 hours of coloring would make me crazy.
We’ve also had the fantastic four-issue mini “Rebel Blood,” which featured one of the most refreshing takes on the undead I’ve seen recently and was co-written by you. As this was your first time both co-writing and illustrating a series, what was different about working on this book over some of the others you’ve done in the past year? Was working on the story as well as art a completely different experience?
RR: I loved it. It took me 7 months to plot, but I loved having that level of control over the narrative. I could make story descisions more easily, and Alex Link was a tremendous help on “Rebel Blood.” Without him “Rebel Blood” may have been a silent book.
“Rebel Blood” was really fun, but next time I co-write a book I’m going to make more time to iron out the details.
Finally, there’s “Wild Children,” your recent mini-OGN with Ales Kot. The book is similar to “Debris” in the more ‘traditional’ form of art, but it sees you playing around a lot with the panel layout. How did you construct the visual sequence of events for this book, in terms of mixing it up and developing a sinister yet playful execution?
RR: “Wildchildren” was pretty interesting. Ales has a good design sense and writes a lot of specific layouts. After we did the first 8 pages I could push the layouts throughout the rest of the book. We really wanted to have a lot of open space in the book, and I didn’t want true blacks in the book if I could help it. On “Wildchildren” the characters took some control of the story themselves, smiling more than I thought they would.
To top off what’s clearly a great year for you, we’ve got the upcoming “Bedlam.” So, given the various different styles of art you’ve deployed over this past year alone, which Riley Rossmo should fans expect to see present in “Bedlam”?
RR: My goal for “Bedlam” is clean messy. Strong contours with some looser brush work, and splatter.
Continued belowOne thing I feel I have to address about “Bedlam.” Recently, you afforded me a sneak peak at a page, and what I found absolutely astonishing is how the page you showed me featured a character whose face was entirely covered by a mask, yet who filled the page with various different expressions. When working with a characters like this, what steps do you take to make sure that he can be as emotive as someone whose face is uncovered?
RR: I take lots of reference photos, act out scenes, and let the hands do the talking as much as possible. I didn’t really think about that designing Madder’s mask .
We live in a fairly connected world this day and age, what with the advent of social networking. Does feedback (both positive and negative) with fans and critics via things like Twitter and comment sections on websites push you as an artist? How does that aspect affect your art?
RR: I try not to take social media too much to hart, but with fan, and peer interaction so easy its ahrd to not hope for good tweets or facebook comments after I post images. I get all kinds of responses though some people prefer my work to be more expressive some more controlled line. At the end of the day I have to trust my instincts a little. I have a couple peers I send stuff to that I trust the opinion.
Who are your favorite artists working in comics today?
RR: David Aja, RM Guera, Dan Panosian, Christopher Mitten, Greg Ruth, Duncan Feegredo, Edwardo Risso. There are tons of artists I find inspiring. My favorite book overall right now is probably “Saga.”
