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FLIGHT 3: Neil, Bannister & Ben Introduction
Neil has been contributing to FLIGHT since the first volume, his contribution to volume 3 is entitled “In Due Time”. Neil, when it comes to graphic novelists getting book deals you certainly come to mind as deserving one. You could do a romance book and call it SUMMER OF NEIL. But the book you’re working on now, would that be a continuation of your previous FLIGHT stories exploring your family and background? I'm not sure if the world is ready for SUMMER OF NEIL! Those previous FLIGHT stories are actually fiction, but people often confuse them with autobiography despite the characters, I think because I wrote them in the same "slice-of-life" style as my journal comics, where the plot is pretty subtle. Since then I've taken those snippets and reworked them into one longer complete story, so I would definitely like to make a book out of it. I've learned a lot about storytelling that I'm eager to practice in a longer form. Everything after my FLIGHT 3 piece is "more narrative" as my friends say. I've also recently been working on a sort of cartoon fantasy that's completely different from my FLIGHT stuff, which is ironic since cartoon fantasies are probably more at home there.
I started Tej's story because I never quite got to do what he did. I'd love to be able to travel more, and to see the world on my own. It's kind of a wish-fulfilling fantasy in that sense. Now that you’ve passed the bar, how do you juggle having two distinct career paths? Well that's not a new dilemma at all. (I've been called a "dabbler," which I like to remember when I need some motivation!) Although I like to blame this problem for my sparse output, anybody can be creative with a little time management effort. I often work on this stuff when other people would be doing recreational stuff like watching TV, etc. But making a book of course requires a much more solid commitment. I'm working on a way to resolve that, but I still struggle with it, to be honest. Hopefully things will be a lot smoother soon. Having a fulltime job is enough of a commitment let alone trying to manage side projects, have you created a strict work ethic for yourself? When I'm working on these projects, the easiest way to get them done is to set up a timed schedule and regiment the task as much as possible, even if it's just for brainstorming and playing around. But in practice it usually involves sleeping less! Do you feel there’s a stigma against autobiographical comic stories? I've been able to generate a lot of great response with just the ones on my website (even though I only have a few up at a time), and hopefully people will like my FLIGHT 3 story. So I don't feel any stigma yet. A lot of the most lauded graphic novels like "Maus," "Persepolis," "Blankets," etc. are biographical, and seem to be in large part responsible for increasing the appeal of the medium these days.
I'm not sure if I'm completely conscious of it, but the FLIGHT 3 story was an experiment in lots of brush detail. I wanted all the panels to look sharp and miniature and detailed, something your eyes can settle on and explore, instead of big graphic explosions. I think I've always liked working with ink in black and white, and I've just come to have a better control of it. (I've also been practicing with digital painting, and I'd like to try applying it to comics soon.) The block colouring of the first story was a style imported from my quick early webcomics. When you tend to write about yourself your friends are often a large factor in influencing but also starring in your work. What sort of reactions do you get to involving them in your comics work? Well, sometimes I composite or fictionalize characters, so I know who they are and it's still very real to me, but it won't offend anyone. I think it's okay as long as it's truthfully inspired. In the FLIGHT 3 story, my friend who's seen at the beginning and the end is an actor in real life, so I figured he wouldn't mind. I also try not to ridicule people (other than myself) like a lot of 'journal comics,' though I have my lapses. Usually people are excited to see themselves portrayed.
Haha, yes. Sometimes friends directly ask me when they're going to show up in it! They'll just have to wait for an epiphany involving them to roll around. (Or for me to just be less lazy.) Do crafting stories such as “In Due Time” act as a sort of catharsis for you? It can be, but now I'm trying to give something to the reader rather than just provide a catharsis for myself. It's not an attempt at self-therapy, although there may be have been an element of that in my comics from a few years ago. For more Neil visit Neil Comics.com.  Bannister
His work has also appeared in PUT THE BOOK BACK ON THE SHELF: A BELLE & SEBASTIAN ANTHOLOGY from Image Comics, as well as the second volume of FLIGHT. Bannister’s contribution to volume 3 is titled “So Far, So Close”. When planning your story, was it always a silent piece or did you find that while planning it out the images spoke well enough for themselves? It was silent from the beginning. I like making silent comics as it is understandable worldwide. Though the pace is different, as you don't have anything to read, you've got to make the story longer to keep the audience into the story. If the reading pace is too fast, you wouldn’t have the feeling of getting in it. That's why, when I do short silent stories, I only focus on one or two things/emotions, no more, because it would be a too damn long story to make, haha. Was this story done completely on the computer? Having done other pieces in that sense, how does it compare? I’m one of those who will just always be drawn to the natural feel of paper then a computer screen, and you of course still continue to work with inks and watercolours. The thumbnails were made on paper, very quickly. The rest of the work was done entirely on the computer, sketches, inking, colouring. It’s a process that fits me quite well, depends on the style I want to give to the story. This time I wanted it clean and "pure" and I couldn't make it on paper because I'm not such a good inker. The "digital inking" process helped me a lot.
