Earth 2 Episode 150 Interview Supplemental
Bobgar Ornelas interviewed by LA Rabbit
1. Why did you choose comics?
My brother said to me, “you want to learn to draw you should check out an X-Men comic”. X-Men was not my first comic book but I did end up picking them up a year or two later.
The corny answer would be: comics chose me.
2. Do you recall your first comics creation?
I recall that I had a lot of comics strip characters and series prior to getting into comic books. I have a feeling that my first creations were super-hero comics that I did in high school. I keep coming back to these characters and they have grown as I have grown. They will pop up eventually, so I won’t name them here just yet.
3. Do you recall the first time you decided you enjoyed reading comics?
Yes, while reading my first comic What if…The Fantastic Four all Had The Same Power?
4. Do you recall the first time you decided to make comics?
Yes, while reading my first comic What if…The Fantastic Four all Had The Same Power?
5. Where do you want you to be in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years?
Alive in body and spirit. Alive in body and spirit. Alive in body and spirit.
6. Is there anything about your process that you would change?
I would love to take more time drawing in pencil and laying out scenes. I like sticking to the grid but I need to experiment with perspective more often.
7. What is your process/how has it changed (if at all)?
Idea in my head. Microscopic thumbnails or thumbnails on a faux blue lined artboard that I print out on copy paper. Blue line pencils on the artboard, very loose. Tighten up machinery or vehicles, jewelry, or integral things sometimes in regular pencil. Most often not. Script on computer (for spelling checks) pencil letters, ink letters. Ink eyes and teeth with pitt pens. Ink figures with a round zero brush. Fill in backgrounds with pitt pens, brushes. White ink pen to tidy up smudges. Scan, tidy up in photoshop, resize and get ready to print.
8. Did you have any instruction in drawing/visual arts?
A few community college courses in design and mandatory art classes which probably hindered me more than anything. One course on life drawing did wonders for me and my artwork.
9. Do you plan to move to digital illustration?
No. I color on computer as a necessity. I don’t want to draw on computer, and yes I’ve experimented with it.
10. Do you feel there are things are that better suited to comics and conversely not as suited to comics that would make you choose another medium for that project?
I have a long form story that I could do as a graphic novel except that I first envisioned it as a movie and the final scene requires two audible noises. Once I can figure out a satisfactory way to translate that onto the page I will begin this project. It’s called “Contains 5% Juice” and has been rolling around in my head for fifteen years.
The other would be music.
11. How is your process changed when collaborating versus solo projects?
I relinquish nearly all control on the story. I make decisions on pacing and panel layout. I’ll add or remove pages, meaning that I’ll either truncate a scene or elongate it for effect. I very rarely try to change any actual story. Some feel that this is too limited a collaboration but I think of it in the terns of music. I can tell the guitarist to speed or slow the tempo, suggest a transition but I don’t pick up the guitar and write the riff myself. Likewise the guitarist may ask for me to repeat a verse or fill a certain space but he would not write the lyrics that I would sing.
12. Have you ever done work for hire?
No but I’m not adverse to It. The right opportunity hasn’t shown up yet. I have done pin-ups and stories for publishers other than KBP though and those were fun.
13. Have you ever worked with an editor/what do you view their role to be?
Not yet.I envision that the editor and I would have long discussion prior to any ink hitting paper. I’d hate to think that an editor would be an afterthought and just serve as a person telling you what you did wrong.
14. When creating art do you consider the final fixed media in shaping your decisions (type of paper, digital, printing methods)?
Yes, of course. Anything with color is treated very differently than anything black and white. If I’m doing the coloring I tend to close all shapes to simplify the coloring process. Black and white means I can experiment all that I want without any repercussions. I draw everything on Bristol board, but different projects are done on different dimensions of paper.
15. Do you ever re-visit your old work?
Jon modified this question to pertain just to the podcast but as far as artwork and writing goes, yes. As in all aspects of life you need to look back to make sure that you are progressing and evolving. As Socrates used to say at the local dive bar “The unexamined life is not worth livin’ y’all”.
16. Is there any existing intellectual property that you would like to work with and if so in what capacity?
There’s so many but at the moment I’m fascinated with Logan’s Run. I would also like to draw either a Birdman series or the other version Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. I’d get to draw the best Avenger ever. Also, Birdgirl.
17. Are there any other professionals that you would like to work with (2 versions: (1) living or dead or (2) currently working).
All of them?
Living: Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis, Mike Mignola, Jim Valentino, Peter Milligan, Matt Wagner (Grendel), and all the great colorists out there, specifically Jordie Bellaire.
No longer living: Jacob Kurtzberg, Jack Kirby.
18. Any advice you would give to budding artists.
Just do. If you wait until you are “ready” you will deprive yourself of years of happiness. No one is ever ready. You will not learn by not producing work. You will make mistakes, let them go and move on. The mistakes will haunt you forever, use that to make sure that each subsequent project is better than the first. Don’t do it for money or accolades. You’ll not get them until you’re a ten year vet. Do it for love.
19. Why did you chase Wheels and Jon off the podcast? (joking)
Answered on the show.
20. How come not enough love for Babyhoff? (Not joking)
Answered on the show.
21. Do you have an audience in mind for your work, do you think there is a certain customer for the product?
I don’t work that way right now. I’m speaking only for my solo projects by the way. There are stories in me that need to get out. Generally they are all for me or for an audience of one. I know this isn’t what you meant by the question, but thinking too much about the audience will hinder the work, make it less honest. I’d rather produce a story then figure out it’s marketability than to butcher a story by forcing it to be something it is not. Look to Hollywood for examples of that. They either change the story to get the PG rating or force vulgarities to garner an R because it is a movie for grownups.
22. Assuming you are cut off from all means of distribution, would you continue to produce your comics?
Absolutely. I have hundreds of pages of superhero comics that I did in high school. Comic are a part of me. As long as I have time I’ll be doing them.
23. How often do you draw? For work, for fun, for set projects?
During deadline? Once a day, six times a week. Generally two hour shifts if not longer. On non deadline weeks I scribble on everything. Doodles on my paperwork, post its, envelopes. I do it all for fun, or the need to get stories out. Getting paid would be nice too.
24. What would you do for a Klondike bar?
Never had one. I eat ice cream about once every year or two.