Billy Penn

Billy Penn graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Art Education which is very important if you fancy being an art teacher, and not important at all if want to be a writer.
He has illustrated comic books for both Platinum Studios and Image Comics. Billy also self-publishes (prints really) his own comics through his “Graphic Cereals” imprint.

When he’s not busy being an elementary school art teacher, he’s dreaming up new projects and stories to tell with pictures. He currently resides in Tallahassee, Florida with his awesome chef wife and their two little boys.
 

Now Mr Jones, tell me again about these Sankara stones.

6 Questions with Billy Penn.

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite words?
"I like F-bombs for their versatility (mostly as a gerund. And not very often, mom.)

I hate racial slurs. I have a dream where we can ridicule people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

2. What gets you out of bed in the morning?
"The creative impulse and the urge to pee."

3. What turns you off creatively, spiritually, emotionally?
"Anyone who tries to waste my time (and they usually don’t realize it, bless their hearts.) I can chip away at something, ANYTHING, in five minutes. It’s not much. But those five minutes will slowly add up to hours, days, weeks, months, years, and get me closer to the finished project.  I never know what the outcome of any particular project will be, but I DO KNOW that doing nothing slowly results in nothing."
 

4. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up your craft?
"I’ve never come close. I’d give-up on a lot of important stuff before I’d give up my passion for creating.
For the sake of giving you an answer, the closest I’ve come to “giving up” was a little brick wall in the fall of ’98. It really just made me reassess my approach to pitching. I wound up falling in love with my future wife during the break instead."

5. What is the strangest thing you have ever done while creating?

"Occasionally, my wife will find me talking to myself. It’s not strange at all for a writer to say dialogue aloud, but my wife usually catches my at the tail-end on me congratulating myself. Like a personal trainer.With F-bombs. That’s pretty awkward."

6. Assuming heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
"Good job, dude! Here, enjoy this everlasting Sno-cone while you relive your favorite memories over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…"
 

Thanks to Billy for agreeing to do this and thanks to YOU for reading!

See you next time!
 

Ryan Stegman

Michigan based comic book artist Ryan Stegman. What can you say about the gentleman that hasn't already been said? The young artist has applied his tender mercies to the likes of She-Hulk, X-23 and the venerable Spider-Man and has brushed elbows with some of the best in the business.

The road to sucess wasn't easy for the young artist. Having toyed with the idea of breaking into comics since he was fifteen and spending several years working stock at the mall and living in his parent's basement Ryan finally got his start in 2005. The British comic series Midnight Kiss with writer Tony Lee quickly lead to a string of smaller company-owned works, Marvel/Dabel Bros. Magician: Apprentice, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man and Warhammer. These were great opportunities for the young artist, allowing him to hone his craft and refine his technique, but his first real shot at the big time came when he was drafted to draw Marvel's Incredible Hercules in late 2009. That work lead to an exclusivity agreement with Marvel and by late 2010 Stegman's She-Hulks was launched.

Now, by the power of Greyskull...

6 Questions with Ryan Stegman:

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite sounds?

  "Favorite sound is my 6-month-old son laughing. Least favorite sound is when he does the "I'm actually in pain" cry. The one where it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.  These cries are usually short-lived, but they're after he's scratched himself or something."

2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Creatively: Good, interesting art.  Anything where the artist gives you their opinion on something in a way that I never thought about it before.  This can be a comedian, a comic artist, a musician, anybody.

Emotionally:  Just hanging out with my wife and son. All the time I get to spend with family."

3. What decision in your career are you most grateful for?

  "I am most grateful that I decided to be completely naive about how difficult this job would be or how hard it would be to "make it".  I don't know if I would have had the guts to stick it out if I knew that it was going to be so tough.  But looking back, I'm glad I had no idea."

4. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up your craft?

  "I don't know that I ever came close at all. I did interview for a job editing a newspaper in Chicago at one point, and I came close to getting the job.  (I graduated from college with an English degree).  If I would have gotten that job, who knows if I would have continued on this path?"

5. What is the best thing you ever ate?

  "There's a Mexican restaurant in Detroit named Xochimilco's that is amazing.  I always get the beef burritos.  There's just something about them.  They're amazing.  So either those or a Ruth's Chris filet."

6. Assuming heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "You made the most of it."

Fantastic man! DW is proud of you! Thanks for doing this!

And thanks to you for reading! If you'd like to know more about the amazing Ryan Stegman check him out at any and all of the following links:

http://ryanstegmanart.blogspot.com/

http://ryanstegman.deviantart.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/ryanstegman

You should also check out this FANTASTIC interview iFanboy did with the talented Mr Stegman:

http://ifanboy.com/articles/ifanboy-upstarts-ryan-stegman/

And that's it for today! Hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next time!

