Just because August is winding down doesn’t mean that our Artist August feature is. No, sir! In fact, today we’re going to be spotlighting some lesser known creators, but those who you should definitely be keeping on your radar — and to start with, we’d like you to introduce you to Rob Wilson IV.
You may not know Rob yet, but trust me when I say he’s a creator you are going to want to keep an eye on. Read on below as we talk about his first comic “Knuckleheads,” his recent collaboration with John Darnielle and a light tease towards the future.
Is there a single moment of your life you can look back on as the moment you knew you wanted to work in comics? Or was it more of a natural progression that led you here?
Robert Wilson IV: It was probably on a road trip with my family when I was about 10. My mom got me and my little brother one of those three packs of comics from Toys R Us that had Claremont and Lee’s X-Men 1-3, it totally blew me away. I probably copied half of the panels in that first issue.
Who or what has influenced the development of your art the most?
RWIV: My mom homeschooled me and my brother growing up and that is probably the single most powerful influence I’ve ever had as an artist or a person. Dallas has a pretty cool little comic scene and a lot of my fellow Dallas comic artists have influenced and informed my work quite a bit, guys like Kristian Donaldson, Evan Bryce, Chad Thomas, and Joe Eisma. It’s so important to have a group of artist who can give you honest and constructive feedback. I’ve also gleened a lot from artists like Moebius, Jack Kirby, Naoki Urasawa, Milt Caniff, Hiroshi Yoshida, and Andrew Wyeth, among so many more.
One of your first works in comics was Kunckleheads with Brian Winkeler, which is a bit of a superhero pastiche. How did this project come about, and what is it about poking fun at the superhero genre that you enjoyed playing with?
RWIV: Knuckleheads is really a product of Brian and I’s friendship. We met through our, at the time, mutual comic shop, New World Comics in Oklahoma City, and pretty much immediately started working on Knuckleheads. We both love humor and sitcoms like Arrested Development, Community, and Peepshow. Most of us aren’t as noble or selfless as the heroes we love to read about and we thought it was really funny to put a guy who is kind of a goof in the position of having to become noble and selfless, even if it’s occasionally against his will.
The lead character certainly isn’t your traditional hero, from his socks in sandals footwear to his beer gut and bad hair-do. When designing an anti-hero Hancock-esque character, what did you look to for inspiration when putting together a non-super hero?
RWIV: College roommates…
I’m no stranger to bad roommates in college, but this sounds like an amusing story!
RWIV: Trevor’s look and a few bits of his personality were borrowed from a few college roommates, most of them were actually really good roommates. The most influential on Trevor was probably when one of my old roommates was wearing a robe, I think he might have been sick, and consumed a six pack of beer and most of a bag of potato chips while watching a Biggest Loser marathon. The more I think about it the more I’m realizing how much that day informed who Trevor would become.
The book also found a nod towards Japanese kaiju cinema, with a Godzilla poster in the background, Cloverfield references and a giant monster found later in the issue. How do you balance genre-based work on a title like this, which hops between multiple tropes that create one of it’s own?
RWIV: Brian might be able to answer this one better than me. On my end, I just tried to cram as many clues about who the characters are and what they like as I could without distracting from the story telling.
Recently you worked with John Darnielle of Mountain Goats for a series of posters for his tour, with the goal. How did this opportunity come about? Were you a fan of the Mountain Goats before ever getting the call?
RWIV: I was asked on Twitter by a gentleman named Hansel, who is a fan of comics as well as The Mountain Goats, if I had ever done a poster for the band and less than an hour later I got an email from John asking if I was interested in doing the poster for his upcoming tour. I had actually started listening to the Mountain Goats a few months earlier at Hansel’s behest, so thanks Hansel!
When crafting the images for these posters, I read that the goal was for the single image to tell a story in and of itself, and personally I see things like A Boy And His Dog by Harlan Ellison, or a post-apocalyptic Jon Snow and Ghost. When putting together a piece with such a lofty goal, what steps do you take to achieve your goal?
RWIV: John and I talked a bit about Kamandi as well as some other apocalyptic stories and decided we wanted to do something along the whole last boy on earth theme. I guess my natural reaction is to try and put myself in the world that is being created and try to capture how that makes me feel. I think the two feelings that I associate most with apocalyptic stories are aggression and loneliness and so I made a poster for each. I guess, to some extent, all of my art is a reaction to my own emotions.
For you, what is the story being told in the images?
RWIV: For me, the story is vague but the feeling of the primal aggression needed to survive a situation like that contrasted by the terrible loneliness of isolation is what I really grab onto. That, and if you’re going to be the last boy on earth, you should at least have a dog, because dogs are great.
You’ve also done gig posters for bands like Best Coast, Eisley and Adam WarRock. To you, what is needed for a poster that is eternally associated with something musical? Is that even a factor?
RWIV: It’s so abstract, I think the best gig posters evoke similar emotions that the music that they represent do. The band and their management have to like the poster too.
So I know you have to keep generally mum on this, but I’ve heard through the grape vine that you’ve got a comic coming soon. What can you tell us about it?
RWIV: Unfortunately, not much at the moment. I’m almost half way through drawing the first issue and I’m really excited about the creative team that’s been assembled. Hopefully, more information will be available soon.
As a completely independent creator at the moment, how do you feel about the current landscape of comics? Is it a good time to be coming up in the world?
RWIV: I like more comics coming out right now than any time I can remember in the past so I feel really good about the industry creatively. The fact that I can live off of the money I’m making drawing pictures and that there is a publisher willing to take a chance on me makes me think it’s probably a really good time for new creative talent. I also think there are a few really interesting things going on on the business and distribution side.
We live in an age where there are many new tools for artists to choose from to practice there craft. What do you prefer for yourself? Do you use digital tools at all?
RWIV: I’m a pretty traditional guy. I love inking with a brush, I think it’s where the personality of my art comes from. I’ve toyed around with penciling digitally and inking traditionally like Mitch Gerads of The Activity does, though I haven’t had the time to invest in that technique.
What would be a dream project for you? Or rather: how much longer until I get to see your Kamandi book!
RWIV: Haha, I guess that’s up to DC. I would love to do Kamandi or really just about any of Kirby’s Fourth World creations. I would also love to do an issue of Prophet with Brandon Graham or maybe something in Mike Allred’s Madman universe. Other than that, most of my dream projects are ones that I would create or co-create.
Continued belowWho are your favorite artists working in comics today?
RWIV: There are too many great artists to list but here are the ones that come to mind: Paul Pope, Noaki Urasawa, Craig Thompson, Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon, Mike Mignola, Cameron Stewart, and Mike Allred.
Aside from this mystery comic you’re working on, where else could people expect to see you within the next year?
RWIV: Mystery comic aside, I’m doing a bunch of posters and art prints with my printing partners at Nakatomi. I also try to get around to as many conventions as I can, I’ll be at the Baltimore Comic Con in a couple of weeks.
