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My friend Joe Singleton (Artistic License) sent me in search of Cadre at Wizard World Chicago.
Joe told me he was a pretty interesting guy. Joe was right! In fact, Cadre was so interesting,
the interview spanned between being taped at Wizard World Chicago to Wizard World Dallas. One con
could not contain it all! Cadre is such a talented go-getter, and I hope you enjoy his interview
as much as I enjoyed doing it.
Sheryl:
So tell me, Cadre, how did you get interested in comics?
Cadre:
I've been interested in comics since I was very little. I always loved the stories, I loved the artwork, but I didn't start taking it all seriously until I was a senior in high school. Someone said, "Let's give comics a shot," and I said, "Let's do it!" So I went to college, and now I'm doing it. It's a dream come true.
Sheryl:
Did you major in art in college?
Cadre:
Yes, I did. I got a degree in commercial art, and I took video production as a minor. I graduated at the top of my class with honors, all of that stuff that looks good on paper. I moved out of St. Augustine, and I got a regular paying job. I didn't see a lot of stuff. But while I was in college, I learned SO much stuff from the other students, it was phenomenal! And I had never thought about being an inker, I wanted to be a penciler, I wanted to be the guy who got all the FAME, you know? One of my buddies asked me, "Why don't you ink this up for me?" I'm going, "INK it, what are you talking about? I don't want to ink it." He said, "Just do it for me," so I did. I loved the results so much, that I decided that this is what I wanted to do. And that's what I'm doing now.
Ad for Bubba the Redneck Werewolf #7
pencils: Chris "Cannonball" Lesley
inks: Jesse "Cadre" Hansen
colors: Paulo "POL" Rivas
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Sheryl:
How did Bubba the Redneck Werewolf come about?
Cadre:
I started pursuing the actual dream of being an inker by going to MegaCon in Orlando, Florida. My wife was encouraging me, "You have to do something. You have the ability." So I made myself a sample book, and I passed it around at the con. I got a few companies who gave me some work. Because of that, I am currently inking 5 different independent publishers, and a piece for Cracked Magazine, a 5 page story for them, plus Bubba. I was working with background inks, I inked Bubba #5. I ended up inking half the book, doing some gray scales, and now I'm inking them. The story I did for Cracked, I inked and did gray scales.
Sheryl:
Why do you like inking, what motivates you with inking?
Cadre:
I love the final results. I like putting something out there that makes the penciler say, "That's what I was thinking of." If I can't please the penciler, I haven't done my job. Another thing is, pencilers get all the fame, but they also get all the blame. A lot of fans don't realize that it's the inker's work you see on paper. The penciler does the foundation, the inker comes in and embellishes it. That's what I do, I embellish.
Sheryl:
What influences your art?
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Cadre:
Getting it done, and make sure I meet my deadlines *laugh.* That's what influences my art. If I have a great penciler in front of me, my job is to make them look better, and make them happy. If I can make the penciler happy, then I've done my job.
Sheryl:
What inkers do you admire, and why?
Cadre:
Tricky question! I adore Scott Williams, Gene Green, John Beatty, and Tim Vigil when he inks his own stuff. There are so many influential inkers that influenced me in one way or another, it's too long a list for me to go into. But those are some of the people that I look up to.
Sheryl:
What artist did you want to be, when you grew up? When you were a kid?
Cadre:
To tell the truth, I didn't want to be an artist when I grew up. It didn't come until later. I have always drawn, but I didn't think about it as a career move until later on. And then people like Bart Sears, George Perez, and of course the modern era like Jim Lee, people like that, got me going full force.
Sheryl:
If you could work with one creator, who would it be?
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pencils: Jason Sobol
inks: Jesse "Cadre" Hansen
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Cadre:
A penciler I would love to work with, definitely, is Bart Sears. He's influenced a lot of what I've done. I've talked to him, on a personal basis, he's a great guy, and I'd love to ink some of his stuff. I'd love to ink some of Tim Vigil's stuff. I just have fun inking. Any of them! There are so many great pencilers out there!
Sheryl:
If people wanted to look at your artwork, where would they find it?
Cadre:
I'm currently inking Forsaken Earth by Fuzzy Dice Studios as a special project. I did
part of #4, and will ink all of #5 when it comes out. This should come out this year.
I'm working for a company called Workhorse Comics, and it's a multi-ethnic company and
I'm helping them get off the ground. I did a book for them called Hellion. It is coming out
at the beginning of 2005. I have so much stuff going on. It's hard to keep track of it.
I'm probably leaving someone out, and I apologize for that. I'm now also the art director for Bubba the Redneck Werewolf. I've brought my own guys in, and I'm going to take the book to a whole new level. It's going to be color, 36 pages and I've got a lot of big plans for that.
Sheryl:
You are a busy guy, how do you find time to do all of this?
Cadre:
It would be great if I could do this full time, which is what I want to do, and eventually plan on doing. If I could just sit down and ink 2-3 pages a day, if you average one page a day you are doing good. If I could just focus on it, I could do 3. But I'm an art director at a binder manufacturer, 50+ hours a week. And then I come home and do this. Lucky for me, I have a loving wife, who is so supportive. She says, "Shouldn't you be inking right now? You need to go into the office and ink!" * laughs*
Sheryl:
Well, behind every great man . . .
