Ramón Pérez is a creator and freelance artist. He has been working in and around the comics
industry for 10+ years. He has done work on Marvel & DC superhero comics, licensed books, web comics
and more. If you picked up the Dark Horse FCBD book with the Star Wars story, that was Ramón's art
you were eyeballing. Here Pérez answers a wide variety of questions from all over his career.
Coville:
You've worked in a wide variety of industries including Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Editorial Illustration, Children's Books, Role-Playing and Collectible Card Games, and Magazines. How does the comic industry measure up to the others in terms of professional behaviour?
Pérez:
Whether it's been comics or rpg's, editorial or children's books, I have been quite lucky to be surrounded by great people. My editors (or art directors) have all been professional, courteous and genuinely care about the projects we are collaborating on making sure the best end result is reached. I'm happy to call many of them friends and often look forward to seeing them at conventions around the continent.
Coville:
As a writer, who are your influences?
Pérez:
As a writer I tend to take my writing influences from film and television. I enjoy and watch a lot of films, both contemporary and classic, and study them from a visual storytelling stand point. Great directors like Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger and Writers like Rod Serling (Twilght Zone) are all a great inspiration.
Within comics, as much as i enjoy the works of Alan Moore and Brian K. Vaughan I think, from what I've read of his process, that I take my writing cue from Mike Mignola. Being predominantly a visual storyteller I tend to write stories like a silent movie planning them out from a visual standpoint with a focus on pacing and story flow while keeping dialogue light. I like to convey as much of the story as I can visually.
Coville:
I know you draw in a different style for every project, which I'm sure helps you as a freelance artist. But do you find that to be a double edged sword in the comics industry as readers tend to follow artists almost everything the same way?
Pérez:
Being fairly new to the comic industry I'm really not sure of its effect. However, looking back on my career beginning with roleplaying games to now, I do have fans who've enjoyed my work on RIFTS and followed me into my more cartoony excursions with the likes of BUTTERNUTSQUASH or my work on STAR WARS: CLONE WARS for Dark Horse Comics.
As a fan of various artists myself I enjoy following an artist's growth and development. Sometimes things might be hit or miss, but it's always interesting. I tend to think people who enjoy my work feel the same way, curious to see what i will bring to the table. And as much as i vary my style it is intrinsically still me. You can see the same quirks and nuances whether it be in my cyberpunk gaming art, my superhero comics work or my cartoon strips.
The varied style, though, can be a double edged sword as a freelance artist in regards to dealing with art directors or editors. In college we were taught that art directors like to know what they are getting stylistically from an artist, so it was good to develop one look for your portfolio. Obviously I didn't listen. Luckily I've been surrounded by editors and art directors who have given me free reign knowing i will try to find the best visual voice to convey their respective projects.
Coville:
Palladium Books, who wasn't a typical comics publisher did a 128pg graphic novel collection of your Rifts Machinations of Doom work. Was that a learning experience for both you and the company?
Pérez:
It was a great learning experience. Kevin Siembieda (president/owner of Palladium Books) granted me a very fantastic opportunity in allowing me to do Machinations Of Doom. Kevin has always loved comics, and had done a few shorter ones in other Palladium publications so when I approached him with the idea of doing an original story set in RIFT he was very excited and let me run with it.
It was a fantastic learning opportunity for me as it allowed me to sharpen my writing and visual storytelling skills which had become somewhat dormant as at the time I had been focusing more on editorial work. The original story was serialized in eight chapters appearing in Palladium's RIFTER magazine and gaming publication. Because of this I also had to learn how to tell a fun and exciting story in 8-10 pages and at the same time hook the reader enough to return for the next chapter. The experience taught me quite a bit and honed my skills exponentially.
The RIFTS world was a fun one and I always wished I could have returned to tell further stories with the cast of characters from MOD.
Coville:
While doing Hulk Gama Games, I noticed you collaborated with Roberto Campus. What was did each of you do on the book?
Pérez:
Wow. Now there's a blast from the past. I was the penciller on the limited series and Roberto digitally painted over my pencils. We had teamed up previously through Udon on Thundercats: Origins for Wildstorm. It was an interesting couple of projects as it was the first time I had ever been coloured by anybody other than myself. Rather than a flat graphic colouring style as I tend to utilize Roberto's work is much more painterly and in the end created something very different and exciting. Working with colourists (or inkers for that matter) is always interesting as each individual brings their own style to the table.
Coville:
You were also listed as part of Udon which I did not know you were once a part of. How does it work, being part of a collective of artists like that?
