Eric Shanower
As a personal fan of Eric Shanower‘s work, I was a little bit more than excited to be able to interview him. His answers did not disappoint and he has offered a wonderful amount of advice. The amount of work he is attached to is a force to be reckoned with and I‘m fairly sure he does not sleep. His recipe for success is hard work, and it certainly has paid off for him. Thank you again to Mr. Shanower for taking the time to answer my questions.
What process did you go through to have your ‘Little Adventures in Oz’ graphic novels to be published by IDW? Did you contact them, or were you contacted?
Before these stories were published as Little Adventures in Oz they were collected into a single volume titled Adventures in Oz. For about eight years I’d been looking for a publisher to reprint my five Oz graphic novels. I’d had some interest from several, but for one reason or another, a deal never happened. Then in 2004 a comics writer friend who was negotiating a deal with IDW suggested I contact them and at the same time this friend mentioned my Oz graphic novels to IDW. So I really don’t remember whether I contacted them or they contacted me, since both parties were interested at about the same time. IDW’s deal was good, so we signed a contract. Adventures in Oz came out in 2006 and I was very pleased with the final publication and with my experience with IDW.
The story of the original publication of my Oz graphic novels is much more involved. I’d been working on a proposal for an Oz comic book series during my final year of art school. DC Comics was planning a children’s comic book imprint and the editor in charge of getting it going saw some of my Oz work and asked me to submit a proposal for an Oz comic book series. I submitted one, but DC’s children’s imprint didn’t happen. So I sent the Oz proposal to other publishers. A couple were interested. I signed a contract with First Comics and they published four graphic novels of the series. First Comics ceased publishing before the fifth one could come out and Dark Horse Comics published that one.
How did you obtain your first job? What was some of the feed back you received from different publishing houses as you were starting out?
My first professional comic book job was lettering an issue of Warp for First Comics. I got the job the day after my final day in art school. I’d sent out a portfolio of photocopied samples of my artwork to a half a dozen or so comics publishers. My samples included comics lettering. I’d been practicing comic book lettering, thinking that lettering might be a good way to get my foot in the door. It was. I got my second job, drawing and lettering a story for an issue of New Talent Showcase for DC Comics the next day. I got that job from a face-to-face meeting with the editor at DC, showing her my portfolio.
I don’t really remember any specific feedback from publishers as I was starting out. I showed my portfolio to editors in New York. I sent samples to publishers too far away to travel to. And I either got work or I didn’t. I do recall that one editor at Marvel told me that I needed to draw more like Jack Kirby, but that was after I’d been working professionally for a few years, and I didn’t find that advice particularly useful.
The amount of work you have done over the years is impressive, how do you keep yourself that busy?
I work hard.
Do you find it beneficial to work with a large amount of publishing houses in your career?
I think establishing relationships over a wide playing field can’t really hurt. As long as I’m trying to do my best on each job, I think it’s great to work with a variety of editors on a variety of projects. There’s always something new to learn, new approaches to projects to figure out. I would certainly urge those just breaking in to the cartooning business to not tie themselves down to a single project until they’ve tested the waters in many different areas. The cartooning business doesn’t look the same on the inside as it does on the outside. It’s not just drawing and writing—it’s a business and as a businessperson, one has to learn how to act professionally in all sorts of situations and to protect oneself legally.
How do you continue to improve your artwork after so many years in the industry?
I’m still trying to draw better. The effort and learning don’t stop just because my work is being published. Every page of comics is a new page that requires new thought. It does get easier with time and experience, but drawing a story to communicate what I want it to is still a challenge.
Do you find you have to change your drawing style depending on who you are working with? If so, is that a challenge?
I don’t change my drawing style depending on who I work with. I change my drawing style depending on the requirements of the story I’m drawing. That can be challenging, especially when it’s a story written by someone else and not my original vision. Then I have to find something in the story that I can relate to, something I can work with, something that makes the story interesting to me. That’s what will dictate the style of how I draw the story. I have to figure out the shape that the story is trying to take.
At what point in your life did you decide comics was what you wanted to do with your talent? Was there a specific inspiration?
In tenth grade I knew I wanted to be a cartoonist. My inspiration was comics themselves. I’d been reading comic strips and comic books since I was small (well, before I could read, my parents had to read them to me). And I’d been drawing my own comic books since I was in sixth grade.
Do you have any advice for any aspiring comic artists?
Read all types of comics as much as you can. Draw comics as much as you can. Read how-to books on drawing comics written by professional cartoonists that reveal the nuts and bolts. Take drawing classes—figure drawing classes might be particularly useful. If you can find a cartooning class taught by a professional cartoonist, take that class. Learn mechanical perspective. Learn to use reference to draw real things that are unfamiliar to you. Learn how to design things that no one has ever seen before.
[End Interview]
Thanks again to Eric for taking the time to answer some of our questions here at Panel Bound. You can check out his website as well as pickup some of his great work below.
