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Home  Message Boards WFC: October 1-5, 2002
Re: David here is the interview from school...
WED, 10/2/02, 5:46 a.m. - In Response To: David here is the interview
from school... (John)
Hey David remember me? When you went to Simon Kenton High
School to see Mrs. Smith and lecture her class, I was the "kid" who had
the Kabuki drawing and asked you questions for a site. Well if you follow
the link below:
http://www.xboxevolved.com
you can check it out! I hope to see you again some other time at
a convention, Comicbook World, whatever so I can show you the comic I am
working on, looking at all of your originals and seeing what you used to
create them gave me A LOT of great ideas..btw I told the guys at Comicbook
World you said hi! [:)]
Thanks a lot and have a good day!
Hi John.
I'm glad to hear that my lecture at your high school was helpful to
you. I had a really good time speaking to Mrs Smith's Art Class. Thanks
for showing me your work. I really appreciate that you did a Kabuki drawing. I thought it was very well done.
Please give my regaurds to Mrs Smith and the rest of your class. I
thought everyone had great questions for the discussion. Maybe I will be
back again to talk next year.
Thanks for posting the link to the interview we did in the class. Keep
up the good work!
David
Re: Hi! Hope you can help me
WED, 10/2/02, 6:05 a.m. - In Response To: Re: Hi! Hope you can help
me (jackie h.)
Hi Jackie,
Thanks for your interest in my work. And for the kind words. I've posted
some responses to your questions below:
Anybody want to jump in here and give a hand, that's fine,
too. I was looking over Kabuki and her many stories (yet again!) and my
eyes nearly bugged out of my head. In an interview with someone, at somewhere,
David says he actually letters everything by hand. By hand?!?!? EVERYTHING?!?!?!
Is that true? Wow. But now this puts me in a predicament. I was looking
for someone who does both hand lettering and by computer. Even Circle of
Blood was done by hand? Incredible. But if that's the case, I'd like to
know how he does it, and how he feels about it being a quickly vanishing
artform.
Of course I do a lot of the lettering by hand. But most of the captions
and balloon type lettering (especially in Circle of Blood) are typed up
on the computor, printed out and then cut and pasted by hand onto the artwork.
This is the full extent of my use with the computor in any of my art. More
below...
Dear Mr. Mack,
Hi. My name is Jackie Hafenstein. I'm 26 yrs. old and a Graphic
Art student at Madison Area Technical College. After I graduate and work
awhile, I hope to study sequential art. I've posted here a few times before,
but I have a very serious favor to ask you.
The reason I need your help is because I'm working on a major school
project. Currently one of my classes is Typography2, and a big chunk of
my final grade will be based on a slide presentation (or a similar sort
of visual aide)of a topic in Typography. While most are researching an
inventor of a particular font, I thought of an idea in comic book lettering,
a topic in the most popular and least appreciated of all artforms, and
lettering being the least talked about, but yet a very vital part of americana.
(What would the old tv Batman show be without WHAM! and POW!???) So I've
decided to do a brief (Very!)overview of the history of comic book lettering;
Past, Present, and Future. I plan on talking and researching three people
who I believe represent these areas. Mike Chen of the Joe Kubert College
and possibly the lettering teacher of the same school, Hy Eisman, will
help me with Past. Nate Piesko, of Blambot.com, has agreed to help me with
the Present. That leaves the Future, and that's where you come in, if you
would be so able. The more I learn, the more I see that it is a subject
that bears considerable weight, since no one has really ever done a book
on the history of comic book lettering. I'm beginning to fear that this
is far bigger than I can work with, especially since what info I can get
has to be ultimately pared down to 10-15 minutes tops!
The reason why I would like you to be a part of this is because you
utilize both past techniques and modern to achieve your one-of-a-kind
art, in which important words, be they story or dialogue, are also a vital
part of your overall design. They are not just stray thoughts by the character,
they are a layer in a deep and involving story, to the point where they
are read over and over to make sure you get all the details! While no doubt
you were influenced by past masters (and please list them, if you like!)
there can be no argument that you are a master in your own right and
since your style (of ever-changing styles) seems to represent a
whole new way of looking at comics and the comic book genre, I can think
of no one else who is better qualified.
Provided you'd be willing and able to help me. I realize of course
that this would involve a good piece of your time. Rest assured that it
is only typography that I'd be asking about, and not the visual process
(except how lettering factors in as a visual aide on the whole.) I'd also
like to ask when did you decide to break out of the typical balloons and
panels? I myself have not known anyone else to do that. I'm sure there
have been some, but I highly doubt it was on as regular a basis as your
stories.
All of the interesting things in Kabuki really just come from problem solving.
I have a situation and I need to find ways to resolve that.
For every step of my work, I leave margin for improvement from the
intent of the previous step. This means that I do a lot of my script editing
when I am lettering. I tend to cut half of the words out of the story,
simply because to many words on the page can ruin the flow. This helps
me focus on my word choice. Originally, I'd cut out so many balloons or
captions, and they interrupted the flow the the rhthym of the page. So
I left most of them out. Or I found ways to incorporate the type within
the art in a way that was not intrusive. Such as the hand lettering.
Or sometimes this was used as a means to show what is happening inside
the character's mind while the balloons show what is spoken.
The idea is to just use the right medium of artwork to best communicate
the story, and the same holds true for the lettering.
In fact, I make no distinction between type and art. The image is the
story. the story is the letters and the letters are the art. Etc. The whole
point of the medium is to make them indistinguishable. It's like sheet
music. The real magic happens in between the notes. And if I've done my
job, and put the type and image on the page in the right way(more like
a map than anything else) the real magic does not happen on the page, but
in the reader's mind. The page is just a navigational device for the journey.
Some are obviously done in pencil, ink, or paint; others
by computer. Which is easier/difficult?
I don't think in those terms.
What makes you decide which to use and why?
Just like you choose the right words for a story, you want to choose the
right medium to best support the atmosphere of the story. The character
decides the story. And the story decides the words and the medium and the
style.
Where do you see yourself and your stories in about a decade?
I see myself focussing on and enjoying the project that I am working on
at that time.
Do you think you will be creating comics similar to the
"collage" style of Kabuki, or will you go back to "old school"? Both?
I do everything. There are no limits in comics. That is the entire reason
that I am doing comics. It is the medium that I can apply all other mediums
into.
And finally, what are your thoughts on how the computer
has changed the way comic lettering is done, especially how it makes hand-lettering
ever more rare? Reply when you are able, and any other sort of help would
be greatly appreciated. Perhaps after I graduate I'll be able to return
to the ChicagoCon and say hello again. Until then, may you continue to
be a beacon for others to be guided by. Yes, I'd like to be a beacon myself,
but I'm not quite there yet. "Soon,"
I hope that is helpful. Thanks for your interest!
Best,
David
Re: travel to france ?
WED, 10/2/02, 6:09 a.m. - In Response To: travel to france ? (JMM)
Hi David,
Jean-Marie here... ;o)
I hope you are both doing well, and I just wonder if you plan to
come to France one of these coming days...
That's all..
A bientot
JMM
Hi JMM!
Good to hear from you.
We are doing well. Thanks for the kind thoughts. Hope you are doing
great too.
I really love France. I'm hoping to return to Angouleme and Paris in
January. Hopefully Marvel France will have us as their guests again. But
I haven't yet heard for certain. I'll post here as soon as I hear about
it.
Best,
David
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