J.K. Woodward

Born in the Northeast United States, J.K. wasted little time in becoming the kid your mother warned you about. A strong rebellious streak combined with an intense work ethic meant that he gave 110% to being his own person AND a pain in the ass! This personality mix made a rote life as a drone in a cubicle an impossible career choice and left him with one of two choices:

Become an artist.

Become a rock star.

Since his only talent for music was a decent taste in it he made the obvious choice and became an artist who dressed like a rock star. He also moved to L.A.

Those were dark, fruitful years, years where the young J.K. would experiment with style and develop techniques that he uses to this very day. Eventually the City of Angels lost its appeal and seeking a change in life, climate and creative energy he followed the example set by David Bowie, one of J.K.'s heroes, and moved to Germany. Despite the presence of (or more likely because of) strong German beer, J.K.  self-published a comic comprised of his expressionistic paintings titled Flesh Angels. He followed it with a comedy comic series titled These Things Happen - comprised of random funny stories, a talk show host who doesn't talk off the clock, and emus.

After that it was off to Desert Hot Springs, California,  a town which has the dubious honor of most abandoned washing machines in the western hemisphere. Here J.K. collaborated with A. David Lewis on the indie comic Mortal Coils and Michael Colbert on the Digital Webbing Presents series Crazy Mary. The publishing house IDW noticed his work on Crazy Mary and offered him a gig doing a CSI:NY limited series which he followed in short order with a standout story in BOOM! Studios' Zombie Tales series. When Peter David was re-launching his creator owned series Fallen Angel at IDW, James (J.K.) was a natural choice for Peter's dark world of magic, violence and redemption.

J.K.'s painted work would soon catch the attention of Marvel editor Mike Marts. Marts quickly chose the young artist to illustrate X-men Origins:The Beast which was released September 2008.

J.K. recently relocated from Long Beach, CA to Long Island City in Queens, NY where he still illustrates Peter David's Fallen Angel as a reoccurring miniseries for IDW as well as various other works for both IDW and BOOM! Studios.

As a quick aside I should say a special thanks to Michael Colbert who wrote the original biography. I simply paraphrased.

Now, Mr. Saavik, you go right on quoting regulations.

6 Questions with J.K. Woodward:

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite sounds?

  "Favourite sound: A woman's breathy moan in my ear.

Least favourite sound: the gurgle sound a tap makes when the keg has run dry"

2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "I'd have to say freedom, definition and control.

Creatively, I do my best when not encumbered by a conflicting vision of what it should look like. I love to collaborate, but in a way that works to each persons strengths, but that doesn't happen by 1 person trying to affect the way you envision things. As a professional, I will make changes in my work if needed and maintain a positive attitude about it, but generally I feel my first instincts are the best and I just would prefer to go in that direction.

Spiritually? I would like that one defined. Everyone throws that word around and no one's really told me what that means. Generally I hear people refer to themselves as spiritual as apposed to religious. ie."I don't subscribe to any particular religion, I'm just spiritual". When I ask what that means, they all tell me different beliefs they have.There is very little commonality between them other than they all believe in life after death, though no one can tell me why. That can't be what spiritual means. Anyway, I stopped asking because it seems to mean something different to everyone, making the meaning personal but also meaningless when talked about. If it is at all possible, I want "spiritual" defined, because I'm not sure I've ever felt, craved or did anything "spiritually".

Emotionally, I want control. We live in a society that seems to want to emote all over each other. YUK! I've worked all my life to keep control over my emotional reactions. Note the word "reaction". I'm not suggesting anyone can control their emotions, really, but we don't have to react to every single one.

I'm kind of a Hank Hill when it comes to that stuff."

3. What decision in your career are you most grateful for?

  "Probably illustrating a script that I read at comic con from some guy I barely met. The script was called Crazy Mary and it was brilliant, but what I liked more than anything is the writer's understanding of the medium he was writing for and his instinct for composition and design. He was a very visual writer in that he understood what would work on the page and what wouldn't. I really wanted to draw this script. At first I was unsure because it was 12 pages and to paint that would take appr. 240 hours or 6 whole work weeks without pay. But I sacrificed my free time and the book looked great. We self published and the art caught the attention of IDW and eventually Peter David and that's how I ended up working on Fallen Angel."

4. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up your craft?

  "I almost became a teacher once. I enrolled, I was going to get my degree while still working in comics and then quit the whole thing. Then I realized that wasn't what I wanted as much as what my fiance and possibly her mother wanted. This was almost 4 years ago, we never got married and I still draw comics, but I was close to quitting. If you work in this industry, work will always come first. It has to if you want to make your deadlines. So if you work in comics, make sure your significant other understands that at the beginning or you may end up going to college to become a teacher. That's what I learned from that."

