WALRUS COMIX PRESENTS: An Exclusive Interview With David Wolfe

David Wolfe lives in Middleport NY, where he resides with his 12 year old daughter and scratchy kitty. In this bucolic and feline infested setting, he draws two wonderful web comics; "Paranoia High"; a hilarious serial account of life with pals Dave, Dale, Shay and Big Mike at Paranoia High school. Currently, he’s just approaching the 200th PH webcomic, and gearing up for the launch of Paranoia High’s official website. He also illustrates the sublime "E.H. JOES: Real Canadian Heroes?!?" which is written by Davis Dewsbury. Chronicling the adventures of The Colonel, Manowar and The Flag.

David you are one of our favorite artists out there today. Your work is vibrant, has a remarkable line and is uncommonly funny and intelligent. Your strips ‘Paranoia High’ and ‘E.H. JOES’ (Double D Comics) burst off the screen. We see in your work a bit of Bud Grace (Ernie, Piranha Club) and shades of Bill Griffith (Zippy) Did they have any impact on your art and if not, which artists inspired you when you were starting out?

Well first of all, thank you, that’s some good stuff to hear. As for impact and influences, I must admit I’ve never had anyone mention those artists specifically but I find it interesting. I certainly appreciate what Bud Grace has been doing, both in art and story, and I’m sure there’s some of the mentality of Griffith as I’ve always admired the roots of underground comics and artists like him and Robert Crumb.

Like many others, I’ve been influenced by cartoonists such as Charles Schultz and Bill Watterson - I think they raised the comic bar in so many positive ways. I’m a major fan of the early MAD comic books and artists and writers such as Harvey Kurtzman, Wallace Wood and Bill Elder. Will Eisner was for sure a hero of mine, I think his blend of character, art and story was nearly perfect. I love Jaime Hernandez. Bob Montana and Dan DeCarlo have had a major impact on the look of my stuff, really evident in Paranoia High

Double D Comics who puts out The E.H. Team and E.H. JOES is based out of Canada. How did you hook up with them?

I first saw some “E.H. Team” pages on ComicSpace, just browsing around. Then I noticed Davis Dewsbury (Double D himself) posting regularly on the Hyatt Art Webcomic forum - always had good things to say, real decent guy. It was there he posted a notice looking for an interested party to collaborate with him on a related “E.H. Team” project called “E.H. JOES”, he even mentioned me specifically by name while describing a style he was shooting for. Eventually my curiosity got the best of me and I just had to see what he had in mind. Davis sent me a real sweet info packet along with the first JOES script and I was hooked. I kid we’re like the Siegel and Shuster of Canadian mature humorous superhero webcomics.

You write and illustrate ‘Paranoia High’, with E.H. JOES, you’re working with another writer. Which do you prefer?

I really like collaboration. That’s not to say it always goes well, or that it’s the smoothest situation you’re ever going to find yourself in, but I really love the concept of a collaborative environment. I think it’s a humor preference – meaning, my favorite comedians have always been teams: Three Stooges, Marx Brothers, Abbott & Costello, Hope/Crosby “Road” pictures. When each person brings their own shtick to the game and the other allows it room to fit in – it’s magic.

But I totally understand why this is a rarity within comics. Hit or miss, a single vision is easier to make a reality. No compromise, no disagreements, no one walks away disappointed. So much of the art is a singular isolated event anyways; it takes the writer 5 seconds to write “in the background we see a thousand robotic sand crabs”, but this becomes the artists entire weekend. The point being, it all ends with the artist. Nothing makes it to paper that he doesn’t ultimately believe in and this combined with the lone nature of the work makes it too easy for the artist to feel a stronger bond with the comic. This is the case with Paranoia High.

But working with Davis on “E.H. JOES” has been great. I grew up close to Canada and Canadian television had a major influence on my sense of humor, so I think we relate the same to a lot of things. His story development is awesome and he has a real passion for the core of the characters. Plus he’s as twisted as a pretzel.

You are a musician as well as being an artist. We share that in common with you, and we’ve noticed it’s a frequent occurrence in the comic world. Do you see a direct connection between artists and musicians? Also, which do you prefer, playing music or drawing?

There must be a connection of some kind because I see it all the time too. I spent several years in bands, Davis has been in bands, many of the webcomic friends I know have a similar background, Crumb’s very musical. It must satisfy a lot of the same areas an artist appreciates, I know it does for me. There’s both a creative and a physical process, the option is there for collaboration and it’s something you do for yourself that can be enjoyed by others. I prefer drawing because I can easily do it anywhere. I’ve been drawing longer and it puts me in a real comfort zone I don’t get from playing. But more and more I find music to be the thing I run to when I need to get away from drawing for a while.

