Showing posts with label darren close. Show all posts
Showing posts with label darren close. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Productivity and Motivation: David C Mahler and Darren Close

Part two of talking with self-publishing/small press cartoonists about productivity and motivation.



David C. Mahler is a young prolific Melbourne cartoonist, he seems to have a new mini comic out every few month, in a variety of formats, as well as featuring in recent anthologies Dailies and Victoria Drug Scene. David's tumblr.

Do you experience a drop in productivity upon completing a comic?

Not exactly. I'm a bit of a workhorse; at any one time I'll have 5 or so books in the works, which can range from 6 - 30 pages. As I work on a large number of projects at once, they do take quite some time to see completion, so maybe that's how I get around the dreaded productivity drop; I just take so long to complete any one thing. As well, I'm constantly noting down new concepts and dream projects…I'm starting to get worried I'll never have a holiday ever again. Generally if I finish a longer work I'll have a few days of rest where I'll work on more scratchy 1-2 pagers before starting the long uphill push once more. Oh, I will admit, I've actually caught myself taking mid-project breaks more and more. I'll wake up in the morning, sit at my desk with a stack of inked pages, a stack of panelled pages, and catch myself watching Bob's Burger's an hour later. And then it's lunchtime, and of course you have to eat lunch in front of youtube…I mean, that's just common sense…I never really acknowledged it before, but I guess my weakness is indeed the mid-project lazies!


Have you developed methods to deal with creative lulls?

Definitely just piling the projects on. If I know there's more to do I'll push myself harder to finish off the current comic, so I can go onto that next exciting project. I also make a point of discussing projects with, well, everyone. I'm worried it comes off a bit like boasting, but really it's a tactic I've found to commit myself to my work - I don't want to let anyone down! Every now and then a friend will ask something along the lines of "so did you give up on that 20 pager you mentioned last year?" and I'm basically always reassuring, "no no, it's sitting on my desk, the pencils are tight, any day now!!"
As far as the sneaky tv breaks, it generally gets to a point where I say "alright, I've finished one page in the last three days, yet I've finished two seasons of Lost. Time to get back to work! …After this episode…"


What do you consider the primary obstructions of your productivity?

Well, TV no doubt…I'm not the most social person - I've been shamefully known to cancel plans last minute because I'm just too deep in the zone. Really the only other obstacle I can recognise would be food, which makes me pretty darn tired. I realised a while ago that my most productive periods are the days I don't eat! What an awful double edged sword…don't worry, I don't starve myself for my art, but if I need to I can contentedly rock out a solid, meal-scarce 40 hours where I'll just whizz through 10-15 pages. I really do not recommend it.


Via his creation Killeroo, Darren Close has collaborated with a wide line up of Australian writers and cartoonists since it's initial appearance in the university magazine The Third Degree. Close has been active in fostering comics communities with his Ozcomics weekly draw-off and prior to that Ozcomics the magazine, co-edited with Mark Selan.
 
Do you experience a drop in productivity upon completing a comic?

 
Yeah, there's a period when you switch to "create mode" to "pimp mode" and everything else goes on the back-burner for a while - at least that's how it was with the GANGWAR one-shot last year. I moved heaven and earth to get it ready for Big Arse 2 - and then straight into online orders and gauging interest of stocking it at local comic shops. The next book didn't really get a look-in until most of the stock was sold.


Have you developed methods to deal with creative lulls?

 
Well for one I'll never rush a book to meet a deadline again. The GANGWARS ANTHOLOGY book has been a slow burn, generating and gauging retailer interest whilst it's still coming together, much better planning and NO rushed pages. Not soliciting the release date until it's READY is another handy tip.

What do you consider the primary obstructions of your productivity?

 
Probably facebook (and ozcomics). It's a great marketing tool but also a big drain on time and energy if you don't monitor it.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

2012 in Review: Arthur Strickland

  Arthur Strickland

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

It would have to be discovering the Ozcomics page on Facebook for sure (Courtesy of Ms Fiona Freestone). It just opened so many doors and helped me meet the most amazing local writers and artists. I had pretty much fallen out of the whole art and comic book scene but this totally re-inspired my passion for drawing. Working with Matt Kyme, Clint Hammill and Darren Close has been  amazing and its so humbling getting such positive feedback from such a talented group of guys.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

I live in a small town outside of Melbourne so I was really amazed at the comic scene there. So much talent and so many to mention but standouts off the top of my head are Zed Mercury by Steve Boyd, The Dirt Nap by Brendan Halyday, Killeroo by Darren Close, Collateral and 'Our love will never die, but we will' by Matthew Nichols. Frank Candilloro's work Blood across Broadway and Viddy well, Brother is amazing and his style is totally unique. Matt Kyme also released his solo project The Ace which he wrote and illustrated and I was just blown away. We only recently had a comic book store open up in my home town, so I also went back and caught up on old stuff that I'd been meaning to read including- 100 Bullets, Preacher, Kick Ass, The Walking Dead, Lobo, Swamp Thing to name a few. All amazing.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?
 
Stephen Kings The Wind Through the Keyhole was delightful. I really loved Prometheus and Cabin in the Woods. Both stand outs. Battlefield 3 expansion packs have also kept that disc almost permanently in my PS3. Music wise I've really enjoyed Noctourniquet by The Mars Volta, Book Burner by Pig Destroyer, the new Testament and Deftones albums were good too. Breaking Bad and Face Off are both television highlights.
 
Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

Too many too mention haha. Since taking on the role of penciler, inker and colourist on That Bulletproof Kid, plus working on a short Killeroo story for Darren Close as well as the odd commission and weekly Ozcomics entries, I'm almost constantly changing and fine tuning work methods and techniques to increase output speed and save time. Inking for example went from digital to pen to dip pen and ink to brush and ink then back to digital (laughs).

What are you looking forward to in 2013?
 
Really just looking forward to creating more art and stories. I may possibly even have a crack at writing. Matt Kyme and I are also looking into one of his other stories for a possible 2013 release. Being a big gaming fan I'm really looking forward to the next generation of games consoles. I'm expecting them to be mind blowing haha.
 

Saturday, December 8, 2012

2012 in Review: Darren Close

Darren Close (photo by Bobby N)

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

Getting a new Killeroo book out after about 7 years hiatus was pretty good, but returning to the collaboration side of things for a BIG book next year would probably be the highlight - so much talent in this country that hasn't been given its due thus far. And continuing to develop my own artwork has been particularly rewarding as well.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

There's probably too many to name that fall into this category, mainly due to their entries to the OzComics Drawing Challenge on Facebook. Sacha Bryning, Steve Boyd, Rob O'Connor, Louie Joyce, Adam Rose, Arthur Strickland, Louisa Ginivan, Gee Hale, Mark Lauthier, David Follett, Aly Close, Greg Holfield... and that's just a few of them! Such a variety of great artistic styles too.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

What is this "non-comics" you speak of?

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

Brush pens. My style has changed dramatically since I discovered Kuretake brush pens (thanks Sacha!), they're fantastic. I'm happy to have introduced many other artists to these great pens too, most of which have also enjoyed the difference they have brought to their own work.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

More Killeroo! I have an enormous amount of Killeroo material building up at present, and I'm very driven to re-establish the character with a series of one-shots, appearances in other comics, and the mammoth GANGWARS ANTHOLOGY book/s due for release in mid-2013. I'm also looking forward to seeing Australian creators continue to produce their own comics, the level of quality has really been stepped up over the last couple of years - it's very inspiring!

Darren is also the founder of the weekly drawing group Ozcomics