Friday, December 22, 2006

Wonder Woman Artist Interview!

Drew Johnson talked to Newsarama about his upcoming Wonder Woman stint. He has a change of style in store for us:
I'm in a different place artistically than I was on my previous run with Greg. I feel like I have a better understanding of how to tell a story visually than I did back then---I learned a lot about that working from Keith Giffen's layouts on 52 recently.

In terms of drawing, I relied heavily on photo reference for just about every figure I drew during my last work on Wonder Woman - in fact Greg choreographed and posed for all of our fight scenes during our run. Since then, I've gotten away from photo reffing figures.

My wife Karen is an animator, and when we were first going out, she introduced me to a whole new set of artistic influences and more fluid, gestural ways of drawing the figure. I've been lucky enough to get to work on my pages at a desk in her studio sometimes over the last year and a half, and getting to watch her and other animators draw really inspired me to loosen up my figures--to make 'em look less posed. My art style, I hope, looks a bit more evolved since I last worked on Wonder Woman.
Also, this sketch spoils a supporting cast member, and the interview implies that the Dodsons will be back after this run is over. But I haven't heard any rumors about the writer to follow Piccoult yet.

5 comments:

  1. too bad Johnson is doing a couple of issues :(

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  2. My...the art looks lovely. Looking forward to it.

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  3. Sounds pretty good. I liked his art during the Rucka run, but I did find the action sequences really stiff. It's really awesome when an artist looks at his/her past work and sees where improvements need to be made, then works towards that goal. Can't wait to see what his comeback art looks like!

    -- Anun

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  4. That is encouraging. I hate photo-referencing. Or strict photo-ref, anyway. And the animation influence sounds good, too. Comics ain't photography. Why not take advantage of that and do things with pencil and brush that you can't do with a camera?
    I'm really hoping for a good, on time Wonder Woman run.

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  5. "in fact Greg choreographed and posed for all of our fight scenes..."

    The mind boggles.

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