You guys might already know that I like comics. That’s why I’m especially excited about this week’s Inside the Etsy Studio edition. I’m featuring Nick, the Rocket.Superb creator and comic artist! First up is some Rocket.Superb art…
Nick also creates zines and has other illustration projects in the works!
I love his use of color with his images. Check out what he had to say below!
Me: So, you’re pretty new to the Etsy scene but not at all new to comic creation. How long have you been illustrating comics and how did you get into it?
Nick: I started drawing when I was very young and just never stopped. I can’t actually even remember a time when I wasn’t drawing. Around the first grade, my friends and I would draw these maze-like adventure games on paper and then challenge one another to “complete” them. These paper games came out of our fascination with Nintendo at the time, but are also probably the earliest beginnings of my love for sequential art. I don’t think I actually attempted to consciously draw my own comics until later on, after getting some comic books and having watched the 1989 Batman movie.
Me: Tell us a bit about your first self published work, Rocket.Superb. What is the basic premise? What influences went into the creation of it?
Nick: In the first issue of Rocket.Superb readers are introduced to Private Skootch, possibly the last human in existence. We find our hero in deep space, having been taken prisoner aboard a strange alien spacecraft…It is a short story, so I intended only to give readers a glimpse into this particular universe, to provide an introduction to the characters that live within it.
The second half of the book is a “sketchbook” section featuring drawings, related and unrelated, to the creation of the story. Those drawings are all more like finished pieces themselves, too, actually.
I feel like the story has much in common with the weird sci-fi and adventure comics of the Golden Age… a lot of things just happen in those books… not everything is explained and they’re usually short… but they are always fun.
Other influences on my work come from everywhere like anything else I suppose. Not just from other comics.
Me: I see you participated in this past Mocca Festival (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) and that Rocket.Superb sold really well! Where else can we find your work?
Nick: Yep, I made this book specifically for the MOCCA Festival because I was offered a spot at a shared table. If it hadn’t been for that obligation and some other inspirations I may not have even put a book together. And then in the process of working I almost only put a book of drawings together, but since MOCCA is a comics festival, I wanted to make sure I showed people (and prospective publishers) that I can tell a story.
Between simply drawing or drawing-a-story I’d almost always prefer to just simply draw. Work from my head and draw. With comics though, story is everything and the art is almost secondary. It’s kind of funny too, because anyone who knows me, knows that when I am not drawing, all I do is talk and tell stories.
It was really cool to have so many folks tell me that had seen the previews for my book on a message board or two and had come to this festival just to pick one up!
By day I work as a graphic designer so my personal art website is usually neglected… but anyone interested in my work should start there at www.rocketsuperb.com and then visit my blog. When I have new work or work published elsewhere that is where to find the details.
Me: Who are your favorite comic artists? What do you read regularly?
Nick: I am a huge snob when it comes to the quality of the art in the comics I will read. It takes me a long time to give a book a chance if I feel the artwork is not up to par or just doesn’t appeal to me. Jim Lawson, Chris Bachalo, Guy Davis, Mike Mignola, and Paul Pope are some of my favorite contemporary, mainstream comic artists.
I also spend lots of my comic-studying-time on the work of guys like Jack Kirby, Carl Barks, Alex Toth, Joe Kubert, all of the artists from EC (Graham Ingels, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman…), R. Crumb… all those old men.
The only titles I read as regularly as they come out are Hellboy and BPRD, but I will pick up random issues of books here and there.
Me: Would you recommend self publishing to aspiring artists? If so, what would you do different next time?
Nick: Yes, definitely. And don’t wait. Start now. I procrastinate way too much myself, and that’s no way to make progress. You don’t want to get caught in that habit!
I have another book in the works with my friend Jashar Awan that we’re hoping to debut by summer’s end in time for the Baltimore Comic Con. We have a series that we have been working on developing in our spare time for a couple years now. You can visit the website www.signalcity.com and see Jashar’s work.
The next batch of solo projects I do will likely contain a mix of prose with comics and drawings, and won’t be so specific to one genre over another.
Me: Anything else you’d like to add?
Nick: Copies of Rocket.Superb are still available in my Esty store and from my website. Check back from time to time as I will be adding new prints and books as soon as I can!
Thanks Nick!
