Villordsutch chats with graphic novelist and artist Rahsan Ekedal, co-creator of Think Tank…
Rahsan Ekedal is the artist and co-creator of Top Cow’s hit new series Think Tank, the critically-acclaimed real-science thriller written by Matt Hawkins. Rahsan is known for illustrating the Harvey Award-nominated graphic novel Echoes, an original horror noir written by Joshua Hale Fialkov. Rahsan also drew Pilot Season: The Test and The Crazies: Ogden Marsh for Top Cow Productions. His other works include Solomon Kane: Red Shadows, Creepy, and The Cleaners for Dark Horse Comics, The Unexpected for Vertigo Comics, and Warhammer for Boom! Studios. Here, he speaks to Flickering Myth…
Villordsutch: Starting with an easy one to get your brain into interviewee gear, how did you arrive at being a Comic Book artist? Did family members push you towards it due to your talent or did you one day pick up a comic and say, “I want to do that”?
Rahsan Ekedal: I’d say it was more of a long, winding process that started back when I was very young, reading comics like Tintin, Asterix, and Elfquest and absolutely falling in love with them. Some of my earliest drawings were elaborate scenes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles battling the Foot, stuff like that. I got into reading DC Comics, mostly The Flash and Batman, and that got me into drawing my own mini comics in marker on printer paper. I’d make covers, staple them together, number them, all that. To some extent, I’d try to copy the artists I liked, but I also really enjoyed making up my own interpretations of the characters, and sometimes creating these Mad-magazine style parodies, like comics where the Justice League were all really lazy and fat and kept losing to the villains. I’d also create my own characters, some superheroic, some just plain weird. Later, as a teen, I discovered underground and independent comics, and that led me drawing all sorts of strange, psychedelic comic strips, some of which ended up in my high school paper.
But really I just have always loved to draw and tell stories, so I didn’t know that I wanted to be a comic book artist, specifically. I moved to San Francisco at age 16 and went to School of the Arts High School for their Visual Arts program. After that, I flirted with being a musician, but it didn’t take, and eventually I ended up at the Academy of Art University. By that point, I had decided that I wanted to try to be a comic book artist, but I was open to all fields of illustration, and I still am. It’s just that the intimacy of comic book storytelling is very appealing. You have so much control over what you’re doing compared to most other entertainment and illustration jobs. And you have a very direct relationship with your readers. That’s very gratifying.
V: Was it an easy path you walked becoming a comic book artist? Not to make you big headed, but were you naturally talented or did you seek out guidance to get you to where you are?
RE: It’s not an easy path, not at all. It’s incredibly hard to make comics, and even harder to make them any good. You have to learn to draw really well. You have to get those foundation skills – figure drawing, perspective, composition – hammered into your brain and your hand. And then you have to figure out how to tell a story. I was lucky to have some wonderful teachers at the Academy of Art, like the great illustrator Chuck Pyle, comic book artists John Heebink and Dan Cooney, and mentor Robert Revels. I also learned a lot from going to conventions and hearing artists and writers speak about the process. You have to absorb everything you can and never think that you’re good enough. You’ve got to constantly be trying to get better. I’m still doing that every day.
Cover art by Rahsan Ekedal for Think Tank #11 |
V: Looking at your blog with its large amount of Marvel/DC, your love for drawing is clearly shown. With all the art you produce is your job still as exciting as Day One?
RE: Some days it’s fun, some days it’s not, like any job. But you have to keep working and producing even if you’re not in the mood. That’s one of the toughest but most important skills that you have to learn to be a working artist. I think doing those convention sketches and commissions, like the ones you’re talking about on my blog, is one part of the job that’s just always fun. You get to see the delight on someone’s face right away when you hand them that sketch, and it’s awesome.
V: You hold the title of co-creator of Think Tank. Did you like being involved in the genesis of a world, rather than being handed a Warhammer comic to draw which has its history/lore attached and you can’t dabble?