5. What is the most fun you have ever had?

  "This one's hard. There are so many, but probably this assemblage/painting/sculpture/photography project I was working on with with a German Record Producer back in 2000. I had just moved to Frankfurt and we had embarked on a very ambitious project to be used as an album cover and was later displayed at the record labels personal gallery. We worked a little over 36 hours straight, focused on the work but laughing, chain smoking and drinking wine the whole time. I'm surprised we survived it, but it was probably not just the funnest, but most rewarding experience to date."

6. Assuming heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "It's about time you showed up. This lager isn't gonna drink itself. Get your ass in there and after-live it up!"

Could not have said it better myself! Thanks J.K. for taking the time to do this and for giving us some brilliant answers. If you'd like to know more about J.K. Woodward simply surf over to http://comicattack.net/2010/02/aotm3/ where there is another fantastic interview with the man and while you're at it check out his website http://www.jkwoodward.com/

And that's all for today! Thanks for reading and stay tuned because next time I'll be speaking with author, screen writer, script monkey and general roustabout Shawna Benson.

Peace!

Ben Templesmith

Ben Templesmith is a New York Times best selling artist and writer. He is most widely known for his work in the comic book industry where he has received multiple nominations for the International Horror Guild Awards as well as the industry’s top prize, the Eisner Award. He also won a Spike TV Scream Award.
While his most notable works have been 30 Days of Night (which spawned a major motion picture) and Fell his other projects are no less amazing. They include the critically acclaimed serial Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse, Welcome to Hoxford, and Singularity 7, all of which he wrote and illustrated.
Ben has worked on the Star Wars, Doctor Who, GI Joe, Army of Darkness, Silent Hill and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer properties and produces art and design for music bands, dvds, toys, and film concept work.



Now, what exactly are you a doctor of?

6 Questions with Ben Templesmith:

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite words?

  "Current favourite? Lemonland.

Least favourite? "Y'all" ( when spoken by people not from the South )"


2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Good food, good conversation and company. Amazing art by peers and the masters. People who accept and like you despite the flaws."


3. What profession other than yours would you most like to attempt?

  "Hmmm. I have no life but comics. I'm going to become like a monk, except with sequential art."

4. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up your craft?

  "I've nearly given up on my craft twice, for personal and professional reasons... but I always come back. The comics always win. I'm not about to share those particular instances though."

5. What is the most fun you have ever had?

  "That's a lot of comic convention experiences rolled into one. I couldn't pick just one time. It's all about the people."


6. Assuming heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "Since absolutely none exist, according to rational belief, evidence and sheer common sense, I can't really answer the question except to say I'd have no consciousness and meet complete silence."

"Good food, good conversation and company." Absolutely. Thanks to Ben for a great interview. I really appreciate him taking the time. If you'd like to know more about the man and his work you can visit him at his website or, just send him an email to bentemplesmith@gmail.com. Thanks again Ben.

And thanks to YOU for reading! I really hope you enjoyed it. Next time: Author A.P. Stephens!

Ray Dillon

Ray Dillon is an artist and writer in comics, movies, and games. Works a lot for IDW with some Marvel, DC, Archie and others thrown in. He lives in Maine with his beautiful and talented wife, comics artist Renae De Liz, their sons, Tycen (8) & Drake (1) (also beautiful and talented), and some cats that won't leave him alone (grrr--aww). He was born in Kansas with a rusty spoon in his mouth, but he'll be darned if he'll quit before he reaches all of his dreams. He wants YOU to do the same. MAKE IT HAPPEN!


And now, Thunderbirds are go.

6 Questions with Ray Dillon:

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite words?

  "Favorite: Baby
Least Favorite: Doubt"


2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Passion. What someone is doing, if they have a strong passion for life, love, family, the future, their goals, other people's goals, whatever. Just passion for positive things in life. THAT is what gets me going!"


3. Star Wars or Star Trek?

  "Gosh, it's hard to pick a favorite anything for me. I can find reasons to like just about anything. I guess I'll say Star Wars because it has more of a good time feeling to it. Star Trek is a little more serious and darker most of the time. Not enough Ewoks. :D"


4. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up your craft?

  "Never even come close."


5. What is the most fun you have ever had?

  "My honeymoon at Disneyland right after getting married at Comic-Con 2009. Renae was pregnant with our baby boy, Drake, and we also had our older son Tycen with us. My favorite place on earth and the whole time was filled with love and family. Just wonderful!"


6. Assuming heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "You never have to stress again and you can spend eternity doing whatever makes you and your loved ones happy. Also, you can fly now. COWABUNGA!!"


Fantastic! That you were married at Comic-Con may make you the coolest person I know! Thanks again for doing this!

If you would like to know more about Ray and Renae you can find Ray at http://www.raydillon.com/ or http://twitter.com/#!/RayDillon and Renae at http://www.renaedeliz.com/ or you can check out some of this dynamic duo's work:

Anne Rice Servant of the Bones 

Womanthology
The Last Unicorn
All Ghouls School 

And that's all for this time! I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Next? The Indomitable, the Mighty, Mur!