Pérez:
I was never really part of Udon. They contacted me as a freelancer and sub-contracted a couple jobs to me.
However as far as collectives go, having been part of the now defunct 'HIVE' and currently part of TRANSMISSION X it is always an interesting affair. With a collective you have the benefit of being surrounded by your peers lending to inspiration and creative energy as well as generating a stronger presence, whether it be online or at conventions, in the public eye. But as with any large group of people there are pros and cons. Individual voices want to be heard and not everyone can always be appeased, but that's what we have democratic votes for. Because of this my two favourite expressions have become "organizing artists is like herding cats" and "too many cooks in the kitchen" ...and now I am officially in all their black books :)
Coville:
You've mentioned the collective splitting up. IIRC almost all the Transmission X comics were hosted under the TransmissionX website, but now most of you have you're own urls/websites which TransmissionX links to. Is that part of what you mean with the collective splitting up?
Pérez:
The collective I refer to as splitting up was HIVE. The personalities just clashed too much so we decided it best to end things.
Transmission X is growing, constantly inspiring friends and peers to put forth their visions for people to enjoy. In fact this summer will see a couple of new comics added to the roster. The movement towards individual urls was due to high bandwidth usage. Our host at the time could not handle the traffic demands and our websites were often shutting down and becoming inaccessible during peak hours. So to alleviate that problem a few of the individuals moved their comics to their own servers. The transmission-x.com home page has always been a portal of sorts guiding readers to the individual comics and creators, so nothing has really changed in that respect.
Coville:
Can you tell us how Spellgame series (by Speakeasy) was supposed to end?
Pérez:
I had no input on the story and hence have no clue.
Coville:
Did having an established fanbase in traditional comics give your webcomic a big audience to start?
Pérez:
To be honest I began delving into webcomics before I had any sort of following in traditional comics. When I began Butternutsquash, my first venture into webcomics, with Rob Coughler I had built up a small bit of a fan-base in role-playing games. Especially with fans palladium books the creators of rifts, where I was constant for a handful of years. So there were a handful of fans that followed me over from that, but in truth I was starting a cartoony slice-of-life webcomic and rifts was a post apocalyptic dark cyberpunk future so I didn't expect many people to follow me over.
The readership of Butternutsquash grew slowly over a few years into a strong and steady number which would rise and fall like a roller-coaster depending upon our update schedule. With Kukuburi, which I began a couple years ago, the numbers have grown much quicker. There ha been a bit of crossover from butternut readers who have stumbled upon it. But Kuku is a very different beast so I never really cross promoted. I really let it draw in it's own audience.
To return to traditional comics for a moment, I'd like to say the readership is very different and from what I've seen only a small crossover between them and webcomics. I think they cater to two different kinds of reader. But in the end I think the same ideology applies, build something of quality and people will gravitate towards it.
Coville:
Usually when we hear of webcomic creators making a living off their work, they are typically gag a day strips. Do you think there will be a time where somebody can make a living by doing finite webcomics stories, that don't require publication?
Pérez:
From my experience a lot of the webcomics out there that people make a living from maintain a daily update schedule. Most are gag a day strips but there are others that are larger prose stories. I think the trick is moving towards the daily schedule. Daily comics garner a larger audience which in turn drives up your daily hits/visits allowing you to move towards a better advertising model while at the same time generating a larger pool of people accessing any products you have available.
Coville:
Is the hopeful end goal of your online work is to get it in print?
Pérez:
I think it may vary from project to project. With Butternutsquash a collection of the work would be great, but I see it's life beyond comics more so in the animated realm. I feel it would better translate the feel of the comic. That said we have often thought of doing short digest style books with the butternut characters, which would allow us to tell longer more involved stories.
However with Kukuburi, where I am telling a series of finite stories, I've always envisioned the project collected into print. The online version I see more as a beta version of the story which I will edit and tweak before collecting.
Coville:
Is Nadia from Kukuburi based on anybody real?
Pérez:
Nadia's physical appearance was inspired by a favourite starlet of mine, but rather than divulge that tidbit I'll leave people guessing. As for her personality she is an amalgam of various girls I've known throughout my life. A melting pot of quirks and nuances taken from various friends and relationships.
Coville:
I know with Kukuburi your plan is to self publish it as a GN. Considering the upfront expense in doing this, is it a little daunting?
Pérez:
Very daunting. But it is a risk I am willing to take.
The face of publishing is changing. Like bands who are promoting themselves and distributing their music via the internet, the same is happening with publishing. The web is the great equalizer allowing the small independent entrepreneur, who may normally be overlooked by larger corporations, a chance to be seen and heard globally.
