“I just loved the idea of a small group of people creating one vision, no idea was too big or too small. For me that is at the core of what I love about them.”
The League of Volunteers: The Archer, Blood Rose, The Glimmer Man, Fionn Mac Cumhaill, The Emerald Lady, The Druid
The League of Volunteers is quickly making a name for itself and a while back we spoke to Robert Curley, creator and writer of the new Irish comic book series. Today we sit down with Barry Keegan, the artist for the series and talk about how he first became involved not only with The League of Volunteers but where his interest in the world of comic books began – a burst appendix is the best kind of slap from fate ever! (Although slightly painful!)
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
I grew up in a housing estate in Tallaght (Dublin, Ireland) where I spent a good bit of my time drawing. Around 1995 after I finished secondary school I went to animation college to further my love of art. After college I moved to England around 2000 to work in the Computer Games industry and four years later I moved back to Ireland where I worked in Architectural Visualisation. Although I really enjoyed the experiences in both industries I felt something was missing from them to give me the specific type of creative satisfaction that I looked for. What I wanted was something comics had always offered, storytelling! So here I am today working on issue two of The League of Volunteers!
Were you always interested in drawing? Were you a fan of comics growing up?
Yes I always loved drawing when I was growing up but I remember when I was eleven the passion really took off. That year my appendix burst and I got pretty sick so I had to spend two months in hospital. To pass the time I drew because there wasn’t much else I could do. This was like the catalyst that eventually led to my love of comics; it took me a while to find them though! I started out on Saturday morning cartoons, and then that moved onto Anime as I got older, and eventually comics. When I walked into my first comic book shop I knew that this was it, I just loved the idea of a small group of people creating one vision, no idea was too big or too small. For me that is at the core of what I love about them.
Barry Keegan
How can an aspiring artist getting started in the comic business?
I think you need to love art, it’s got to be your number one interest in your daily life, and from there you need to put the work in as it’s a lot of hard work. However if you love it then the hard work shouldn’t be too much of a problem. After that, take as many classes as you can in the areas of Anatomy, Perspective and Storyboarding.
Befriend other artists because they will teach you so much about all areas, like technique and materials, and most importantly they will push you to become the best you possibly can.
When it comes to other artists’ works is there anyone out there that inspires your own work?
It’s very hard to pick one artist or even a few as being an inspiration, the saying ‘How long is a piece of string’ comes to mind because there are too many. But in the area of comic book art I think the last few trade paper backs I bought would be a good judge of what I’m liking right now, so I’ll list those artists. Gabriel Hardman, Jorge Zaffino, John Paul Leon, Tommy Lee Edwards, Mike Mignola, Sean Phillips, Chris Samnee, Sean Gordon Murphy, Skottie Young, Leinil Yu, Duncan Fedgredo, Kenneth Rocafort, Oliver Coipel.
For someone who doesn’t know the comic industry could you explain what sort of process is involved in drawing for a comic book?
The process is not that simple these days as technology has widened the scope on how you create a comic. To break it into two areas I would say there is the traditional discipline and the digital discipline, both having their own pros and cons. In the traditional discipline, some artists do everything themselves and others do only a certain portion. Historically the traditional method is where one artist would create a visual representation from the script using pencil, eraser, and sharpener. Then this was passed over to an artist who used black ink to give it that finished look which was finally passed onto another artist to colour it. This method works great for monthly issues because the art burden is spread across more people and deadlines are achievable. However a lot of artists do their own ink work, or some just use their pencil work and with the help of computers skip the ink stage to go straight onto colours with varying degrees of success.
Also there are artists who digitally paint their work using software like Adobe Photoshop or Corel painter. Finally Manga studio is an excellent piece of software that is specifically designed for comic book creators.
Time lapse video of Matt Kindt working on a panel for a comic
Ultimately I don’t think it matters what you use in the end as they are all just tools in helping you create art. So my advice would be to not get too hung up on the process, once you are enjoying your chosen technique and other people are too then it’s all good.
As for the text and word balloons these are mostly all done on computer since technology began influencing the process. Personally I do the word balloons for The League of Volunteers in Photoshop using a font that Rob bought from Comicraft who make comic book fonts professionally.
You are working on ‘The League of Volunteers’ at the moment, how did you find yourself working with Robert Curley?
I met Rob at Bristol Con in 2010 where I had gone over to get my portfolio reviewed. During one of the days I saw Rob at the Atomic Diner table so I went over to say hi as I used to buy all my comics in SubCity. We got chatting and he took a look at my portfolio which I think he liked so we swapped details. A while later he emailed me a list of some character descriptions that would feature in a story he was developing. He asked me if I was interested in doing some art of them, which I did. From there it moved onto him sending me some script and soon after that The League of Volunteers was born!
Concept art for Blood Rose (click to see larger image)
Do you have a particular character you prefer to draw in the League of Volunteers? When can we expect the next issue?
I go through fazes of having a favourite character to draw. At the moment I’m loving Blood Rose, she is featured heavily in the opening scenes of issue 2 so that is what’s in my mind. However I have been doing some character designs with Rob for other character that will be coming up in the series and one of them is really cool who I can’t wait to draw. Issue two is at the half way stage so it should be out in June.
If you were trapped in an Arcade for eternity what one game would you play to pass the time?
I guess if it had to be an arcade game I’d go for Street Fighter 2, when I was a kid use to hang out at the local bowling alley all the time and spend far too much pocket money on it! But if I could include any game as my answer I reckon I’d pick the Mod of BattleField 1942 called Desert Combat. Not only was it an awesome game but there was so many cool unpredictable things that could happen, so it always felt fresh and hopefully that would keep me entertained for an eternity!
Issue #2 (Click to see larger image)
The League of Volunteers is available to buy online, just click here to order your copy today!
You can also keep up to date with announcements from Barry and Robert on the official Facebook page!
Robert and Barry are also two of our very special guests for @rcadeCon 2011 and will be holding a panel about their work and the comic book industry! So if you fancy getting some advice from two of Ireland’s hardest workers in comic industry then be sure to check out @rcadeCon and Pre-Reg for your tickets today!
If you haven’t bought your copy of the comic then allow us to convince you to do so with an in-depth review of the first issue coming tomorrow!
In the meantime, to see our interview with Robert Curley, click here!
