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Indie
Comic Creator
Interview
with Shawn Atkins February 2013 Name: Shawn Atkins City: Pittsburgh, PA Comics: Gello Apocalypse, Explorers of the Unknown Websites: gelloapocalypse.blogspot.com, workshop13.net QRD – How old were you when you first got into comics & did you always stick with them or did you come back to them? Shawn – I started collecting comics when I was 15, I haven’t stopped reading them since. QRD – What was the first comic book you ever bought? Shawn – First ever comic, I’ll have to say it was a Two-Face one shot, but my first series I followed was Uncanny X-Men. QRD – How old were you when you put out your first comic? Shawn – 14 for the school paper QRD – What decade do you think produced the best comics? Shawn – It’s a toss up between the 60s & the 70s. I’m a huge 60s Fantastic Four fan, but I like some the edgy stuff from the 70s. QRD – Why comics instead of just writing or drawing? Shawn – I like to tell story in this form. It’s just easy to me, can’t explain it. QRD – Do you see mini-comics & indie comics as paths to mainstream comics or as their own unique media? Shawn – Maybe back in the day I saw it as a path to mainstream, but now I see this as its own unique voice, probably because of the internet & its far reach. QRD – How many copies of your comic do you print in your first run? Shawn – Depends on how much cash I have in pocket. QRD – How much do you think comics should cost? Shawn – 99 cents. QRD – How many books do you produce a year & how many would you like to? Shawn – I guess on the technical (cause I work on long stories) I’ll have to say 2-4 & I would like to double that. QRD – Do you think stories should be serialized or delivered as complete works? Shawn – I don’t know because I like them both as long as the serialized has an ending, not run for 30+ years. Mike Mignola does it right, he’ll release them as issues & then collect them in a trade QRD – How are comic strips different than comic books & which medium do you prefer? Shawn – I like to think that comic strips & comic books are one & the same except they have different language when it comes to timing & pacing. I could be wrong & the two are widely different; but to answer the question, I like them both equally. QRD – How long is it from when you start a comic until it’s printed? Shawn – A couple months, most of the time it goes up on the web. QRD – What do you do better with your comics now than when you first started? Shawn – I like to think I can tell better stories, but the jury is still out for that. Maybe my inking & layout. When I first started, I approached comics as animation storyboards. QRD – Do you do thumbnails? Shawn – Yes. QRD – At what size do you draw? Shawn – 8.5 x 14 inches. QRD – What kind of pens do you use? Shawn – Faber-Castell to Microns to Sharpie & one Pentel brush pen. QRD – What does your workstation look like? Shawn – Very messy with beer cans & art work. QRD – At what point in the artistic process do you work digitally? Shawn – The color & lettering stage. QRD – What do you think of digital comics & webcomics? Shawn – THEY’RE GREAT!! Want more of them. QRD – Do you prefer working in color or black & white? Shawn – Black & white, but I’m slowly liking to use color. When it comes to printing; B&W, I’m a cheap bastard QRD – How many different people should work on a comic & what should their jobs be? Shawn – At most 4. Writer, penciler, inker, color, & the writer can do the word bubbles. QRD – How do you find collaborators? Shawn – I just ask my friends QRD – How tight do you think a script should be as far as telling the artist what to draw? Shawn – Just enough info to understand what’s happening on the page. QRD – What comic book person would you be most flattered to be compared to? Shawn – Darwyn Cooke or Jack Kirby. QRD – What do your friends & family think of your comics? Shawn – As far my friends, they like what I put out; as for my family, they don’t understand them. QRD – What do you think of superheroes? Shawn – Pretty cool. QRD – Marvel or DC? Shawn – Marvel. QRD – What comic characters other than your own would you like to work with? Shawn – The Fantastic Four, Hellboy, Superman, & Daughters of the Dragon. QRD – Ideally would you self-publish? Shawn – Yes. QRD – What conventions do you try to attend & why? Shawn – SPACE, PIX, SPX, & Stumptown because they are indie friendly. QRD – What do you do to promote your books? Shawn – Whore the shit out of them on social media sites like Facebook, Tumblr, & Twitter. QRD – Do you think your comics are well suited to comic shops or would sell better elsewhere? Shawn – I think my comics work well in comic shops; I don’t know where else I would have a fighting chance to sell. QRD – What other medium would you like to see some of your comics made into (television, film, games, action figures, etc.)? Shawn – Definitely film, games, I suppose action figures would be awesome (I’d defiantly have them). QRD – Do you consider yourself a comic collector or a comic reader or both? Shawn – Comic reader. Don’t give damn if my comic will triple in price as long as it’s a good story. QRD – What do you see as the most viable mediums for comics distribution 10 years from now? Shawn – The internet & it breaks my heart cause I like hard copies & my brick store, but now you can have full issues at 99 cents & their is print on demand. QRD – What would you like to see more people doing with comics? Shawn – Being more open to different books, like indie people reading mainstream books & mainstream people reading indie books & if that fails, how about scratch-n-sniff comics? QRD – Anything else? Shawn – Nope.
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