So yes, it's a little scary, but without risk there is no chance of success.
Coville:
When a picture of co-writer Rob Coughler ass appeared in the Butternutsquash strip, was that all planned? Was his reaction to it was similar to the strip?
Pérez:
Heh, planned? Far from it.
It's been a while since said update, so to be honest i can't remember the details, but i think it went something like this... I had just returned from a convention and was drained from my travels, Rob and I tried to collaborate but my fatigued brain and his under caffeinated one came up with nothing. So in a last ditch effort to have something up we decided to put a photo of Rob mooning for all the world to see.
Worked out pretty well and I think we came up with a nice bookend strip to boot!
Coville:
Your work has been all over the place in terms of the genre of the story. Is this on purpose? Would you rather stick to one genre for a while?
Pérez:
I enjoy the variety that various genres offer. Not only can I play with each one artistically, playing with different visual approaches, but each genre also allows me to push my writing skills in unfamiliar directions. Intrinsically I see myself as a storyteller. I love to entertain people, offering them escape into different places, worlds or times. I constantly have stories percolating in my brain that seem to blossom and find expression in various genres.
I believe that every story has its time. Aside from what is currently on my plate I have ideas floating around for a space opera, a crime noir thriller and a short horror story to just name a few. Eventually I'll get to them all and hopefully entertain you, and anybody else whose curiosity I pique, along the way.
Coville:
Are you finding your online work affecting your print work at all? If so how?
Pérez:
There really is no affect. I approach both the in the same way from a visual storytelling standpoint. The real difference would be that I write my own scripts for my webcomics projects and tend to work from other writer's scripts when in traditional comics. I hope to eventually break that barrier and begin writing more of my own work in printed media, but for now the separation is nice as it allows me to focus more intimately on my own creations.
Coville:
Would you say your webcomic work lead to the print work you're doing now?
Pérez:
Yes, I would say that my webcomics work did lead to print work. Not necessarily traditional comics work though, that was built up using my portfolio targeted for that market. My webcomics work did however lead to work in children's books and advertising.
Coville:
Anything new & newsworthy that's happening you can share?
Pérez:
On the home front Butternutsquash has been optioned by local production company radical sheep and is being shopped around for development into a cartoon series.
Kukuburi is returning to the web as of may 12th and the current story line will wrap up in about 50 or so pages. Whereupon I will collect the volume and hopefully have a book out in time for Christmas. Then after a short break I will begin volume two.
In the traditional comics world I am currently engaged in working on the Green River Killer: A Detectives Story for Dark Horse Comics. The 200 page b&w graphic novel is illustrated by me and written by Jeff Jensen, son of the police officer Tom Jensen who apprehended murderer Gary Ridgeway after a 20 year investigation. Beyond that I will be dabbling in smaller projects as I work on this book. I have been in talks with Marvel, DC and Dark Horse and will reveal more as things come to fruition!
Coville:
What style are you drawing Green River Killer in? Being a 200 page non-fiction crime story I'm assuming it will look different than you're online work thus far.
Pérez:
Green River Killer will have a predominantly more realistic look executed with a loose brushy style with a lot of heavy blacks. The story is a dark one and I want to emulate that in the art. The approach I am taking is similar to how I tackled the Wildcat arc in JSA Classified.
Coville:
During JSA Classified #35 - 37 you drew a Wildcat story with Catwoman as a main character. Was your take on Catwoman inspired by Cameron Stewart and Darwyn Cooke versions?
Pérez:
Being a fan of Darwyn's redesign of Catwoman it was a joy to draw her in my run on the Wildcat story. I tried to take what Darwyn set forth and make it my own stylistically whilst keeping as true to the original as possible. I think the only minor tweak I made was adding a belt to Catwoman's outfit when she was not wearing her whip as one. Definitely a character I would love to revisit... anytime.
Coville:
So you did the 8 page Star Wars story for Dark Horses FCBD offering. Are you doing more Star Wars work in the future?
Pérez:
Growing up I was far more a child of films like Star Wars, Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica than superheroes (Adam West's Batman aside) and comic books. So it has been a childhood dream fulfilled being able able to add my own vision to the Star Wars universe.
My exuberance aside I am (excitedly) in talks with Dark Horse about doing more Star Wars work in the near future though Nothing has been solidified as of yet. But as soon as there is I will blog about it!
You can read Ramón's webcomics and keep up to date with his blog at RamonPerez.com.
