After John Lees kicked off Artist Alley with his chat with artist Riley Rossmo about “Drumhellar” #1, I had to get onboard as I loved the column idea. So every other week, you can find John or myself talking with an artist about a recent or current release, going through and celebrating their work while underlining what they accomplish as visual storyteller. We’ll go through their work on one book in specific, discussing a few specific pages and their work on the project as a whole.
For my first edition, I talk to Italian artist Matteo Scalera about his work on today’s “Black Science” #1 from writer Rick Remender, colorist Dean White and Image Comics. This is one hell of an exciting release, and we talk to Scalera about working with Remender and White, what appeals to him about this project, his inspiration for it, and much, much more. Thanks to Matteo for chatting with me, and don’t forget to buy this book!
Also, at the bottom you can find layouts, page cleanup and inks for the two splash pages. Definitely well worth a look, and thanks to Matteo and Rick for sharing those.
Rick Remender, the writer on this book, is a guy who has an artistic background. Do you feel Rick’s background made him an easier writer to work with for you as an artist?
Scalera: It makes it easier and more fun.
Easier, because somehow we think the same way, we have more or less the same vision about stuff. Also, he understands the limits of telling a story through images, so with Rick’s scripts there’s no risk of finding something like “…and then A kicks B, while B was closing a door that C is trying to smash with a baseball bat, while D is trying to keep him from doing it, but in the meantime it’s raining outside, and there’s an earthquake”, all in one single panel.
More fun, because time after time he tries to challenge me, with weird action scenes and strange new worlds, and we encourage each other to do better and better job on the pages.
This first issue finds Grant McKay in a world that is thankfully far different than ours, with reptile creatures and fish people existing in a world Aztec-like temples. It’s a world gone mad, but it’s oh so beautiful. For you as an artist, how was exciting was the experience of creating something like this, and how challenging is it knowing you have to do it again next issue?
Scalera: Well, first of all, let me say that I love drawing reptiles, amphibians and fish, especially their heads’ shapes. So when I found out that the first issue was set in that world…I can’t tell how happy I was. Too bad we jump in another dimension so soon.
The fact that we change settings so quick is fun and challenging, first of all because I’ll never get bored, drawing the same clothes, characters and buildings over and over again, but sometimes it could also be scary, ’cause some of these settings require a specific series of studies, and often there’s just a few days between closing an issue and starting a new one.
With Dean White providing painted finishes to the book, does that change your approach at all when working on the book? How closely do you and Dean work together in bringing this book to life?
Scalera: Dean’s style is pretty unique, and – as I said in a previous interview – I don’t consider him just as a colorist, but I see him as a painter. That’s another challenging aspect of Black Science, since my style is pretty dark and graphic, and the shapes that I use are cubes, while Dean’s colors are usually bright and pictorial, with round shapes. This is something totally new to me, and we’re both making adjustments while working on the book, to make it look unique. For example, on this first issue I wanted to try something new, adding gouache to my inks, but this was “limiting” Dean’s vision, forcing him to follow my path. Also, this approach increases a lot the percentage of black on the page, so I’ve decided to avoid the gouache for the next issues.
Continued belowBlack Science is quite the mash-up in terms of technology and worlds and character types, and it has a dynamic, completely unique look that you’ve created. I’m curious though, for a project like this, are there any particular influences that you reference? Beyond this project, what or who would you say have influenced your work the most?
Scalera: In general, when we started working on Black Science, what Rick did was send along a ton of (Frank) Frazetta’s paintings. That’s the main reference when it comes to creating new worlds, tools, characters. As for the style matter, to be honest, the list of artists I’m inspired by could be endless. To make it simpler, I’d just say a couple of names which are not only a HUGE stylistic inspiration for storytelling, inking and drawing, but also great when it comes talk with them about career and life in general, since I’ve the honor of being not only a great fan, but also good friend with these two guys, which are Sean Gordon Murphy and Eric Canete. Also Sean, after seeing my Black Science #1 pages, told me he preferred the traditional black & white pages instead of the gouache ones, so, for those who’ll be disappointed by the slight change of inking style between issue #1 and issue #2, well…blame him.
Covers are a very interesting aspect of comics for me as a reader, as they serve many different purposes. They have to stand out on the stands, they have to stand out as individual pieces, and ideally, they mean preview the comic in some sort of way. Your cover does that very well, and fits into the same design that the other variants go into. When you’re developing a cover like the one for Black Science, do you have specific goals in what you want to accomplish? How does your approach change on this vs. an interior vertical splash, for example, and how does that title bar design affect your approach?
Scalera: Yeah, covers and interiors are two very different things, even if they’re two aspects of the same thing.
As you were already saying, you have to be careful about various things when it comes to realize a cover.
First of all, it needs to be eye-catching, and it must say something about the story and about the general atmosphere of the book, but at the same time it can’t tell too much. Basically it has to make readers curious about the story inside.
I consider myself mainly as an interior artist. I’m still learning stuff about covers. Basically, my covers are divided into two main groups: “storytelling” covers and “iconic” ones.
As for the first ones, I simply choose a moment of the book (normally, it’s the main event of that issue) and I try to put it on the cover. The main risk usually here is that sometimes you just end up drawing a big panel, like it’s an interior splash page, and not an actual cover. This is something that happens to interior artists, sometimes.
The iconic covers are my favorite ones. Usually they don’t tell a lot about the story, but they tend to give a strong idea of the feel, the atmosphere of the book you’re about to read. Most of the time they’re a composition of the main characters or element of the story.