Cadre:
Sheryl:
Is a nagging woman! Yes, indeedy!
Cadre:
If it wasn't for her, I would never have gone to Orlando with those sample kits. I tell her, I can always take some time out, and spend some time with her. We just got married, last October it was 2 years. This should be a crucial time for us, but we've been together 9 years. So it's not like we're a new couple. But she makes it easier for me to do my work, which makes it great for me! I hear a lot of stories, where "My wife just doesn't understand," and they are sad, because it hurts, you know? You have to focus on your art work, because this is a make or break business. If you can't devote the time and focus on it, you won't be there.
Sheryl:
Yeah, you have to be able to crank it out month after month after month . . .
Cadre:
Sheryl:
So, tell me about The Bubba The Redneck Werewolf fan issue.
Cadre:
Oh, I'm excited about that! Chris has this thing, and I agree with him totally, this is probably why I joined the company, is that we both feel, that if it wasn't for the fans, we wouldn't have a job here. I wouldn't be taking to you, for example. The fans have shown support, they have shown consistent support. A lot of the folks at the major companies, they say, "It can't be done." But we've done it… 3 stories written by fans, drawn by fans. The only thing the fans haven't done is the editing, making sure that it's all put together right. I had a colorist in it, and we had an artist who inked it. A lot of these fan people are just people who haven't gotten a chance. Guess what? Now they've gotten a chance. Our goal is to show people that yes, fans can make it in business, given the opportunity and will take advantage of it. That's what it's all about.
Sheryl:
That sounds rather unique for a comic book.
Cadre:
Yeah. But think about it, unique? Bubba the Redneck Werewolf, the name says it all!
Sheryl:
That's very nice. What advice would you have to someone who wanted to be an inker?
Cadre:
Study! Practice and show your work. Do exactly what I did. Get your samples together, and I had all of the pencils as well, and don't show your pencils, show what you can do on someone else's pencils. Anyone can ink their own work. Can you ink someone else's work and make them look *good*? What I did for my portfolio, I had a penciled page on one page, then the inked work right next to it. They can see your work on a variety of pencilers, and if you are good enough, they'll pick you up. If they say you're not, keep trying! If nothing else, do what I'm doing right now…go to the independents. Get some credit. Most of what I'm doing right now is not for profit. It's to get my name out there. Keep pushing, keep pushing, it will come. Have faith in yourself. If you don't have faith in yourself, you are not going to get anything done. You know that old story of, "If you don't love yourself, no one else will?" It's the same thing here!
Sheryl:
Do you think it was your education that helped you to become the artist you are today, or do you think it was just your natural talent?
Cadre:
A little bit of both. Talent is the main thing. Education because if you don't get education, you don't learn other ways to do things. I learned so much in college from the other people. I met people from all around the United States, and they went here. I learned other techniques, there's a lot to learn. You aren't limited to just your talents and what you know. Another thing to the education aspect, you learn things like deadlines. If you can't make deadlines, you can't do it. That's a major thing. In school, you have projects, things evaluated by peers and professors, that's the way to hone your skills.
Sheryl:
Anything else you'd like to add?
Cadre:
Expect a lot from the Cadre Corner, really soon. I have something in Cracked Magazine right now. Cadre Corner is the art studio that I founded back in April. My whole goal is to help other people get into the business. If you have talent, I can try to find you an opportunity. I've got my foot in the door now. I want everyone else to break that door down! It's really hard to get in. And if you have got the ability, I want to see if there is something I can do to help. I've got the website up, I've got promotional things I'm working on for other people, and if I can help other people to get in, that's all I'm asking.
a panel from Bubba #7
As said in the interview, our friend Cadre is a busy guy. Here is a list of his work, past and present:
Cadre Credits (past and present)
Completed:
- Cracked Magazine #365 "Bubba Gets Cracked" (pencils and inks)
(we outsold X-Men on this issue that month, over 100,000 copies... ;) )
- Bubba the Redneck Werewolf by Brass Ball Comics #5 (ink assists)
- Bubba the Redneck Werewolf by Brass Ball Comics #6 (grayscales and production manager)
- Bubba the Redneck by Brass Ball Comics #7 (Art Director/Inker) (out this coming week)
- Number 7 is a HUGE issue for the Cadre Corner as a collaborative effort
- Necro City Promotional Piece by Rotten Core Productions, which is now part of Across The Pond Comics
- the Rift by GI Studios #4 (Inker on two pages)
In The Works:
- Forsaken Earth by Vicious Circle Project #'s 1-5 relaunched (Inker)
- West Side by Redoubt Studios #1 (Inker)
- Hellion: Serial Crime Hunter by Workhorse Comics #1 (Co-Creator/Inker)
- Gladiators Online by Singularity Studios #1 (Inker)... project with Joe Singleton ;)
and founder of the Cadre Corner Studios . . . which is always looking for great projects to be part of...
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