Interview:Kotzebue brothers

On August 3, 2007, RyanGibsonStewart conducted an interview via phone with graphic artists Travis and Jordan Kotzebue.

Ryan Stewart: So, what have you been working on lately?

Jordan Kotzebue: I'm working at a video game company right now.

Really? Which one?

They're called Loose Cannon Studios. It's a pretty young, new company. I was working at a place called PlexiPixel before, and doing contract work on the side. But I left there about two months ago and I'm at this place now.

So you're doing animation for videos? Is that different than doing animation for comic books?

Yeah. Well, I'm working on concept artwork, so I'm still drawing a lot. But I'm also doing UI design--getting menus and things like that.

What's UI?

It's like starter menus and buttons and things like that.

So it's a lot of still work, and not so much animation then.

Yeah, not yet. But like I said, it's a pretty new company, so we're just getting started on some games and stuff.

Pretty cool. Keeps you busy, doesn't it?

Oh yeah, big time.

How long have you been drawing?

I've been drawing for as long as I know, really. I mean, Travis and I have been drawing superheroes since we were kids, and we kind of knew right off the bat what we were wanting to do our whole lives. I remember in first grade, kids were always calling me the artist of the class. So that's the way I wanted to go, pretty much from the get-go.

Travis is older than you, correct?

Yeah, he's about four and a half years older.

So did you learn together, or did he start first?

Well, he definitely started first. I doodled a lot and he'd always give me pointers here and there. Then, when we got serious, he would always look at my stuff, and we would look at each other's artwork. We'd just draw together and work together.

[Travis joins us]

Hey, Travis. I was just asking Jordan about how you guys got into comics in the first place. He said he's been drawing since he can remember. Travis, is that the same for you?

Travis Kotzebue: Yeah, yeah, pretty much. We just grew up drawing comics and just being big fans.

Do you guys work together on a lot of stuff?

Yeah, quite a bit of stuff, actually. We sort of bill ourselves as "The Kotzebue Brothers"--as a studio partnership. Jordan and I usually find ourselves taking on certain roles. I'll generally do more pencils and Jordan will do more ink and paint and color. But in the case of Heroes, they had the two-part story. I only had time to do the first part, so we got Jordan to do the second one. He penciled that as I penciled the first one. They wanted it to be in a similar style, since it was the second part. So, since we worked so closely together, it was somewhat easy to manage that.

We get real close to working almost exclusively together, when there are project where we can do that. So we're working together all the time.

You guys have a very similar style--is that purposeful, or just a happy coincidence?

I think it just comes from drawing together so much since we were kids. You know, we definitely have sort of different disciplines and different hands when it comes to drawing. But there are just certain similarities that are sort of innate to our hand. I think it comes from drawing together all the time. We get each other to critique each other's work a lot, as well.

Yeah, and also, we definitely sort of see the similar styles, but our methods are so different that we see the differences a lot more, actually. For instance, Travis is a much tighter penciler, and his work is just--I mean, each stroke is meaningful. I'm much looser. I kind of have to find my strokes a lot more. You know, I went to school as an illustrator, so I paint a bit more. I have to work my way through it and work real soft until I get into something a bit tighter.

Yeah, I think for lack of a better description, Jordan comes from a bit more classical training background. He did four years at the Rocky Mountain Academy of Art and Design, so he works definitely more from a painter's perspective doing underpaintings and things like that. I come from a lot more of a cartooning and animation [background].

You guys are very complimentary of each other. I think it's really great that you're able to critique each other and help each other out. I bet a lot of other artists would appreciate having somebody so close so they can get advice like you get.

Yeah, I think it's really important for an artist to do that. We have a bigger group of artist friends we've worked with here in Seattle for years now. That's kind of how we work with our buddies, as well. We've just kind of always done it historically. So when Jordan moved out to Seattle from Denver almost four years ago, it just seemed like the natural way to do things. And of course, we've always done it to a certain extent with each other. But when Jordan graduated college and moved out here, it just sort of took on a more professional role.

It's nice having the "Kotzebue Brothers" hook--that's not something you see everyday from an artist. Does anybody else in your family draw?

Our younger sister, actually, yeah. Charis.

She's really amazing, too.

Yeah, she's about three years younger than me. She's really into watercolors and doing inkwork.

She does a lot of portraiture and sculpture, as well.

Her style is real different from us, too. I always say she's got the most natural talent because she didn't go to school for anything, and her work is beautiful.

She took a lot of art in school, but she really didn't need to go to art school. [laughs] She's pretty damn natural. Especially with the watercolor. She's amazing.

Yeah, Charis is great.

Now I'm curious--with the Heroes work, how did come into contact with NBC? Did NBC find you, or did you solicit them?

The way we did it was at Comic Con, last year, actually. I went down, and we decided to share a portfolio rather than sell ourselves as individual artists selling our portfolios.

That's how the Kotzebue Brothers Studio started.

Yeah, we combined our portfolio and went out there. I just started giving out portfolios to whoever would take them, and chat up anybody I could. It wasn't actually NBC, it was Aspen Comics.

Originally, the contact was made by Vince Hernandez from Aspen Comics. I did a sample for Vince--I believe it was a four-page Fathom story. They dug that and then handed us over to Frank [Mastromauro], who was editing the Heroes graphic novels. We worked with him almost exclusively for the remaining graphic novels.