Artist August: Rob Guillory (Interview)

Photo taken by Eddy Choi

Today on our Artist August feature, we chat with the Eisner winning artist of Image Comics’ hit Chew – Rob Guillory. Rob is one of our absolute favorite artists in the industry, bringing some of the most straight up entertaining art out there to one of the best books on the market. Plus, he put me in a comic which is endlessly entertaining for me.

We chat with Rob about his influences, how his home of Louisiana affects his art, the Easter eggs that he puts into each and every issue of Chew and a whole lot more. Check it out after the jump, and come back later for a look at some of the art that makes his work so great.

Can you look back on your life and recall the single moment that made you decide to work in comics? Or was it more of a natural progression that led you here?

Rob Guillory: It was pretty natural. I’ve got a pretty long history of telling stories with pictures. From a very, very young age, I was scribbling my own drawings on the back of coloring books and making my own flipbooks. I’m talking age 2 or 3-ish, so it was a pretty intuitive thing for me from the beginning, and it still is. I got ahold of my uncle’s comics a little after that, and was totally in love with the medium. Age 9, I started making my own mini-comics, and it all just sort of snowballed to where we are now.

Your style is one that is completely your own, and the results are in – people love it. How did you develop your artistic style, and who/what influenced your work?

RG: Well, first it’s important to note that I started out as a hardcore Marvel kid, and everything I did early on was trying to draw for Marvel, really. Thing is, I SUCKED at drawing the standard “superhero-y” way, so that fell my the wayside pretty fast. Things didn’t turn around for me until I decided to start simple by streamlining an art style to basic, cartoony, almost stick-figure drawings. The idea was to just focus less on drawing “cool” details and just focus on learning the craft of storytelling. Then, as I got more comfortable with it over time, I’d learn to flesh things out with the detail stuff.

And that’s pretty much how I grew this visual vocabulary, which is what it is. I hesitate to call it an art “style”, because it’s way closer to a handwriting, in a way. It’s just a melding of all the cartoons, horror movies and manga that I loved growing up. My influences are really diverse, from John Buscema and Steve Ditko, Jim Mahfood and Dave Crosland to Akira Toriyama, Rumiko Takahashi and Chuck Jones. It’s all over the place.

A penciled/inked page of an upcoming Chew issue

Chew is your first major work, and it being a hit is an understatement. How did you hook up with John, and how has the ride been so far?

RG: I was working with a writer named Brandon Jerwa on a Tokyopop project that just would not die. HA. The editors liked my stuff, but just weren’t sure people would like it. So when that gig ended, Jerwa referred me to Layman, who was a mutual friend, for CHEW. Networking pays off sometimes!

From there, we just clicked. Working with John’s been awesome, and I’m so spoiled that I can’t imagine working with another writer. We just gel really well, and I think we “get” each other’s work more than anyone else. And it’s really weird that so many people seem to enjoy the work. It’s really a dream come true, since we’re just doing what we like to do. We’re telling exactly the story we want to tell, and that’s a blessing to be in the position we’re in.

You’re picking up Eisner and Harvey nominations like they are nothing at this point. How great is it to be part of such an esteemed list of comic creators?

RG: Again, it’s very strange. I still see myself as an infant in this business, and to have this kind of recognition at my age (29) is humbling. It’s pretty damn sweet.

Rob’s Eisner’s and Harvey’s

So after San Diego Comic Con, you can add a new award to Chew’s mantle: the Eisner Award winner for Best Continuing Series. Given that this is essentially the Best Picture Oscar for comics, how did that make you feel? Were you completely surprised by it?

RG: Well, I figured we had a pretty good shot, but we were also going against friggin Locke & Key, so we really had no clue how things were gonna go. It was the most important award we were nominated for, I think. After winning the Eisner for Best New Series last year, we really wanted Best Continuing to cement that the book’s not a flash in the pan at all. And now that we got it, I think I’m just now starting to grasp how large our fanbase is. It’s pretty humbling.

So now that you’re the winners of the top prize, what’s next for Team Chew? Please say you’re going to Disneyland…

RG: Back to work for us. Continuing to raise our personal standard for the book is a constant goal, and now that we’re through a third of the CHEW story, we really get to screw with our characters and have some fun. There’s some great, emotional stuff coming. We’ve become known as the book that makes you laugh or makes you queasy. But there are some hard, dark moments coming that will have fans in tears. Myself and Layman included.

You’re a co-creator of Chew. We know John conceived the story of Chew, so what is the story behind you becoming the co-creator of it?

