Graham Annable Interviews / Humor/Cartoons geschrieben von Maqz am 05.12.2007, 00:00 Uhr |
Von LucasArts bis Grickle.com Graham Annable ist der Zeichner der "Grickle books". Er lebt zwischen den Welten eines Comic Künstlers, Trickfilm-Animateurs und Autors. Er ist vielen auch bekannt durch seine Arbeit u.a. bei LucasArts (Course of Monkey Island) oder Telltales (Bone). Was Annable sonst noch so zu bieten hat erzählt er in diesem Interview.
CRS: Graham Annable, your Name and your work comes to me out of the internet by surprise. After I read your Bio I recognize, that you also work at Games like Curse of Monkey Island (*wow*). But I'm more impressed by your Work in Comics. Could you just describe yourself your Work, and tell me who you really are, besides the informations on your Homesite ( http://www.grickle.com/bio.html [1]) Sure, I've been working professionally in the animation industry for about 14 years. I spent a large portion of my animation career at LucasArts creating video games. I'm currently employed as a story artist at Laika Entertainment, working on the stop-motion animation feature "Coraline". I began making comics on my own in 1999 as a way of continuing to draw every day. My professional job was mostly computer animation at that time so I wanted to keep my skills up. My comics and cartoons have been called funny and sad by a lot of folks. I tend to lean towards a darker type of humour in my personal work, or so I'm told. 
CRS: Accidently our Writer Michael Hüster made a review about the German version "Out from Boneville" and the great Cow-Race Adventure. What was your Part in this Games? I was the Creative Director at Telltale games at the time. The company was just starting up and "Bone: Out from Boneville" was our first major project that we undertook. We were such a small staff at that point that I was doing a wide variety of artistic stuff for the game. Concept art, animation, marketing images, and overall art direction were just a few of the tasks I dealt with. It was great but exhausting to do so much in such a short time on that one. On the second game, "Bone: The Great Cow Race", I did a number of concepts and helped out with the initial design and art direction. 
CRS: What came first in your life? Computergame, Animation-Film or Comic? Well, I went to Sheridan College in Toronto, Canada, and so my first professional art job was working as an animator in TV/film. But I think previous to college I had always focused my efforts on creating comics. CRS: Where do you see the Differences between Storytelling in Animation and in Comics Sound and music are a big difference. With film you have complete control of the timing of everything and so the director/artist is able to articulate the viewing experience more rigidly . Reading a comic there's a lot more input from the viewer. They can imagine the sounds and intensity in a lot of the story that the artist/writer was hoping to convey. They also can fill in the gaps between panel to panel. Both mediums are extremely satisfying to work with. CRS: Are you in a different mood/thinking when you draw Comics and when you draw Animations. 
Somewhat. I think a lot of the ideas and themes I delve into are pretty interchangeable in either medium. My comics have been called very animated and cinematic in their pacing so there may not be as big a difference between the two for me. For the cartoon shorts, the step of adding sound is where I think about things differently. Choice of music and and sound effects can really change what I thought the initial focus or mood of an idea was. So I try to stay open to that and follow it where it leads. With the comics I pretty much follow my thumbnails out exactly once I've doodled them down. CRS: As a big Spiderman-/Popeye-/Peanuts-/Archie-Fan/, did you ever want to draw one of these Characters as a professional? Did you ever ask Marvel for a Job (or did they ask you?). As a kid all I ever wanted to do was draw Spiderman. But the older I got the more I was interested in finding my own voice and look with cartoons. I once bought the Marvel Try-Out book when I was 13. I did a few pages of the inking and penciling portions and got frustrated with how hard it was. I then promptly ripped out the blank pages and started making up my own comics with them. That's as close as I got to asking Marvel for a job. CRS: Were/Are your Parents against your profession? 