In this specific case, the cover for Black Science #1, I tried mixing both aspects, using the composition and some storytelling as well. So, in the focus point we have Grant, jumping at some electric frogs, and on the top and bottom we have two composition elements: the huge frog statue and some fish men attacking. I thought that something special was needed for issue #1.
As for the next issues, covers are more focused on the storytelling aspect.
The opening page to a series is a very interesting experience, as it very much introduces the reader to the world and the vibe that this book will have. And for Black Science, we’re given a rather introspective bit of narration combined with a dark, ominous and powerful page. Going from script to final on this page, what did you know you wanted to convey with this page, and when it comes to a page like this, how much of this is you, and how much is Dean?
Continued belowScalera: Actually, in the first place, this page was meant to be entirely black.
It was my idea to add some elements, just to make it special, but still mantaining a dark feel.
Also, I think it matches pretty well with Grant’s opening sentence: “It wasn’t until I met everyone else’s measure of success that I realized I’d failed myself.”
So, basically, that lightning represents that time, the moment in which he actually starts realizing.
In this page, Dean’s work is pretty minimal, especially because I came up with this idea at the last second, we needed the first five pages to be presented at Image Comics Expo, and we were running out of time.
I thought one thing that was very interesting about the page is the difference between the events of the page and the lack of sound effects and the quieter narration. It’s a very loud page, but one that is quiet in its own way. Was the lack of any real sound effect to such a dynamic an action a decision from the start, or just something that was never discussed? Tonally, the absence of that gives this a foreboding, creepy vibe.
Scalera: No, it wasn’t something that we’ve discussed about. It just came out like that, and to be honest, I’m just noticing it now (laughs).
And actually it’s a really good call, in my opinion, because it makes the concept even stronger, and makes that lightning even more metaphorical. It’s a lightning bolt that explodes inside Grant’s mind. It’s something happening both outside and inside a human being.
This is the first time we get a look a real look at the world that Grant is dealing with, and what a shocking, surprising world it is. It’s kind of an immediate injection of adrenaline to our hearts, as we know perhaps even more than Grant what kind of situation they are dealing with. When you were working on this page, what were you trying to convey? A sense of wonder, of hopelessness for their situation?
Scalera: This sequence is very, very, VERY movie-ish. If Black Science could ever make it to become a movie or a TV series, I would absolutely want this first sequence to be kept, since it’s just perfect.
In my mind, it’s not just a way to give the reader a sense of danger, it’s something more. It is Black Science incarnate. It’s the story of a man, a smart man, who thinks he’s trying to get to the Truth, he runs for his dear life, he’s struggling, he arrives at the top, just to see how huge, definitely too big for him, the Real Truth is.
The myth of the World Turtle that carries the world on this back immediately came to mind when I saw this, but it’s such an impressive and shocking look with the lightning thundering down with the turtles trudging along that it takes your breath away as a reader. When it came to the turtles and the worlds on their backs, how did you develop their look, especially considering how they have Aztec style temples on their backs as well?
Scalera: Well, in this case, all the credits go to Rick, who’s very accurate when it comes to explain specific worlds, atmospheres and visions. Basically, that image was already there, between Rick’s words. I just had to put it on a piece of paper. The feel that I wanted to keep anyways, was that – despite lightning and stuff – in this world, it’s normal. It’s something that has been going on for thousands of years, and the turtles are not scared of that. That’s how that world runs, and it’s something too big for us, small, stupid, arrogant human beings.
The third panel on this page along the top finds Grant plummeting to a hard landing, and it highlights a key element of this entire issue: motion. Grant is on the move nearly the entire time, and you convey that with a real sense of speed and foreboding. When it comes to delivering panels like that and the others throughout, is there a fine line between getting it right and overdoing it? How do you approach a panel like that one?
Continued belowScalera: Well, this is an interesting subject, which is pretty hard to explain. Plus, if we consider the fact that I’m Italian, finding the right English words to explain it properly is almost impossible. I’ll try, though.
A lot of people think that the strength of an action is given by showing the violence of the action itself, or even just the damage that this action causes. It’s not like that, in my opinion. What defines the strength and speed of an action in comics is all based on the composition lines. Every line defines specific energies in motion, and the way you alternate, break, combine them, creates a huge variety of options. The better you are in managing these lines, the better the dynamics on your pages will be.
This is our first look at the fish people warrior class on this world, and later on, we’re given a look at the frogs who apparently govern the world. Earlier, you said this is something you enjoy in particular. How did their look develop, from both the frogs and fish in terms of anatomy and look and the way they dress differently than one another, with the fish wearing loin cloths and the frogs wearing what look like fur collars?
Scalera: Actually, Rick was happy with the first versions of every of these species, so the process went incredibly smooth. This probably comes by the fact that I really love drawing fish, amphibians and reptiles. The fur collars for the frogs was Rick’s idea. They’re the reigning breed in this world, so the fur collars could help giving this feel.
You mentioned earlier that this issue was one that you were a bit heavier on gouache than you will be going forward. What made it a fit for this world and this story, in particular, and what do you feel it brings out in your work?
Scalera: Gouache is something that’s really been inspiring me lately, and in these last months I’ve tried using it for a lot of my commissions. For Black Science I wanted to try try something new, that’s why I decided to take some risk and use gouache for it. At the same time, though, I find it limiting Dean’s beautiful colors. Also, it increases the percentage of black on the pages a lot, and when it comes to print, this is a huge risk. That’s why I’ve decided to keep it just for specific effects (like smoke, or specific backgrounds) from now on.
