Troynos
06-13-2011, 09:05 PM
I recently got the chance to chat with Zach Howard, the artist that did the nine Cobra Civil War covers.
Your style is extremely interesting. I think it fits the tone and world of The Cape perfectly. I really enjoyed the Cobra Civil War covers as well. What do you think are your strengths and what are your weaknesses?
I guess I never even think of my style other than how dark and dirty I need to make it to match the current story. My strength is mostly derived from my need to see proper design and storytelling. Everything I do is to set up those two elements. I was also a big fan of Frank Miller and Mike Mignola growing up – so I also like to see a lot of black on my pages.
Which became tough for me on the Civil War covers since they are without backgrounds. I normally hate to have any drawing of mine not have a background, but IDW wanted very stark portraits for the covers. So I focused on the character personalities and designs. I tried to make the characters interesting enough to make the viewer forget about the lack of background. Luckily Nelson Daniel helped me fill that void!
When creating the CCW covers, what were your motivations for the compositions of the covers?
Basically I just sat with each individual character bouncing in my head until I got an feel for them. Then I just sketched them out in different poses until something stuck. Early on I decided to have each character holding the Cobra Commander mask too. That became a burden, but worked out very well in the end. That element really brought a striking feel to every cover – something simple that tied them together.
From there, I just had to make certain that I didn’t repeat poses or camera angles. All in all it worked out quite well. I was nervous because I had to crank them out so quickly, but it came together none the less!
Two of the CCW cover characters, Viktor Khakikhan and Doctor Vargas, had very little "screen" time prior to the covers well others, like Krake and Odi Santori, have very little to go by. How did you get to know new characters like them?
For most of the characters I had the editor send me rundowns on each of them. We also chatted on the phone about them. For many of the characters I was designing them from scratch. I just did what felt right for their personalities. I’m sure I torqued off some of the die-hard GI Joe fans because I interpreted them incorrectly, but like you said, I had little to go off of. That and I’m not overly involved with their universe. So I’m very ignorant of many of the characters and their storylines.
However, my job is to make them look cool in their each individual way. I just pulled the trigger on the ones that didn’t have a rich history to draw from. I guess I got lucky in some cases.
Which of the nine covers was your favorite and why?
Hmmm, I’d probably have to go with the Baroness. I have a feeling she’s most people’s favorite. She’s an interesting character to draw – tons of textures and quirks. Not to mention she a hot broad! It’s hard not to notice a good looking lady. Especially when she’s holding a bloody knife. Sexy!
The full interview can be found here (http://www.kittyspryde.com/?p=22163) where Zach talks about his influences, early work, and what comes next for him.
Your style is extremely interesting. I think it fits the tone and world of The Cape perfectly. I really enjoyed the Cobra Civil War covers as well. What do you think are your strengths and what are your weaknesses?
I guess I never even think of my style other than how dark and dirty I need to make it to match the current story. My strength is mostly derived from my need to see proper design and storytelling. Everything I do is to set up those two elements. I was also a big fan of Frank Miller and Mike Mignola growing up – so I also like to see a lot of black on my pages.
Which became tough for me on the Civil War covers since they are without backgrounds. I normally hate to have any drawing of mine not have a background, but IDW wanted very stark portraits for the covers. So I focused on the character personalities and designs. I tried to make the characters interesting enough to make the viewer forget about the lack of background. Luckily Nelson Daniel helped me fill that void!
When creating the CCW covers, what were your motivations for the compositions of the covers?
Basically I just sat with each individual character bouncing in my head until I got an feel for them. Then I just sketched them out in different poses until something stuck. Early on I decided to have each character holding the Cobra Commander mask too. That became a burden, but worked out very well in the end. That element really brought a striking feel to every cover – something simple that tied them together.
From there, I just had to make certain that I didn’t repeat poses or camera angles. All in all it worked out quite well. I was nervous because I had to crank them out so quickly, but it came together none the less!
Two of the CCW cover characters, Viktor Khakikhan and Doctor Vargas, had very little "screen" time prior to the covers well others, like Krake and Odi Santori, have very little to go by. How did you get to know new characters like them?
For most of the characters I had the editor send me rundowns on each of them. We also chatted on the phone about them. For many of the characters I was designing them from scratch. I just did what felt right for their personalities. I’m sure I torqued off some of the die-hard GI Joe fans because I interpreted them incorrectly, but like you said, I had little to go off of. That and I’m not overly involved with their universe. So I’m very ignorant of many of the characters and their storylines.
However, my job is to make them look cool in their each individual way. I just pulled the trigger on the ones that didn’t have a rich history to draw from. I guess I got lucky in some cases.
Which of the nine covers was your favorite and why?
Hmmm, I’d probably have to go with the Baroness. I have a feeling she’s most people’s favorite. She’s an interesting character to draw – tons of textures and quirks. Not to mention she a hot broad! It’s hard not to notice a good looking lady. Especially when she’s holding a bloody knife. Sexy!
The full interview can be found here (http://www.kittyspryde.com/?p=22163) where Zach talks about his influences, early work, and what comes next for him.