My parents have always been very open and supportive of pretty much any endeavor I undertook. I'm very thankful for that. CRS: When you think over your Carreer, is therer anything you want to say (us?) with your Stories, Art and Work? Or do you work for Money and Fame? I certainly work to make money and a living, but with my own comics and cartoons I try to get people thinking when they watch or read them. There are so many sides to stories in this world that I like to create pieces of art where viewers can come to their own interpretations about it. I don't see the point in making things black and white and trying to shout slogans at the audience. The world isn't like that and it's not what I'm interested in doing. Art should provoke thought in my opinion. CRS: When a young Cartoonist/Wiriter/Artist ask for a good Advice, what would it be? 
I'm never entirely sure what to say because everyone is different and we all find our places in various manners. No one piece of advice is going to work for everyone. For me I suppose I'd say to keep drawing as much as possible with the goal of finding what styles and themes appeal to you most. CRS: Tell us what Comic of you would be the best to start with? I think either of the Grickle books I've done would be the best place to start. That stuff is definitely my way of thinking. The first book just called "Grickle" is unfortunately out of print right now but I'm certain that you can find my second one easily, "Further Grickle." Both are published by Alternative Comics. CRS: Is it easy for you to publish your Comic-Art or does your success in Animation help you with this? 
I don't think my animation background helped me to get published. I had been self publishing my Grickle booklets for a year or so and just selling them at a local comic shop and various conventions. Jeff Mason, the publisher of Alternative Comics, happened to read them and offered to publish my work. I don't think he was aware of my animation background at the time. CRS: Does your Animation one You Tube an good für your publicity? I hope so but I don't really know if it's had any effect on my popularity as an artist. If I start selling out of all my comics all of a sudden I'll let you know! CRS: Why do you think, that the "The Last Duet on Earth" has been klicked so well? People dig zombies. I think that and I was fortunate enough to have it on the Featured Videos section of Youtube. I spent a while putting that cartoon together and it's been very satisfying to know that so many people have watched it now. 
CRS: How political can you be with your work (in the US)? Even as strained as things seem to be here these days I'm pretty sure I could express any political views I had quite freely in my comics and cartoons. CRS: How political do you want to be with your work? At this point in time I don't really have a desire to be specifically political in my work. It's never been the reason I've wanted to create cartoons and comics. CRS: How do the people react, when they hear you worked for Lucas Art? There must be millions, who have seen your (Art)work. Do you sign autographs? I usually don't get much reaction out of people for having worked at LucasArts. I think the gaming world and comic world are still fairly separate, or at least at comic conventions anyway. I have signed the odd autograph here and there. 
CRS: And what do Prizes like "Best New Talent" Harvey Award or "Best Unknown Local Cartoonist" by the San Francisco Weekly mean to you? Prizes are always nice and I certainly appreciate any praise or accolades I get. But I try not to think too hard about that stuff in general. CRS: Are you a rich Comic-Artist? Incredibly wealthy. I just bought a small island off the coast of Mexico that I plan to build a winter compound on. Actually, no. I don't consider my position in life to be a rich Comic-Artist at present. CRS: Do yor work allows you to spend time with your friends, or are you not beliving in the concept of Friendship? I whole heartedly believe in the concept of friendship and definitely spend ample amounts of time with my family and friends. CRS: Do you know any works of German/European Comic-Artists? Well I'm not sure of specifically German comic artists but I'm certainly a big fan of numerous European comic artists. I love the work of Lewis Trondheim, Jason, Dupuis and Berberian, Nicholas Mahler, and Paul Driessen (a Dutch animator). CRS: What's your plan for the next weeks to draw? 
Well, I'm hoping to put out a little holiday Youtube cartoon before Christmas happens and I'm also creating another comic story for the Flight anthology. Scott Campbell (who I do the Hickee anthology with) are working together on a short piece for an upcoming comic book called the bridge project as well. CRS: Are there any very big comic-projects waiting to realized? There is a very long story I'm hoping to do in the near future. I don't have a publisher lined up yet and I'm still stockpiling a lot of notes and thumbnail doodles but I really want to take a crack at doing a big graphic novel just once. We'll see. CRS: Where will you go after this Interview? Probably downstairs and check on the latest hockey scores. I need to know if my team won last night (Montreal Canadiens). CRS: Graham Annable, thank you for this Interview! You are very welcome! (c) der Abbildungen Graham Annable |
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