COMIC ARTISTS AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS. FANCON 2018.
KAT MANNE reports
The annual FanCon Comic convention has become a highly anticipated event offering a wonderful array of panels, workshops, presentations, cosplay events and autograph and signing sessions. The event was held over the long weekend at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in the Mother City’s bustling CBD. This year’s programme offered a range of events from meet and greets with local cosplayers and Kinpatsu, Yamaki Yama, Baka Sakura and the Canadian cosplayer, model and costume designer, Ridd1e to talks on diversity in comics, how to get involved in cosplay and a panel on LARPing.
#ArtCred
The stage was graced by experienced Marvel and DC artists to discuss giving credit to artists, drawing process from Marvel works and their experiences working with renowned writers like Warren Ellis and Alan Moore and how it affected their careers. As experienced as these artists are, they all agreed that the writers stole the limelight. The stigma insinuates a sense of auteurship belonging solely to the writer and that would push fans and media entities to direct their questions towards the writer whilst side-lining the artist. According to the esteemed Irish comic book artist, Declan Shalvey, artists also need “weeks of fairy work” to achieve a style that fits the collective vision of the narrative. A comparison was made between large teams and smaller teams working on one project and Shalvey referred to the classics showing the effective output of a “cohesive, singular creative team.”
“We love our writers. Our job is to make each other look good.” – Jason Masters, highly acclaimed DC and Marvel comic book artist.
“We’re both telling the story.” – Shalvey
The artists went on to say that one era was writer-centric whereas another produced a lot of comics with weak writing. The key, it seems, is a small team with a common vision and high skill sets. The discussion returned to providing artists with credit and the award-winning Canadian comic book artist, Yanick Paquette commented on DC’s position.
“I feel like DC understands that they have something to gain from promoting artists.”
From Artist to Writer
In this intimate panel, Declan touched on his background in art, saying that he had to pay to do art as he school didn’t offer it in their curriculum. He mentioned that there is a lot of pressure for younger artists perfect whereas many of the experienced artists on stage improved immensely over time.
When asked about the importance of the correlation between the writer’s vision and what the artist produces, the response seemed to be unanimous:
“I don’t think that matters.”
Although, the narrative is respected:
“I respect the script more than the bible.”
In conclusion, the artists agreed that it is important for the writer to trust the artist because the artist is bringing the story to life in illustration.
A Marvel artist
Sean Izaakse revealed that the artist life isn’t glamorous or easy as he shared some of his process with the audience. He noted that he has a very long day with few breaks and two nights off a week, usually waking up at 9am and going to bed at three in the morning. He divulged some personal details about his life, telling us that local artists had no mentors and that they were left to their own devices. He also confessed that his father had lung cancer and he was asked to take over his job so that he would have a position to return to after healing. Sean’s art career took a toll as he had to give up his art to preserve the position. It seems that the future for current artists looks bright as he noted that the internet has changed the game the game for young artists and encouraged them be proactive.
“Go out. Create your own content. Tell your own stories.”
FanCon was delightfully noisy and busy, bustling with eager cosplayers and otaku, surrounded by manga and comic literature, anime and gaming toys and trinkets. Fans were able to immerse themselves in geek culture discussions and workshops, meeting icons of various creative disciplines and learning more about the communities and industries that they admire and hope to join.
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