I make my thumbnails on paper, I do the sketches on screen (with a light grey brush) then I ink on an upper layer with black ink. I add the colours under the ink, under a lower layer. The "technical" part, if you're going to print your page professionally, is to add an in-between layer, cloning the ink layer with a 30% grey, to support the ink (it's a bit more complicated than that, but I won't explain it here, my English is not good enough. You can find some tutorials on the net). Like that the colour borders will not appear under the black ink like we used to see before in the old comics. It’s a great time saver, absolutely, and I can also control my inking and correct the mistakes quite easily and quickly. There’s a huge difference as to what is marketable in Europe versus North America, do you feel outlets like FLIGHT give you an opportunity to tell the stories you want to a new audience? The main fact is in the US, you can do "personal" stories with a mainstream kind of art. Which is not that much possible in Europe, where "mainstream" art is only for "mainstream" stories. This is beginning to change hopefully. This is an obstacle I didn't really feel in the US. Despite that, I think I wouldn't have found in Europe the creative space Flight gave me to tell such fun stories. Or maybe yes, but it would have been in black & white and for a small audience. What about webcomics? Most of the FLIGHT contributors maintain a web presence, do you see other artists in France utilizing the web to the extent of the North American creators? There are more and more European and French artists who strongly use the web and the blogs to stay in touch with their audience. It's a great way to [show] extra material or to talk about their art. I don't do that much because I don't have the time nor the will. I'm too lazy, h he. The cool thing is everybody can do it, it goes from total unknown artist to famous ones, everybody's in it these days, and not only the "internet" generation.
Well, it's planned to be a nine-part story (9 X 44 pages, full colour). It's about 4 kids who will discover a gate for another world (yes, again). In this world, far from their parents and society influences, they'll have to act by themselves and find some way to get out of it on their own. This will reveal who they really are, regarding the way they've been raised in our world. One kid was born in Rwanda and saved from the genocide, one is a beaten kid, one other is from a very religious family, all this will affect their judgement and their way of solving problems and deal with others. It's gonna be really interesting. Despite all this, it's a great adventure for children and adults, everyone will find a reading level. There will be action, blood, tears, love, despair, death... Such a program! Sounds interesting, very mature for a young audience. What the release schedule like? Is it each book suited to focus on a specific character or will the story reveal more from one chapter to the next? It's due for early January 2007 (first week, I believe). The revelations will go as the story goes, we don't focus on one character specifically in each book. First arc will be 3 books, we plan to make 9 books to complete the story. There's no release for the US market for the moment. But I guess if there is one, one day, the format will be like 3 graphic novel books, full colour, 132 pages each, something like that. Time will tell. Third book will be out in France in 2008, so there is time. A lot of your work falls in the category of cute or adventurous but you’ve also recently been involved with Project Rooftop, redesigning popular characters like Iron Man and Flash in new ways. Is there any desire in your part to work in that genre?
Having recently returned from the Canary Islands, has the trip inspired your work? Or for that matter being able to tour the Louvre and Notre Dame recently as well? Absolutely, I took hundreds of photos for references for "les enfants d'ailleurs". It was an amazing place with beautiful and various landscapes, very inspiring. Let’s see what I'll be able to do with them, I hope it'll bring more depth to the book; backgrounds, where the kids are gonna travel into. As for the Paris monument, it was fun to rediscover them recently with Derek and Clio, but I don't go see those to often, as I don't live in Paris. It was great fun and very inspiring too, despite the fact this does not fit that much with my book. But who knows, I could use them for some fancy buildings or ruins backgrounds, hahaha... I hope the Paris mayor won't read this. For more Bannister visit Bannister.fr.  Ben Hatke
Ben’s contribution to FLIGHT volume 3 is titled “The Edge”. For your story, aside from the two competitive inner voices, the story also speaks towards the strength of a friendship as both are quite different and are able to poke fun at each other. Were there no factual persons this actually represented, perhaps two brothers or an old friend? This story was kind of an experiment. The characters are actually both based on a single friend of mine who is sort of a conspiracy theorist. I tried to split the two warring sides of his personality into individual characters. Could you tell us a little about what brought you to study in Italy for these past few months?
