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FLIGHT: Hope, Kean & Bannister Introduction
Hope, we all know you’re a star and it’s just a matter of time until everyone realizes it so let’s talk about some of your creative influences. Your sense of storytelling has a very fluid and natural flow, which not everyone can capture as well as you have, what inspired you in developing your artistic style? Hope: Aw, thanks! I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from medieval art and manuscript illumination, which are often little comics in themselves. They don’t use conventions like panels and speech balloons, which is fascinating, and that’s what I originally tried to incorporate into my comics. The main drawback to working in this archaic style is that it’s difficult to express the passage of time, especially on a small scale. Now that my work is becoming more narrative I’ve begun using panels, and I’m working toward an amalgamation of medieval and modern visual ideas.
Hope: Haha, yes! Weather Vain and Salamander Dream are both essentially about the things I miss about North Carolina, where I haven’t lived in over four years. But truthfully, everything in my life affects my stories and my art. It’s impossible to separate them. I just happen to have made a lot of big moves recently. You mentioned you’re moving from Illustrator to the brush, usually it’s the other way around. When did you begin utilizing a computer in creating your art? Hope: Is it really? I can’t imagine anyone going from the freedom of a brush to slavish point-by-point manipulation. I’ve been using computers for art since seventh or eighth grade, and they’re indispensable tools for me. To me it just seems more natural to begin with traditional items of art before learning to use a computer. Hope: I think the natural thing is using the tools available to you, whether it's a computer or a #2 pencil. Most kids today (at least most kids today of a certain economic background) are growing up with computers in their homes and none of the anti-technology prejudices I see in artists all the damn time. Plus, if their experiences are like mine, they aren't getting adequate artistic education at school, and they're teaching themselves on their own time.
Hope: Well, I’ve been lettering for them, which doesn’t really parlay itself into publication, but they have made a tentative offer, which I haven't followed up on yet. I'm not entirely sure my work is suited to Oni, but I'll definitely give it some thought when things settle down around here! I’d love to see Salamander Dream (which should clock in around 100 pages) published, though - especially if I could wrangle a spot colour out of somebody! I may end up trying for a Xeric. For More On Hope visit Hope Larson.com
Kean, baby, boobala, your stories always have a strong emphasis on natural emotion, I say natural because although they're potent they remain relatable to the reader. Now when the thought of Flight may present some people with a fantastical head frame, you instead tend to veer towards humanistic and poetic, is this more of a theme in your work or just the stories you feel you need to tell? Kean: Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love science fiction and fantasy, but I'm pretty terrible at writing it, so I'm more than happy to step aside and let the experts do what they do best. I think in the case of my story for Flight 2, it's definitely a story I needed to get out of me. I'm usually more interested in trying to understand how people think and behave, and I think that regardless of the genre, it always comes back to how the audience relates to the characters and the meat of the story itself, so those are the things I really try to focus on when I'm telling a story. Everything else is just gravy, really.
Kean: Oh yeah, absolutely. His layouts and some of the things he does with those 'pillow shots' (visual breaks) peppered throughout his stories never cease to amaze me. Like Kazu though, a lot of my influences lately have also been drawn from outside of comics - filmmakers Wong Kar-Wai and Yasujiro Ozu have made a big impact on me, and I distinctly remember looking at a number of Monet paintings as I was finishing up the colours for my Flight 2 story... Though this isn’t your first exposure to Monet, you actually grew up influenced by his work correct? Kean: Yeah, I learned about impressionism in art class back in high school - who knew I'd actually learn to like something like that back then? I wouldn't really say my work has been 'influenced' by Monet's paintings; it's just more of an admiration thing. When did the Exit Music series of stories begin? Kean: I think the first 'official' story was drawn in January of 2004. It was basically an idea that spun out of my previous work with journal comics and my first couple of experimental webcomics that mixed both comics and music together. The 'gimmick' of the Exit Music comics is that each story is based on, or inspired by, a particular song. I do still experiment a little with timing these comics with music (for example, "Passing Afternoon" or "One With The Freaks"), although there are obvious legal ramifications that prevent me from taking these experiments further from offering these comic/music hybrids for free on the web.