RG: Yeah, Layman came up with the concept of CHEW years ago, while he was still a Wildstorm editor. He actually pitched them CHEW several times, but they laughed him off. By the time he found me, he already had three scripts under his belt, and it was “John Layman’s CHEW”. But after I turned in a few pages of issue 1, he realized that my art was maybe just as important to the book’s voice as his writing, so he made me a co-creator. Really unexpected. But he saw early that I contribute a lot to the book besides just pretty pictures. We’re both creating this world, and his appreciation of the artist’s contribution speaks volumes for how much integrity he has. I don’t know many other writers that would do that.

The finished version of the page above

Chew has been filled with awesome moments and fantastic characters. Do you have a favorite moment you’ve brought to life so far in the book, and who is your favorite character to draw?

RG: I’ve got a few moments that I really love: the first time Chu uses his ability in #1, the Arctic Observatory in #4, Savoy’s Thanksgiving Dinner in #15. And there’s another Savoy moment in #20 that ranks up there. Really, Savoy pages in general are pretty fun to draw. Anything with Colby tends to be really funny, too.

Maybe one of our absolute favorite things about Chew at Multiversity are the Easter Eggs you throw in within each issue. How did that start, and which are your personal favorites to date?

RG: I’ve seen the Easter Egg thing used to great effect in three of my favorite things: 1. Watchmen, 2. Jim Mahfood’s art and 3. The show LOST. I just figured early on that it could be a good way to really flesh out the CHEW world via signs and whatnot. It started out as just FDA propaganda posters and as the book started to hit its stride, I started inserting random jokes and shout-outs to my favorite shows, movies, etc…

And people really started to dig it, which is great. It gives the book a nice little level of re-readability that a lot of books don’t have. You can either skim right over it, or you can dig in and live in the panels a bit. Seemed like a nice way to entertain the reader and give them a little more for their 3 bucks. And I’ve never seen a comic reference pop culture nearly as much as we do. We’re very interactive.

In that vein, have you ever written anything in the writing in the sky that no one has caught? Or have you at least been tempted to? I ask this because I looked at your Twitter page and realized I have never looked for hidden messages.

RG: Maaaaybe. I can’t totally answer that. There’s definitely some stuff in there that no one has noticed. Ex: I gave a BIG clue that Chu had a daughter in issue 5. And no one caught it. It was subtle.

Chew’s writer John Layman asks you to draw a lot of really messed up stuff. Has there ever been a moment where you were close to drawing the line, or even where you had to?

RG: No. John’s really sensitive. Surprisingly so, really. He’ll say something like “Hey, there’s this thing in issue 20…Would you be offended by this?” And so far, nothing’s been too far. There’s something in issue 30 that’s pretty close, though.

You’re a Louisiana native, and it is a state that has long been esteemed for its creative spirit. Does your home serve as creative inspiration for you in your work?

RG: Maybe. It’s quiet here, and I’m a quiet guy, so we fit each other. And there’s a lot of growth happening in the state, and a lot of comic creators are popping up here. It’s a great place to live if you like hearing your own thoughts. I don’t think I’d be able to focus on the work if I was living in a place as busy as Los Angeles or something.

I read on your site that you’re not much of a Photoshopper (that might be an invented word). How does that impact your art process, or does it even?

RG: It’s a good thing, probably. It forces me to rely more on analog media and not fall back on digital media to save the work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than competent in Photoshop. But there something about getting my hands dirty that excites me in a way that digital media doesn’t.

In the age of the Internet, both praise and criticism are delivered to the doorsteps of creative types all around the world instantaneously. What is it like for you to jump on Twitter on a day of release for Chew to instantly see what people thought of your work?

RG: I do my best to avoid that stuff, but I fail miserably every time. It’s everywhere. I love hearing from folks that enjoy the comic, so it’s cool to have that level of instant connection. I put a lot of little hidden gifts in each issue, and it’s cool to see if people find them or not. But of course, it can be incredibly frustrating to read reviews from Internet “experts”.

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?

RG: I’m not sure. I mean, I feel like I get a lot of love in reviews, so I can’t complain. But a lot of that could be because art and script are so intertwined in CHEW. Who knows? I tend to think it’s probably because artists tend to be looked at as interchangeable. Writers tend to stay on for longer runs, while it’s becoming really hard to find artists that stay put for more than a few issues at a time.

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?

RG: Yeah, as far as family, I think they were just content that I was locked in a room drawing comics and not doing drugs or something. HA. But with the book’s success, I think they’ve stopped looking at this as “Rob’s hobby” and more like a real job. I pay my bills with this. And as they’ve wrapped their brains around that, they’ve gotten pretty excited about it.

What are three things that you absolutely cannot work without?

RG: Coffee. Coffee. And food. I eat a LOT while I draw. Thank God for my metabolism.

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

RG: The Bible, Something by Sam Cooke, Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead (I could watch it a million times) and Scalped. I’d say Watchmen, but as depressing as it can be, I’d probably beat myself to death with a coconut if I was stuck on an island with ONLY Watchmen. HA.