My wife's father is from Italy and, as it turns out, we've been able to stay in the little house where her grandmother used to live. The house is up in the mountains in a rural village, so it's been a great time for the whole family. We've been having all kinds of adventures! While studying the classic’s, there’s always got to be something an artist will come across, that ONE piece that you’ll always remember. Not the Mona Lisa or some widely well-known piece but rather something you come across, that strikes you and you remember forever. Have you come across something like that yet? Good Question! Actually I have had an experience like that. One day I was walking back from the studio with a friend and we stopped in a tiny little church. Inside there was this incredible Deposition scene by Jacopo Pontormo. It's an incredibly beautiful and vibrantly coloured piece done in fresco, showing Christ being brought down from the cross (though, oddly there is no cross in the picture). It's one of the most beautiful paintings I've ever seen even though it uses these bright pastel colours that I would not be brave enough to use myself. It has a weightlessness to it that is just amazing. Later we went to a lecture and when that slide came up I almost jumped out of my seat with excitement.
I've always taken the cue from Scott McCloud and been quick to point out the many links between comics and classical and antique art. A few years ago I visited a small church in Switzerland where the ceiling beams formed a sort of grid of panels. In each panel was painted a scene from the life of Christ. You literally "read" the panels from top to bottom and left to right, just like a page of comics. Right now I'm working in Florence in a small painting school that really focuses on the classical tradition. Artistically, it's been one of the most exhausting and difficult experiences I've ever had. I'm sure it's having an influence on my art even now, but it's a good influence. I love that fact that you’re studying with charcoal, which seems to be a lost skill unless you’re selling sketches and portraits on the street. What other mediums are you learning in your studies? OIL PAINTING! The charcoal has been a lot of fun, and at first I only looked at it as the gateway to painting. But recently I've started to appreciate it for it's own sake. But painting in oils has really started to open up a new world to me (and I'm finally starting to post some of my paintings on my site). Someday I'd like to paint a cover illustration for one of the flight books. I've also been working on Sculpture (clay) when I have extra time. You mention hoping to design and decorate churches in the future, which I find immensely interesting, how exactly would you be able to specialize in that field?
Today I see an awful lot of blank, white walls, even in churches that are otherwise very beautiful. There's a lot to be done. And there are a couple specific places that I'm hoping to start with. So the architecture is something that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to get involved with, at least not at this stage? As for the paintings, were you thinking murals? I know some churches simply can’t afford [at least not initially] to spend that much on the construction and thus become more like a community centre in design. Creating large posters or banners may be the best and most inexpensive way to spread great works of art. I am a bit involved with architecture, actually. In fact, my dad is an architect, so I've been around building design for a long time. But for the immediate future, I'd like to focus on church interiors. The money/funding issue is always a tricky one. But I think that churches and other institutions find ways to afford the things that they really place a value on. I want to create the highest quality work that I possibly can, so the trick now will be to convince people that Sacred Art really is important. Could you tell us a little about Zita and what lead you to chronicle her adventures?
I came back to Zita a few years later, after Anna and I were married, and in my sketches and thumbnails she got progressively younger. I'm just now finally getting really comfortable with her world. Zita is hilarious and really epitomizes the theme of an all-ages title which we’ve discussed through these FLIGHT interviews, is there an intended outlet for her stories outside of the webcomics? Magazine strips, animation, etc? Well I actually just finished a longer Zita story for Flight 4 and with that piece I think I have finally hit my stride. When I return to the states in November/December I'm planning to start work on a full length Zita book. With any luck it will find a good home! For more Ben visit House Hatke.com. Introduction
 Interviews Conducted by Co-Editor in Chief, Jonathan Ellis. E-mail Us To Comment On This Article.  PopImage Forum - Discuss this message at the PopImage forum. E-Mail Us - E-Mail Us To Comment On This Article. Flight Comics.com PopImage FLIGHT 2 Interviews Industrial Archive - Read past Industrial articles |