Kean: Yeah, my plan all along for the Exit Music comics was to eventually collect the stories into a graphic novel. There are certain threads and recurring themes that actually play out in the stories that I never intended or planned for, so I definitely think it would make for a fairly cohesive read, despite the fact that all the stories are only 10 pages or so in length. But right now I'm only 60 pages into it, and there's still plenty of material waiting to be written. I certainly like the idea of the 'do-it-yourself' aesthetic, and even though it would seem impractical for a full-colour graphic novel to actually be awarded a Xeric, it would be an awesome goal to shoot for, if only for the experience. For More On Kean visit Keaner.net  Secret Friend Society… Spill it. What’s up? Hope: The Secret Friend Society is our joint comic project, and it finally launched on February 2nd. A couple months ago we realized we were both working on all-ages comics about children and their imaginary friends, and we’ve pooled our resources to create a site that will update Monday through Friday. My SFS comic, Salamander Dream, follows the friendship of a girl named Hailey and her imaginary friend Salamander as they both grow up. It takes place entirely outdoors, so I’ve been drawing a lot of trees and… trees. SD will update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have a four-month backlog at the moment, so I promise that schedule will stick! Kean: Heh. Hope pretty much covered it all. My comic, "Jellaby," is about a girl who finds a giant monster lost in the woods and decides to take him home with her. It's probably the antithesis of "Salamander Dream," where Hope's story takes place almost exclusively outdoors, my story is (for the most part) set in large urban areas and is based on my experiences growing up in big cities. This comic is also a pretty big departure for me, as I'm moving away from these short little autobiographical comics to long-form fiction. It's incredibly exciting and terrifying all at the same time. And Jon, you're right about what you said earlier about Hope. She's totally a rockstar, and I honestly think that "Salamander Dream" will be the story that'll make people sit up and take notice. So hopefully I can ride her coattails for a little while longer.
What sort of differences do you notice between working for a European market vs. North American? Do you have a preference? Nicolas: For now I can't really compare because in France I used to work with a big publishing company and in US I only deal with Kazu. The big difference I see is that in US, there is no problem with making independent comics with cool and catchy designs. People are very open-minded and won't say "it's well drawn, it can't be an independent comic". You guys like minis and homemade books, we don't here. I don't know why. It's starting to change but it's still very current. It's some sort of dogma "big commercial comics must be beautiful and expensive and independent stuff have to be black & White and unreadable". Flight is changing that, in some way. How has Manga influenced your work? Nicolas: I started drawing when I was a kid with comics, and then, in the early nineties I completely change with the appearance of Manga. I draw 100% manga style during some years and then I changed again, finding a hybrid style with European style. It's still changing from time to time but it's stabilizing. I've got some different drawing styles, manga is one of them but it's not the one I prefer because it's too limited in the emotional expressions for me. From manga, I keep, exaggerated behaviours, motions and pace (when I have to do an action sequence for example).
Nicolas: Not really, I do illustrations for my freelance job but I most prefer making comics. I'm on comics projects these days, in France and US. For the first time, I'm making a commission comic (in France), it's quite weird to do because I'm only a part of the chain. I don't control anything, it's a little bit frustrating but it's freelance job. Good experience. Illustration is great but when I do too much I miss telling a story. Illustration is great, but it won't tell you stories for more than a minute. Comic will come along with you for 10 or 20 min, and you will remember it. It will speak to you. Illustration can't do that. But don't misunderstand me, I love illustration, heh. Who are some of your inspirations from manga and European art that have moved you to develop your own style? Nicolas: Japan : Katsuhiro Otomo, Miyazaki (for the Nausicaa books), Naoki Urasawa, Mitsuru Adachi, Yoshihisa Tagami, Leiji Matsumoto, there’s a lot more but I won’t write them all here. European : Cavazzano (Disney artist in Italy), Mezieres (Valerian), Lewis Trondheim, Dupuis & Berberian (Mr Jean, and illustrations), Emile Bravo (Jules, and his illustrations), Franquin (Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe), Franq le Gall (Theodore Poussin), Janry (Spirou), Jerome Jouvray, and a lot more too. A lot of people who follow BD are lucky because many of the quality works being produced in French aren’t getting translated for an English speaking audience, at least not quickly. Is there anything you’ve seen lately that’s been attracting your interest? Nicolas: Production of BDs here is too important for the market, almost ten books out a day (including manga and reprints), so it’s almost impossible to read all. But few are very good and interesting, you can’t miss it. I would say, the books of (writer) Fabien Vehlmann, Bajram’s Universal War One, Leo’s Aldebaran & Betelgeuse, Guarnido’s Blacksad, Frederik Peeters’ books, Jouvray’s La Region & Lincoln.
Nicolas: Not a trilogy. I said three because I hope to sign up for three books. It’s the time we need to place our universe properly and to catch the readers. One book is not enough. With three books here, you can see if the audience follow. This story will be quite long, I don’t now how much, I’m not the writer. It’s about kids that discover an alternate world (nothing new so far). The grand father of one of them used to travel this world for 50 years but didn’t tell anybody about it. There will be some fantasy in it and a big social part, which is kinda new in fantasy. The way the kids grew up in our world will influence on the way they act in this new world. The rest of the story is secret for now, sorry. It has children as heroes but it’s an all ages story. Introduction
 Jonathan Ellis is Co-Editor in Chief of PopImage  PopImage Forum - Discuss this message at the PopImage forum. E-Mail Us - Send us an e-mail commenting on this article. Flight Comics.com Industrial Archive - Read past Industrial articles |