Which current artists out there do you feel produce the most impressive work?

Currently, there are a lot of people doing some really phenomenal work; I couldn’t begin to list all the artists that have impressed me, but some I check regularly are “I Wish I Had A Penguin Friend” by Morgan Lee Kessler, “Bassist Wanted” by Porter Mason, “Planet Karen” by Karen Ellis and “BetaPwned" by Tanya Higgins. I really envy strips with great writing.

Which instruments do you favor when you draw? Any type of pencil you prefer? Do you use a nib pen for inking? If so which brand? Which programs do you use to do the coloring, and if you could describe a bit of the process.

I really like to draw in pencil; it’s very immediate and spontaneous and a lot of ideas come from that. I’ve always got a couple of sketch books going. I have kind of a dual process going for comic work. When I do book pages, I’m pretty old school: I prefer a 0.5 mechanical pencil using F hardness lead, I ink with a #3 Windsor-Newton Series 7 brush and use Rapidograph pens for borders, touch-ups and details.

For Paranoia High, I have a different routine. I still use a mechanical pencil, but I ink with a black Pilot V5 Precise extra fine rolling ball pen. They’re cheap, easy to find and I just like them. I try to keep a lot of the production of Paranoia High something I can almost sit down and do anywhere anytime – very portable.

A typical Paranoia High begins as a series of very loose sketches on regular notebook paper, sometimes 6 or 8 to a sheet. A lot of the writing goes on here and I sketch ideas around until I develop a couple things I like. Then using a mechanical pencil, I draw out 2 at a time horizontally on a sheet of 8-1/2” X 11” Bristol. These are fairly tight drawings and I refine a lot of the concept and writing here.

Once I’m happy with the drawing, I rule the borders and do the inking with a Pilot V5. I’m so spoiled with a brush line that I spend a bit of time here duplicating that with the Pilot. Once the inking is finished, I erase the pencil lines and fill in any large blacks with a Sharpie. Then it gets scanned into the computer for lettering and coloring.

I scan the whole page into Adobe Photoshop at 1200 DPI black and white – I just like the line this gives me. Then I convert it to grayscale and fix any drawing issues I might have and do the lettering. It’s then converted to RGB for the coloring. I put the line art as a top layer in Photoshop set to “multiply” and do basic flat coloring in layers underneath that. Then I flatten the image to one layer and do the shading in transparent layers over top of this. When it’s finished I resample it to the final size I need and save it. Then I usually destroy the original artwork because it looks nothing like the final comic and I save too much crap anyways.

What are your thoughts on the trend towards Webcomics becoming the primary venue for cartoonists to get their work seen today? Do you think something gets lost in the translation from page to screen?

The web is one of the best things to happen ever for comics and comic artists. The possibility is there to get your work seen by more people than ever before. There’s freedom, control and feedback you’d never get through a syndicate or print either for that matter. It’s a major equalizer. I totally understand why it would be looked at as a primary venue. For many artists it’s the only venue.

As for page to screen translation, I think that’s a non-entity. If the comic is produced well keeping traditional sequential art rules in mind and presented in an accessible convenient manner, your situation should be the same as it is in any other medium.

Is it easy for you to come up with new ideas for a serial strip, or do you find it a struggle sometimes?

Ideas I seem to be okay with, I have quite a list of events and circumstances planned for everyone at Paranoia High, things I did in school, things I wanted to do in school. The struggle is putting it all together with the writing and plotting when it can surprisingly change in an instant. The thing with character driven comics is that bringing various elements together can introduce new directions you could never begin to plan on. Example: I brought in a character named Agnetha for the Field Trip story I’m doing now. She was basically meant to be a minor walk-on character, but the response was so overwhelming I had to rethink everything I originally had planned.

And finally, do you have any advice for the kids out there just starting out that have dreams of being just like you?

Short answer: Don’t. Providing you’ve already read that and done the necessary business of choosing to ignore it, I would say always continue to work at the craft. Never think you’re done. Hone your drawing skills, push the depth of your writing, extend your knowledge of whatever software you’re using, explore the realm of the medium you’re presenting it in.

Do it because you love it – in the end it’s the only guarantee you’ll have. Anything else should be considered a bonus.