RE: Oh yeah, it’s so great to be involved in something like Think Tank where I’m really helping to create the world and the characters. It can be fun to play with licensed characters, but you’re always limited. When I was drawing Warhammer I had to constantly make sure I was meeting the visual requirements of Games Workshop. They have very specific character models and you have to stick to that. Sometimes they send a page back for revisions because something doesn’t meet a standard for the property. So you have to spend a lot of time looking at the reference books and keeping the costumes authentic. On the other hand, I was drawing a fantasy world, so a lot of the locations and background characters could be totally at my whim, as long they fit the aesthetic.
With Think Tank I have a huge amount of freedom to do what I want with the characters, the locations, with every little detail. Of course, we’re dealing with the real world and real technology, so I do spend a lot of time looking at reference images and keeping things accurate to the subject matter. But that doesn’t feel like a burden at all because it’s fun, and drawing Think Tank is a blast. I feel very invested in Dr. Loren and Mirra and all of the characters, and that’s a great thing. Collaborating so purely and freely with Matt is exactly is a total joy. I feel lucky to be in that sort of situation. So many classic comics are the result of two creators just clicking, and I feel like we’ve tapped into some of that type of energy.
V: The comic book world has a vast history of greats so is there anyone out there that you adore and would recommend other artists take a look at for inspiration?
RE: I absolutely love Herge, I think reading him is like taking a lesson in clean, clear storytelling. You are never confused about what is happening in a Tintin panel. That’s the standard we should all try for. Then of course there are all the great American comic book artists that everyone would name. Get Will Eisner’s books, read Kirby, look at Buscema and Gibbons and all those guys. Too many to name! But I think you also have to look outside of comics. Get a book on the history of American illustration and look at all the great painters from the early 20th century. I constantly find inspiration from that era. I also draw a lot of inspiration from film and TV. You can learn a lot about good storytelling from a well-directed and well-edited film or show.
V: Have you ever turned down a drawing gig due to the fact that you couldn’t abide the story that your work would be attached to?
RE: Knowing when to turn down a gig is something that you have to learn to do. It can be hard in some cases, but you have to be certain not to take on too many projects at once. And it’s important to feel passion and inspiration with every project, otherwise the work will not be your best. I’m lucky to have worked on a number of projects that I’ve been very passionate about, chiefly The Cleaners, Creepy, Echoes, and now Think Tank. I think those books are some of my best works because I’m so personally engaged and invested in each story.
V: Are you currently working on anything brand new and oh-so-secret that you could give a small snippet about it?
RE: Well, the big announcement a few days ago was that Think Tank will be launching a new storyline in 2014 and it will be in full color for the first time! Matt and I are both super pumped for this. I’ve enjoyed doing Think Tank in black and white but this is a chance to bring a fresh look to the art and bring in a broader audience. The storyline is going to be a brand new arc, continuing from the first arc but starting with a jumping-on point that will be welcoming to new readers, while still satisfying our current fans. So, the first series – we refer to it as Think Tank Season 1 – will wrap with issue 12. Then we will publish a one-shot special, and of course release the trade paperback and possibly a hardcover as well. In the summer, we’ll launch Think Tank Season 2 with a new #1, in color! It’s going to be awesome. Matt and I will be talking more about the details as we get closer to the launch, so I hope people will stay tuned to our feeds.
V: My last question is a sharing of vital information. For all the comic book artists trying their hardest to get noticed what bit of advice could you give them to help them to get a foot on the first rung of the ladder?
RE: There is a lot of advice floating around out there on this subject, but one of the most useful is to make comics! If you want to be skilled at drawing comics, you have a draw A LOT of comics to get there. If you’ve never drawn a full 22-page comic before, go find a writer to work with and create a complete issue. You’ll learn a lot about the process, and then you’ll have a finished product to put out there. Geoff Johns once told me that an artist needs to draw 100 pages of comics before they start to get good at it. On a similar note, Filip Sablik likes to say that it takes an artist 10 years of working professionally before they truly hit their stride. I bring these up just to highlight the fact that it takes a long time to become a good comic book artist, and you have to keep working at it year after year. You’ll get noticed if you are producing work. No one will know you’re out there if you’re not producing. Also – be nice!
Thanks for having me! Anyone interested in chatting with me about any of this stuff, you can find me on twitter @RahsanEkedal, and on my newly revamped website.
Many thanks to Rahsan Ekedal for taking the time for this interview.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.