Crave meets Watchmen creator Dave Gibbons

By Rich Trenholm on 02 April 2009, 4:03pm

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It's not just colouring that's made things easier for comic artists. "Things that probably wouldn't occur, things like getting photo reference. One of the main challenges of comics is you have to draw things repeatedly from different angles, so 3D modelling programs are very useful there -- not making finished models, but models that are good enough to draw from. So there isn't an area of what I do that hasn't been improved by technology."

The paperless comic artist

So it's possible to create a comic without putting pen to paper at all? "I've done bits of artwork where nothing has ever been drawn. On the computer I'll do the roughs, then the pencils, then the inks, then the colour, and, y'know, it feels strange to begin with... But it certainly saves a hell of a lot of time, particularly if you ever have to do any correction or any redrawing. I'm moving increasingly towards 'the paperless studio'." There is a downside though: "You're not left with a piece of original artwork that you can sell!"

Surprisingly, publishers weren't initially keen on this kind of new-fangled technology. "There was resistance, because I think in a sense publishers liked to see what they'd paid for. They liked to have a page of original artwork, and actually a physical object. I think it's a thing that had to reach a critical mass: a friend of mine called Richard Starkings, who runs a company called Comicraft who do digital lettering, he had terrible trouble with DC Comics, trying to get them to accept digital lettering. What he used to have to do was do it digitally, then print it out and cut and paste it physically on to the artwork."

Moore mail

Scripts as dense as Alan Moore's must have made some sizeable parcels in the days before email. "When Alan was really under a lot of deadline pressure he wasn't able to do an entire script. I have had two sheets of typing paper delivered from Northampton where Alan lived, delivered to Hertfordshire where I live, in a taxi because there weren't any fax machines. He said that the money he spent on taxis was God's punishment for making him rich."

Dredd to think

After his positive experience with Watchmen, Gibbons is upbeat about the forthcoming Judge Dredd movie, which is hoping to erase the bad memories of the 1995 version starring a gurning Sylvester Stallone. His advice is to take a leaf out of Watchmen's casting directory. "I think one of the successes of Watchmen is that the cast, although they're wonderful actors, aren't over-familiar. I wish the Judge Dredd movie well, I'd like to see it."

An exhibition showcases examples of digital art at London's La Galleria on Pall Mall until 8 April. Leading digital artists, including Gibbons, will be leading masterclasses for the public between now and September, in the run-up to the Digital Artist 2009 Awards. Watchmen is in good bookshops now -- and some bad ones too -- but do us a favour and buy it from your local comic shop. We think Dave Gibbons would thank you.