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Featured Creator
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Creator:
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John H. Staton |
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URL:
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http://www.marilith.com/
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Theme:
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Female characters, Mechanics
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Works:
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Illustration, Manga
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Exclusive Interview with John H. Staton
John H. Staton's illustration has a great harmony of east and west. His recent illustration was used as the cover of Anime USA program guide book. This art features a western woman posing in Kimono.
We have obtained a chance to do an exclusive interview with Mr.Staton.
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Q1:What kind of child were you when you were small?
A1: Creative and mischievious. I was very adept at creating and destroying things at the same time. For, instance, one thing I always loved to do was to draw rudimentary cartoons in the corners of all of parent's really thick books, and then flip the pages to make a primitive form of animation. Any legal pad my mother would bring home from work would soon begin a new life as a sketch book, no matter how critical or important its previous contents where. After a fashion, I began to recognize a look on my parent's faces that indicated they were weighing the idea of punishing me for the damage I had done, against acknowledging their pride in my inginuity. Being open minded people, they would usually excercise both options.
Q2: What made you decide to pursue the current career?
A2: I don't know if it was any one thing. I was always drawing little stories and comics ever since first grade where I would draw adventures where Snoopy would get the better of the Red Baron.(Of course, in my version Snoopy had an F-86.) It was always fun for me to draw and make up comics, and I always figured I would be doing it in some form or fashion when I grew up.
Q3: If you are not full-time artist, what do you do?
A3: Actually, I work part time in a comic book shop when I am not freelancing. Folk's who recognize me from my time at the shop cal me the "Comic Book Guy" when they see me at conventions. It's fun working there actually, it helps me keep up on what is going on in the industry, as well as what is popular. Most of the time however, I find myself refereeing arguments concerning whose favorite character would win in a bar fight.
Q4: What are the best characteristics of your drawing?
A4: People tell me that my attention to mechanical detail is my strength. That's the one thing that people agree upon. I draw women quite a lot, usually in addtion to the machines, but the reviews there are mixed.
Q5: Which part of your image do you put the best
thought into? (Such as facial _expression, environment
etc)
A5: Composition, anatomy, and mechanical detail in that order. Since I like to fill up my work with accurate details, I know from experience that if I am not careful I will draw something that is confusing to the poor viewer, so I do a lot of skeches to make sure everything will be clear and visble in the final product.
Q6: What program and software do you use to create
your works?
A6:
I use photoshop to color, or tone my work. However, I draw the initial picture with pen and pencil.
Q7: Which part of the image do you start with? (Such
as face line, background, etc)
A7: I start with the focal character of any piece, usually with the face. Once I have the main charcater in the piece established, I really feel that the emeotion of piece is set, and I can work from there.
Q8: Do you have any creators you admire?
A8:
Yes. As far as american creators I admire the work of John Byrne, especially his Fantastic Four work, Brian Hitch, who adds a sence of massive summer movie scope to his comic books, and Charles Shultz, since copying and imitating his charming, simple to draw characters gave me confidence in my early attempts at first grade art.
As far as Japanese creators are concerned, I am polytheistic, because I worship Kenichi Sonoda, Masamune Shirow, and Mazakazu Katsura as a triumverate of cartooning gods. Sonoda is the god of badass cars and guns, Shiorw is the god of hot cyberpunk chicks, and Katsura is the god of the manga girl butt shot. (Can I say butt shot?)
Q9: Where do you get your inspirations from? (Example:
from books, TV, etc)
A9: Bad action movies. I think that the highest form of comedy can be found in the straight-laced, jingoist, hyper-real world of modern adventure film.
In any odd Clint Eastwood/ Bruce Willis/ Steven Segal/ Sylvester Stallone movie, you begin with a squared-jawed hero ,who is little more than a the livng avatar of the very god of war, only with expertly trimmed beard stubble. Our hero is good in a fight, with guns-with knives-with his bare hands! He's ridiculously good at hurting people, and yet this unique proficency does little to improve his life. His boss hates him. His wife/girlfriend is painfully reevaluating their relationship. If he has kids, they are distant to him at best, and he is being evicted from his crappy apartment. (But at least he still gets to drive a badass car.)
This whole state of affairs is all over turned in the climax of the film where during an improbable and bizarre confluence of experiences, our hero gets to kill all the right people in a spectacular demonstration of gunfighting/fistfighting/swordplay/macrame. Suddenly his boss promotes him, his girls wants to sleep with him again, his kids proudly call him "Daddy", and his landlord forgives his debt. The hero stepping deftly over a sea of broken corpses walks off into the credits.
Ian Flemming, the creator of James Bond was fond of advising writers to pace their stories so quickly to prevent the reader from asking questions. I suspect this is because on some level he realized that if one ever stops to question the circumstances of an action story, the sheer weight of all the rank absurdities will immediately send them into irrecoverable peals of convulsive laughter.
My other isnpiration is life. There is enough of the absurd in day to day existance to keep us all laughing. You just have to know where or rather how to look at things.
Q10: Do you have a goal in terms of creating works?
A10:
I want to match comedy with good solid art. I think that things are funniest when they are presented with the utmost seriousness. Beyond that I just want to make people laugh, and create a world and characters that live in their imaginations.
Q11: Do you like any animals?
A11:
Yes.
A. Cats, because as pets they really seem on the ball. With a cat you really get the feeling that you are spending time with an intelligent creature, perhaps even more intelligent than you.
B. Sharks, because they are like living fighter jets. If I was to design an animal on aesthetics alone, I would probably come up with a shark.
C. Mongooses!!! The best for last. Mongooses are the single most badass creature God put on earth. It's like he was pissed at the serpant for tempting Eve, and he created to mongoose on the spot to kick his ass, and the ass of all other snakes from then on. They're rodent's who hunt snakes, the very thing that all other rodents flee. They must be the super heroes of the rodent species.
Q12: How do you spend your weekends?
A12: Pretty much the same way I spend my week. Working on art. Of course I do set time aside to catch up on my anime.
Q13: Do you have any sites you check everyday?
A13: Mostly online comic sites like Megatokyo, Machall, PVP, and Dominic Deegan. I find that online strips are some of the most creative and involving comics stories out there. Not having to worry about the corporate concerns of a large comic publishing company, or the skittish editors of newspaper comic strips they are able to create stories for no greater reason that to spin a good yarn. You won't find anything the quality of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, or Gil Kane's Starhawks in the newpaper anymore. As far as sheer entertainment value and innovation, t's all online now.
Q14: What is your hobby other than drawing?
A14: Papercraft. I like to make models out of paper. it's one of the thnigs I did when I was a kid, and I still keep at it though not as often as I like. With paper models, you can make anything you want, all without the expense and mess that come from other techniques. I also like to write, although that is closely related to my art. And of course I read an collect comics. I'm the total geek package.
Q15: Message to Japanese creators
A15:
Thank you.
Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for expanding my perception of what is possible with the medium of comic art. Thank you for your relentless attention to detail, and your eye for composition. Thank you for your theatric sense of visiual story-telling. That you for showing us how it's done.
But most of all, thank you for big eyed girls.
Q16: Would you accept work offer from Japan?
A16: In a heartbeat.
Thank you John for answering the interview!
To leave a comment about his artworks, please visit our Forum!
Copyright © John H. Staton (image). All right reserved.
**Unauthorized copy or link to all iamges on this site is prohibitted and you are not allowed to use, redistribute, or resell any of products without permission.
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