Interview:Robert Atkins: Difference between revisions
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'''''Ryan Stewart'': So how did you get into comic book art? |
'''''Ryan Stewart'': So how did you get into comic book art? |
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''Robert Atkins'': I went to school for it. I'd say it's not necessary to have a degree to work in comics. But I tended to learn quicker and easier that way. I got my undergrad degree at [http://www.ilstu.edu/ Illinois State University] in fine art, and then I went to the [http://www.scad.edu/ Savannah College of Art and Design] and got my masters there in sequential art. It was a great opportunity because there, they teach the techniques of storytelling and storyboarding for comics. Concept and character design for any kind of entertainment, video games, etc. It was really cool--I got to go down there, and my homework all of a sudden became drawing three pictures of Spider-Man. |
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''Robert Atkins'': I went to school for it. I'd say it's not necessary, |
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'''That's pretty great! |
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''' |
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Yeah, that's great homework! I was really digging that! [''laughs''] It was really great, too, because all the professors down there were seasoned professionals. The quality of the faculty down there was just amazing. |
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'''Sounds pretty ideal. |
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Yeah. The department chair at the time was John Lowe. He was an inker for [[DC Comics|DC]] for over fifteen years. Toward the end, I had interned with him. About three months before I graduated, he had a good friend--Randy Green--who was working on ''X-Men'' at the time. He'd been working in comics for years and years, too. He was a bit behind on some deadlines and needed somebody to come in and help him out on some backgrounds. He would draw the main characters, then he'd hand the page off to me and I would put in anything that was setting-oriented, props, etc. He lived in North Carolina and I lived in Georgia at the time. So I would go up there on the weekend and travel about five hours, just for the opportunity to work with this guy. It was a great opportunity for me. I'd drive up there and we would crank out like ten pages in a weekend! I'd have to be pretty quick with drawing buildings and backgrounds, and he had it down where he could draw characters over a number of pages. |
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Revision as of 04:38, 29 March 2008
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On March 28, 2008, Ryan Gibson Stewart conducted a phone interview with graphic novel artist Robert Atkins. Robert illustrated Pieces of Me and Bounty Hunter.
Ryan Stewart: So how did you get into comic book art?
Robert Atkins: I went to school for it. I'd say it's not necessary to have a degree to work in comics. But I tended to learn quicker and easier that way. I got my undergrad degree at Illinois State University in fine art, and then I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design and got my masters there in sequential art. It was a great opportunity because there, they teach the techniques of storytelling and storyboarding for comics. Concept and character design for any kind of entertainment, video games, etc. It was really cool--I got to go down there, and my homework all of a sudden became drawing three pictures of Spider-Man.
That's pretty great!
Yeah, that's great homework! I was really digging that! [laughs] It was really great, too, because all the professors down there were seasoned professionals. The quality of the faculty down there was just amazing.
Sounds pretty ideal.
Yeah. The department chair at the time was John Lowe. He was an inker for DC for over fifteen years. Toward the end, I had interned with him. About three months before I graduated, he had a good friend--Randy Green--who was working on X-Men at the time. He'd been working in comics for years and years, too. He was a bit behind on some deadlines and needed somebody to come in and help him out on some backgrounds. He would draw the main characters, then he'd hand the page off to me and I would put in anything that was setting-oriented, props, etc. He lived in North Carolina and I lived in Georgia at the time. So I would go up there on the weekend and travel about five hours, just for the opportunity to work with this guy. It was a great opportunity for me. I'd drive up there and we would crank out like ten pages in a weekend! I'd have to be pretty quick with drawing buildings and backgrounds, and he had it down where he could draw characters over a number of pages.