FIVE FINGERS OF SKETCH

The one thing people always say when they see my work is “Dude, have you ever drawn any comic books?” Or, “you should do a graphic novel!”

Well, the fact is that my experience in comic books only truly extended up to my college years at The School of Visual Arts in New York City.  It was at that school that I studied under several legendary figures in the history of comics.

Will Eisner, creator of THE SPIRIT (soon to be a major movie directed by 300/SIN CITY creator Frank Miller and boy does it look JUST like those movies…and Frank, the Spirit was not supposed to move around like DAREDEVIL, but pardon that side bar…).

Harvey Kurtzman, an early architect of MAD MAGAZINE,  creator of Playboy’s LITTLE ANNIE FANNY.

Art Spiegleman who reimagined the horrors of the Holocaust into dominant cats subjugating mice in the graphic novel Maus, and Sam Viviano, who was one of the nation’s top caricaturists, and who is currently the art director of Mad.

Sam, was a great teacher by the way. What made him stand above any teacher I had in school was his ability to extract all of the experience he had at that point in his life (Sam was only about thirty) and teach us in such a way that we learned what he was saying and actually got better, while not becoming slaves as to how Sam would do things.

As, I’ve stated before, I’m working with two other gentlemen on “THE A TEAM” film.  When I look at Eric Ramsey’s work, I’d love to have the ease he has at sketching and having that simple elegance to his work. Eric is an inherent “doodler”. He takes all of the images in his head and some of them go directly into the storyboards, while others end up on the sides (and all around) the page.

Benton, is a consummate illustrator. He doesn’t “waste” any lines except for that in his work. Benton’s art is highly detailed, and where Eric’s style has a looseness that reflects his easy going personality (mutual friend Darryl Henley said Eric would “slip on a banana peel and land in a pot of gold”) Benton’s meticulousness and attention to detail is related to his more internal personality.

Myself, a geek who can do knuckle pushups on concrete, experiment occasionally, but I find my strength in “inked” lines (virtual ink, as I work on computer only…no paper, no scanning) and I try to be as simple and clean as possible.  No excessive amounts of detail, unless it is needed, such as environments and crowds. I am not an amalgam of Eric and Benton, not having Eric’s looseness, nor Benton’s knowledge on anatomy and sheer drawing ability.  My strength is shot selection and clarity of storytelling.

When I have spoke with younger artists, I try to teach my accumulation of skills, not any one facet.

As Bruce Lee started as a proponent of Wing Chun and Chinese “Gung Fu” who boasted of their superiority, but later said, “I don’t believe in styles”;I believe in getting to the point of being very good at your job, without detailing exactly how you get there.

I will tell people starting out what films to watch (JAWS) and what not to get into, excessive cutting. There are non-technical things I also get into. How you present yourself, in terms of dress, personality, and confidence. Also, how to be part of team and to be helpful. When you are working on a commercial, ALWAYS BE ON TIME, as when the director has to meet with you and that may be the ONLY time they have, don’t blow it.

As far as the issue of doing a graphic novel, I have always shied away because of the fact that my spare time –which can be quite short if I am on a movie, and then I come home to my wife and son – can be amazingly short, and I spend it writing scripts. The other reason, is my lack of confidence in my drawing skills when not doing loose boards.

I’ve always felt that in order to do comics, you should be as refined as possible. I know I have lapses in anatomy and perspective. I can get intimidated when I see people who have a firm grasp of the necessities when it comes to illustration. I have friends, Brian McGee and Lawrence Christmas, who make me want to become a used car salesman, when I see some of their detailed and picture perfect work.

But, my wife Betty told me (strongly, I might add after we saw IRON MAN) that I should hire an artist and write the graphic novel. To say that I was uncomfortable with this elongated exchange would be as accurate as “David Fincher’s work is kinda dark”.

What I did get out of the exchange, which was about as painful as what happens to Tony “Iron Man” Stark’s heart in the movie, was that, there might be a way to do a graphic novel in the future that I can do minimal work on and still have time for my other pursuits.

As I have been trying to sell a script for years, a graphic novel could be another way to go. The owner has full rights to the property they create and if a film studio buys it, you get the lion’s share of the money as well as a cut of merchandising if you work it right.

I work very hard when I storyboard a film, but, I guess, there are alternatives.